He secretly had a six speed and ran the whole hill in 6th, from bottom to top, and the amazing power of the cummins pulling in 6th was cheating

 

power matters but it aint all ...I have owned all of them from the wonderful 60,000 mile 5.7 to the parkit at the dealer for repair 6.0. the cummins just feels right and is reliable ,plus its the only one that sounds good strait piped

5.7 blows up at 60k
6.2 blown head gaskets ,cracked heads ,no power ,glow plug nightmare
6.5 TD edblocks, brokencranks, failed injector pumps,(hum sounds familiar)
6.6 Dmax injectors, head gaskets, and more injectors
6.9 ford good motor lacks power
7.3 IDI good motor
7.3 IDI turbo good motor
7.3 powerstroke rock solid but had 1 injector wire harnes melt down
6.0 POS need i say more (buy back)
5.9 12v bullit proof 1st and 2nd gen
5.9 24. so far so good have no 53 blocks and have seen the posts on the vp44
OK I need to get a 3rd gen

 

I just drove an '05 superduty with the 5 speed auto. I was pretty excited when I climbed in cause I always here people sayin' how fast it is. WOW was I disappointed. The only improvement I saw over my '96 is that it had way less road noise and the trans was awesome. Regardless of what I thought of the engine I loved the transmission, it was really nice. The same goes for the DMAX's, my grandpa has one that he tows his 5er with, I like the extra gear on that thing! It makes a BIG difference. It's about time for dodge to get their head out of the sky about having the cummins and work on the other aspects.

They're finally coming out with a full size cab, how many years did that take? And even with that improvement you still can't set it up as much of a work truck with the short bed. I'm not holding my breath for them to put another gear or two in an auto.

And the power thing, they're saying the tq is 650 down at about 1600 rpm which is right where the 3rd gens are running...that's a pretty significant improvement since the beginning of the dmax. couple that awith the 6 auto, if it holds up that'll be a nice almost-truck. Now they just gotta get the suspension to hold up!

The main thing I LOVE about the cummins, even if it's got lower numbers un-bombed, is it's pretty happy in whatever gear you put it in, it doesn't need to hunt around or downshift in a headwind or up a hill, that is something that SCREAMS drivability to me!! It's very nice to have a drivetrain that requires very little driver input and yet is still simple. But seriously, how hard is it to get another gear on the auto? And I don't want a 2nd overdrive stacked on the back!!! Good thing mercedes took over or that's probably what we'd be looking at!

 

[QUOTE=TxDiesel007]

Their duramax engine seems to be doin really well, but after 250K its usually injector time and more...

Heck, I'd be tickled pink to get 250K on my cummins (bosch) injector pump. Just put one into my '01 at 105,000 miles. Expected life of a VP-44 is 100k,.....you really cant brag about the bosch injector pump, at least not in the second gens.

I agree,.....most here seem to be pretty definsive. I'm happy to see GM improving the Dmax/Allie. I've ridden in all of em,....and quite honestly thing GM has got a heck of a nice truck.

Maybe just poor luck......but I've had this dodge for about 3 months now,.....and have stuck over $2500 in repairs into it. Not real impressive. I hope to drive it for about 150k-200k now, will see.

 

silverram, sucks to hear about the problems you've had. Our '00 3500 has 285K on it, first thing we did when we got it(with just over 200K) is put the FASS and guage on and crossed our fingers. I'm not real excited about owning the 2nd gen 24v but that's what the boss wanted and we bought it pretty cheap, worked well so far...
even so, the 2nd gen 24v's are the least reliable of the dodge/cummins trucks and they're still pretty far ahead of the other two.
One thing I do like about chevy is, for the most part, if there's an engineering problem they straighten it out without completely redesigning(like going from the LS1 to the LS2 or fixing the injector/comp problems) instead of ford trying looking to toss the 6.0 for the twins engine cause they can't get this one reliable. I know a few guys running '05 DMAX's that are really happy with them and haven't had any trouble.
One of our customers hauls his Bell 206 spray helicopter around on LARGE pintle-hitch trailer, started off with a 6.0 F550 and the engine blew up on the freeway with under 30K miles, they rented him a DMAX 3500 to use till they replaced his F550 and he ended up buying that in addition for another trailer. He likes towing with the chevy waaaaay better. They are making HUGE strides on their trucks and I'll be test driving the new one for sure when it comes out. I soooo like the sound of a six speed auto with hill control, IF it works. I mostly use my 2500 for commuting and light duty(under 6K# towing) anyway. I don't know if I could give up the braggin rights of my little 6 cylinder though

 

They have their allison trans and they have their hi power numbers, but in the end who is it thats selling more diesel trucks

 

No doubt about it. Thats why we own our Cummins Dodges, reliability. However after riding in the 01 DMAX it is a really nice truck. Its comfortabe, roomy, has good fuel economy and the trans was a 5 speed auto but it has a lot of great features. The 6 speed should (if they dont screw it up) be even better. That being said our trucks would be King of the Hill with a modern 5 or 6 speed auto trans. Still like my Dodge. Plain and simple.

