why is cummins the best?
 

ive been told by everyone that cummins is the only way to go when it comes to diesel motors but i havent done enough research on all the motors to make my own decision can yall give me some pros and cons to duramax powerstrokes and cummins as well sorry if this thread is in the wrong place or over done i tried to search similar threads and either didnt have any or i did something wrong thanks

Just look at the mileage these engines are getting. Looking at the different diesel sites online you'll get a wealth of information. If you look up mileage and just do some reading you'll find the general consensus is....

Cummins 1,000,000+ miles, not sure if the newer ones are getting that high, but the older 12 valves can if they're well maintained and not abused.

Duramax 400,000 miles if you're lucky. I've heard of a few 500,000+ trucks but from what I read its fairly rare. But this is also well maintained and not abused.

Powerstroke is about the same as the Duramax 400,000 miles. When it comes to the 6.0 and 6.4 you can't expect much more than that from what I have read. Now the 7.3 I've heard of 500,000+ without much effort. And as most of us here know the 7.3 is a completely different animal from anything that Ford puts into its trucks nowadays. And now Ford has a new 6.7 Powerstroke that they are coming out with there isn't much info out on that as far as reliability and mileage because its not really anything but completely new.

Now look at this...
Dodge has used the Cummins in Dodge pickups since 1989, with slight mods to them throughout the years due to emissions.
5.9
6.7

Chevy has went through a couple different engines
6.2 Diesel Optimizer
6.5 Diesel Optimizer
6.6 Duramax
- LB7
- LLY
- LBZ
- LMM
- LML
- LLwkcktyibdw blah blah blah

Ford has also went through a few...
6.9
7.3
6.0
6.4
now the 6.7

Here is the moral of the story. All these engines will go these miles if they're properly maintained, not BOMBed or abused....if you're lucky. Cummins has 1 major changed their B series engine with the 5.9 to 6.7 displacement. It is the same motor with a larger bore and longer stroke.
The others have went through at least two different engine families (that is the current engine wasn't modified whether it be minor or major, the motor was completely replaced with a totally new design). This should tell you something with the manufacturers confidence in their product.

Final word: Cummins is superior.

Maybe someone else can chime in with more info.[coffee]

The Cummins is so good because it was designed to be a very strong engine for industrial use. Designed by Cummins for that purpose and not just to be in a horsepower race and fit in an existing pickup truck. Cummins, unlike Ford for example, is interested in making engines that are durable. That's what they built their reputation on. Ford must hurry their designs into production and are always looking for the break even point on how cheap they can make stuff and get away with it. Always selling new designs that are unproven and letting the buyers be their testers.

Now the Cummins 5.9 has been refined and has a modern injection system that has more than doubled it's original power while still being reliable and durable. With bombing they can be pushed much farther still.

The six cylinder pushrod design is inherantly simple, well balanced and easy to work on while giving excellent torque characteristics.

There are a lot of them around and they are very easy to get parts for.

There is something about driving with a Cummins engine that seems different than anything else I've had. It just makes a big job look effortless. For years people bought Dodges just because they had Cummins in them. In other words, they put up with the truck to get the engine. You can't say that about too many other vehicles.

Oh yeah and I forgot about the Cummins being an Inline-6 design - far superior.

Basically...

The cummins is a straight six. Less parts, less failure.

The cummins is a medium duty engine. Powerstrokes and Dmaxes are light duty.

Search around for the competitions, sled, drag, dyno. Which motor is dominating?

In-line 6 engines are, by design, better at making torque. V8s are better at HP. Usually when you talk diesel you are trying to make torque.

As said the 5.9 is an industrial based engine. There are WAY more Cummins 5.9s out there in gensets, combines, graders, etc than there are in Dodge trucks. It started out as an engine for agricultural equipment in the mid 80s and has only been refined since then. Ford/Chev seem to like to completely redesign their stuff every 5 years or so.

well what sold me on it was the rattle,rattle,rattle!plus the fact that its a inline...i'v been in or around big rigs all my life...and they dont run v-engine's for over 1,000.000 miles.....that and they sound awesome!

Yep inline six diesel motor holds up better than an eight any day. My co. has bought nothing but Cummins in our big rigs for the 27 yrs I've been driving for them. I had 1,400,000 on my last truck before I got the one I'm driving now & it's got 950,000 on it. Thats haulin 105,500 lbs every day. So with that kind of track record thats why I bought Dodge trucks for the motor not the truck brand..

Here on the farm the first diesel truck had a 290 Cummins,the next IH truck also had a 290 which i learned to drive with,when that engine needed a rebuild grampa opted to have a 350 Cummins put in ,now he wishe's he had the ol'290 rebuilt [the 350 dosen't have the torque of the 290] we have a Case IH 5130 with the non-turbo 5.9 I own an 88 first gen,NOW with that being said we also have an 89 Ford that has the 7.3 non turbo it's got 400,000+ hard miles on it an it still runs good, but i just can't walk up to that engine an tune it in two hours to gain 50 horse,the only to get more horsepower is to rebuild the engine, the reson most people buy the dodge diesel's is for the engine that's wrapped up in a turd so to speak, Cummin's is an old engine builder that has bulit a strong, dependable engine with decades of experince to back up what they've got,can Ford an GM say that ?

Hudge:

All of our DTR Members have given you great information on why the Cummins Engine is superior to the Ford PSD or Chevy Duramax Diesel.

I would only add that the Cummins Engine has about fifteen (15%) LESS moving parts than the Ford or Chevy Diesel Engines.

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John_P

I'm on my third Dodge Truck powered by the 5.9 Cummins. My first truck was a 96 2500. It has right at 300,000 on it now. My Son has it. The first and only time it was ever in the shop was for a tranny rebuild at 118,000 miles. No other shop time for the drive drain.

My second was a 2000 3500. Shop time on it was for two sensors. CSPS and Map Sensor. Except for the clutch change out at 185,000, no other shop time has been logged for the truck. I was lucky and never had a VP44 failure.
I sold the truck with 203,000 miles.

I now have a 06 3500 which I'm still not a confident as I was with the previous ones. Not been to the shop yet. 53K on the engine. However, on this site you find an 06 with over 320,000 miles which help me out, alot.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...l-t268881.html

I've been driving diesels since 1978. Won't drive anything else. Had a bunch of problems with all the GM's. The 7.3 Ford Diesel was a good engine.

I love the Ford F450 and would like to have one for towing. So I sit on the hard seats and put up with the other things that would be better in a Ford. Untill they put a Cummins in the F450, I'll drive the Dodge and stay out the shop.

a great motor wrapped in a turd haha. my buddy has been tellin me forever that you can get 750,000 out of cummins motors easy just by changin the oil. and i do like the less parts point that never dawned on me. i deal with cummins and detroit diesel motors that run firepumps for fire protection systems so im around them i just dont get to work on them. i dont ever see powerstroke or dmax so i guess that says somethin in itself but thanks for all the feed back

Cummins has produced 1.7 million engines since 1989.
I read that in a magazine.

The 2011 Ford is a completely new design. If I was enough of a gambler to buy a new design in its first year, I'd have bought a GM 5.7. It sounded great on paper, too.

^^^ A friend of mine had a station wagon with the GM 5.7 diesel. Wow, what a gutless motor. The car would slow down going into a 20 mph headwind. As I remember, if the conditions were just right, (no too hot or too cold) it would give really good fuel economy, you just could not be in a hurry to go anywhere.