new member coming!

[KIKER]

A welder buddy of mine has been working in North Dakota and Montana for the last few months and has had some bad luck with his GMC 3500 welding truck. He was moving his travel trailer closer to his work, since he was having to drive 2-3 hours one way, depending on the road conditions, when his '09 Duramax went down. He had it towed to a GM dealer in the nearest town. The dealer said he could look at it sometimes after 12/15, and maybe as far away as 1/15/12. Since time is money, and that's his only transportation, he started looking to buy another truck, Dodge Cummins. I talked him into talking to Ed at Dave Smith, and he made a deal over the phone and will pick it up next Friday. He will get his GMC fixed, hopefully, and take it back to Texas, and put it up for sale. I hope I gave him good advice! He's getting a crew cab dually, auto, 4x4, ST, with a few add ons.

 

[Schumacher]

Kiker good advise. That's the same truck I picked up at Dave Smith and it's my best Dodge so far.

 

[Nyoest]

I'm curious, what kind of problems did his jimmy have?

 

[HBarlow]

Jimmy,

IMO a better recommendation and better choice for him would have been a Ram Quad Cab and Chassis, either 3500 or 4500, depending on the weight of his welding equipment and service body.

 

[KIKER]

His truck's cel came on, then reduced power notification, then all the dash lights flashed, then it died. When he tried to start it, I think his batteries were dead. He said it went from a half tank of diesel to a quarter tank in a few miles. He didn't check his oil to see if some of it went into his oil pan.
Harvey, he would have bought a cab/chassis if he had the time, place, and equipment to fit his existing welding bed to fit the Dodge. Also, when I called Dave Smith motors, checking on availability, Ed told me the cab/chassis were about $7000 more than a dually pickup, comparably equipped? He built his welding bed from scratch, and fit it on the chassis as he went. It might take some doing to change it over to a Dodge.

 

[HBarlow]

I think I saw a row or two of cab and chassis trucks when I passed through Kellog, ID on my recent motorcycle trip to Seattle but yeah, I guess it would require a lot of reengineering to adapt a shop built bed built for a GM pickup to the Ram cab and chassis.

One of the big advantages of the c&c for commercial use like a welder's rig is a bed designed or fabricated for a cab and chassis will fit others. They have 34" frame spacing just like MDTs and HDTs. The Furds do also but their rear suspension and hardware is not all below the top of the frame rails like Ram's.

 

[MChrist]

A truck under warranty, and the dealer can't look at it for one to two months??? How long does it take to plug in a diagnostic code reader, since it sounds like an electrical glitch?!?

From what I've heard, witnessed, and experienced, the Chevy truck has all/most of their bugs worked out, and is a fine truck in general.

 

[KIKER]

He said his warranty is out. He has 68000 miles and the warranty was for 36000. Does that sound correct? He had a side window broken out and one dealer wanted $1500 to replace. He made some comment about it being expensive and the service rep asked him "just how bad do you want it replaced?".

 

[MChrist]

I just looked up "2009 warranty Duramax" and I came away with the understanding that there is a 100,000 5 year warranty on drivetrain, and 36,000 3 year bumper-bumper. (unless it is a 4500 series, which it is not).

Something sounds fishy...

 

[MChrist]

... and apparently "drivetrain" is the lubricated, hard parts. . not sensors, wiring, computer, or even fuel pumps. .

 

[HBarlow]

The truck may have been modified and the owner knew his warranty was void and preferred not to admit the details.

 

[rrl989]

Seems like it was a mistake this dealer was left open to represent the new GM after the restructuring. If your info is accurate, I'd be looking deeper as to why GM's dealer can't determine the problem possibly until Jan 2012, and why is it assumed non-warranty at this point ?

 

[HBarlow]

What makes you think it was assumed? The GM owner told Kiker his warranty was expired.

 

[RonD]

A welder buddy of mine has been working in North Dakota and Montana for the last few months and has had some bad luck with his GMC 3500 welding truck. He was moving his travel trailer closer to his work, since he was having to drive 2-3 hours one way, depending on the road conditions, when his '09 Duramax went down. He had it towed to a GM dealer in the nearest town. The dealer said he could look at it sometimes after 12/15, and maybe as far away as 1/15/12. Since time is money, and that's his only transportation, he started looking to buy another truck, Dodge Cummins. I talked him into talking to Ed at Dave Smith, and he made a deal over the phone and will pick it up next Friday. He will get his GMC fixed, hopefully, and take it back to Texas, and put it up for sale. I hope I gave him good advice! He's getting a crew cab dually, auto, 4x4, ST, with a few add ons.

Ed West is a great Guy, your friend will be very pleased.

 

[MChrist]

It'll be interesting to hear what your friend's impressions are once he starts using the Dodge. Coming from an '09 GMC to a '12 Dodge should be fairly similar, but I'm curious what he says. Personally, I have nothing against Duramax/Allison combo. I own an '07 5500 GMC and really like the combination. No problems, EXTREMELY quiet and smooth, with plenty of power. I won't bash Duramax.

 

[rrl989]

What makes you think it was assumed? The GM owner told Kiker his warranty was expired.

The GM Duramax has a 5yr/100K warranty, that's why I made the assumption with an 09 at 68K miles. Besides, warranty or not,

what kind of GM Dealership tells someone stuck on the road they will look at it in 1-2 months.

 

[MChrist]

Yeah, my BS sniffer is going off on this one. Why wouldn't he just take it to another dealer? I'd like to know, as Paul Harvey would say, "... the REST of the story. "

Did he have his truck there before, and tried to stiff the dealership? Was he just a pain to deal with?? No dealership tells people with a work truck that it will take 2 months to "look at it".

I don't think we are getting the whole story.

 

[KIKER]

Well, here is some of the rest of the story... . He is driving a new Dodge back to N. D. As far as his GMC, It cost him $450 to have his truck towed to the closest dealer, who told him the waiting time. He called the dealer in the next town and they could get to it sooner, by a week or two, but said they would charge him around $1000 to fetch it. His grandmother called and talked to a GM rep higher up than just local who got the dealer in possession to look at it. They found that it was out of diesel. He has had some trouble with it in the last 4 or 5 months, and one or two dealers have taken advantage of his traveling, not expecting to have to deal with him again. I'm not there with him, but hear from him almost daily. I can tell you that he has been wanting a Dodge truck for some time, and that has a lot to do with his abandoning his current truck. I have pointed out some of the pluses of my Dodge and the minuses of his Duramax, as well as some of the contractors he's been working for run Dodges and rub it in when he has trouble with his jimmy. He is planning on joining up with this group, so go easy on him when he gets here. I've learned a lot since joining and I know he can, too. He has a lot to learn about running his own welding truck and surviving all the baggage that goes with it.

 

[MChrist]

No,no,no,no,no... he ran out of fuel????? No. This is hurting my brain.

 

[HBarlow]

Jimmy,

Please let the forum know or at least pm me when he joins so we can let him feel welcome.