what are the major differences between the newer dodge, chevy, and ford 3/4 and 1 tons? What are the best and worst parts of the trucks? what are some of the problems with the competition?

I am just asking this because i am a die hardford guy and dont know anything about the competion and would like to learn a little of what we are up against?

thanks

 

I honestly think if you would like to really learn about the other brands, to check out some of their forums. Here you will get some honest opinions, and some blind loyalty from some guys.

I can tell you what I think about my 03 ford 3/4 ton though, and I can tell you what I have experienced with our shop 3/4 and 1 ton dodge trucks, and from what I had experienced with our old shop 3/4 ton duramax.

Ok Dodge. The ride in our shop trucks are terrible. After an hour or so of riding in one, you cant wait to get out. We have had problems with one automatic. They all have the cummins engines in them, and not one of them has had any major problems. The one truck we have had to replace some stuff in the front and rear diffs, and that was around 275,000 km/s. Overall if they didnt have the cummins, we wouldnt have them as shop trucks.

Now the Duramax. The one I used to drive for a shop truck was an 03. It was pretty comfy on the inside. Im not sure of the exact engine model, but this one didnt have a whole lot of ***** to it. It had some fuel problems with it, and had to get the pump? I think done in it. Overall not too too bad.
At this job we also had a 03 ford PSD. It had the 6 liter. It went through a box, a transmission, and had the common head gasket issues. It didnt ever seem to pull that great either, I would say that my 7.3 pulled better then this truck, had more power. Now I would guess that this 6 liter truck had more problems with it, and thats why it didnt have the power.

I drive a 03 7.3 liter psd. Im a little biased for sure with it, but its been great. It pulls good, gets great mpg, and has been nothing but reliable. The ride is ten times better then a dodge, and I think its right even with the duramax that I drove.

There ya go, thats all my experiences

 

This thread is prime real estate for Ranger to drop in and hand out some ignorance but I digress.

My opinion

Ford-3/4, I love my 3/4 to death, the V10 (in mine and alot of others opinions) is the best HD gas motor available right now (unless you ask Big Bad in which case the 5.4 is the greatest motor ever). IMO (and most everybody elses) its a waste to have the 5.4 at the bottom end and for years was a waste to have the 6.0 at the top for motor availabilty.

Ford 1 ton, As of right now I really, really, really dislike my '07. Its laggy, gets crap mileage, doesnt make the power the competition does and has proven to be more unreliable than I would like a $48K truck to be. Right now I would say its a little early to tell about the new 6.4 but IMO it cant get be any worse than the 6.0

Dodge-3/4 and 1 ton, IMO even though the HEMI out performs the Ford 5.4 it still has a ways to go to catch the Ford V10 or the GM 6.0. I read a magazine article a few months back that said it was more a gearing problem than the actual HP/Ft. lb tq problem. Although I dont know for sure I would imagine that the HEMI gets a little better mileage with the MDS system.

Also IMO the best way you can go with a Dodge is a CTD. I had one that I traded in for my '07 and have regretted it every day since. There is no disputing the fact (unless you are an idiot) that the CTD has been the most reliable deisel motor in the 3/4 ton/1ton pickup market since its conception. I dont really view the new CTD as much of a "new motor" either since it is (from what I have read) a stroked version of the old 5.9.

A lot of people think the trim isnt as nice on the Dodges, I dont know/care much about that but I do they ride quite a bit rougher than the Fords and GM's.

GM 3/4 and 1 ton-I like the GM product, I think the 6.0 and the 6.6 and good products. GM has the softest ride and (IMO) the nicest interior. I feel they have a good tranny hooked up to their power plants. The only thing that keeps me from owning one is #1 to high at the sticker, #2 the V10 (IMO) is a better motor than the 6.0 (for 3/4 apps), #3 they sit too low to the ground and #4 I live 12 miles off the hiway and the GM IFS doesnt have a good history around here with off road use.

Overall I think all the Big3 make a good product, some just having strengths over others in certain departments.

 

It all comes down to what you want.... Soft ride, reliability, lol or a cummins.

 

By the looks of your screen name i would have guessed you would be endorsing the ford. Lets see soft ride = chevy, reliability = dodge / cummins, lol = ford, or a cummins = well its a cummins !!! Just playin ... this is gonna get interesting!!!

