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D-Max Revisited

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Old Jun 19, 2005 | 08:36 PM
  #16  
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I normally don't get involved in these threads but a close frined of mine has the V-8 Duramax '04. He hauls sheds all day everyday with the thing has 30K and hasn't had one problem. The truck is fast, quiet, and he drives it like a mad man and the vehicle takes the abuse. When I ordered my Ram he was telling me about the Dursmax and how I should look at them, blah blah blah.

Look, flat out, they are ugly trucks! They all look the same, the interior seems crammed and cheap, you almost can't tell the diffrence between the base model and the loaded models. I have driven his truck, and been a passenger plenty of times, does it haul....YES. Does it start everyday...YES.

But when I got my truck home, broke it in and finally starting hauling with it......what more could you ask for in a truck? Can you really tell the difference between 600 Lbs/Tq (GM) and 610 Lbs/Tq (DC).....NO!

No ego here, I just love these Rams, this is my first diesel and surley won't be my last, but I don't see me jumping ship B/C someone lost a race.

I just had to vent here.........I love my truck.
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Old Jun 19, 2005 | 10:49 PM
  #17  
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From: Yuba city Kalifornia
quote:
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does it matter if the cummins will go a million miles when the dodge wrapped around it after a few hundred thousand?

Give me a break my 1990 is going to hit 300K in the next 2 days and I have driven it harder than any ford or chevy I have ever owned and other then the paint the body is in perfect shape !and it still has the original trans in it. I see all makes falling apart so dont bad mouth the dodges, there are plenty of dodge owners with 1 million miles and still going and even more with 500K (father in laws has 627000 and runs perfect.the company I work for only buys fords and I see just how fast a ford can fall apart. to date I have put less then $1500 in (no mods)repairs in 300K .I had always been a ford man and originaly bought a cummins but this truck has been the best truck I have ever owned and have no intensions of switching brands .To date we have lost 12 6.0 ps engines and 28 torque shifts trans at work in the new truck fleet. Just give me a break!
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Old Jun 19, 2005 | 11:04 PM
  #18  
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Re: D-Max Revisited

Originally posted by nord
Interesting thread about the D-Max and P-Stroke outgunning our RAM's. More interesting the excuses why such a thing could happen. More interesting, still, is the need to make excuses at all.

Our RAM's have a Cummins straight six. It's a heavy duty commercial engine that's made to deliver a huge amount of work over long periods of time. This is done by building an engine that performs nowhere near it's actual potential from components that are overbuilt for the job and keeping the rev's fairly low.

Our friends at Ford and Chevy also have diesel trucks... Wonderful trucks! They happen to use light-duty V-8's for their motive power. V's are shorter-stroked, have more components, and need to turn faster to make the same power (displacement to displacement). Nothing wrong here either. It's just that these engines are tuned closer to their potential than ours. That means they're more likely to go BANG at some point sooner than ours.

Getting to the top of the hill first... Important in some eyes. Getting to the top of the hill always... More important in my eyes. It's all in what happens to be important to different owners. Nothing good, bad, or mysterious about it at all.

Our six, even though rated very close to the others powerwise, is a much different beast. It does things differently than a V engine and our astute engineers at D/C have yet to really figure out that fact. That's the reason our Cummins is happier in front of a standard tranny. That's also the reason that the more gears (up to a point), the better and happier our Cummins is.

Strap on an auto tranny that's really not designed either for a diesel or a straight six, put a load behind her, and you've just handicapped one of the best engines in the world. To Cummins everlasting credit, it overcomes this problem rather nicely. The other autos are already designed for a V engine and need only to manage the diesel torque. That's quite a difference and I hear that Allison and Ford do a pretty good job!

So... Which of the three is best? Obviously I don't have an answer. I do know, though, that I've had four CTD RAM's and have been happy enough with each successive vehicle so as not to ever look past Dodge.

But then I don't often drag race up a mountain. I also never have to say that my truck is perfect, but I'd sure like to have a P-Stroke or D-Max up front.


That was beutifull
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Old Jun 21, 2005 | 12:12 AM
  #19  
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I personally still believe the cummins will perform with any of them stock. I have driven a new auto,and that thing hauled the mail. If a new Dmax is faster, i guarantee you it sure aint by much, and im talkin, even when you have a load, and that allison is shining. All 3 new trucks are powerful stock, and i personally think stock they are all pretty even in power. There is NO question as to which one would last longer, and i think they all perform pretty equally; the cummins just does it while loafing along at a lower RPM, and will run that way forever. I would personally love to pit my dads stock 5 speed 98 against a 6.0l powerstroke 6 speed with about 15k lbs behind them both taking off on a hill. I personally think that dads truck would pull real close. those things are gutless pigs till 2k rpm's, but every time you shift you will be out of your power in one. I would definatley race one with mine. Im hardcore cummins and have NO desire to ever go to a V-8 diesel. You all can switch if you want, but even if i was gonna trade every 10k i would still get a cummins. They perform every bit as good as the others.

Eric
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Old Jun 25, 2005 | 06:39 AM
  #20  
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From: Montgomery AL
some of the differences of a v engine verses an inline.

An inline engine has approx. 15 degrees of overlap of power for each stroke.

A vengine has apporx 15 degrees of dead time between power strokes.

Now I remember the old dodge slant 6's. All you ever needed to fix them was a matchbook (didnt need the matches just the book) , a pair of pliers and a screwdriver.
They were virtually indestructible and had pretty good power and economy.

