Which Crew Cab One Ton Diesel?

What New Diesel Crewcab Should I Buy?

  • Buy the Chevy / GMC

    Votes: 58 31.7%

  • Buy the Dodge

    Votes: 49 26.8%

  • Buy the Ford

    Votes: 72 39.3%

  • Buy something else...

    Votes: 4 2.2%
  • Total voters
    183

KenR

Member
Feb 20, 2002
193
0
Air filters

I spent about a year researching the air filter issue and decided on the UniFilter over the K&N, for the reason you stated gasgasman.
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5
gasgasman said:
Just think where all that extra dirt is going.

The diesel techs at the dealership I work at just love customers that intall K+N filters in their trucks. :yeehaw:
Click to expand...

Considering the filter is loaded w/ dirt, I'd say right there. I know any cleanable/oiled filter has to be done right, something many of the general public doesn't want to do, so they don't. I've found some research that shows when cleaned and OILED properly it is as effective as anything out there, suggesting that the above scenario of lazy maintenance more of a problem than anything. Plus a little hint, 50K is way too long of an interval for cleanings (as the K&N instructions recommend).
 
J

Jhed

Member
Jan 24, 2004
7
0
The 5.9 liter cummins motor in the dodge is by far the best motor ( between cummins, powerstroke (choke) or the duramax) If you really want some power buy the 5.9 and then get a chip. they've just come out with a new chip that will give you a total of 450 hp and well over 900ft lbs of torque. all for 700 bucks.. it is true about the dodge auto though.. it just wont hold up to the cummins.. gotta get a standard
 
J

Jhed

Member
Jan 24, 2004
7
0
"like the 7.3 as it is proven reliable and power upgrades get it to 725 ft/lbs of torque w/ 370-380 hp w/out any turbo or exhaust changes...I like it. Plus my 7.3 is still getting 17-19mpg. Cab comfort is top notch, w/ the Chevy close behind for our groups tastes. "

Its all bette in the dodge. more hp, more torque, and better mileage.. My work truck is a 2001 dodge 1 ton with a few performance mods.. 160,000 and it runs better every day.. ohh, I also get around 24 mpg.... 18 mpg with a trailer (13k lbs) :laugh:
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5
Hmm...I don't know Jhed, $300 for 120hp and 200ft lbs of torque that requires no tools, about 2 minutes to upgrade or return to stock, plus we haven't even touched the exhaust. For $400 less with no tranny problems I'll take it, more than enough power for me plus I don't feel like I'm riding in a school bus ala Dodge flavor. I spent two weeks in a Dodge when my truck was stolen and that was the most uncomfortable truck w/ overrated engine I've ever driven. I don't know maybe my rental was a lemon. Defintely soured me on Dodge.
 
N

NVR FNSH

~SPONSOR~
Oct 31, 2000
1,235
0
Jhed,
Which chip is giving you 450hp w/o any other mods? And what happens to the EGT?

Brian
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5
I sure wish ol Jhed would give us the supplier for this chip...I'm really interested in this companies' product claims
 
C

Camstyn

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 3, 1999
2,246
2
FWIW there are companies making chips for the duramax that will get to 450 RWHP and 800+ ft/lb torque, one example being the Quadzilla Stealth Tuner. The Allison needs some help to hold that much power though. There are a few guys getting 700+ RWHP out of them already. Apparently the stock Allison is good for 365hp/700tq (~425/750 at crank) if not abused too hard.
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5
Yeah, they have tuners out for all of the Big 3 auto makers which make huge numbers, but nobody has figured out what to do with all the heat and torque generated w/ respect to the tranny during normal /heavy use. In my mind, a simple add-on like a tuner is a true worthwhile add-on as long as I don't have to touch anything else. $ for $ the tunes that keep the rear wheel HP around 400 and the torque in the 700-800ft/lb range are worth the money. Once you get into the 900+ torque range, the trannies fail, the exhaust is needing more room to breathe and the heat goes sky high. I know there are nastier tuners out there in terms of getting more hp and torque, but it doesn't translate well into a good daily driver...and it is NOT limited to any one company (Ford, GM, or Dodge)
 

njdrtrdr

Member
Dec 10, 2002
84
1
If you don't need a full crew cab, go with the dodge, it's the most bang for the buck. The ford crew cab is huge, the dodge is comparable to the back seat of a midsize car.
I think the dodge is least expensive and proven cummins reliabilty, you can also get the one ton in a single rear wheel.
One other thing to notice at least with the 4X4 the Ford needs a much bigger area to turn, the turning radius sucks compared to the dodge.

