Thanks Joe. My hair was standing up on the back of my neck. Visit any Diesel repair shop and the proof is in the parking lot. Lots of Fords and few Duramax. I have an '04 LB7 that had the injector upgrade done under warranty. I never had a problem, but had it done anyway. I run Opti-Lube to keep the injectors lubed and clean. Have a PPE tuner and get mid teens around town and mid twenties on highway. The power is incredible. Had a family member with an '02 Powerstroke 7.3 that I used a lot. It was definitely their best Diesel and I did like it, there is no comparison power-wise with the D-Max. -Mike
I have a buddy that's a die hard Ford guy. He had his 09 F350 on the shop so many times he lost count. Head gaskets, injectors, egr problems...you name it. I think they had the cab off 3 times for head work. Unbelievable. He finally traded that truck and went backwards to a 02 F250 with the 7.3 powerstroke. The last time Ford made a good Powerstroke.
i have an 04 with a 150k on it. i hate the thing and wouldnt own another. they are fine until something does go out then its 10 million dollars to fix. its ran pretty good till recently. its got to the point the thing wont start if its under 30 degrees. the engine had been pretty good till about a year ago. only thing ive done is put a water pump on. mind you the water pump cost 4x what any other what pump cost. the glow plugs and the gp modulator is now gone out. its ungodly high dollar to fix. the fuel filters go 50 bucks or better. i personally dont see a advantage over gas for my use anymore the truck gets 18 mpg at best and cost 50 cents more a gallon. the rest of truck isnt a whole lot better it started rusting the day it was paid for, it breaks front end parts all the time, and the brakes and brake lines are horrible. mine will be gone for a gas hd truck or a cummins if the price is right. alot of people love a duramax just giving my op after having one for 10 years or so. i am rough on my trucks though and they do get worked pretty good. may be different if all you do is pull trailers on interstates rather than sink them up to the door handles in mud with a 2 tons in the bed. however the gas 01 silverado i had was much better truck all around imo.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Please do not spread any more bad information unless you have facts to back it up. Stick with your "knowledge" of GM products as that is what the thread is about.
Sounds like you got a bad one. That happens with all makes. There's a certain percentage that fails. I originally gravitated to the GM format is because of the Allison trans. That IMO was a good move from the get-go. The early Ford set-ups, even with the 7.3, would kill the transmissions. Especially if you tuned them for more power. Of course ours has the 1000, which can take a beating. The Cummins is a great engine. It's a heavy sucker. Heavier than it's competitor's V8s. Would have been great if GM went after the Cummins and the Allison . Would have been a great combo. The Isuzu was a good engine also. They had a lot of experience with small trucks over the years. The LB7 was a mistake, which they corrected. (having the injectors under the valve covers) Mike
mine is a lly. the later fords have the best trans really. the 6.4 and 6.7 fords with the emissions deleted are actually really good trucks. emissions really have screwed up every diesel though and the advantage you had in 2004 or so is gone with running forever and cheap fuel.
I had 2 06 D-Maxs, one tuned and one stock. I regretfully sold the one that was stock and still cant afford to replace it for what i sold it for and i sold it 4yrs ago. Both had plows on them and towed almost every day. I still have the tuned truck. The one that was stock never needed any serious work. The tuned one i still own needed heads after i blew the head gasket at 70k miles. I ran it for a week with a chunk of the gasket gone and it grooved the head. I insisted on 2 new heads, not one. I have had no issues other than normal wear and tear and rot from salt. The truck has been tuned since 32k miles and now has 190k on it. I used to be a Ford guy but after working for GM and Dodge i wanted a truck i could depend on so i opted for the D-max for the Allison tranny and good engine. I know, Cummins is a great engine but no dodge tranny can hold a candle to the Allison for reliability and longevity. And for you Dodge guys who want to argue Dodge rules they havnt strayed much from the AMC yrs. Until recently Dodge ran the same front axle as the Ford and same rear axle as the GM but with a different traction differential. An 05 with 150k? If the body is still solid i would keep right on driving it. Why trade in a good truck for a new truck over $60K and you now have to deal with more emissions crap. The only real issues with the 04-05's were some over heating/head gasket issues and the neutral safety switches. I here some with injector problems but nothing like the 01-03 trucks.
i will disagree the dodge 6 speed is very similar to allison and the anisin offered in the newer trucks blow it out of the water. i lot of people get goo eyed by the allison name but its not the school bus or semi truck allison that people all remember. it will only hold about 420 hp stock. an dmax tune only will break them in many pieces. 80 hp is the number most people set them on and let them live. the 68rfe in a ram will hold about the same if you do nothing and if you tune the tcm will hold around 500hp. the ford torqshift and anisin will hold what ever you throw at it. dodge uses a solid axle 9.25 aam in the front which is the same as gm minus the ifs junk and the same aam 11.5 in the rear as gm. they have since 03. ford uses dana axles.
