Ram 5500 or F550???

[FireFighterZero]

I remember nudie calendars.

Used to get little pickup size calenders too.

I still like the pickup calendars, but no more naked women. Sad.

 

[Dave Shepard]

The 6.7 Ford, and I've heard some Duramax's, are prone to fuel system failure due to water in the fuel, and then Ford and GM void your warranty to the tune of 17k or something like that. Total BS, as only an inferior filter system would let the water in in the first place. 98.5-02 Cummins used a poor lift pump design that would fail and ruin the injection pump, so an aftermarket pump and filter was the solution. On later common rail Cummins the pump filter combos are for people making above stock horsepower.

 

[sotc]

Yeppie, I had the FASS on my 01 and just a low pressure fuel gauge to monitor my lift pump. No troubles

 

[Merle Nelson]

https://youtu.be/I2umztArJXg

I guess people are just putting these on as insurance to try and prevent expensive fuel caused problems.

 

[flashover604]

I cant afford anything new, so I buy used.

Luckily, I am such a good mechanic I could fix a neutered cat.

I thought that would make them fixed already?

 

[FireFighterZero]

Haha! He will be good as new when I get finished.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Thanks for all the input guys. I went with the Ram, should have it in a couple of weeks. I am going to have a hooklift unit installed and have more versatility with a chip bed and two dumpster boxes to haul heavy wood.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Cool. Hope it serves you well.

Dodge really has gotten away from the old image in the last few years.

 

[cory]

Thanks for all the input guys. I went with the Ram, should have it in a couple of weeks. I am going to have a hooklift unit installed and have more versatility with a chip bed and two dumpster boxes to haul heavy wood.

Nice!

What do you move/load the heavy wood with?

 

[Dave Shepard]

Interesting comparison. Not surprised the Cummins produced more, as a percentage of rated torque, than the others, as the Cummins has always been rated using a different specification than the other two. In the long run, I don't think 20 or 30 ft-lbs means crap when you are comparing trucks. Let's face it, 900+ ft-lbs is a lot of torque. If you are going to have an issue with a truck, it's probably going to be something else.

https://youtu.be/emJcrYuJArg

 

[flushcut]

 

[Altissimus]

Just bought another used power company truck ... Choice was Dodge or Ford. Went w Dodge Bros... Have had had three GMC's and this will by my third Dodge. Parts are a squeak more expensive , whatever. Both companies make good trucks I figure.

 

[SkwerI]

Late to the party here but I'd be hesitant to buy any new diesel right now. Comparable to buying any gas engine car in 1986-1990 when fuel injection was introduced for fuel economy and emissions. Down on power, lots of expensive problems and low reliability. The new diesels are stupid strong but also stupid expensive and I simply refuse to pour in synthetic piss to clean the exhaust.

On the bigger medium duty trucks Cummins is the only one left that can produce a reasonably reliable engine and still meet EPA requirements (assuming they aren't cheating). The Ford 6.7 Ford is pretty sweet but I can't afford $70K for a pickup truck.

When shopping for my second bucket truck this year I was looking at mostly 7-9 year old trucks (off lease). My choice boiled down to a dozen Ford F550s with the 6.0 or a single solitary Chevy C5500 with the Duramax diesel. The Fords were all $52K each with mileage ranging from 97K-200K miles. The Chevy was 54K miles and only $42K. I bought the Chevy.

2008 was the first year of the Tier 2 emissions on the Chevy and it would dump extra fuel into the exhaust to burn off the catalytic converter. It did this at least once a day and more often when running in city traffic or with the PTO (virtually all of my driving). It was undriveable in the current state which explained the low miles. Once I deleted the EGR and tuned it (along with replacing the bad fan clutch) it has been absolutely delightful.

I'm currently looking at buying a chipper which means I'll need a chip truck soon. Although I've been a Ford fan all my life I would really like another Duramax, preferably a 2006-2010. Second choice is an Isuzu cabover diesel. But the Duramax will pull my dump trailer without a second thought and the Isuzu transmissions aren't known for holding up when pulling heavy trailers.

 

[BOTS]

I would never own or recommend owning a 6.4 if anyone's shopping second hand. They are widely known to be a replacement only motor as you described Willie. There's a reason it was only around for three years.

The only Ford diesel I own is a 7.3 and I have four fords.

Yep, 6.4 and 6.0 are absolutely the worst diesels ever..Ford should have recalled them junkers in the beginning and I say this as a Ford fan.
In diesel, I only own the 7.3 PSD and love it

 

[Merle Nelson]

Loading with an Avant 528 Carl sent me Cory.

That is an interesting youtube video Dave, I hadn't seen it. It's amazing hearing about the boost in power people are getting from the components the company produces where they dyno tested. I rented a Ram with a 12 foot dump bed and hauled logs for a day and don't anticipate wanting any more power than they come with stock. But, fun to know what you could do.

 

[treebilly]

Brian last I heard the duramax is an Isuzu diesel. I could be mistaken though. I will say an Allison transmission is hard to beat.

 

[SkwerI]

Yes the Duramax is made by Isuzu (or with their help). The truck is almost 20K lbs and drives like a very fast pickup truck.