would you buy your truck over again?

[rob]

simply put, knowing what you know now, about your duramax truck, if you had it to do over again, would you still have bought it? or would you stick with a gas truck, or go ford or dodge?


I'm torn between an '03-'06 ECSB 2500hd duramax/allison. or just buy a '96 or '97 ECSB 12valve/5spd cummins truck, and save a boat-load of money in the process.


is the duramax gonna be worth the extra money in the long run over the 12valve cummins?

the duramax would probably only see an edge juice box, exhaust, and intake as far as mods.
the cummins would see a fuel stop plate, exhaust, intake, and a capped-off wastegate vacuum line (hey, a friend layed down 305/800 with this combo in a '95 dodge)

is it worth it, or what?

[Chevyman247]

You have me thinking about a 12 valve cummins now.

I know the 5.9L 12v Cummins gets like 20mpg.

You know what, if I bought a 12v cummins it would be cheeper to drive than my 12mpg truck, have more power, Plus its a 3/4ton truck with a SFA!

Wow I never realy though about owning a dodge cummins, does any one know if they have dana 60s stock?

[oldred95]

The 12 valve cummins is one of if not the toughest engines out there. They mod so easy and for a lot less money too. The Dodge trucks of that year aren't THAT bad either. Go for a 5 speed and you'll probably get along just fine as long as the truck hasn't been beat to death. The duramax is a heck of an engine as well but I can't even imagine sinking that much money into a truck at our age.

[F4MOU$]

I had some kid in here at work yesterday and his dodge cummins looked like sh*t. and as slow as a dog. he had stacks comin out the top that stuck 3 ft over the cab, and 3ft out. looked terrible, and he cut the wheel comin out of his parking spot to show off and floored it, he couldnt get the wheels to spin for the life of the truck, if built right, there nice, if not, there terrible.

[Chevyman247]

What are the big diffrences in a 12v and a 24v?

Is one better than the other? mpg? power?

[meyer2ml]

24 valve cummins usually get better mpg, 12 valve cummins have mechanical pumps and are "simple", i like the cummins motor but couldnt bring myself to buy a dodge

[F4MOU$]

ifyou go with dodge, you should find one that has a new or rebuilt tranny so you dont gotta worry bout it. ha

[Chevyman247]

I have heard that dodge auto trannys really suck. So if I find a 5.9L CTD what type of manual tranny should I look for in it, or do they not have diffrent types of manny trannys?

I just like the idea of buying a truck that allready has stout axles and drivetrain instead of owning an IFS truck and spending a load of money and time putting in an SFA. Plus Dodge SFA has coil-over.

[rob]

the 24valve trucks use an electronic injection pump, and are a lot more expensive to mod. stock, they may make better mpg than a 12valve, but when you turn them up, I think the 12valve does better for some reason.

my friend's truck is a '95 ECLB auto with 4.10's, and makes 22mpg on the highway, 17/18 in city. makes 305rwhp, and 800rwtq with about $500 in mods. he said the mpg would be substantially better if he had 3.55's.

he paid $8500 for his truck, the way it sat with all the crap done to it, with 190k on it.

any input from duramax guys?

[dozerboy]

I love my Dmax and would choose it again without a doubt. In fact I'm not sure that my wife might not end up with one if not she will get the 4.5L diesel Tahoe when it comes out. Overall I say GM is a better choice. You need to decide what you want out of your truck. I chose the Dmax for the engine, trans, ride and it is at least close if not more durable then Cummins. Some things bad about 12Vs is there loud, ride, interior space and my wife or me wouldn't be happy riding in it for long trips and in a few months the kids too. My Damx stock puts down over 300RWHP and gets 21 MPG daily with 80% hwy driving.

[rob]

Originally Posted by dozerboy

My Damx stock puts down over 300RWHP and gets 21 MPG daily with 80% hwy driving.

that's some pretty impressize hp numbers for a stock truck, but what kind of torque does it have with 300hp?

[Tom S.]

Originally Posted by dozerboy

My Damx stock puts down over 300RWHP and gets 21 MPG daily with 80% hwy driving.

Umm, mine is nowhere near stock and puts out about 350hp at the rear wheels - which equates to around 480 at the flywheel. Do you happen to have a dyno sheet verifying this?

We don't want to mislead the folks here........

[foreman00081]

Originally Posted by Tom S.

Umm, mine is nowhere near stock and puts out about 350hp at the rear wheels - which equates to around 480 at the flywheel. Do you happen to have a dyno sheet verifying this?

