The End of Mods???

[HBarlow]

The automobile industry including trucks and engines is very competitive, incredibly challenging and expensive to participate in, and one which is endlessly bullied and regulated for political gain by blow-dried empty suits in DC who wouldn't recognize an engine if it were delivered by their favorite hookers wrapped in a package decorated with $100 bills. In short, competition is tough.

Cummins, not Chrysler introduced the engines claiming they met 2010 EPA specs because they did. I believe, respect, and trust Cummins, Inc. I also respect Dodge engineers.

I spent a week in Columbus, IN to attend the TDR Rally celebrating the introduction of the Gen III Ram and HPCR engines in summer of 2002. I have toured the Cummins Mid Range Engine Plant and watched engines being built. I have talked to or heard presentations by the staff from president to receptionist. I witnessed a small fleet of new trucks being driven three shifts around the clock through the Indiana countryside loaded to maximum combined gross weight by Cummins and Dodge engineers so 100,000 miles could be put on the trucks prior to introduction to the public. I personally know that Cummins and Dodge do their best under difficult situations to design, develop, and test their products to the best of their ability before we ever drive them.

It is not possible to predict every single driving environment and style in which their products will be used and they are not pefect men and women.

I am extremely well pleased with my '08 Cab and Chassis. It has been troublefree. I wish it didn't have the EPA-mandated crap on it that choke power and economy but that misery was mandated by the clowns who pontificate daily in DC, not by the auto/truck/engine industry execs.

 

[Freebore]

Cummins was able to come out early with the 6. 7 and bank 2010 credits before 2010 so they can sell some non-2010 compliant engines after 2010 without penalties and buys them time to bring the rest of their engines into compliance.

Allowing the politicians to get away with what they have since as far back as the 60's has caused much of what we have with the emissions regulations and green movement. Now we have companies who previously were against Cap & Trade that are signing up for it - why? Because they think if they can meet the requirements and their competition can't, they'll gain market share. But we as end users will suffer the consequences of poorer efficiency, higher fuel consumption and the complexity that I simply don't believe is needed. I'm just amazed at the mass hysteria over global warming and the green movement and outright ignorance of the masses to educate themselves and use some critical thinking. The earth has been hotter at times before the internal combustion engine. Some groups scare the crap out of the masses with stories about the receding ice caps, but we have doubled the polar bear population since 1950. However Gore & others of his persuasion are doing all they can to scare the masses into believing some of this. Unless we start to turn this lunacy around, we'll be experiencing life like the movie Mad Max. There's just so much ineptitude and corruption in our government that a real cleanup is needed. Check out: JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher and Help Us Make History!

 

[HBarlow]

Cummins was able to come out early with the 6. 7 and bank 2010 credits before 2010 so they can sell some non-2010 compliant engines after 2010 without penalties and buys them time to bring the rest of their engines into compliance.

Allowing the politicians to get away with what they have since as far back as the 60's has caused much of what we have with the emissions regulations and green movement. Now we have companies who previously were against Cap & Trade that are signing up for it - why? Because they think if they can meet the requirements and their competition can't, they'll gain market share. But we as end users will suffer the consequences of poorer efficiency, higher fuel consumption and the complexity that I simply don't believe is needed. I'm just amazed at the mass hysteria over global warming and the green movement and outright ignorance of the masses to educate themselves and use some critical thinking. The earth has been hotter at times before the internal combustion engine. Some groups scare the crap out of the masses with stories about the receding ice caps, but we have doubled the polar bear population since 1950. However Gore & others of his persuasion are doing all they can to scare the masses into believing some of this. Unless we start to turn this lunacy around, we'll be experiencing life like the movie Mad Max. There's just so much ineptitude and corruption in our government that a real cleanup is needed. Check out: JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher and Help Us Make History!

Amen!

Freebore is an engineer who knows what he writes about.

 

[BHaden]

I just returned from a 3300 mile trip that took us to the Bad Lands, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and Jackson Hole. Hand calculated, I averaged 9. 3 mpg. That included highway speeds from 60 mph to 77 mph. We climbed the Big Horn in 22 miles of gravel at 3-8 mph, the Teton Pass in 6 miles of gravel at a crawl as well. I can not complain about the loaded mileage at all. I am bone stock with all the latest flashes and did not have one hiccup! My 5th wheel was loaded for the 2 week trip and I carried water over the passes not knowing if I was going to wind up dry camping or not. All in all, this truck will do anything I want it to with out any hesitation!

What is typical mileage empty or lightly loaded???

TIA

 

[PFlory]

AMEN! I knew there was a reason I liked the TDR group.

 

[Hoefler]

What is typical mileage empty or lightly loaded???

TIA

That is hard to say. I pull a 16' enclosed trailer that weighs around 6,000- 6,500 about 90% of the time for my business. I live in a very hilly area down here on the west side of Table Rock Lake, it seems like you are always going up hill. I average in the 10-11 range around here. When I am running in the hills around here, I stay in 5th gear to keep from shifting all the time and make the exhaust brake work better. On a trip to Dallas last year with out towing anything, I saw 17 once, but never have seen it again. I headed to Massachuset a year ago last March, I had about 3,000 miles on it, pulling my 16' trailer empty up and loaded back with about 1,000lbs on it, I averaged 10. 4 for the trip. I just turned 40,000 on it. I think it is getting stronger and more efficient. All in all, I really have no reason to complain, it is doing better than my 05 did.