So, I haven't been lurking around here lately. I have got rid of the cummins bug and have just been working my summer away. Anyway, one of my buddies that I work with just bought a 97 Ford diesel truck. It has 140,000 miles, 7.3L powerstroke with a turbo. With a leveling kit. 35's, and a 4" exhaust, this thing is a beast. It sounds like a huge semi or dump truck rolling by, it is so loud. I love it! I don't want to get down on Cummins or anything (still won't touch a Chevy though) Anyway, I was thinking, can a Cummins 5.9L (sounds kind of small next to a 7.3L (size wise)) even be compared to a 7.3L, do they have the same amount of power? Torque?
Thanks

 

The cummins has more torque and can be built to have a heck of alot more power

 

Here's my 2 cents worth. I had a '99 powerstroke that I traded in for a '05 cummins. The powerstroke is around 250hp/500ftlb stock. You can make good power with it, just need alot of cash. It is also a expensive and complecated motor to work on (they love to chew up cam position sensors and high pressure oil pumps). It made me miss my 454 chevy. The cummins is easier to work on, cheaper (almost bulletproof dependable), and can make insane amounts of power over and above the powerstroke. Most drag trucks are cummins powered. As for big rig sound, there are alot of big trucks running BIG cummins 6's, and if rattle is what you want, pick up an earlier model dodge. But, if you do get a powerstroke, by all means, stay away from the 6.0! The 7.3 is the best version of the series, with the non-turbo version getting a little better milage.

 

I know 3 people with 6.0 powerstrokes and all 3 wish they had not bought them. One of them has been in the shop longer than he has had possession of it. Literally! that is no joke. He bought it last summer and it has been in the shop more days than he has had possession. The thing that really sucks is that it is a 450 and those are considered commercial vehicles and the lemon law does not apply. The other 2 people have had numerous injector problems. One of them recently asked me how many miles I had on my truck. I said 172k and he said mine Ford has 54k and I don't trust it to tow anymore, how can you trust yours? I said "Its a Cummins".

Also, when I bought my 01 used with 20k miles, my boss bought a brand new Ford 6.0 the same week. He did not have it but 5 days and it started knocking like it was going to throw a rod. He took it back to the dealer and they tore the engine down! I mean my boss went over there and the pistons, cam, rods and everything else was laying out on the floor of the service bay. They put it back together and said that there was nothing wrong with it. They kept it 29 days (30 in TN and the lemon law takes effect). He told them that he was not going to take posesion of it until they put a new engine in it. They went round and round and he finally hired an attorney, got his new engine about 9 months later for about $4k of attorney fees.

That's my Ford story and why I will never own one.

 

The town I live in used to be almost all fords years ago... Now it is Dodge country for sure, these farmers need a motor that will work hard and last so 90% of all the trucks you see are Dodge CTD's.

 

I say buy what you wanna buy! Go hang out on the ford powerstroke forums and talk **** all day about how great your truck is compared to the piece of crap Dodges.
Its a free world and your money. Just remember at some pointYOU made the decision, WE DIDN'T!!!!
I am not going to twist your arm, or beg you to buy a Dodge...in fact I think you should go buy what your buddy has so you will be better accepted among your friends, you should be a lemming and do what everyone else does instead of what you want.
Good luck

 

I say buy what you want. when I bought my CTD, I was ignorant to diesel. I just know that I have ridden in all three dodge, ford and chevy. the others were 1 tons and modded from old supervisors when I did construction. I stuck with dodge because I had a 1500 I traded in and it grew on me. I now love the Cummins and imo made the right choice. I have been to a lot of forums, read a lot of magazines, talked to a lot of truck drivers and the Cummins is the motor to have. Again buy what you want and what will make you happy. I am happy with my truck and look forward to many years of fun.

 

The Cummins Turbo Diesel is the most reliable, most dependable, and most easily modded diesel motor you can buy in a pickup. Personally, the only thing that could improve upon the Ram CTD would be an Allison transmission.....

You can do all kinds of modifications to any truck, and they would all sound cool. You should ask some of the guys to post up sound clips of their trucks, it's ridiculous....

As for power and torque....I've seen Cummins motors pushing 500hp/1000ftlbs of torque....with very little in the way of substantial mods...
Our Ram section moderator, Drew, is running this in his Ram - 392hp 716tq on the stock clutch

One last thing, the Cummins motor is an inline 6 cylinder motor. Both the Duramax and Powerstrokes are V8/V10 motors...and the Cummins motor has been the same design for decades...


First off, you should seriously check your attitude and your disrespect at the door. He didnt come on here bragging, talking trash, or even disrespecting. He asked some legitimate questions and was being really cool about it. This type of crap is what's wrong with most forums in the first place, and it will not be tolerated. My suggestion to you is that you offer an apology.

 

F*CK FORD!! i started w/my company in a 7.3L 1ton chassis cab- i thought it was gonna be a hell of a ride... until i got the steel utility bed/crane installed... what a piece of sh*t- i bet i could've taken off running faster than that ford would move, it felt like that pos wouldn't pull a feather off a chickens ***. not to mention i onlygot like 8mpg.....

i later got a 1ton dodge ram- the same bed (more tools)didn't affect the performance as much and i still got fairly decent fuel mileage, between 11-15mpg... only thing about the dodge is that i kept breaking shackles, leaf springs, and even the frame (x3)...

an inline configuration is always gonna spank a V-bore. they're just flat-out more efficient and powerful... cummins and powerchoke are not comparable in the sense that ford hasn't evolved yet enough to compete [sm=lildevil.gif]

 

i drive an 07 F450 powerchoke everyday for work andi can't stand this f*ckin truck... poor acceleration, poor fuel mileage, poor everything... the only i'll give ford is that their frames will hold up against anything- my 450 weighs in @ 17,500lbs loaded and i still use my 4,000lb crane and tow loads up to 14,000lbs... i hope my company will conside going back to dodge since their release of the 4500 and 5500 series!!