Having to purchase a Ford for work

[JRS]

I started working with a gas well service company about a year ago. At that time they agreed to pay my mileage on my truck ('97 Cummins). Now the company is growing by leaps and bounds and they want to purchase me a new truck. I have begged and pleaded with DC to make a real crew cab truck with an 8 foot bed for four years now. I have recevied some nice responses but no real answers. I visit the Dodge dealers and they talk about rumored MegaCabs with 8 foot beds. But then, in the same breath, they say can you imagine parking that thing? So I get the idea that it's just rumors. If I could get a definite time frame I could probably put my company off. If not, I'll be heading to the Ford dealer this month. I have not driven another brand of truck since 1980. At least the company will be paying for repairs to the Powerstroke.

 

[DMcPherson]

yeah and a gm over ford any day.

 

[JRS]

I can't find any manual transmission Chevy's on the lot, except for the rubber mat kind.

 

[FDavid]

If they are paying your fuel and you have to get a Ford, v10 probably better then the powerstroke. But like others have said, the duramax is a nice truck too. On a side note a funny thing I noticed at the local pulls last month was a lot of the pullers in super street and mod were towing their dodges in with duramaxes. That says a lot about the chevys being quality daily drivers.

 

[2broke2smoke]

any truck that the company pays for is better than the one you do ...



having said that get one that gets bad mileage ... drive it for a year and then remind them how inexpensive the cummins was to operated

 

[juicedcummins]

If you work under the same conditions as we do in the north [Ihate to say it] go with the ford. The GM's do not have the ground clearance and you will be stuck all the time. The new Fords also make the 3'rd gens look pretty silly in the mud/muskeg.

 

[BTighe]

level kit and real tires should be a cheap fix for that. stick shift dmax's seem to be rare! i wonder how durable they are.

 

[JRS]

I've haven't been a big fan of Chevy interiors since the 90's. the ergonomics just don't do it for me.

 

[Signal73]

Some buisnessmen rack up frequent flier miles, maybe you will rack up frequent tow truck miles

 

[JRS]

Going to the Ford dealer today. will post how it goes with test drive.

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

whats wrong with the current quad cab??? I am 6'1" 240 ie not a small guy, I would be totally comfortable sitting in the back of my new 06, I can sure tell you I would rather sit back there than any sedan such as a camry, taurus, or accord. to me there is the perfect amount of space in the current quad cabs, any more would make the truck bigger and cause parking issues with 8"bed, the mega has tons of room but a short box, I prefer and over the rails tool box on my 8ft bed, this in effect gives me a short bed, but the mega has tons of storage behind the seat, I could all most store all my tool box stuff behind the mega seat. but I am plenty happy with my quad

 

[JRS]

Just got back from the Ford and Chevy dealers. If I can't wait for a crew cab Dodge with an 8 foot bed, I'll have to get the Ford. Back seat was bigger in the Ford. Nit picky, but has Chevy even changed their interior from the mid-90's? Both trucks were 2007's but Chevy still insists on using that velvetine seat material like was on the early 90's Honda Accords. The Ford dealer was much better at the specifics (tow rating, fuel filter/oil filter change interval) the Chevy dealer spoke in generalities. But that's just salesmen. I noticed the Ford was on 17" tires load range E, the Chevy on 16's Load range D. Neither truck's steering was anything to write home about. I crawled underneath both and both were recriculating ball. Seriously, I just rebuilt my '97's front end adding a DSS and poly urethane bushings. It steers no worse than either one of the new trucks. Both the auto trannies shifted fine, the Allison took some getting used to. When you take your foot off the gas, it feels like some one threw a small anchor out behind the truck. to be fair, it is subtle, but it is noticeable. Neither dealer had a manual transmission model for me to drive.

 

[Dieselnut59]

sicks. ooooohhhhhhh



Yikes!

I would make the "sacrifice" of cab (not bed) space and get the quad cab with 8' bed Dodge/Cummins.

On the other note, WHY does Dodge not listen to the consumer??? We want a REAL crew cab with a REAL (8') bed!!

At least we are the only ones with a REAL engine!!

 

[JRS]

I race cars with a guy who is a former DC engineer that worked on installing/upgrading assembly plants for DC untill he retired. (now he's a consultant for them) At a race last May, I mentioned to him that the MegaCab was a nice truck but I needed an 8 foot bed. He swore to me that he was going to the plant in Mexico to work on changing the layout of tooling/assembly line so that they could make a MegaCab truck with an 8 foot bed. According to him, the length of the truck was too long to make the turns on the assembly lines. I'll believe it when I see one at the dealership.



A true story though, about 3 months after I purchased my truck DC paid me $50 to meet with DC engineers one Sunday morning at a large (famous) mall here in Houston. (it was in December of 1996) The DC engineers walked in with LARGE cups of coffee, obviously having partaked in the local establishments the night before. There were other Dodge truck owners there. I got to meet one on one with an engineer for about 30 minutes, and then a group of them for about 30 minutes. I remember these questions they asked me:

1) If Dodge decided to make their own diesel engine for their trucks, would you still purchase one? - I told them they were crazy to try to recreate the wheel since Cummins had done such a good job.

2) Would you pay extra for 4 wheel disc brakes? - I asked them if they had ever worked on drum brakes. I got blank stares... I told them absolutely yes, I would order rear discs over drums.



They asked me what I would change and I told them:

1) I need a four door crew cab. - they gave no response

2) The fuel filter is too hard to access- they told me I was one of the few that actually worked on my truck.

3) I can't turn on the bed light without turning on the inside cab light and being blinded. - no response

4) I told them if the truck wasn't on level ground the factory jack didn't lift it high enough to change the tire. - they were very interested in this.

5) I told them to paint the driveshaft. Nothing worse than purchasing a new truck and looking underneath and seeing a rusted drive shaft. I remember one engineer bruskly telling me that painting it can throw it out of balance, yada, yada, yada. I stopped him mid-sentence and told him that the drive shaft on my 1972 Datsun 240Z was painted, and it redlined at 7,000 rpms. Now if the Japanese can figure out how to paint a drive shaft in 1972... . He got mad and left the table.....