Hi all,

Well, I can now say I have had them all. From my very reliable F-250 7.3 PSD 2001 to my recent 2006 Duramax LLY, I now have a CTD 5.9!

Been driving the truck for 24 hrs now and I really like it. Never had a dually before, but I really like the sound of the Cummins.

I was sucked in by Chevy w/ the Allison and such. I really wanted to like the Chevy because they put all kinds of cool options on their trucks, and I really liked the Onstar feature, but all in all I need a truck to be heavier duty. I just never got the feeling the Chevy was all that heavy duty.

I read on this forum all night last night and one thing I noticed, there are more million miler dodges than I ever read about PSDs on the Ford forums. I liked my 7.3, and it never let me down. But when I wanted to upgrade I wasn't about to jump into the 6.0 fray. Glad I didn't do that....

Funny thing I noticed reading here last night. I read a few threads on how the 48RE trannies might "hunt" for a gear as annoying. Well, if you think that is bad try a 6 speed Allison, that transmission never stops hunting. Up down Up down. When you take off from a stop, shift, shift, shift, shift, then you give it a little more gas, down shift down shift, up shift. The 4 speed with much larger range in the gears is a welcome return. Much less shifting.

Catch yall later.

 

Welcom to the forum, and congrats on the new truck!

 

Welcome to the forums! I am a n00b also, to the forums and to the CTD.
Before someone else corrects you, the CTD boys call it a QuadCab.

I have been reading for almost 3 weeks and still have a lot to learn!

See ya'll around the forums.....

HayHauler

 

I agree with your feeling about the Chevy not being as heavy duty. Impressions for me were formed with the following:

Chevy
- Plastic duramax 6.6L fake diamond steel lookalike plate on top of the engine
- Wimpy little receiver hitch - only slightly modified from the earlier models that tended to fail
- Can't see the engine or turbo for all the junk in the engine compartment
- Lots of other plastic crap like air dams and shroud covers
- Regardless of performance, IFS just doesn't have as heavy duty an appearance as a big, thick solid front axle
- Donut tires on 16" rims and low ride height
- 3" exhaust
- Even though the Duramax has larger displacement, many of the parts are smaller.

Dodge
- Cummins block is a huge, monolithic lump of iron that is completely unobscured by plastic trash
- 4" exhaust on 2006 models
- More oil capacity
- Huge stack is completely exposed when the grill is lifted
- Bigger fuel tank
- Stock receiver hitch appears more heavy duty (no history of failure also)
- Bigger wheels and tires, higher ride height
- Solid front axle, and the axles look bigger and heavier duty
- Entire cooling system is larger

I remember the first time I popped the hood on the CTD, I fell in love. It looked like an engine that was going to be around for a while.

 

congrats on the new purchase and welcome

 

Welcome aboard!!

 

Welcome to the Forum.

I had a 7.3 that never let me down. It ran dirty. Oil was black all the time. This my second Cummins Truck. I run Rotella T in the crankcase because its a light color. Easy to tell if you get a problem. Smells a little but I can pull the dipstick with 4000 miles on the oil change and still see the dip stick through the oil. My truck has 167K on it.

My son has my first truck, it has 270k on it. Never been to the shop for a engine related issue.

Dave

 

I have never heard of that before of someone liking the 48re over the allison. If I was going to get an auto (before the new 6 speed auto from dodge,) I would have got the duramax.

 

Congrats on the new truck and thanks for the input on the allie.
What kinda miles did ya see on the other trucks and what type and weight did they haul/pull?

 

I got about 18mpg on average, on the highway I could get it (duramax) up to 21mpg if I didn't go over 65mph, but it drops dropped significantly for speeds over 70mph. Around town was about 16-17mpg, it just seemed to drink a lot of fuel at idle. This type of mileage didn't show up though till after about 12k miles or so.

Towards the end I quit resetting my fuel computer on tanks to get a long term average. Over 2500 miles I averaged 18mpg. I also checked the computer with hand calculations, and consistently found the computer to underestimate my mileage by about .5 mpg. This varies from truck to truck though, my partner's Duramax read about 1mpg to high.

I pulled my 11k lb boat with it a few times, was a little dissapointed with the power in the 50-65mph range. The upper gears were just too tall for it, and the motor seemed to lug. I would end up towing using the manual selector on and limit it to 4th or 5th gear when towing. My Powerstroke 7.3 towed much better on the high end, but not as good on the low end. I credit this to the transmissions, the extra gears on the allison give great acceleration because they are closer together, unlike the 4 speed Ford automatic (2001 PSD). But when you get on the highway, the PSD is really turning out the power.

One of the most annoying things about the Duramax is the fuel filter. It is a nightmare to change. You have to remove the fender panel on the passenger side, reach in by the motor and drop the spinoff fuel filter. This is after you drain it and remove the water level transmitter out of the bottom. By the time you are done you have plenty of diesel running down your arm because the reach is long and uncomfortable. Also, you have to manually prime the fuel filter by pre-filling it with diesel and then doing an air bleed before cranking it up. If you get air in the injectors it can take a bit to work it out. For something that needs to be easy to do so you will not procrastinate, they missed the boat on this one.

The first thing I looked at on the CTD was where the fuel filter was. Almost as easy to get to as my 2001 PSD, but definitely livable.

One thing I did like was the external spin on tranny filter for the Allison. Change it every 25k miles, drain and fill fluid. Easy tranny service. Allison does not recommend dropping the pan and they do not do fluid exchanges. But at 20k miles I went ahead and did my first service, the fluid that came out looked brand new.

PSD city mileage was around 17, highway around 19mpg.

I sure hope this 3500 mileage isn't too bad.
TM

 

You will be so wowed at the power of the Cummins EXPECIALLY when you have something in TOW!!!! Mileage differ's from Truck to Truck!! 16-18 mpg at Best with a Dually!!

 

tully_mars,

You will find the fuel filter on your new truck is a snap.

As I understand it, though, you are supposed to check two band adjustments on the 48RE as part of the transmission service, one of which is under the pan...