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.

I don't think they are the best anymore, at least not the 5.9. Had my cummins mechanic tell me he would never own a 03-07 5.9.....Too many failures. He drives a duramax, same thing I'll be driving if I EVER own another diesel.

DIESELS suck!!!! So what if they pull great and have tons of torgue....don't do much good when it won't start because of a blown engine.

Great mechanic. See Ya later!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck with your Duramax and your injectors.

[QUOTE=snowmanx; He drives a duramax, same thing I'll be driving if I EVER own another diesel.

DIESELS suck!!!!

WHY DONT YOU FIND ANOTHER FORUM IF DIESELS SUCK???????????[dummy]!!!!

we have 7 main bearings and 6 cylinders and they have 5 mains and 8 cylinders. hmm which you think is a lil more durable letalone rod sizes

They're all pretty much equal anymore. How many people actually keep their truck for 250,000 miles, let alone 500,000???

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snowmanx:

No offense to you Sir, but don't think for a minute that the 6.6 Duramax is any better than a 5.9 Cummins. The problems with the Duramax engines are well documented here. When you begin cranking the power up on them the problems begin. Serious problems such as the rods bending in them. Many of
our Members who own the Duramax trucks will attest to that. In our NCDTR #18 Chapter, DTR Members such as OthrGrl amd Buck Spruill can attest to what I am saying. I think in stock form they are fairly reliable, but IMO so is the 5.9 Cummins. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but the Duramax engines are not bulletproof.

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John_P

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I bought my 1996 Dodge CTD 12 valve new and have 310,000 miles on it now.
IMHO, I still think the 94'-98' Cummins 12 valve engines were some of the best ones made.

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John_P

I'm the third owner of my truck it's rolled 235,xxx ,i would like to see 500,000 ,yes it 'll be a while , but i don't need a new truck , the one i have does everything i need it to

And a phenomenal amount of them are still on the road.[guitar]

I think all Diesel motors are getting a bad rap now I know i dropped. my 2006 for a 1992 and just bought a 1993 ..... The reason being is the Dang computers and all the pollution add on stuff . I have driven BIG Cummins and Cat motors
Never was lucky enough to driver or operate any of the newer Trucks or equipment which is obviously quite well appointed as is most of the new light duty trucks. Will any of the light duty trucks see 1 million miles ??? Bet if they were not running all the emissions Equipment and the computer management systems they would have a shot

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Good post roxxx!;) I agree.

Are you serious??Look in the 1gen section, everyone is at least at 200k just about

I drive a honda w/ 305k & a cummins with 240K
Wont sell eithier of them untill they die. It is the biggest waste of money if you keep buying vehicles. Avg car loses 40% of their value in the 1st 4yrs. Every car I ever bought I still own granted im only 35. I had that honda since i was 19 and bought it with 60K my 93 cummins motor is now going into a 04 F250 so it will be around along time as well. 500-700k is common for those 1 gens so i got a long ways to go[guitar]

my 93 i bought had 256,000 miles. leaked a bit of oil from the rear main. i pulled the engine at 260,000 miles. cylinders still had cross hatching on the walls and all bearings were well in spec of cummins. i went ahead and put nwe bearings in just for the heck of it and put her back in. at 274,000 i was pushing around 40-48psi of boost for a good 10,000 miles when the head gasket started to seep. pulled the head to do a gasket and A1 studs. cylinder walls still had cross hatching and no ring ridge at all. now at my current status im at around 340 horse and turning 3500 rpms 4 days outta the week. she now has around 278,000 miles and is still doing great.

[QUOTE=Andy505;2758746]
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

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.
QUOTE]

Are you serious????

Lets see, changing from a 12 to a 24 valve was not major? At the same a totaly different fuel injection system? Lets not forget that not all 12 valves are the same. Again in 03 they went to the CR with a change again in 04.5. Don't get me wrong I like the Cummins(thats why I have one in my work truck & am putting one in my daily driver, both being GM trucks) but you need to get over the blind brand bashing.

I disagree. Very few of them are "still on the road" because the vast majority of them made it home just fine. [duhhh][laugh]

[QUOTE=dslkevin;2783530]You forgot the 5.7 liter GM diesel (which I'm sure GM would like to forget also)...[coffee]...Ben

I bought a new one in '93, sold it in 2006 with 660,000 on it. Never did a thing to it except maintenance. The second owner is still running it daily and loves the old girl. My current 'new' truck has 250,000 on it and I don't intend on getting rid of it until it too has over half a million on it.

