new truck advice

[TCDiesel]

Yep. . Its a gasser 4x4. . HB No Challenge in mind? Your opinion is Never back up with anything more then Keystrokes, Another TDR keystroke King with finger burns ... SRW I had Duals many years ago. . until the tire technology reach the E ratings. Duals are PITA for tight spots 2 more tires to pick debris at transfer stations,Ride harder, All My SRW have measure up to the task with some modifications to rear suspension,Slotted and Cryro Rotors, The Brake upgrade alone $1,500. 00 In parts. billet Diff $2,000. 00 ,New Toyos HT E 275/75/17 Another $850. 00. . on & on So if Blowhards want to sell there POS under developed wanna be trucks and and replace with NEW ... Hmmm that probably a step up.

 

[HBarlow]

You should have considered paying for a couple of years of remedial training in basic elementary school spelling, punctuation, word capitalization, and writing skills so you would be able to spell and write at a sixth grade level. All the money you just bragged about spending on old and outdated trucks might have made you literate enough to read a newspaper.

 

[NIsaacs]

My 03 and 05 have been great Trucks. . I was offer $35K form a 100k yearly hauler





Seems unrealistic a commercial hauler would want a SRW.



Nick

 

[TCDiesel]

My 03 and 05 have been great Trucks. . I was offer $35K form a 100k yearly hauler





Seems unrealistic a commercial hauler would want a SRW.



Nick

The Guy has Goose-neck Tri-axle, He pulls for some culvert company. . So he off road unloads. No one would want to be ditch Banging with Duals. It does sound unrealistic. . My construction company . . ALWAYS backing in tight spots Alleys ,Curb hopping etc. Duals are much more difficult to impossible to reach some alley driveways in Metro Area. I always believe in work hard But sell ,buy, and work even smarter. O Yep and don't put any faith or Believe in Keystrokes social network wanna bee's. :-laf

 

[TCDiesel]

You should have considered paying for a couple of years of remedial training in basic elementary school spelling, punctuation, word capitalization, and writing skills so you would be able to spell and write at a sixth grade level. All the money you just bragged about spending on old and outdated trucks might have made you literate enough to read a newspaper.

Yep... Please send the HB spell check and grammar add-on. . lets see how good it works. :-laf:-laf

 

[rscurtis]

I was just perusing the April '12 issue of CU, their automotive issue. The Ram diesel is their bottom rated HD PU at a dismal 13MPG. All have a predicted reliability of "much worse that average" except the Ford, which is "average". The Ford also returns 16 MPG, the best in the group. The top scorer is the Chevy/GMC, the Ford is second, and the Ram a distant third.



I would say it's time to switch to DEF.

 

[HBarlow]

The CU testing may be accurate and their ratings valid but CU editors are not qualified by knowledge or experience to evaluate and compare working trucks. There is much more to evaluating the overall value and developing comparison ratings for trucks designed to and capable of pulling heavy trailers cross country for many years of service than a CU test drive and fuel economy measurement.

My own '08 Ram has never had an engine or emissions related problem of any kind in 115k miles. I had a universal joint failure at 75k miles and one of the starting batteries failed at about two years of age.

The universal joint failed one day when I was pulling an overloaded hydraulic dump trailer with a gross combined weight of a little over 26k over a rough ranch road and through a shallow water crossing in deep sand. My guess is it would have failed anyway but that day's load probably brought it on a little sooner.

I have no complaints and wouldn't buy a Furd or Nobama Motors truck if they were half price.

 

[TCDiesel]

I think if the buyer demands much better mileage, longer service intervals. less maintenance before spending $$$$$ they will be force to deliver. . I already sent My message to Cummins by buying Gas... I will revisit purchasing New as soon as Cummins brings something to the pavement that gets My attention,if you crunch the #s buying New Diesel will not cover the up front loss. Unless used for commercial or professional.

