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Cummins vs Duramax vs PowerStroke

Which would be the best choice and why?

  • Dodge Quad Cab with Cummings

    Votes: 81 59.6%

  • GM Crew Cab with Duramax / Allison trans

    Votes: 33 24.3%

  • Ford Crew Cab with Power Stroke

    Votes: 22 16.2%
  • Total voters
    136
Cummins

I bought a 12v 5.9 Cummins 1T quad cab dually 4x4 that was mint with warn steps a sweet canopy paint matched, has a trail master 4" lift, rhino liner and the XLT interior and custom wheels and 34" tires. I talked them down from 18k (exact bb at the time 2 years ago) to 15k cause I told them the tranny was junk and the steering drag link was worn, so I upgraded the drag link and steering box supt beam, had Dynamite diesel upgrade the tranny recently to handle 1,400 lbs ft tq and they added 200 lbs ft tq and 100 hp up from stock to 270hp and 605 ft tq, so now I have a truck they said is sought after due to the bullet proof 12v. I had also fixed the killer dowel pin. I now have a grand total of 22k into it and it pulls like a dream! and I don't have a $800.00 payment for a new truck that will do the same job! she's mine, not the banks! :D
 
I just replaced my '97 F250 with an '06 Megacab... After dumping a ton of money into the Ford I just got tired of the electrical issues that kept popping up. I miss the Ford, it put down almost 400hp and 900ft/lb on the dyno... but after awhile you have to say enough is enough. The new truck is quieter, puts out just as much hp, drives WAY better, and is more comfortable... BUT I now have a payment. I had to decide if I wanted to keep dumping money into a 10 year old truck to keep it running, or get a truck I could just jump into and drive with no issues.

When you can take a stock CR and drop in an intake, exhaust, and a good programmer and get 400-450hp and still get decent mileage it ended up being a better option for me. Plus with the Ford the next step for more hp was going to cost me another $7K and I just wasn't willing to do that. The other thing that sealed the deal for me was that crappy TTB front end, I had replaced all of the spring bushings, pivot bushings, tie rod ends and ball joints, had it aligned, and it still didn't drive as nice as my new truck, and still scrubbed the outside of the tires when turning...

The only thing that kept me from buying a duramax was the front end, I will never own an IFS truck again. I have worked on too many of them and I just hate it, and if you have even seen what the front wheels do under power it would scare the hell out of you.
 
I had an 03 Duramax with the 6spd manual before I got the Nissan Titan I have now. The mileage was great. I averaged 22mpg on the highway and about 18 city. The great mileage from the manual tranny had a downside, the tranny was extremely clunky and shifted worse than many semi's Ive driven. I had a problem with popping fuses pretty regularly which was very annoying and had the drivers power window go out with less than 50k on it. The power window setup is garbage from the factory. They have too many friction points and plastic parts that wear quickly. Overall I liked the power but felt that other than the engine and rear axle that it was pretty cheaply/poorly made. If I bought another diesel I would most likely go with a Dodge/Cummins.
 
FabHappy said:
I had an 03 Duramax with the 6spd manual before I got the Nissan Titan I have now. The mileage was great. I averaged 22mpg on the highway and about 18 city. The great mileage from the manual tranny had a downside, the tranny was extremely clunky and shifted worse than many semi's Ive driven. I had a problem with popping fuses pretty regularly which was very annoying and had the drivers power window go out with less than 50k on it. The power window setup is garbage from the factory. They have too many friction points and plastic parts that wear quickly. Overall I liked the power but felt that other than the engine and rear axle that it was pretty cheaply/poorly made. If I bought another diesel I would most likely go with a Dodge/Cummins.
Click to expand...

Heh, the only good parts were the ones made by different companies.. I like it. :haha:
 
It alwasy cracks me up when people put stuff down on a certain product. The same part failures I have seen fail at 20k and at 130k.. ANYTHING mass produced is going to a wide variety of failures..
 
That's very true, a lot of the bomber guys gave me a hard time about driving a Ford, but I got 250k out of it with no major part failures except for the clutch. But that was my fault for installing the programmer, injectors, blah blah blah. Still had the factory brakes in the rear... all in all it was a great truck. I hope I can get as many miles out of the mega cab... if it wasn't for the electrical issues I would probably still have the Ford.

I don't know how many lift pump/VP44 failures I have seen, but I am getting pretty good at swapping them out :stirpot: But each brand has their good and bad points, there is no perfect truck...
 
the ones that really hate the other brands are the clueless ones.. Most are just ribbing for fun.. And I still have the factory brakes on the rear of my Dodge too.. It's not exactly a good thing.. It just means they aren't working :haha:
 
msps003 said:
That's very true, a lot of the bomber guys gave me a hard time about driving a Ford, but I got 250k out of it with no major part failures except for the clutch. But that was my fault for installing the programmer, injectors, blah blah blah. Still had the factory brakes in the rear... all in all it was a great truck. I hope I can get as many miles out of the mega cab... if it wasn't for the electrical issues I would probably still have the Ford.

I don't know how many lift pump/VP44 failures I have seen, but I am getting pretty good at swapping them out :stirpot: But each brand has their good and bad points, there is no perfect truck...
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is definitely no perfect truck made right now. Those good and bad points vary quite a bit between generational changes.

I went back to a gasser because 1/2 tons ride nicer and when something breaks on a diesel its usually pretty expensive in comparison to a gasser. I miss the hauling capability but you can't have it all. Atleast with my wallet you can't
 
i definetly agree on there is no perfect truck i had a 97 powerstroke all pumped up, but it got shi**y milage and i could never get the power i wanted out of it. Then i got a 2000 cummins that gets around 20 average pumped it up two much were i was breaking input shafts in the 5 speed tranny, gernaded two head gaskets before i studded and oringed it but other than that its been a good truck for all the abuse ive put it through. It has 190000 on it now and have know intentions of getting rid of it. Two of my buddys have duramaxes they love the milage but are hating the allison. both there trucks are right at 100000 miles and both there trannys are toast. Ones an 06 and the other is an 02 the 02 has gone through two sets of injectors. so this is why i agree there is no perfect truck just pick the cheapest one to work on and the easyest this is the reason im keeping the old cummins inline 6 vs v8 ill take the ole 6r
 
that's the first i've heard anyone considering the allison a negative feature of the chevy. How much power were they putting down? and did they upgrade the stock trans?
 

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