hey everyone ive finally decided to sell my 2005 f250 5.4 that was bought new to buy a used truck. my dad says im nuts but i want a diesel. anyway, i cant decide between chevy or dodge. my dad has a chevy and its a good truck. nobody in my family has a dodge. alot of mechanics around here say to stay away from dodge becasue of the actual truck. they say the cummins though is amazing. i like a duramax alot just dont like the ifs. guys and gals, i need some honest to goodness help. please dont say dodge just cause u have one. be honest im beggin u. im young and crazy and cant afford to lay down alot of money and have a pos truck. thanks everybody

 

What exactly do you want to know?

 

Well, my buddy has a duramax and I have the cummins. I have to say, the dodge is more of a truck all the way around. It seems like it has a heavier suspension and becuase of that it doesnt ride quite as well as the chevy. The chevy seems more like a truck for passengers than a pure truck. Powerwise, they both have got it, although the cummins seems to have more low end grunt. I like the look of the dodge better and I like the solid front axle too. I also like the fact that the cummins is not made by isuzu. I'd say drive both and see what you like better.

 

every year is going to have its issues. . .is the truck good. . .I have yet to see the dealer for any true issue since I drove off the lot 50,000 miles ago.

your best place to start looking at what you want would be to hit up message boards and look up the issues each manufacturer is having, and I'll go ahead and say the Cummins / Ram has fewer issues

right now for the 07 model year the new 6.7L engine is having a few issues, however they are mostly emissions probelms dealing with the filter in the exhaust. this is being worked on openly, and dealers will tell you this is an issue. the 5.9L's that have been run for so many years are good engines, but every generation has it's own problems. the 03-07.4's have injectors problems, lift pump issues, ball joint problems, and u-joint's going out. 98.5-02's have a VERY bad reputation from the lift pumps, injector pumps, '53' block and tranny troubles. this is mostly where those who are uninformed think that just cause they saw 2-3 trucks with similar issues the whole fleet is bad. . .kinda throwing the baby out with the bath water there. 88-98.4 engines are fully mechanical and have the fewest engine issues, but have quite a few tranny troubles if you dont know the trany and that the pump doesnt run in park.

duramaxies are good engines, and have proven themselves just for their short existance. yea, Isuzu and GM have had serious teething problems, but alot of the issues have been worked out. . . . .for the most part. Where Cummins builds an indestructable engine, GM puts a tranny that holds the duramax very well. . .and almost too well since there are quite a few engine failures mainly due to the overheating of the aluminum heads.

ford. . .well. . .I dont need to go there from the 6.oh-no fiasco, then the 6.4's also haveing large turbo failures.

start with looking at the total number of problems and how many there are that have the same issue. . .that will be the first place to start about making an informed decision.

 

first off.. it's a dodge forum and if any of the regulars say "buy the chevy!" they'll get linched!so keep that in mind

im not sure about theolder chevy's/gmc's but i really didnt care for the interiors of the newer ones.. i looked at them..but never liked them enough to evengo for a test drive.. i think the allisontranny is the best thing they have going for them.. they seemed to be priced a lot higher.. the dodge 4x4 rides like a lumber wagon.. it's stiff .. but it's more of a work truck in my opinion.. i like the older body style of the chevy more than the new one.. plus.. who needs the extra moving parts of an 8 cylinder? dodge wins with looks.. motor.. interior.. and chevy wins with their tranny.. loses with it's IFS.. and looks (IMHO) ..
and ford? who would buy a vehicle from a company who's CEO publically admits they manufacture in inferior product? end of story.. buy the dodge!

 

Well done Drew !!

So well that I copied, pasted, and emailedyour explanation to a friend of mine who is also in a market for a diesel.

 

just doing my part

 

Now that you got the scientific facts from Prof Drew let me give you my experience ;o)

I have been a Chevy owner my entire life and absolutely loved my 1988 Chevy Silverado. I had no issues until the engine blew at 194k at which point I had it rebuilt and sold it in 2002 at which point I drove the new Silverado's and absolutely hated everything about them so I piddled around in my 1988 Honda Prelude until I could decide what I wanted to do. Well, my wife picked up on how much I loved the way the Ram's looked at the time from watching me when we were out so one weekend when I was off in San Diego playing softball I came home at 11pm only to find a brand new 2003 Dodge Hemi sitting in my driveway ;o) I have been hooked every since....Never even sat in one at that point and she went out and bought it for me. I sold my '03 HEMI in July and bought a 2007 5.9 CTD Mega Cab and needless to say I am in love. Never a mechanical issue from either truck, tons of space and the grill alone is enough to send a message to the "Powerchokes" thinking about it. There is nothing scientific about how I ended up with Dodge so the point of this post was well......I guess there was none!!!!!

 

thanks guys. i dont care what anybody says youns are the nicest group of people i have ever met online. i still havent made up my mind yet but i will before long

 

I think the IFS in the chevys is only the weak link if you start running over 37's. Arent the IfS's rated higher then the solid front axel dodges? I remember reading that somewhere but cant find it.