04 and older Duramaxes had a lot of issues....If you decide to sell your 05 send me a PM. They are probably one of the best years out there driveline-wise. Newer Duramaxes trucks are great until the convertor and other smog equipment starts to give you grief and you'll know it without warning because you will be going 20 mph in limp mode all the way to the dealer. Don't ask me how I know....lol. I have a rusty 7.3 power stroke now and I wish it were a nicer truck,but the FACT is we can't pay for a new truck as good as the older ones made. Wait til some semi-truck drivers start chiming in about what the emissions are costing on their new trucks. I know of a couple of fleets that have switched out to older drive lines in their newer trucks. My idea of a truck would be a rust free 12 valve 5.9 Cummins with a 6-speed manual trans. If a diesel won't go 500k with regular maintainance , there is something wrong with its design.
Ummm, the OP was asking for opinions, we all have our own. Don't take it personal. If we must stick with facts, the fact is that everyone will have a different opinion. My opinion is that the 6.7's are junk, and the duramax's are great. I do not need facts to back that up, its just my opinion.
the dpf filters and egrs mess all up no matter what brand. deleted the problems people had with the 6.4 or 6.7 fords are gone. in fact the egr is what cause head gaskets to fail on 6.0 fords even. egr caused cummins and dmax hg failures too. mine was deleted from day one. but with gas engines running 300-400k costing 8k less to buy way cheaper to maintain and running 60 cent cheaper fuel i dont see how the diesel has any benifits anymore unless you pull over 10k every single day. i can pull a car with a hd gas and get 11 mpg and still be cheaper the diesel getting 13.
The condition of the body is one of the reasons I thought we should keep it. We bought it new and even after 10 year still try to park where we hopefully think there is less chance for parking lot damage. Outside of some minor rock chips it looks like day one. I'm also thinking since the body and running gear is in such nice condition, if I had to replace the engine and transmission in the next 5 years we would still be ahead of the game. Bob H.
If all he did was state his opinion I would have been fine....but if you go back and read his posts, he did try to state 'facts' which were completely not true regarding the 6.7L. It was never personal for me, I just cannot stand when people spread their ignorance to others. Feel free to be as opinionated as you would like, just don't represent them as facts.
I too know of a fleet buyer who is buying brand new chassis' and is using remanufactured engines just to bypass all the emissions garbage. When Ford first released the 6.7 in 2011 tuners were able to reprogram the software to bypass the DEF system and EGR ect and those trucks were getting mid to high 20's mpg! The EPA stepped in and forced Ford to somehow make those systems tamper proof. Now they're back down to mid/high teens. Same goes for the cummins. I've heard their newer engines are unreliable and get poor mileage but if you bypass the emissions everything's fine. I would tell you how I truly feel about all that but it would turn into a political rant.
My ignorance? Go stub your toe. I'm out in the field homer. I'm at these dealerships daily. Ask any Ford diesel tech and he will tell you to find a 7.3. Why would Ford offer the cummins in the 450s and 550s if the 6.7 was worth half a damn? It's junk!
I agree with you 1000%. When my beautiful bride and I decided to purchase a motorhome last year, I really wanted to get a diesel pusher. Couldn't make the numbers work any way I tried to figure it. I KNOW the cost of ownership of a diesel (I have an 03 Ford Excursion 6.0) and the cost of maintaining and repairing it are at least twice the cost of a comparable gas engine. And my 6.0 has been relatively reliable over the 100,000 miles we've owned it. Sure, a few glitches but nothing too bad. One thing I learned about the 6.0's is that you CANNOT THROW A TUNE ON THEM! I've NEVER tuned mine (I did have a chip in my 00 7.3 Excursion) and it has been pretty reliable. The cost of maintaining a diesel motorhome is enormous in comparison to a gas motorhome. And you don't get THAT much better fuel economy with fuel that costs more per gallon. And couple that with an upfront cost of at least an extra $20,000 (used), well, like I said, numbers won't add up. Saying that we bought a 2003 Winnebago Adventurer 38' with a 8.1 chevy gas engine. I don't think 7-10 mpg is too bad for this box on wheels flat towing a car behind. And that is what I get going down the road. Like I said, I tried to make the numbers work. They won't, at least not anymore. Now, if your reason to buy a diesel is to out-torque everybody in town, that will work. But it WILL cost you down the road.
We got talked into the diesels in the early 2000's and I far as I am concerned buying the gas engine is comparing dollars and sense. Unless your pulling around 10,000 lbs or more every week,there is no way to justify putting 60K into a truck. My rusted out 7.3 is great for pulling,but I would have felt dumber than I already do if I paid silly money for a new one just so they could raise the price of diesel. These trucks are getting expensive and I do not think you will see them going the distance without major maintainance. The older 5.9,7.3,Duramaxes were a much more feasible decision than the cost of a new one combined with higher diesel costs.
They are getting very pricey....but then again so are all vehicles. Just comes down to what you can afford and what you need to use it for. There is no comparison towing with a gasser and a diesel. Especially over 10k. Let's not kid ourselves and say it's not different because it is. Justifying the cost is up to the individuals budget.