All of the trucks are good in stock form. I would own any one of them if I was'nt trying to take the performance approach. But when you start throwing parts at these trucks, the 12V Cummins by far is the cheapest, easiest, and more successful. It's a proven fact. The Powerstroke is the worst with performance. But the 6.4 seems pretty stout. But no engine in stock form is far superior than the other, they are all great trucks.

Maybe Cummins is really a nock-off? My father-in-law is a commercial generator salesman, before sales we was a tech. The bulk of his career was selling Cummins/Onan gen sets. He is now selling the MTU, "Motoren-und Turbinen-Union" product. I was reading MTU company info, they are having their 100 anniversary. MTU is a conglomeration of Diamler-Benz GmbH, through it's subsidiary Maybach Mercedes-Benz GmbH, and MAN AG in 1969. MTU roots started with Karl Maybach and his supplying the Zeppelins engines after the original engine supplier failed causing the infamous crash. Maybach was then moved into the diesel world. Here is a list of Maybach/MTU diesel firsts:

1. 1924 first high speed diesel, upping the RPM from 600 to 1,300
2. 1933 first high speed diesel locomotive, sets record for next 64 years
3. 1934 first large high-speed diesel with turbo charged aspiration
4. 1950 first to use combined pump and injection unit, developed jointly w/ L'Orange, greatly increasing the fuel pressure bars
5. 1997 first to use a common rail fuel system, developed jointly w/ L'Orange

Some bragging rights; both the Eiffel Tower and Beijing Birds Nest have back MTU power (as well as most of the word's nuclear reactors), Richard Branson's record setting cross-Atlantic trip is powered by two MTU 396 diesels, and in 1982 the first "volume production" 200+ class of dump truck is powered by MTU, the world's fastest ferries are powered by 4 MTU 8000 series creating a total power of 44,600 hp, oh and they also power our U.S. coast guard Deep Water vessels and NY City fire boats.

Little known in the U.S. now, but their profile is about to get much bigger. If you want to find out more http://www.100yearsmtu.com

The rumors we heard a few years ago about Dodge getting a Mercedes diesel was really an MTU, but in 2005 DiamlerChrysler sold MTU and Detroit (which MTU acquired in 1994). I wonder if if I could get an MTU to re-power my Dodge? This one should fit http://www.mtu-online.com.sg/cms/index.php?id=878[coffee]

You've never had to work on an MTU have you?
You don't have to go to gemany now to be certified to work on them, but you do if you want to manage the techs. You think our comps are bad? The computer on our newer boats is so intrusive it tells you everything about everything. We haven't had a major failure yet with thousands of hours on them but maybe it's because of the computer shutting things down if it doesn't detect the "suggested" maintenance has been performed. I hear they are great for the operators and a vacation for the engineering crew...because to stay in warranty the work has to be done by certified MTU techs.
Ole Rudy Diesel might have been german but I think Cummins has been better tailored for US by US.

Well compared to most diesels out there for light duty vehicles, cummins is the best because of the simplicity of the engine due to less moving parts(less things to screw up) and its design(inline 6...Torque).. Evidently they have done something right because the 5.9 has been out for ever now and they have finally changed over to the 6.7... for other companies how many times have they changed their engines.(alot) Im sure its due to good reasons[laugh] to keep up with the cummins.just my 2 cents

Who are you a tech for, and what kind of tech are you, VADSLRAM?

Not sure old technoligy is always the best. This is the 21st century, not the 20th.

Tell me that after you get a small bit of water thru your Common Rail.........

Granted, you can punch buttons and make big HP, and you make the enviroweenies a bit happier, but 20 plus thousand in repairs because a 7 dollar an hour attendant didn't change filters is too much for many of us to take.

[coffee]

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dslkevin:

Well, having owned almost all generations of the Dodge CTD Trucks, I am afraid I have to agree with what patdaly said! While the new technology may be good in some ways, as far as dependability, I would not say the newer diesel trucks (all makes) hold up as well as the older Dodge Cummins 12 valve trucks. And Pat gives a VERY good example of that.

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John_P