No, the Dodge is my first diesel and I'm very impressed. I could not stand the smell and noise of any diesel just a few years back, but they certainly have made some great changes.

 

My wife and I test drove F350's and 3500 Silverados before buying the Ram 3500 auto w/ 3.73 diff. We drove both standards and autos in 4:10 and 3:55 gearing. We decided on the auto mated with the 3.73 in the Dodge Ram 3500 for milage, ease of driving, and pulling capacity.

The dodge sales brochures for 06 didn't list a trailer tow rating for for the 3500's with standard transmitions. We were told this was because the older 6 speeds weren't holding up under the power output of the Cummins but that the standard tranny design had been modified to correct the problems. Interestingly enough the auto had been reengineered for 06 to match up with the Cummins before the brochures were put out. If a person studies the torgue & hp curves the Cummins developes along with the tranny & rear end ratios two things are obvious. Chevy and Ford are burning more fuel in 8 cylinders @ a lot higher rpm to match the torque and hp the Cummins produces burning less fuel in 6 holes at lower rpms.

If you were buying a Chevy or Ford you'd want the 4:10 gearing but matched with the Cummins toque and hp bands the Dodge auto 4 speed and the 3.73 appear to cover the entire range of speeds from 0 - 70 with large amounts of uniform torque and horse power while offering maximum fuel economies. The standard will offer better milage only if you keep your foot off the pedal. This is my first auto but in over 25 years of driving standard truck trannies I was never able to keep my foot off the pedal while pulling a load to start out easy and slowly build rpm.s and I always tackled hills at 2800 to 3000 rpm's in the highest gear I could get away with.

My 2 cents worth is that if you are driving light footed and running empty the standard will get better milage than the auto but loaded both will handle any reasonable load you want to pull with similar fuel consumption.

 

Don, the move from the NV5600 to the G56 was a weight and cost issue with dodge. the NV5600 is MASSIVE and weighs around 600 pounds DRY. the g56 is not as large, only tips the scale around 350-400. Yes the G56 is rated to handle higher torque loads, however Ive seen the NV5600 hold up very well when put behind the engine of a drag truck putting out over 850horse and in excess of 1500lb-ft torque and the only change was dropping the stock aluminum bell houseing.

the 48RE is exactly the same frrom when it was first introduced back in 03(I think) the only mechanical change was a thrust washer in the tail shaft that was preventing oiling to the rear bearings, but that was changed VERY early on. the largest change has been to the programming of the 48RE and in 06 you could mate an exhaust brake to it without any extra boxes.

I still have my doubts of the G56, but so far it seems to be holding up quite well to some major engine modifications.

 

chevy diesles suck! my dad owned one and 3mos later bought a dodge 2500 cummins. lol

 

btw he is a industrial/commercial roofer so he hauls a big load every week.. at least 5000-12000lbs each trailer which prolly weights 1500lbs or more.