the way i feel about my 07 im ready to trade it for a durasmack

 

My son is not having problems with his 4.2 liter 2002 I-6 gasoline engine, but he is having problems with the automatic transmission, transfer case and rear differential. He is not having any problems what so ever with his 350 gasoline V8 in front of an automatic transmission in a Chev pickup, nor is there problems with the unit's power train, but the little I-6 in his Trail Blazer can pull a holiday trailer up a long steep hill at the camp grounds better then his pickup V8 engine climbs with the same load. The pickup trany shifts way down and the engine roars up the hill, while the little I-6 pulls up the hill quicker without the trany having to shift way down to lower bottom gears. If V8 engines are used for light duty work like in an automobile engine they will last long and develope no problems no doubt, but when worked very hard and abused they reveal their inherent configuration weakness. When the Duramax can lug consistantly like the Cummins in front of a manual transmission and have little problems without the aid of an automatic transmission, then it is a tough truck engine. An inline engine is the best work engine bar none, or else the highway tractors would not all be equipped with inline six cylinder diesel engines without exception.

 

What kind of mileage are the Chebys seeing?

 

my friend is a gm tech and he drives a cummins powered dodge but he says he would own a dmax over a pchoke anyday of the week. I would take a dmax over a 6.0 pchoke just becuase they are built poorly. what hurts the chevy is the ifs front end. another downfall to the dmax is the way overrated allison trannies. I think these transmissions are a joke if you plan to modify the dmax.

 

In a heart beat Just like the cummins better

 

I hear this little company called detroit diesel makes some V engines??

not saying all trailblazers are junk, but the majority of them do have problems. Ive driven more than a few and they are nothing special IMO.

 

Ok here is my $.02:

My vehicles:
1953 Chevy 3600 (3/4 ton) w/ 235 cu in inline 6
1996 Chevy 1500 w/ 350
1998 Dodge 3500 12 valve ( see signature)

About Chevy/GMC:
The Good
Duramax engines produce good, smooth power
Allison is the best automatic between the big 3.
GM has a good size for their crew cab and I'm 6'6".
Best ride of all the trucks.

The Bad
I don't care for the independent front suspension. It rides great but it feels too light when pulling.
LLY Duramax = bad overheating problem
No manual transmission option for LBZ or LMM Duramax engines. I like shifting my own gears even when driving in town.
Expensive

About Dodge:
The Good
Can't really argue against the cummins. Inline 6 diesels are used in semi's and tractors for a reason although there are some new v-8's.
New Venture and DANA drivetrain
Cummins has I think ~30% fewer parts than the v-8's

The Bad
In my opinion ... the rest of the truck. No offense intended, I just don't like dodge trucks.

My solution:
1950's Chevy 1.5 ton custom built into a crew cab then stuffed with the 98's 12-valve and parts of the drive train.

A few other small details.
GM pretty well has the gas engine design figured out. If you hook a new 5.7 Hemi to any kind of trailor and it's a dog. Hook that same trailor to a 6.0 Chevy and watch out.
Inline engines are incredible. My old '53 has an inline 6 gas enigine and it will lug like nothing else. As for the diesels, the commercial duramax is an inline 6. The only reason I can see for the 3/4 ton and 1 ton duramax being a v-8 is that it is something of a hotrod engine. A lot of guys buying diesels, including myself, are switching over from gas trucks that will turn 5000 rpm. The v-8 will turn more rpm's than the inline engines will but the give up some of the benefits of an inline like fewer parts. It's a give and take and you should base your decision on what you want to do with your truck. I don't pull 26,000 lbs on a day to day basis so I don't need a truck that is built to do that every day. If I did, I would go buy an International 4300 series.

Anymore the diesels will all preform really well and it's is hard to go wrong ... well maybe if you bought a ford you would be going wrong. Infact I'm pretty sure on that . I personally want either a LB7 or LBZ duramax truck. It's tailored more to what I need on a day to day basis but it's fun to hook that cummins to a sled every now and then.

 

exactly!! couldnt have said it better myself

my ultimate truck would be a 2005-2006 ford body, cummins engine, allison trans, chevy interior.

ben

 

Wouldn't mind the engine or the 6 speed allison on the newest edition. But my last 2 Suburbans were junk. IFS center section started leaking at 65000 miles and had to be rebuilt. transfer case lost the input and output bearings and was only used in winter. Both trucks had an insatiable appetite for alternators, power window switches, door lock switches etc.... I drove GM trucks for over 20 years and put up with stuff like that on all of them. The Dodge has only had the multifunction switch and a trackbar replaced. And it has twice the miles of any of my GM trucks. My half ton trucks starting in 88 all had IFS issues when used on the farm. They didn't like the mud or the harsh use in the fields eveidently. If the HDs are holding up better than their other junk I might consider one but my Dodge has been twice the truck out of all the trucks I've owned.