We don't want to mislead the folks here........

Tom, what are your mods? at our clubs dyno day last september one of our guys ran his LBZ on the stock tune with only a PPE boost valve, intake and 4" exhaust and he dyno'd right around 340 RWHP. also, my LB7 which is rated 300HP at the flywheel dyno'd 374RWHP with just an intake, cat delete and hypertech 100HP tune ao if youve got mods done to your LBZ it seems like you should be putting down way more than 350RWHP.

and as far as would i buy a dmax again, he!! yes! i almost bought a powerjoke before i ended up going with the dmax and god am i glad i didnt make that mistake! and yes the cummins is a great motor but you couldnt pay me to drive a dodge, SFA is definetly something i wish i had but the dodge trannies are a joke and most of the dodges from the 12V years you see around here are rotted to sh!t from the salt in the winters.

[Stratosman]

At the risk of being ridiculed by you diesel guys, I would buy mine again, but I would have gotten the 8.1 instead of the 6.0. I like my 6.0, but I didn't realize at the time that the 8.1 gets almost the same MPGs.

[Tom S.]

Originally Posted by foreman00081

Tom, what are your mods? at our clubs dyno day last september one of our guys ran his LBZ on the stock tune with only a PPE boost valve, intake and 4" exhaust and he dyno'd right around 340 RWHP. also, my LB7 which is rated 300HP at the flywheel dyno'd 374RWHP with just an intake, cat delete and hypertech 100HP tune ao if youve got mods done to your LBZ it seems like you should be putting down way more than 350RWHP.

and as far as would i buy a dmax again, he!! yes! i almost bought a powerjoke before i ended up going with the dmax and god am i glad i didnt make that mistake! and yes the cummins is a great motor but you couldnt pay me to drive a dodge, SFA is definetly something i wish i had but the dodge trannies are a joke and most of the dodges from the 12V years you see around here are rotted to sh!t from the salt in the winters.

At the time of my last dyno run, 4" MBRP cool duals, no cat, 120 hp tune.

[TexTahoe]

Isn't 130+ hp a little much to be loosing through the drivetrain?

[Swampperman]

Originally Posted by Chevyman247

I have heard that dodge auto trannys really suck. So if I find a 5.9L CTD what type of manual tranny should I look for in it, or do they not have diffrent types of manny trannys?

I just like the idea of buying a truck that allready has stout axles and drivetrain instead of owning an IFS truck and spending a load of money and time putting in an SFA. Plus Dodge SFA has coil-over.

Hey did you ever see that big red crew cab dodge its a newer body with the 40's and 22's around town? I used to drive it because my boss lost his license and he tugged at Jesse blacks in Orlando and his tranny went out and he broke his front shaft and then it went out again for no reason. It was one of the best driving and riding trucks I've ever been in but I would stick with a Chevrolet, the IFS sucks but I think the duramax is one of the best diesel motors and have seen them tough extreme amounts of weight and have hardly any problem doing it.

[foreman00081]

Originally Posted by Tom S.

At the time of my last dyno run, 4" MBRP cool duals, no cat, 120 hp tune.

im confused, you gotta be well over 400HP at the wheels with that setup.

[JBandit]

I'd still buy mine. my boss and I did the math, and between his '78 f250, vs my '02 2500, I still save about $10 on a 200 mile trip considering the current fuel prices. Now...payment wise, I have considered a cummins, though a cummins swap in an OBS suburban or 2500/3500 has crossed my mind a bit...

[Chevyman247]

Originally Posted by Swampperman

Hey did you ever see that big red crew cab dodge its a newer body with the 40's and 22's around town? I used to drive it because my boss lost his license and he tugged at Jesse blacks in Orlando and his tranny went out and he broke his front shaft and then it went out again for no reason. It was one of the best driving and riding trucks I've ever been in but I would stick with a Chevrolet, the IFS sucks but I think the duramax is one of the best diesel motors and have seen them tough extreme amounts of weight and have hardly any problem doing it.

Yes, I have seen it around town, but it was a few months ago, I think it had fender flairs too.
Thats a bad ass dodge dude! Where is it now??

Was the tranny an auto? Dodge manual trannys are suppost to be alot stronger than their autos.

Who did the lift? POR?

Have you seen Brian Humphrey's black Dodge with 2.5ton axles and 40 some tires sitting in front of POR? thats a bad truck too!

I would buy a Dmax if I had the money, I have just been thinking about a 12valve because I see them for sale in the 5K-10K mark which is perfect for me.

What do you drive now?