My 2 cents on subject I agree those new duramaxs' look,ride,and (if you like quiet) sound good too! My old 98 cummins 12V looks rough,rides rough,but we don't know how those new duramaxs' will ride,look,and sound after pulling a 3 car wedge for over 300K miles now do we???? (98 dodge Quad Cab CTD 12V 5 Speed ) vacarman02
Dodge is better Its whats under the hood, then personal preference. Think about it like this. While I may not be the first one to the top of the hill, I can do with 6 cylinders what you do with 8 and I probably squeez a few more mpg's doing it. And if V8 diesels were built for pulling, every KW, Pete and frieghtliner out there would have something other than a STRAIT 6! waytogo Brian
While I would agree with this in OTR trucks, and would also agree with pickups if everyone that owned a diesel pickup were loaded down at max GCWR all the time. What the Ford and especially the Dmax guys say is that the V8's are better when empty for around town and acceleration and that the ISB isn't king because these pickups are used as cars by most people, not loaded down like an OTR truck 24/7. While I've never actually seen any benifets in person of having one of the two V8's when empty that is claimed by their owners over an ISB.....I will say that they have strong grounds to say that the V8 diesels are just as good as the ISB in a light truck simply because they aren't loaded hardly ever, which is where the ISB shines.
Yes and OTR trucks have Inline 6's for ease of maintenence, economy, and reliability. As everybody knows these trucks rack up more miles in a year than a diesel pickup will travel in a lifetime. The reason at least IMO, for V8 diesels in pickups is exactly what Bobby said. They are all great motors no matter what.
Actually, there are several people out there with 300K on their D-maxs and still running strong. I wont argue with the fact that the Cummins will generally last longer, thats a great engine. But, I had a 95 12 valve 5 speed with 300k on it. The engine still ran strong, but the rest of the truck was falling apart. I think the Cummins is slight better than the dmax in fuel mileage and longevity, but we have an 03 cummins and my 02 Dmax pulls better. If the 03 had a manual it might be a different story, I just prefer GM. By the way, the 98 12 valve is a bad a$$ engine, thats a good truck you have. You can get more power out of that engine for alot cheaper than any other diesel engine out there.
I disagree on the personal preference. I think its just the opposite. I dont think it matters what under the hood. I have a GM not for the DMAX, but for the actual truck. I wanted a bigger back seat and smoother ride for all the hunting and 4 wheeling I do. I love the brand wars and the competition, but anymore, you really cant go wrong with the PSD, DMAX, or Cummins. There all good. Im not disagreeing with you on the big rigs. All our tractors have inlines for a reason. I just like the way the V8's run on the highway with a load better than the ilines.
6 feet?? must have been a soft landing. Jumping 1 maybe 2 feet in a blazer with 33" tires bent a 1/2 ton axle tube (axle was from a burb). Lots of guys are comparing old trucks to new trucks, definitely not apples to apples. The new Dodges and GM's are light years ahead of the older trucks (I have no real experience with Fords other than POS work trucks). While IFS is arguably better on the street, when test driving 2005 3/4 tons the Chevy ride was disappointing, it seemed no better than the Dodge. With so many guys saying how much better they rode, maybe I was expecting too much? GM needs better brakes. And for the Dodge quad cab vs GM crew cab argument, well you'd think we are talking about a few feet! IIRC the Dodge quad cab is in the middle between the Chevy extended and crew cabs, so your talking less than 3", big deal. GM is somewhat over priced (gotta pay for all those retirees) and the styling just plain sucks. Was it GM that had no snow plow prep with the diesel, wtf is that?? GMs are also the most car like imho. Nothing wrong with that, but having a center console in a real pickup is just wrong. Now if GM were to make a 3/4 ton Avalanche, based on the 2002 model year and refrain from cladding the thing in cheesy plastic and put in the Dmax (with good injectors) and sell it for a reasonable price.......
I won't comment on the IFS except to say the ride on mine is noticeably better than any of the others I test drove in '02, but mainly it's the solid handling/steering (particularly on "washboard" and really rough roads) and “whoops” that makes me an IFS fan. GM brakes after '01 are rather good IMO. No idea how they stack up against the competition in hard numbers, but I lost my trailer brakes at some point while down in NM a year or so ago with about 15K gross. Didn't even realize I lost them until I tried (and succeeded) to make a last minute decel for an off-ramp when my daughter announced a need to stop and I knew it was MILES to the next stop. Big fat 4 wheel disks and anti-lock and drum e-brake has been flawless on my '02. Good enough for my needs... And as an owner of a 98 Dodge quad cab which was replaced with the ’02 GM crew, I can assure you that the rear seat plus head and leg room of my CC is MUCH bigger than the QC, as can my 6’2”+ son who often rides back there. I do agree on the console. I really wanted my Silverado with cloth and a 40/20/40 bench like my Dodge. I really miss the cloth seats and bench. Not much I have to say about the Avalanche that would not be considered rude, so I’ll pass…
It was hard to get the picture at the right time. I wish we would have had video and then just taken a clip. Top picture is in Patterson, CA and bottom is in Long Barn by Sonora, CA. The first picture was only a couple of feet in the air. The bottom was around 6 foot or more. The hill I am jumping was about 6 foot high. The truck did land smooth and always landed on all four wheels at the same time.
I have pictures of my buddies 1975 Blazer jumping and he always did a nose dive. And so did my friends girlfriends jeep. My Sub always landed even.
