4500/5500 Update!

[Coalsmoke]

I'm in sales at a Dodge dealership and just talked to a DC commercial truck field rep at a training seminar for the new cab and chassis, and he said the new 4500-5500 trucks will be coming out this coming summer as early '08 models to finish out the class 4 market. They will be available up to 120" CA chassis, with multiple cab configurations. All I have to say is ITS ABOUT TIME!!! We have ahd people asking for these for way too long, especially with unsatisfied Ford F450-550 owners equipped with Powerstrokes looking for something built for the long haul. Another interesting factoid is that DC is the biggest truck manufacturer in the world, with seven different makes. Freightliner, Western Star, Sterling, Mercedes, Fuso, Dodge, and Thomas buses. They also own Detroit Diesel now.

Oh thank goodness its good news that you bring. Thank you Jong for passing it along. It might seem silly that some of us are putting so much emphasis on these trucks, and needing a class 4-5 dodge version, but when the truck facilitates whether or not you get to work, it starts to hit home and you realize that a bad year of truck repairs can mean that christmas will not be as good, or that a vacation trip with the Mrs. might get put on hold until next year. I am so glad right now that I didn't bite the bullit and order a new Ford.

 

[KDoerr]

well where dose the waiting line start?

 

[n7gxz]

Jong,



Any word on a 4500 with a pickup bed being offered?



Kevin

 

[MCummings]

I am still waiting to hear if the 4500/5500 will have a "pickup" body, or will have a medium duty body.



I hope they are similar to the F-450/F-550, but I fear they will look more like a F-650/F-750, or the international CXT.





Merrick

 

[Jong]

Supposedly going to have the current standard pickup body until they redesign the entire line, probably in 2009. No word yet on whether or not a pickup body will be available on it, but since the chassis is completely flat, I know that the current pickup bed WILL NOT fit on it without some serious modifications, if at all. Don't take my word as gospel, though, as all the info was from a field engineer from Detroit, not Dr. Z himself... :-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[n7gxz]

Don't know about the 3rd gens but the 2nd gens pickup box would fit on a flat frame without any problems. The 2nd gen frames have riser blocks to bring everything up to the same level. The problem I see is that with the fuel tank at the rear the filler door on a 3rd gen box would be in the wrong place.



Kevin

 

[Farmall Hauler]

Hello to everyone,



I was cruising around on allpar.com, and found this very interesting subject.



Dodge and Sterling both have new Chassey updates schedule atd the Work Truck Convention in Indianapolis, March 6-9th, 2007.



To view the entire schedule of sessions, visit the following link!



http://www.ntea.com/im/wts/2007/sessions_by_day.asp?AUD=%



I hope this sheds some long awaited light on these trucks!



Mark

 

[Coalsmoke]

I hope so too, its too bad they're going to make us wait 5 months but it will be interesting to hear. You'd think that if they're going to have these trucks out by the summer, they'd be realeasing info earlier than march, no?

 

[MontyDyer]

Our DSN for Freightliner was at work today and he did confirm that the 4500-5500 Sterling/Dodge trucks is a go and slated for the end of 07. His sources stated that it would have an MB engine, more than likely, the MB906.

 

[Jong]

I'm pretty sure all the Dodge badged vehicles (other than a Sprinter) will continue to be Cummins powered for some time still. It is possible they might offer a choice, but I don't think Mercedes will have the manufacturing capacity for a while yet to supply Dodge on top of all their European and Asian markets.

 

[Farmall Hauler]

I will be the first to show my ignorence hear. I do not know much about the MB engine which may make it's way in to the Ram trucks. But, I think that the Cummins motor would sell more trucks than any other motor. Dodge has a solid reputation with Cummins, and if they play their cards right, they can use that to their advantage!



Mark

 

[klenger]

I can definetly see DC using a MB engine in a 4500/5500 truck. The truck will be a new design, why not design to the future. DC isn't stuck with Cummins forever and MB doesn't have too bad of a name in the industry.

 

[Cattletrkr]

well where dose the waiting line start?

BEHIND ME!!!!!



As long as it has an I-6 and it doesn't say Perkins on it, it's my next truck.

 

[Smokin_Monster]

How is this going to work? I was looking closely at the 06 and 07 Sterlings I drive for work and they still use a lot of Ford parts. I could not buy a Dodge with Ford crap in it. Those new Sterlings look pretty but are the biggest piles of manure I have ever driven. Just an oversize, rebadged, Stupid Duty in my opinion. I hope that if Dodge puts their name on this new series of trucks they will use their own parts and quality control. I don't own a Dodge and like Dodges because I am narrow minded or just like the Cummins engines. I have put many miles on a lot of different vehicles and the Dodges were by far the best overall quality. I would just really hate to buy a Ford with Dodge badges on it. Sorry about my little rant, I have just been thinking about this alot and had to voice my thoughts.

 

[Coalsmoke]

BEHIND ME!!!!!



As long as it has an I-6 and it doesn't say Perkins on it, it's my next truck.

I'd take a new Perkins any day over one of the new and VERY expensive to fix MB engines.

 

[Babyfat]

I'm 99% Sure I Saw A 4500/5500 With A Flatbed And Camo On It Going Down I-94 West Of Chelsea Mi



It Had 19. 5's On It, Quad Cab And The Bed Looked To Be 8-9" Stack Rack



Come On Some One Spill The Beans

 

[FATCAT]

... It is possible they might offer a choice, ...

Hopefully the choise is between a 6. 7L and an 8. 3L Cummins. :-laf

 

[ARedmon]

SmokinMonster, Sterling is a division of DC, not Ford. Several years ago, DC bought Ford's medium and heavy truck division. Their trucks are now built by International. Since buying Ford's truck operation, DC has improved their quality 100-fold and has lately been recipient of J. D. Power quality awards. DC changed the name (of course) from Ford to Sterling. Sterling is under DC's Freightliner group on the org chart.

 

[Smokin_Monster]

SmokinMonster, Sterling is a division of DC, not Ford. Several years ago, DC bought Ford's medium and heavy truck division. Their trucks are now built by International. Since buying Ford's truck operation, DC has improved their quality 100-fold and has lately been recipient of J. D. Power quality awards. DC changed the name (of course) from Ford to Sterling. Sterling is under DC's Freightliner group on the org chart.

This is exactly what is buggin me. For example: I was driving one of the 06s the other day and the power windows stopped working so I pulled out the switch to take a gander. It said FORD on the switch. So I started looking around and there were lots of even just little parts with FORD written all over them. Even the steering wheel is the typical FORD boomerang style, almost identical the the one in the 05 International that we have. Some of the bigger, chassis related stuff says Freightliner and it had the Frieghtliner "Smart Shift. " This is why I am confused and a little frustrated is because I don't understand why DC or Frieghtliner would not just put all of their own parts in their Sterling line istead of continuing to use Ford stuff. Maybe when they took over Sterling they had a wharehouse full of the Ford parts and they are just trying to use them up. Just driving a few of these new Sterlings reminds me of driving a Super Duty Ford not my Dodge. I really hope they do a better job with these medium duty trucks.

 

[RustyJC]

I would suspect that the existing Sterling trucks that were originally designed by Ford were designed to use parts supplied by Infineon, Ford's spun off accessory/parts division. I can see where DC isn't going to pay Infineon to retool all the parts they originally designed to supply to Ford for a low-volume Sterling truck application, and they aren't going to search out a bunch of alternate suppliers where they would have to pay setup and tooling charges. I'd be very surprised, however, if "clean sheet of paper" Sterling designs don't use parts from the established DC supply chain.



Rusty