I've driven both quite a bit and now own a 04 Dodge 2500
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5

Yeah the turning radius does indeed blow, I've often caught myself singing "Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around...", probably shouldn't have fessed that up huh?
 
C

Camstyn

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 3, 1999
2,246
2
PS, if you're after a single rear wheel true 1-ton, the Dodge only comes in crewcab/SHORTbox combination.. The Chevy only comes in anycab/LONGbox combination, and the Ford comes in all shapes and sizes. Might narrow it down a bit.
 
K

ktmboy

~SPONSOR~
Apr 1, 2001
2,470
0
CR Swade said:
Yeah the turning radius does indeed blow, I've often caught myself singing "Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around...", probably shouldn't have fessed that up huh?
Click to expand...

LOL! My service truck for the winter (I service Wrightwood, a local Mtn. resort area) is a Ford E250 4x4 van which I've appropriately nicknamed the 'Exxon Valdez'! I've gotten pretty quick at my 5 point turns! :laugh:
 
S

skipro3

Mod Ban
Dec 14, 2002
902
0
My neighbor is the supervisor of the garage for our local electric company. He has told me that he is having a heck of a time keeping the dodge trucks running well. They started using Ford PowerStroke and the only issue he has with them is that they use oil under load. Remember, these trucks get heavy use, especially the bucket trucks and pole setting trucks. He also told me that under normal private owner use, the oil consumption would not be as much of a problem. He personnally owns a
Chevy and tows a boat but would now get the Ford if he had a choice to do it again. This guy seems to know his business. He just build a free standing garage on his property. (Across the street from me) It is 36ft by 64ft and has a lift installed!! That was pretty cool watching that get installed and built.
Has anyone else polled commercial fleet owners as to a preference and why they would choose one manufacturer over another?
 
T

Tony Williams

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Mar 23, 2000
592
0
Camstyn said:
PS, if you're after a single rear wheel true 1-ton, the Dodge only comes in crewcab/SHORTbox combination.. The Chevy only comes in anycab/LONGbox combination, and the Ford comes in all shapes and sizes. Might narrow it down a bit.
Click to expand...

For Chevy, 2004 is the first year for the one ton single rear wheel combo.

I wasn't aware that is was only a long box. The dealer has told me different.
 
B

bsmith

Wise master of the mistic
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jun 28, 2001
1,779
0
My neighbor is the supervisor of the garage for our local electric company. He has told me that he is having a heck of a time keeping the dodge trucks running well
Click to expand...

This does not sound like your typical cummins? :think:
Is the shop running the diesels? You don't build a reputation for reliabilty by not being able to get them running right.
I'm not trying to sound defensive, but all three I have run have never missed a beat!!!
 
M

MACE

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 13, 1999
441
0
What I've found so far...

Thanks for all the input.

I thought I'd share some of the data and opinions I've gathered so far.

My wife and two kids went out with me to test drive trucks and I have been reading a lot on the truck forums.

Ford F2(3)50:
The back cab on this thing is awesome. Kids love it. It drove ok and had a lot of zip after a one second lag for the turbo to spool. The interior is pretty bland. The Ford Truck forums are full of people having problems with the 6.0 engine. Ford had to buy back a bunch of '03s on lemon laws. The problems were leaky injectors that put diesel into the crank case, leaky rear main seals (very common) and surging idle speeds. Ford mandated a computer "reflash" for all '03 and '04 6.0L which made the trucks slower, louder and reduced the fuel economy about 20%. Yuck. MSRP is the highest of the lot. I discovered that the only difference between the F250 and F350 is the door load sticker and the standard tires. Towing capacity is identical according to the specs. Oh yeah, it costs $1000 more for the sticker. I don't really have a problem with this because we do the same thing in the airplane business. Sell the identical rig with lower certified capacity for less money. The higher capacity rig is likely to have harder use and higher waranty claims so charge more. It seems like drivers were getting 17ish mpg on highway prior to reflash and 13-15 after the reflash. I demand better than that in the truck I will buy if I'm dropping $3K for the diesel engine.