 

[TCDiesel]

The CU testing may be accurate and their ratings valid but CU editors are not qualified by knowledge or experience to evaluate and compare working trucks. There is much more to evaluating the overall value and developing comparison ratings for trucks designed to and capable of pulling heavy trailers cross country for many years of service than a CU test drive and fuel economy measurement.



My own '08 Ram has never had an engine or emissions related problem of any kind in 115k miles. I had a universal joint failure at 75k miles and one of the starting batteries failed at about two years of age.



The universal joint failed one day when I was pulling an overloaded hydraulic dump trailer with a gross combined weight of a little over 26k over a rough ranch road and through a shallow water crossing in deep sand. My guess is it would have failed anyway but that day's load probably brought it on a little sooner.



I have no complaints and wouldn't buy a Furd or Nobama Motors truck if they were half price.

HB . . you still are at risk of failure $$$$. . My 03 will Never ever have a failure 0% risk ever get the point,that adds valve. HB not to even look at other manufactures is foolish. How is it possible to evaluate Cummins?



On Edit. . I don't like V-8 Diesels, I do tip my hat to the D-Max. . they have they short comings ,but have prove to be reliable and dependable over all. . 6. 4 6. 0 Not so good,the 6. 7 Ford jury is out.

 

[HBarlow]

HB . . you still are at risk of failure $$$$. . My 03 will Never ever have a failure 0% risk ever get the point,that adds valve. HB not to even look at other manufactures is foolish. How is it possible to evaluate Cummins?

On Edit. . I don't like V-8 Diesels, I do tip my hat to the D-Max. . they have they short comings ,but have prove to be reliable and dependable over all. . 6. 4 6. 0 Not so good,the 6. 7 Ford jury is out.

If someone will translate that gibberish to English and IF it makes any sense when I can interpret it I'll consider a reply. Until then I'll just continue to ignore it.

I don't really think it is worth any attention anyway. You spout a lot of opinions based on nothing more than defending what you own.

 

[Prairie Dog]

TC, you really need to use the block function. HB is the only blow hard I block here but I can tell you it's really nice not having to read his idiotic half truths and ramblings.
Just makes the TDR a nicer place to visit!

 

[HBarlow]

Yeah, PD has not wanted to read my posts for several months now . . . ever since I challenged some nonsense he was posting and provided evidence he was, shall we say, misrepresenting the facts.

 

[Prairie Dog]

See? no waste of my time at all. :-laf



Almost forgot. . #ad

 

[TCDiesel]

Prairie Dog... I hear Ya. . HB strongly believes in himself. . His insults just roll off. What interesting is Most sites will NOT allow comments unless you have some experience with or own. . I just can't believe someone would be so foolish not to be open suggestions. Nothing wrong with disagreements,You should be able to support what you type or just plainly state your opinion. No matter how disgusting HB gets I will NOT rob him of his opinion. . As long as it does not incite a riot or damage to our fellow members and guest. . The Mods will be in-charge of damage control after that.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Your a good man TC. Unfortunately, some people just aren't worth it to me.

 

[rscurtis]

Keep in mind also that while your '08 has performed admirably (as most C&C trucks have), it's an entirely different animal than the pickup. True, CU didn't test the trucks for their true capacity to do work. I would assume the same methodology was used to test FE for all three trucks, the Ram comes in at the bottom.



Their results seem to mimic the test published in the latest issue of the TDR. It's past time for Ram to get with the program and stop trying to sing the praises of their anti-DEF strategy. There aren't any. The ninth injector that Chevy/GMC uses isn't a bad idea either.

 

[HBarlow]

I know you are knowledgeable about the pros and cons of DPF/EGR vs. DEF technologies. How about writing a post comparing and contrasting the two with advantages and disadvantages of each in layman's language?

I'd like to read it and think about it. If its good enough Robert might want to publish it in the TDR magazine. He's always looking for interesting articles.