This is what a cummins reminds me of and that is pretty much how they perform.

My .02
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Old Jun 25, 2005 | 09:17 AM
  #21  
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From: New Meadows, Idaho
There is another factor most are not taking about...

It the human factor. Some of us will take care of our rigs (I'm mean really looking it over). There are some of us that just pull the dip stick and say it good and shove it back in.

For those of us that really take care of our truck will see that 500K or more mark in the trucks life.. As for the others you guys I don't know... (trade in, sell, etc...)

As for brand names I been a Dodge man for yearsI really don't think I'll ever change. My Dad retired from GM and could of got me a Custom made diesel for me. I wasn't happy with the interior or the price. The cheapest unloaded Chevy Duramax $45K!!! My Dodge which I found in Ontario OR. was price at $32K!!! I found a truck that didn't have all the gagets and toyz but I found a truck that is relable and got good power and economy!

As for winning races... I don't think out of the box they were really made for it... But they sure do the job well for what they are intended for - PULLING & HAULING!

I planning on making the 500K as a first goal and shooting big for the 1 M Mark!
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Old Jun 25, 2005 | 09:50 PM
  #22  
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I like my Dodge CTD. It's been a wonderful truck.

But I'm afraid it doesn't compare at all to my new International 7300 CXT 4x4 pickup truck. With a 466 I-6, electronically-controlled turbos, an Allison 2500, a GVWR of 26,000 lbs., 12,000 lbs. bed limit, 17,000 lbs. axles, two 70 gallon fuel tanks, air brakes, air suspension, and a 500,000 mile powertrain warranty, it pretty much blows my old CTD away.

The leather interior and the Alpine stereo are nice, too.

I'm afraid the issue about which is better - Dodge CTD, Duramax, Ford PSD - is dead.
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Old Jun 27, 2005 | 08:47 AM
  #23  
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From: Raleigh, NC
I think you have more money than you know what to do with-you are comparing a 100K truck to a 40K truck. But those do look AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old Jun 27, 2005 | 04:56 PM
  #24  
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I saw one of those CXTs rolling down I-10 in Tucson. That thing is huge! Where do you park that thing when you go to the mall?
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Old Jun 27, 2005 | 05:07 PM
  #25  
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From: Branchville, Alabama
Originally posted by Gear Poet
I like my Dodge CTD. It's been a wonderful truck.

But I'm afraid it doesn't compare at all to my new International 7300 CXT 4x4 pickup truck. With a 466 I-6, electronically-controlled turbos, an Allison 2500, a GVWR of 26,000 lbs., 12,000 lbs. bed limit, 17,000 lbs. axles, two 70 gallon fuel tanks, air brakes, air suspension, and a 500,000 mile powertrain warranty, it pretty much blows my old CTD away.

The leather interior and the Alpine stereo are nice, too.

I'm afraid the issue about which is better - Dodge CTD, Duramax, Ford PSD - is dead.
If you don't mind me asking, what do you get for mileage, especially towing?
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Old Jun 28, 2005 | 04:38 PM
  #26  
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Was having a little fun with y'all. Not sure I really recommend the CXT as a Dodge CTD-killer.

The CXT hauls for a ranch we own out in the Great Basin. Pretty much used up the Fords we used to have, and had been running through a couple of older Dodge CTD's.

We had a special discount on it, so it was less than the $93k-115k the CXT normally goes for. Not broken in, only 1500 miles on it, but right now it gets a bit over 13 mpg empty. However, we rolled a 7500 lbs. TT behind it for 450 miles, and it got 12.1 mpg, which was strange. Maybe it likes loads. Couple of weeks we're bringing back a trailer of lumber and steel posts, so we'll see.

Have to say, I like it a lot so far. Wheels around like a big dualie pickup truck, but tows like a medium. Empty, it's pretty fast, although I haven't (and won't) lay into it. Off paved roads, it's too big, of course, but the angles of approach and departure are good enough for some fairly rough driving.

And yes, I've driven it to malls and grocery stores. You can jam it anywhere you can jam a Dodge dualie. With the height and the mass, however, it looks pretty bizarre surrounded by Hondas at the local Albertson's.
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Old Jun 28, 2005 | 04:39 PM
  #27  
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From: Chaffee, NY
Originally posted by Gear Poet
I like my Dodge CTD. It's been a wonderful truck.

But I'm afraid it doesn't compare at all to my new International 7300 CXT 4x4 pickup truck. With a 466 I-6, electronically-controlled turbos, an Allison 2500, a GVWR of 26,000 lbs., 12,000 lbs. bed limit, 17,000 lbs. axles, two 70 gallon fuel tanks, air brakes, air suspension, and a 500,000 mile powertrain warranty, it pretty much blows my old CTD away.

The leather interior and the Alpine stereo are nice, too.

I'm afraid the issue about which is better - Dodge CTD, Duramax, Ford PSD - is dead.

Let's see some real life pics of that CXT man ! Sweet trucks....all I've seen are done up magazine pics.
btw...what do you haul???
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Old Jul 2, 2005 | 09:45 AM
  #28  
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From: Havre, Montana
Lets race.

Race from show room to junk yard.

Id bet on the Ford to win.
The GMC Chevy to Place.
The Dodge to show.


A truck is a truck is a truck. My dad bless is departed soul said you can not beat a straight 6 in the long run and the longest run is the run to the junk yard.

My .02 worth.

GS
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