What got me thinking about this was my roomate has a pick up truck also but his engine feels very diffrent than mine despite being around the same size. He has a chevy truck with the 5.3l V8.
I just looked up the reviews on carmax and found

Based on reg cab short wheel base
1999 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2l V8 = 230hp 300lb torque - curb weight 4009
1999 Chevy Silverado 5.3l V8 = 270hp 315lb torque - curb weight 3923
1999 Ford F 150 5.4l V8 = 260hp 345lb torque - curb weight 4028

The other two seem to beat the dodge hands down on paper but how would they fare factoring in street and towing performance as well as hp/tq to the ground?

Would I have to load my truck down with performance parts just to hit the stock performance of the other two?

 

beat a f-150 the other day in my truck.. 2001 5.2.. 6 inch lift on 35's stock gearing

 

3.55 gears?

 

Those curb weights look incorrect.

 

you will have your hands full with both the chevy and ford....depends on the driver in either will make the diff. for win or loss....

 

Based on the research I did before buying my Dodge, you're going to have a greater frequency of repairs on a Ford and Chevy, plus those repairs will be more expensive. I am *quite pleased* with my Dodge.[sm=coolness.gif]

 

My last three trucks have been dakotas, and I still have one. I needed a full size truck and didn't really care if I bought a dodge, ford, or chevy. I shopped for about 5 months until I found a ram that met my needs. I bought it because it was about $5000 less than the comparable ford or chevy. After driving it on some trips and realized why it was cheaper. It was disgustingly underpowered. My dakota could drive circles around it. After talking to people and doing some modifications to mine I can confidently say that a stock Ram with even a 360 is terribly underpowered. (people are constantly asking about modifications, hmmmm[sm=confused06.gif]) If I could do over I would have spent the extra money for the ford because of more power and torque. I'm ok with my ram now after some mods, but it should have run stock like it does now.

 

you have to compare the 5.9 with those because for Ford and Chevy the 5.3 and the 5.4 were the largest engines that you could get as an option in the 1500s. I believe the smaller V8s were the 4.8 and the 4.7? i think for the Ford and Chevy, and those drag alot of *** (by that i mean slow).

 

those curb weights are for the mostabsolute base models you could get. meaning: 2 wheel drive, no power anything, no AC, smallest motor available, et cetera. so those are not correct for comparative purposes, because you are using larger motors from all three manufacturers. the base models would have V6's and manual transmissions.

 

You gotta remember 2nd gen Rams came out in 1994. Back then, they would lay the smack down on a 350TBI GM/Chevrolet C/K @ 210HP or a Ford 5.0L @ 180HP or even the 5.8L @210HP (most ford had the 5.0L). Now look what the Hemi is doing to the GM's and Fords. They're not even in the same ball park anymore. The year that you happened to pick was a model change for GM and just 2 years after the 5.4L was released. This was also when Dodge began revamping the trucks and releasing the 345HP Hemi which is MUCH faster than the others.

Now, Ford 5.4L is 300HP, and GM's 6.0L is 325HP with limited availability. Dodge has the 345HP Hemi in all platforms. Bear in the mind that the HEMI is now over 4 years old and the new GM trucks just redesigned this year still aren't even close.

You picked an odd year to compare. The third gen Dodge will smoke the rest even the brand new gen Chevrolet.

[EDIT]

I need to correct myself. GM does have the 345HP 6.0 VortecMax availiable only in extended cab half tons this year. Despite the increase in horespower, this still only makes it even with the 4 year old Dodge motor.