2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Duramax comparison

[SCox]

Wow,

Good friend of mine is a sales manager at a chevy dealer, he talks me into test driving a duramax crew dually for the weekend, says I'll buy it if I drive it. Just got back to my shop with the chevy. I'm not even going to drive it home. Ride was noticibly stiffer than my dodge, has no where near the power my dodge has, I know mine is moded, but man am I spoiled... I do like the room inside, but that is about it. I honestly could say I would NOT want to pull my 15k 5ver with this truck, I think it would struggle on grades. I could be wrong, but I'm not personaly going to find out. 6 sp might also make a difference. Have any of you guys driven one of these? Is this normal? I wouldn't tow without moding this thing, there goes the warranty on a $40,000 investment. Anyways, I'm going home and kissing my dodge, its staying in the family a long time.

Steve

 

[mgoncalves]

I put roughly 600 miles on a crewcab shortbed last year that belongs to my friend. Overall, I liked the truck, it seemed OK. The only let down for me was it certainly does not ride any smoother than my Dodge. I was expecting a car like ride, but it rode just like my lumber wagon, kind of made me wonder what the point of their IFS is?



Overall, a good truck, I wouldn't be ashamed to buy one, but I like my cheap ol Dodge for now.



Matt

 

[JLitton]

One of my buddies owns a GMC Dually with the Dmax. I have ridden with im lots and I think his truck is more comfortable than my Dodge. He has a programmer set on level 2 and his truck is quick and does not lack power while pulling. He owns a used car lot and pulls a 53' gooseneck loaded with 3 cars every friday and saturday. I have ridden with him numerous times loaded and his truck handles it well. The trailer weighs 8400 pounds empty plus the weight of the cars he is hauling. You can tell he loaded down, but that is expected. He also tows a modified stock pull truck on a trailer all over the state and his truck pulls in OD all day long except on the steepest hills. I love my Dodge, but wouldn't hesitate to own a GM with the duramax/allison.

 

[NIsaacs]

I played with a GMC Duramax powered pickup,(same configuration as my O1' from Snowflake to Showlow. Based on the smoke every time he nailed it, it had some mods but not sure what. It was a running sucker. However I think it might have a speed limiter, cuz on the last 4 lane, 6-percent grade, the Dodge prevailed





"NICK"

 

[KBalzuweit]

Ran an 05 crew dually w/ the allison last year for 7000miles. Loved it! Power was great towed anything I hooked to it very well. The allison was perfect. I had made up my mind to get an 06 since the got the 6 speed allison and the new 360 hp/650 torq, but dodge may draw me back with the mega cab dually. Dodge just needs to get off the behind and come up with a real auto!!

 

[CLamb]

A friend of mine just had his 05 D-max truck blow up while hauling his 43 foot race trailer through arizona. It hung an injector and hydrualiced(sp) the motor and of course trashed the bottom end. The chevy dealer was unable to come up with a motor... not even after 9 days!! All they were going to do was put a new shortblock in it, with less than 20K on the truck that was a bad call IMO replace the whole damn thing! So he got tired of waiting, rolled down to the dodge dealership and picked up a loaded to the max 06 3500 dually. Had his goose hitch installed and took his trailer home LOL. I haven't talked to him in a couple of weeks to see if he got his duramax truck fixed yet or not. The dealership was NOT happy when he came to get his trailer in a new ram .

 

[azpete]

NIsaacs, was that Chevy some shade of blue? I was in Showlow last fall and he came up on me at a light. Must have seen my gauges and wanted to play real bad doing the lunge just before the light changed. Wouldn't bite so he was trying again at the next light. It's a Friday nite and all the kids are out and so are the local cops. Saw two already backed into alleys so better safe than sorry and I had to let him go. Sure would have been fun to run him because I know those DMAX can be quick.

 

[SCox]

Thanks for the input guys, I got a chance to drive my buddys 2500 hd longbed crew this weekend, has edge, 4" exhaust, and intake, holy crap what a difference and he is on 22" wheels. He went 9. 71 in 1/8th of a mile last week. Financially it doesn't make any sense for me to buy this truck right now, but I would consider it as a replacement for my dodge when needed. I'm very impressed now. Wish Dodge had a true crew dually available, I could be swayed now if I needed a new truck. (ok, I'm an idiot, just saw the mega cab dually, wonder if aux tank would fit in front of the 5th wheel hitch on that thing)