Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Chevy and Dodge both used the NV4500 and, for a long time, the Dana 70 rear (chevy dually) and real Dana 60 kingpin front axle. The GM 10. 5 Corporate 14 bolt (both dually and srw) is superior to a Dana 70 and all the axle I would ever need. The dana 80 is sweet overkill, but is actually a hybrid using D70 parts in our trucks. I would put a 14 bolt up against it anyday for my srw uses.
That said, neither Dodge nor Chevy offers all of that "good stuff" now nor ever all at once, unfortunately. It seems for any upgrade they made two downgrades, or something like that. As for the rest of the driveline, there is simply no comparison between any auto trans chrysler ever made and the venerable TH400. I don't know about the modern OD version, the 4L80E, but it is has outstanding roots. The TH400 was the strongest most reliable auto ever offered in a light truck until GM started putting Allisons behind Duramax's. So GM still kicks dodge's butt in the automatic division. And is their equal in the rear axle. They have no front axle, and so are the huge losers there.
If we are talking tried-and-true, then no motor ever built by dodge or ford can hold a candle to the small block or big block chevy in so many categories it is pointless to enumerate them. Chevy just never had, nor do they still have, a Cummins or any semblance of a decent diesel. And their IFS remains weak junk. For frame strength and cab rust resistance (certainly not doors or fenders or box), I have to give the nod to Dodge based on my 2nd gen.
But between the big 3, they have all at one time or another offered some outstanding components, but none ever put them ALL together in a diesel pickup. But Dodge came very, very close to my idea of "near perfection" in '93, lacking only a better transmission and P pump, and a better x-cab and/or crew cab offering which followed in '94 but they then stupidly threw the baby out with the bathwater in too many other important respects, mainly the front suspension, steering, and axle.
If gas is the only alternative, then the late 80's chevy K30 with a 454 and either the SM465 4-speed/NP205 or the TH400/NP205 combos reigns as king of all-time tough, imo. Dodge had an almost identical truck, even some parts interchange such as the beloved and long gone real kingpin Dana 60, a slightly inferior rear axle, but a typically much worse transmission in either manual or auto (getrag or 727). BUT Dodge trumped all with the Cummins. Without it, they lose, though the very earliest dodge cummins were pretty anemic.
That said, neither Dodge nor Chevy offers all of that "good stuff" now nor ever all at once, unfortunately. It seems for any upgrade they made two downgrades, or something like that. As for the rest of the driveline, there is simply no comparison between any auto trans chrysler ever made and the venerable TH400. I don't know about the modern OD version, the 4L80E, but it is has outstanding roots. The TH400 was the strongest most reliable auto ever offered in a light truck until GM started putting Allisons behind Duramax's. So GM still kicks dodge's butt in the automatic division. And is their equal in the rear axle. They have no front axle, and so are the huge losers there.
If we are talking tried-and-true, then no motor ever built by dodge or ford can hold a candle to the small block or big block chevy in so many categories it is pointless to enumerate them. Chevy just never had, nor do they still have, a Cummins or any semblance of a decent diesel. And their IFS remains weak junk. For frame strength and cab rust resistance (certainly not doors or fenders or box), I have to give the nod to Dodge based on my 2nd gen.
But between the big 3, they have all at one time or another offered some outstanding components, but none ever put them ALL together in a diesel pickup. But Dodge came very, very close to my idea of "near perfection" in '93, lacking only a better transmission and P pump, and a better x-cab and/or crew cab offering which followed in '94 but they then stupidly threw the baby out with the bathwater in too many other important respects, mainly the front suspension, steering, and axle.
If gas is the only alternative, then the late 80's chevy K30 with a 454 and either the SM465 4-speed/NP205 or the TH400/NP205 combos reigns as king of all-time tough, imo. Dodge had an almost identical truck, even some parts interchange such as the beloved and long gone real kingpin Dana 60, a slightly inferior rear axle, but a typically much worse transmission in either manual or auto (getrag or 727). BUT Dodge trumped all with the Cummins. Without it, they lose, though the very earliest dodge cummins were pretty anemic.
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