THE thing i'd be worried about, is that ford breaking down,pulling that trailer, My dodge has 268000 miles on the org. motor and trans. I wouldn't be scared of driving,it anywhere. You know ford spelled backwards stands for driver returns on foot, Hey i'm just ribbin you, this is a dodge site right

 

yeah, yeah... keep talking smack on my ford... it's the ONE vehicle that has never left me stranded at all. sure, it's had a few issues, but has always made it back to home base to get repaired.

well, the dodge is going. this thing is going down in a week, so there's not a whole lot more i can do. plus i'm redneck enough to know to drag around enough tools to do anything basic i can come across (didn't have enough to fix the dodge, but that's another story), plus the tow strap, but it has interesting uses (pulling idiots our of your parking spot in an ice covered lot so i can have my PLUG IN for the block heater in -30... my dodge buddy did the same thing for that matter!).

 

oh, and the wife is a ford girl, just kinda stuck in a dodge for now... til we have cash to buy another vehicle. it was just the dodge was the only pickup i could find with a MANUAL in my price range that was decent. the two main problems i find with dodge? the bodies rot off and the auto trannies suck (which i won't drive anyway, so it's only one major problem!)

 

Well I wont sit here and make fun of your Ford. We own a 2004 F-350 6.0. Just wait until you have a heavy load on her and you blow the intake hose off of the turbo. You will go from a ~350 HP truck to a 25 HP truck in about 2 seconds. Been there and done that.
Another thing to think about those 6.0's is the head gaskets... was a major weak link on those year model trucks. We are getting rid of our ford, but not for problems with it. It's warranty has expired, and take a look under the hood of the damn things, there is absolutely no room to work on the engine. It's sad when most mechanics will opt to remove the whole cab of the truck to do engine repairs. We do all of our own repairs, and that's why we are removing it from our fleet. Looking at an 08-09 Ram 3500 6.7, look under the hood of those... you can actually work on those.

I will say though, Chevy and Ford have had to catch hell for years when it comes to the diesel world. Think about it, a damn 6 banger is making more power and torque than their v8's ever thought about producing. Granted, it is a well known fact that any inline cylinder motor will out perform it's v styled other half.
For the last decade there has only been two main reasons why Ford has been the choice for a hauling truck: 1. Transmissions 2. Frame.
The new Ram trucks have switched to a different tranny, and next time you stop by a dealer, look at the frames on the new trucks as well...... There aint a whole lot that can be hindering those trucks when looking at the frame. Still to early to tell on the tranny's though....

 

you see, i got into the diesel world on a 6.0. had it been a 7.3 or a cummins (which is actually what i WAS going to look for until the 6.0 was on the lot calling my name and had a nice deal. i've been pleased with it, and since i already owned it free and clear when i started really learning about them and their quirks, i was more willing to work with it. my warranty fully expires later this year, and they do have their issues. HG are one of the main ones, but that's generally due largely to the head bolts. it's easily fixable with head bolts from ARP, but that's expensive unless there's a mech in there doing something else to tear it apart... the torqshift is good for an automatic, but i'm still a fan of the ZF6... as for how it pulls? the I6 has its advantages, but i like my lil ole V8 and how it runs. plus it pulls a helluva lot better than my old pickup (351 geared way too high for an F250). and after this move, i'll probably rarely ever leave the flats, especially with a trailer in tow like this trip...

 

well when we blew the head gaskets out on ours, we were going up a steep hill with a very wet load of round bales on it. Prolly around 30,000 or so. That's no joke. Yes the torque shifter scares the hell out of me, we have it, and I think the only reason it has gone 200,000 miles is because it has been babied. If the previous owner of this truck hadn't put in 4.11 LSD gearing, I might not think real high of it, and paired with an EDGE chip, AFE CAI, and a 5" Banks ehxaust, it can really move. IDK really, it all come down to personal preference, but at least I dont see you giving credit to the duramax.

 

there's your problem. edge is known in the 6.0 world as being detrimental on EVERYTHING, one of the larger bits actually being the tranny (if automatic anyway). edge is almost always on the bottom of the totem pole. couple companies do custom tuning for the 6.0, and 6.4, and it's said to be by far the BEST way to hop up the juice, especially for firming up shift points and saving the crazies who drive automatics trannies... SCT makes a pretty good tuner, tuned by innovative, or spartan (who branched off to make their own dashdaq tuner after falling out with SCT. that i know of it's still on beta testing). anyhow, the 6.0 CAN be a running demon, and reliable as the next, owner just has to be willing to work with it. perhaps i'm weird, but i am. then again, i OWN the thing free and clear and that makes a huge difference...

durawhat? yeah, i'll pass. GM just pisses me off in general. 'nuff said.

 

Well, I will tell you, I wasnt really all that involved with the base mods on this truck. I do know that the chip is not a "can" setup. The saving grace with it is that it can de-fuel at shift points to help save the drivetrain. Also, we acquired this truck in late winter of 05. The truck was in the first production run for the 2004 year. Within 6 months of ownership, we had the chip, exhaust and intake installed. At the time, being one of the first 6.0 trucks, EDGE was the only one that offered a product for it.

I don't deny that they can be one moving sum bitch, but jeez, I can do the same on a cummins, and if I break it, I can get under the hood to fix it. You can't do it on the 6.0 Fords. Im not bashing, but damn, I only see this type of heavily cramped engine bays in little tiny import cars.

The plans were to start building on this truck, but the old man wants a new truck with a warranty, and the fact that they are hard to work on doesnt help things.

Another thing, the auto tranny in this thing scares the hell out of me, I do not trust it. (Doesn't help that we have already replaced 2 tranny mounts. Yea, it doesnt get real soft treatment some of the time)

 

the torqshift??? for serious? ya see, i've only ever heard good things about them from everybody, their mom, and their dog! like i say, i avoid autos so i wouldn't know. never even driven one, frankly. i've heard the 48RE is better than the old 47RE, but don't know enough guys who have them. now a kid at school has a 99 cummins and he installed the edge on it with 5" exhaust and injector tips and he's toasted the turbo and a transfer case. plus he's eating tires.

 

Yes it is the torque-shift. We bought this used from a dealer, and wasn't real sure what kind of life it had before us.

And as for using EDGE on a cummins??? That's not usually the best idea...... I prefer a Banks 6-Gun for our cummins...