 

youre right the ifs front end is junk, they dont hold horsepower like a straight axle does. theres tons of dodges that run around here with engine mods and a better clutch that do great at the pulls and never break anything. I dont understand why guys own dodges but want a dmax. go buy one and sell the dodge to someone who wants it.

 

I would buy that in a heartbeat....but I would have a hard time parting with the Megacab.....DC got that right!

 

Last week I traded my 05 Cummins 6-speed in on a new 07 D/A and traded the wifes Z-71 in on a 07 5.9 Dodge.I feel that if a truck is going to be used to the extreme and you want to put 300,000 miles on one go with the Cummins.There is no doubt that the Cummins will hold up its just the wrapping that might fall apart.I have the same mods on both trucks and I will say that the Cummins will not even come close to the all out speed of the Duramax but a dyno run might be very close.All in all both are great trucks with great engines its just what you prefer to spend your money own.Later.

 

Detroit Diesel makes the sixty series 1-6 engine that is economical on fuel and is a good engine for pulling vans across county. A long time ago they made the V8 two cycle screaming Jimmies that were not great engines. I operated an 8V92 in a Peterbuilt that got tired just looking at the grade ahead. If the engine was not kept over 2400 rpm it had no torque power to pull a slight long incline. On the flat or a declining grade with a light load it could fly as the engine could rev high, but as a result it had little torque when the pulling got tough. I would have to come into a slight incline at 3400+ rpm and still had to drop a couple gears twice in a thirteen speed Road Ranger if engine revs went below 2400 rpm. A big cam 400 Cummins I-6 in front of a 15 speed Road Ranger in an International Eagle pulled a 53 foot tri-axle walking floor van with an over load of raw damp peat moss during three trips nightly - three hours a trip. We loaded ourselves and I pilled the load so high the top wing doors could not be shut. I would drive the thirteen miles on the rough gravel road to the highway; during that time the vibrations would settle the bulk peat level down to where I could shut the top hydraulic actuated doors at the highway stop sign. The two and a half hour non-stop trip from the bog to the plant was made with the fuel feed pinned on the floor. The engine was governed at 1800 rpm and it pulled its guts out for me and the day driver up the hills. Top speed was 60 mph on the flat and on the down grades drivers tried to over speed the engine to put a rod through the block and reach 65 or 75 mph. One driver threw a rod, but I always pushed the tranny out of gear into neutral when the rpms went above 2400 rpm on the down grades. We knew the road like the back of our hand. The abuse that and other engines took lugging in the soft bog at times is a testament to the tough reliability of the inline engine. That and operating an N Cummins in the BC mountains pulling a super-B-train satisfied me on Cummins. I really respect Mack engines for low low rpm torque. They all are I-6 engines because V8s just can't cut it when the going gets double tough. Another thing, those engines laboured through a manual transmission, with no computer or automatics to make the luggin less directly demanding on torque. In first gear, 18 speed Road Ranger, an idling 1-6 could lift the super-B-train heavy load of bagged drillers mud without the driver touching the fuel feed. In first gear the Detroit Jimmy would stall lifting a light load in a van if the revs were not first increased before the clutch was directly let out. When you really need the extra pull then you know I-6 engines are work engines and V8 engines are high speed medium duty automotive diesels.

Is it the 4.2 I-6 engine cylinder configuratiuon that is junk to you or a lot of other things about the vehicle? GM is known for problems with their vehicles, just like Ford and Chrysler. I am just happy that my Dodge is good so far, but in ten or twenty years I may have a different negative opinion about Dodge. Mechanical applications are inherently set up for failure sometime sooner or later.

 

All of us might be driving Chevs soon like it or not......!!!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070216/...LnWV.RqXub.HQA

 

ive worked on one, and know a couple dealer tech's who are ready to shoot GM over this engine....even more so than first gen dmax injector problems. Again, not to say EVERY trailblazer out there is junk, but the GM Gen III V8's have far less issues.


as for the GM buying Dodge thing, ya right, never gonna happen. More media blowing stuff out of proportion. There was a thread a week or so ago on DTR about GM selling allison or something, and I posted my feelings on that.

The big three are staying exactly the way they are today. They all need eachother, and no matter what happends, they will all find a way to make it work.

Ben