 

[AClayton]

The fuel economy and emmissions equipment are the only reason I won't purchase a new truck. My 01' will just have to last a little longer until Cummins and Ram can figure out how to market a truck successfully with the current offerings of Ford and Chevy. The few advantages of owning a Cummins in the past are all used up. Fuel economy and longetivity are tough to argue when compared to the current Ford and Chevy diesels. They have more torque, more hp, better fuel mileage and emissions systems that work just as good or better than the Cummins. Ok... ... now the Rams have a great interior! So what... ..... Ford and Chevy have had that all along. I'm just waiting for Cummins and Ram to get off their butts and market a truck that will compare to the others without ALWAYS falling in last place and forcing all of us fans to fight for some kind of excuse to buy their truck. Well..... our diesels will outlast theirs: Our trucks get better mileage pulling a load: Our trucks pull harder going up grades: Our trucks outpull theirs and have proven reliable even when overloading! Now Ford and Chevy do that ... ... ... and get better mileage doing it! Hard to be objective anymore when the numbers are right before our eyes... ... ..... even in our own TDR magazine! Now... ... ... argue with that one!

 

[HBarlow]

Ho hum. Who has the remote?

I remain totally unimpressed with magazine testing that reports a new Furd or Nobama Motors truck claims higher hp or torque numbers and can accelerate up a grade a couple of seconds faster or deliver another mpg or two.

I've never been easily impressed by bs printed in glossy magazines or reported on late night television either. I live in the real world where long term results and operating costs matter, not fluff reported by magazine writers.

Please get back to me when someone can post an honest, provable tale of a Furd or GM truck that has served as a hotshotter's or RV transporter's truck for three or four hundred thousand miles and is still providing reliable, daily service, pulling heavy trailers.

I've been there, done that, with Dodges. I pulled alongside Furds and GMs and talked to their owners. They were often asking me about my Dodge at the fuel pumps and discussing their plans to get rid of their Furd or GM in favor of a Ram.

Like TDR member EB's truck for example. EB hasn't reported in awhile but he probably has over 400k miles on his '07. 5 Ram 3500 C&C. EB supports his family with his Ram pulling a loaded tandem gooseneck flatbed loaded with oilfield equipment every day. EB's truck, one of the first ones out, has had extremely few problems making his operating costs very low.

 

[AClayton]

Harvey... ... ... you seem to forget that we all read the same praises AND complaints about ALL model yrs of our trucks. That includes your 6. 7! You may have gotten lucky by choosing the C&C and witnessed fewer failures... . that is great for you. The vast majority of Ram's sold are the pickups.

The 6. 7 Ford has not exactly been 100% proven yet. Again, your primary source for negativity on the Ford diesel of recent months would include Wingates post regarding his experiences with a few, arguably rare instances of the early model year diesels. What other sources do you care to divuldge? A couple of RV related blogs or websites? Big deal!

What about Chevy? You here far less complaints about the Chevy now than we did a few yrs ago. I go camping just like you... ... ... so I here a wide variety of examples whether pro or con about the Duramax. They are good diesels and have respectable power and longevity and are backed by great trannys.

The rules have changed there Harvey! The others have indeed caught and maybe surpassed our Cummins diesel. It is my choice to buy a Ram just as you did... . but for me, I will wait until they get it 100% right. They are close, but poor fuel economy figures are dragging them behind the others. Why don't you go to the 4th Gen forums and prove me wrong. On average, it seems that most members are satisfied with their new purchase and really love their new trucks, but most have also given negative remarks for their poor mileage. You can't even argue with that statement!

My 01' will just have to do for now! I'm still apprehensive about purchasing a new vehicle with all that fuel wasting emissions crap bolted all over the damn truck. Just got my old girl painted and the oil leaks repaired in hopes of my truck lasting until Ram can get it right.

Oh, and just to dispute your last paragraph: I went to the Duramax forum and found several 300k plus 07 and up trucks that are still running strong. Just because you have one documented 07. 5 Cummins truck exceeding 400k miles doesn't necessarily mean all of them will... ... . especially with all the emissions hardware choking them. Time will tell.

Alan