Chevy:
I'm not real comfortable with aluminum heads on a turbocharged application. I seem to not be considering the Chevy to strongly - maybe some anti GM bias coming through. My brother in law has had nitemares with his 'Burban (and keeps on buying them :ohmy: ...) Anyway we stopped at a dealer and the salesman acted like we were bothering him just to let us sit in the truck let alone drive it. They had those assinine second stickers as well. I'll never go back. Idiots deserve to go bankrupt... Anyway, the kids were all whiney in the Chev after riding in the Ford limo.

Dodge:
I really liked the Dodge as a driver. The engine is a straight six and there was a LOT more room around it in the engine bay. The truck we drove was a manual transmission which I like. I think an automatic would actually be faster in a drag because the gear ratios are close enough together that it was hard to pull the next gear before over-rev. The 555ft-lb engine seems to run like a champ according to the Dodge truck boards but the 04 1/2 update to 600ft-lb seems to be having some driveability issues - requiring "reflash" of the ECU (yikes - Ford style). I found the handling to be a lot more "fun" than the Ford. Just felt livelier. The Achiles heal - the kids hate the back seat. The stupid Dodge is little better than an "extra-cab". The Dodge is significantly lower priced than the Ford.

So...... I don't know. I want the room of the Ford with a sorted out 600ft-lb Cummins. I am stronly thinking about finding a nice used F-2(3)50 with the 7.3L and manual transmission. If Dodge comes out with a real crew cab next few years I'll buy a new one.

Stupid Dodge. Stupid Ford. :think:
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5
It's hard to go wrong w/ the 7.3, take it for what it's worth, but I purposely stayed away from the first-year-engine-blues w/ the 6.0. They'll get them ironed out as the 7.3 and the Dodge had issues when new also.
 

nikki

Moto Junkie
Apr 21, 2000
5,802
1
MACE - where are the "ford forums" where you read about all the 6.0L stuff?

Reason I ask is we have an '04 (which actually has an '03 motor because they were still using those in Sept.) and it was acting funny around 10k miles. When cold, you'd start it and it would chug like crazy until warm. Our '00 7.3L never did that I don't think. Then the '04 started shutting off on us like when we'd be driving for a while and come to a complete stop. The idle never seemed to get real low, it would just shut off.

So we took it back to the dealer 2 weeks ago and they "reprogrammed" the computer. I'm sure it was the "reflash" which you speak of. And this weekend we put on 600 miles or so pulling a 26' toy hauler and got a whopping 9.5 MPG. Seemed rather low, but we never paid attention to what we were getting pulling the trailer prior to the reprogram. We do know we were getting 17-18 mpg highway (without trailer) so we were going to check that again this week and see how it does. My guess is it won't do that well and that sucks. We were going to take it back to the dealer about the decreased mpg but after reading your post, it sounds like there is no solution. Sucks because our '00 7.3L Ford consistently got 17-19 mpg highway and 12-13 mpg pulling at 24' race trailer. :|
 

CR Swade

~SPONSOR~
Jan 18, 2001
1,764
5

How long ago did you change your oil? These have oil pressure actuated injectors which cause all of the above problems you metioned when the oil is overdue on change out
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,765
1
Nikki this is pretty much the Powerstroke equivilant of DRNhttp://forums.thedieselstop.com
 
N

NVR FNSH

~SPONSOR~
Oct 31, 2000
1,235
0
Dodge & kid seats:
I don't know if this a problem with the '03+ body style but in my '00 Dodge quad cab you can't put the passenger seat all the way back - okay, it pretty much had to all the way forward - if there is a toddler (almost 3 YO kid) car seat behind it. I don't know if this is specific to my neighbors car seat or not.

Brian
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,765
1
I'm REALLY happy that I have my 7.3 Powerstroke with all the new engines and changes that are currently being brought out. The Duramax is all new (in the grand scheme of things) just like the 6.0 Ford and even the Cummins is running a different fueling system. Nope, I've got my 7.3 a little juiced up and plan to do a few more things to carry me through about the next 4 or 5 years when most of this should be settled. Sure I'll have about 250,000 miles on it but it will just be getting broke in :)
 
T

TooBadBrad

Member
Jan 31, 2003
55
0
If you get a Ford now I don't think you'll have any problems. Mine was a May 03 build and has been trouble free (10k). It runs GREAT, unbelivable power. After the emmissions reflash I'm getting 16-17 empty 12-14 towing a 25ft trailer with the bed loaded too. This is real milage, not figures from the overhead computer. I think you could get 18-20 if you can keep your foot out of it and drive at 55mph. Mines a F250 supercab 4x4 tourque shift
 
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