Drove my brother's Duramax again....

[jsimpson]

I had forgotten how smooth that Allison is, how perfectly spaced the gear :{ ratios are, how seamlessly it operates, how tight the torque convertor is. Almost made me wish I had bought an ugly Chevy instead of my Dodge. But hopefully with a tighter torque convertor and a a modified valve body that lets me lock up the convetor at any speed in any gear, the feeling will again subside.

 

[Bertram65]

Yeah, the D/A combo is pretty awsome, my buddy has one, pulling on the highway from 0-70 it pulls like a train, you cannot even feel it shift, very impressive.

 

[hagar]

Would it be possable to put an Allison in an 03 4x4? that's the only thing I dislike about my Dodge but I truly hate my transmission

 

[Grayhackle]

I drove a duramax before I bought my CTD. It was a loaded truck with leather and all. The reason I did not attempt to deal on it was because of the transmission. In city driving the transmission shifted constantly. Up and down, up and down. It drove me nuts! Could not find a gear. Took a long drive down a street with many red lights, 35-40 mph speed limit. On the highway, yes the shifting was smooth and no complaints. Guess it depends on where you have to drive it.

 

[KYLE4]

you would be better off replacing your torque convertor and valve body much more cost effective you will like the improvement you might stop hating your transmission

 

[tractorseller]

I agree with the original post about the Allison. I've owned two D-max/Allison trucks now and the transmissions are terrific. The ONLY thing I don't like about the Allison is the way it downshifts aggressively going down steep grades with heavy loads. The tach jumps up to 3,000 to 4,000 RPM and I just never liked that with a diesel engine. The dealers say it's normal because the torque converter locks up and that it won't hurt the engine running downhill at that RPM under those conditions - GM engineers say it was designed to do that. It does keep you slowed down, but the first time it happened to me I thought the engine was coming out the top of the hood and it scared the heck out of me. GM should warn people about that when they sell these trucks. I've never felt any of the gear hunting problems with the Allison during 50,000 miles of driving them in all kinds of conditions - mostly pulling heavy loads.



I sold one of them and still have the other.



Having said all that, I did just buy a Dodge with a 6-speed.

 

[TCDiesel]

I had forgotten how smooth that Allison is, how perfectly spaced the gear :{ ratios are, how seamlessly it operates, how tight the torque convertor is. Almost made me wish I had bought an ugly Chevy instead of my Dodge. But hopefully with a tighter torque convertor and a a modified valve body that lets me lock up the convetor at any speed in any gear, the feeling will again subside.

When lockup under 26 mph when downshifting will cause a shudder,Now when upshifting mods will greatly improve the shift points. If you can spring for the cost get a commander.

The allision has its weak points ,One is the high cost New and the high cost of upgrades. and it is some what of a power robber stock.

 

[JKloppe]

grampa truck

Every thing about Chevy truck is mushy and delayed, not solid. The interior is typical American engineering, big ugly buttons, out of place center console, fat person seats, and horrible radio. What’s with the cruise control, try to eat, drink, talk on the phone, pick your nose, kiss your girlfriend, beat the kids, any one of these and you could not turn the cruise on. What about the wiper control not as strait forward as Dodge or Ford.



If you don’t know what I'm talking about, the dodge dash looks clean and sleek, and the GM looks big bulky not refined. You could also compare a newer camaro and vette to a mustang, both of the GM products interiors look like cheap plastic, same big ugly buttons and the seats look like the are stuffed with poly fill. Then look at a Ford, clean dash and non cheap looking seats.



THE FRONT END.

I would like the opportunity to see how long it would take me to break it. I bet the tie rods would go first then take out the CV joint within 30 min. This is proven by the availability of after market parts to fix the problem. If you go to the drag strip you will see this happen.





I know the D-max has proven that it can make huge power and last a long time, but it takes more than that for me to buy it.

 

[DocDetonancour]

So MAYBE Chevy has one player on their team. BUT does Cummins vs. DoubtaMax really sound like a contest? We all kknow why most of us drive the CTD. Doc

 

[BHolm]

JKloppe, You are the ONLY person I have ever heard that likes the Dodge interior better than the Chevy. I have owned two D/A trucks, and '01 and an '03 and currently have three third gen CTDs. Funny you mention seats, I would pay anything to have the seats from my Chev in the Dodge, and I am no fat person. I do make a 20 hr drive every other month and the flat hard seats on my '05 KILL my back. I never had a problem in the Chevy with 15 hrs straight. I also found the Bose stereo in the Chev to be FAR superior to the Infinity in my Dodge, no contest. I own several other "premium" european vehicles and the Chev interior much more closely emulates them than the hard plastic dash in the Dodge. In fact, if I could put GMs interior in my Dodge it would be nearly perfect, but I guess we all have our preferences



As for the Allison, typical GM, great idea, poor execution. I had to haul my Unimog from Atlanta to northern Minnesota with the '01. That stupid Allison wouldn't hold fifth gear on the highway. I was getting 5 mpg at 3000 rpms for 800 miles in a shortbox with a 23 gallon tank. The trip took what seemed like forever, but I got to visit a lot of truckstops along the way The biggest thing I like about the 48re's vs the Allison is that they are programmed to make the most of the diesels torque. The 48re jumps in to OD and locks the convertor and she pulls like a train. The dang Allison makes that D-max spin like crazy to do the work and hates going into OD. The next issue is that the Allison can't take the torque. They de-fuel to 520 lb/ft in first and fifth so you lose 70 lb/ft over the advertised rating in the two gears where you need it the most. I really like the Allisons grade braking feature and wish Dodge would figure that out for us, but other than that, I'll take a 48re Dodge any day. I have voted with my dollars, no Chevys anymore, all Dodges The loose convertor issue on the Dodge is at least partially solved for '05 with the new tow/haul program. With T/H engaged the convertor locks up in third at 35 mph and stays that way. So you get great turbo spool in first and second to get moving and then it locks up and pulls with the torque we all know and love. Sure it could be a little better, but it really isn't bad IMO, and after living with Allisons for four years, they really aren't as great as some think. Oh yeah, and at 25k miles with very little towing, my Allison in the '03 burnt the fluid BLACK. GM's answer??? It is NORMAL for the Allison to turn the fluid black, I still have the TSB from them stating just that. After that incident, that transmission gets a big vote of no confidence from me.

 

[Byershome]

"The interior is typical American engineering, big ugly buttons, out of place center console,"



Ditto



"JKloppe, You are the ONLY person I have ever heard that likes the Dodge interior better than the Chevy"



Now you heard two, :-laf Though I am not sure I would go so far as to say "typical american engineering". I have always felt there was more room in a dodge than either the furds or the chebby's (I'm 6'4'' 260 lbs) and up until I bought my 1ton I thought the ride was somewhere inbetween... ... ... now I think Dodge has them both beat hands down in rideability as well.

 

[Buzzer]

Not for nothing but I will also vote for the Dodge interior over the Chevy. To me the Dodge has more room and I happen to like the overall interior layout. Especially in the Laramie. I could have easily bought a Chevy with a huge discount but went with the Dodge again because of, of course the CTD but also because of the body style AND the interior.