 

Before you go to far with that one, I would like to say that as of right now, I have had more problem free miles with the Dodges(3) I have owned vs the Fords(4) and Chevy's (2) I have owned. One Dodge truck even had the dreaded "Dodge Auto" and it still did better than the Ford I traded it in for.

 

Every truck has its advantages....

Chevy has the allison
Dodge has the cummins
Ford has the solid front axle

and everyone of them has its problems....

Chevy has IFS
Dodge has its trannies and frames
Ford has its 6.0


Go drive them and pick which one you like best

 

i just made this thread so i can know more about dodges and chevies(its always good to know about the competition).....i would never buy anything other than a ford.

thanks for all the good replys though!

 

[quote=mstiles19;6018981]i would never buy anything other than a ford.quote]

Closemindedness=the cause of the majority of the worlds problems.

That being said if you ALWAYS buys Fords for the rest of your life you will more than likely have just as good/better luck with them than most and probably never feel the need to switch to another brand. But then again, never say never.

 

Is that your opinion?


I personally disliked the chebby for a long time because, well, I don't really like chebbies, and I hate torsion bar front suspension. Not a fan of their IFS either.

Never really had a problem with the Dodges except for all the bad things I hear about them. Wouldn't mind having a cummins someday!

 

[quote=BigDaddy6969;6019494]There is a HUGE difference between closemindedness and loyalty. Closemindedness is a one way street and loyalty is a two way street. When you are loyal to a brand it's usually because it has been loyal to you. In other words, if someone has owned a particular brand and been virtually problem free for two decades, then that is a good reason to remain loyal to that brand. That person would be closeminded if the stuck with a brand even though the brand has given them nothing but problems. In my case, I'm loyal to Ford because of my past and present experiences. If someone offered me a vehicle that showed a statistically marginal improvement over my current brand, I would stick to the brand that has a history of reliability for me.

 

All I can add here is from experience with our mine trucks - only Fords have a lifespan measured in years, rather than months.

The GM's (and the few odd late F-150's and Tundras) have had the IFS rattle itsself apart in no time at all. Another regular problem has been balljoints tearing through A-Arms (most common on the GM offerings).

Dodges have had less chassis problems, and more electrical harness failures, and the bodies just drifting apart.

There's still 80-86 F250's and F350's running around the pit, and plenty of 92-96 examples as well.

Even most of the Runzheimer (personally owned work truck) trucks are Fords - there's a handful of GM's and Dodges, a couple of Tundras and Titans, but SuperDuties are the undisputed leader.

 

Yeah man I know I used the "IMO" alot but if I dont there are guys waiting in the wings to flame the hell out of me for not seeing blue 24/7. Its kind of a pain in the *** when trying to have a conversation/debate so if I just throw out the fact that its my opinion everytime I state something there isnt much they can say about it.

I am in your camp on the GM IFS. Around here they just simply dont last, to much rough country, GM's belong on the hiway period.

I dont mean to sound like a troll but personally (as of right now) I think a Dodge would fit me best. Maybe if the 6.4 turns out to be a good workhorse then maybe Ford will retake the lead in my mind but having this 6.0 has REALLY burned me on Fords. If I could get a Dodge 3500 SRW, CTD auto Long bed, I could probly get rid of my '07 and my '03. I probably shouldnt say that though, I dont think I could replace my V10 with anything other than another Ford V10.

 

I'd really love to have a 12V Cummins with a 5 speed behind it...I was close to buying one but I couldn't find one that wasn't either a POS, or overpriced.

'course I'd also like to have a '94-97 Powerstroke. I test drove a '97 F250 PSD 5 speed last summer, and man, that was a nice truck....just wasn't quite what I was looking for. I'm a little hesitant about those engines too.

Aside from the '73-87 Chevy pickups, I haven't really seen one in years that made me say "Hey...I like that!" The '88-99 body style is a dime a dozen and there's nothing real special about the newer ones. That said, I almost bought a '98 (I think) GMC 2500 with a 6.5L turbo diesel a few years back...thank God I didn't do that!

 

Though I'm not a Chevy guy, I think the 87 older trucks are decent if you can find them without lots of rust.

I do think the Cummins is the best Diesel by far and The Dodges I have experience with have generally been fairly reliable. I own a superduty and I am happy with it, but I have had a couple problems with it I shouldn't have. My other vehicles actually had less problems and all of them had over 100K when I purchased them. My f250 was new, and still only has 24K on the odometer.