Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
A friend of mine purchased a 1995 CTD 3500. He almost made it to our weekend fishing retreat and broke down. The new rear axle bearings the dealer he purchased truck from seized up due to no lubricant.
Another friend had brought a real nice Texas Bragg trailer over with kitchen and boat pulled behind his stock 2005 DMax. Since I was the ONLY sober one of the bunch, I had to haul the CTD 3500 from Flippin, AR to Alpena, AR - up and down some nice Ozark hills. The owner of the DMax let me USE his truck.
My impression - the accelerator was hard to push. The truck pulled quite well - probably as well as a stock CTD. The engine noise above 2,000 RPM seemed louder than a CTD. The Allison in Tow/Haul mode would take some getting used to. Just touch the brake and it would downshift. Touch it again, and it would downshift again. Redlined on several slowdowns, going down hill. Truck had 10,000 miles on it. The "Service 4WD" message displayed about 50 miles into the trip. When it was needed, 4WD would not engage. The rear wheels had enough weight to allow the truck to climb a muddy hill road w/o 4WD, but did spin the tires occassionally with all that load behind it. It did have a good smooth ride.
I am more comfortable in my CTD - but do have 49,000 miles on it. My son's wife told him if he bought a heavy duty truck it would have to be a Chevy or GMC because they are prettier than a Dodge. I hope my son won't listen to her. :-{}
Another friend had brought a real nice Texas Bragg trailer over with kitchen and boat pulled behind his stock 2005 DMax. Since I was the ONLY sober one of the bunch, I had to haul the CTD 3500 from Flippin, AR to Alpena, AR - up and down some nice Ozark hills. The owner of the DMax let me USE his truck.
My impression - the accelerator was hard to push. The truck pulled quite well - probably as well as a stock CTD. The engine noise above 2,000 RPM seemed louder than a CTD. The Allison in Tow/Haul mode would take some getting used to. Just touch the brake and it would downshift. Touch it again, and it would downshift again. Redlined on several slowdowns, going down hill. Truck had 10,000 miles on it. The "Service 4WD" message displayed about 50 miles into the trip. When it was needed, 4WD would not engage. The rear wheels had enough weight to allow the truck to climb a muddy hill road w/o 4WD, but did spin the tires occassionally with all that load behind it. It did have a good smooth ride.
I am more comfortable in my CTD - but do have 49,000 miles on it. My son's wife told him if he bought a heavy duty truck it would have to be a Chevy or GMC because they are prettier than a Dodge. I hope my son won't listen to her. :-{}
looks no different then the trucks 20 years ago, with more plastic.
