Combines Cummins vs Duramax vs Powerstroke

[Adam_Pars]

The Cummins is by far the best engine in any pickup in the US. Duramax's and the 6.0 Powerstrokes are plagued with many problems. Adam Parsons

 

[dakota]

A friend of mine bought a new Ford this summer. On the way from the dealership the powerstroke died. He turned the key and it ran again. It still dies randomly and no one can figure out why. Every other person I know owning a Ford has a story to tell. A lady I know had tranny problems,that nobody could fix. Ford finnally bought her pickup back. We have an 88 Ford 460. Trying to get parts is a nightmare. We have a better chance at Auto Zone than any Ford dealer. A guy here in town runs a Duramax 3500 always loaded heavy and pulls trailers frequently. He has it for about three years now and only good things to say. I have 87,000 on my 2001 Dodge and only good things to report. I have a jake brake on it and a chip. It's great. I pull a 45' camper during summer. My boss traded his two year old Dodge for a new one and paied only $6600 difference.

 

[cornman]

Dont buy the duramax, it is the best driving and riding of all, but will not stand up to hard work, mine is an 04 with 9000 miles and has already spent 7 days in the shop, chevrolet finally got it running good enough that i could use it a few weeks duiring soybean harvest, but told me to bring it back as soon as i could. it sounds terrible even pulling a small fuel trailer. its a great driving truck, but just cant cut it pulling heavy loads

 

[r72]

Stay with the dodge it will out pull the other two. The ford is all right but has problems. The duramax is not worth nothing. My father in law had one he finaly got ride of it and bought a dodge. When he got ride of it it only had 20000 km on it. The wire harness was changed, all electical stuff were changed the computer and finaly the engine, still it did not fix the problem he was having.

 

[polarbear]

i picked up a 03 d-max in very late april of this yr...Ive been very happy w_it...Ive pulled our 1480;s 22.5ft grain head, and our 2188 8row 1063 head, and didnt stutter at all. im a big time ford fan as well w_my dad having a 7.3, my uncle just traded his 7.3 in for 6.0. But i like chevy's ride, interior, and 4x4 system....Allison is nice too... All that said i wont knock the cummins...The engine as many of you prolly know the is pretty much the same engine that Case (and maybe others) ran in there at least older maxxums like 51_5200 series...weve got 3 of them that have been big time absued by some our mexi. and they have hardly skiped a beat. Im simply not a fan of there styling...in or out

 

[Big_Green]

My powerstroke is a 7.3 2002 model and it blows the 24 valve cummins away but I dont no bout the new ones, We have 2 6.0's and they pull like crazy, man they are runnin suckers, I chipped mine and it is now close to a 6.0 but i blew the cummins away before i chipped it. The big problem with dodge is there weak automatic. I guess we will see if the 6.0 is durable but i KNOW the 7.3 is!!

 

[Gleamer]

Cummins will eat these guys up in durability, They have about 80% more bearing surfaces on the crank (the guts of the motor). A v8 of the same cubes has the potential to make more hp but put all that on a small crank and it doesnt mean a thing. Duramax is really Izuzu, they were spinning bearings when introduced, to pull an injector you have to pull the head, what a joke. The power joke has a variable vain turbo, not durable at all, too many moving parts. If you look at what is moving freight up and down the highway they are not v8's. The B series cummins are rated to 60,000 gww's, the others are rated at 30,000 gvw's. Dodge has had 11 Cummins run over 1 million miles and dozens over 500,000.I am a Dodge man, always have been, and would gladly buy either of the other before anything Japanese. One other thing, and I think I am still young enough to say this(bumper sticker said)...... I would rather be cummin that strokin................haaa

 

[TwinSilvers]

I have a 7.3 powerstroke in my 97 F350 and I totally agree that this engine sure performs. Dodge definitely has a problem with thier automatics; - not a reliability issue, it's just that you can "red-line" the cummins while the truck just "creeps" away. There's all kinds of power thier that just can't be consumed.

 

[TwinSilvers]

I have a friend who traded his 2000 Dodge Cummins on a 2003 Duramax; - he regrets it everyday but can't get reasonable trade-in value for his Duramax. Alot of tranny problems too, which surprises me since the tranny is an Alliston.

 

[theredgreenshow]

I have driven two Dodge Cummins pickups over about 300,000 miles. Three years ago, I was looking to get a new one and test drove a new Chevy with the Allison and the 8.1 gas motor and I ended up buying one. What I liked most was the transmission and the fact that it shifts when I think it should. It will actually drop 2 gears on a downhill grade to hold the speed back. I have just short of 120,000 miles on it and have only had to replace a wheel bearing and a seal in the transmission (under warranty). I even still have the original brakes on it. This winter I will probably do the brakes, rotors and shocks. The engine has run flawlessly and has great power. I run a full KandN intake and dualled the exhaust out to let it breathe. I get between 10 and 11 mpg on the farm, hauling all of my stuff in the back, in and out of fields and so on. The Duramax's power is good, but what I hear is that when they are turned up, they can't hold together. A friend of mine bought a pickup almost identical to mine except that he got the diesel and he only gets 13 mpg on the farm. When you look at the price of road diesel, he pays just as much to drive as I do. I test drove a new Dodge with the 600 motor and was very impressed with the fit and finish and power. By the way....I will put my '94 Dodge up against about ANY other pickup. I'd say it has about 375 horsepower and close to 800 pounds of torque. lOTS of fun to drive.