 

They can do what they want, but im buying a cummins as long as they are offered. My old ragged out cummins with 184k on it will still outrun a new d-max/p-stroke with all of $125 worth of engine modifications if you grind your own plate, and leave out the turbo housing. Id also be willing to bet when i get my converter in, that it will pull a load much better too. almost a 12 year old truck with almost 200k, with not much in modifications, that will compete with any new truck, and get 22mpg on the highway. Why in the world am i worried about what they do? Im happy as a clam with this old 12 valve

Eric

 

Dodge, Chevy, Ford. Who cares, they have all made some great trucks, and they have all made some not so great ones too. I think GM's new diesel is going to help keep the others on there toes to keep up. Competition is always good.

I can't afford to go out and buy anything new anyhow, so by the time I buy something used, I will know more about how reliable something like the Dmax is.

I think they are all good trucks, though I do not care for the looks of the newest Chevy's.

For what I have (a 2nd gen CTD) it is big, tough, looks great, and I LOVE its nice noisy rattling engine! One thing I pearsonaly do not like about ANY of the new diesels is they are making them so quite you almost can't tell it's a diesel.

One last thing, while I still like the Dodge the best, they also have reliability issues. I've had to replace the VP44 and the lift pump at my expense. And I have the '53' block, so I have that to worry about too. So again none are perfect. But for some reason, all of us here LOVE our Dodge Cummins diesels!!!

 

Cant argue that!

 

If I would have got a good one in 99, I would have still been driving it. BUT, the trouble I had was costing more than a new truck, and yes I was snake bit. So now I have a Chevy, and at a bit of 73,000 miles of everyday hauling, I can not complain at all.

I dont care about power wars, I care about dependability, and comfort. So far I have found what works for me. If we were all the same, and liked the same thing, then we would be a boring race, and boards like this would be useless as a screen door on a submarine.

At least this gives us all something to raz the other owners about in good fun.

 

Seems to me that the Chevy's are pretty pricey. I believe a 2500 DMAX owner said he paid $45k. For that kind of money, with typical discount, you can get a Dodge 3500 completely tricked out.
Seems like you get a LOT more for your $ with CTD. I think Chevy & Ford are having their own war on who can charge the most and get the best profit.
I have 500 ftlbs of torque, does fine by me & my fiver. Competition is good, but if you up the power, price, speeds, do we really gain?
As for Auto trannies, they are for some women. They are $granades waiting to selfdistruct. Work of the devil.
I paid $29K for my truck new, with everything I wanted. I got a quote on a similar new 05, about $32k. I expect Chevy/Ford will be $5-10k more for the same.
I hope to get 15 years out of my truck. from what I read, the FASS from Cummins will replace the LP + should last a long time.
Let them have their wars. I will invext my extra money elsewhere!

 

Congrats to GM for the new Duramax! A better-and-better vehicle than it used to be, looks like.

Now for the reality check: the Cummins ISB is a medium duty inline six diesel, engineered to different standards than the Dmax, which is still based on non-commercial, automotive criteria. Unscientific, subjective tests on single dealer-delivered or off-the-lot vehicles? *shrugs. Any vehicle that comes off the assembly line is a series of unacceptable compromises - engine, drivetrain, suspension and steering, etc. If I buy it, it has to be re-engineered - by me. So - dial up a Cummins and dial up a Dmax, and over time, there isn't much debate on what the results will be.

That may change in the future, but for now, the Cummins is by far the best diesel engine in an American pickup truck, and makes the Dodge the best "base platform" for my own "re-design".

Well.... I have to say that the 466 in the CXT we use for the business comes very close.... Hey, it's a pickup truck, too, right? Navistar says so....

 

Was just at the chevy dealer and they had 3 2006 dmax and the power numbers were 310hp and 605 tq, with the 6 speed allison. I wonder if they will up them mid year?

 

Today if I had to have a new truck I would probably look past the motor to the transmission and buy GM. I love my Dodge but there is no excuse for not putting a better matched transmision behind the Cummins then what Dodge has. If any of the big three could benifit from more gears it's the Dodge Cummins with its lower rpm range. For people towing for a living the grade brake in Ford and GM transmissions make our Dodges look dated.Twogun