When is a diesel engine overkill??

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huntergreen

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the 6.7 is over kill unless you use to tow or haul heavy loads. the epa has killed these trucks.
 

yillbs

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the 6.7 is over kill unless you use to tow or haul heavy loads. the epa has killed these trucks.

Can you elaborate on " how the EPA killed it "? I keep seeing this, but I don't see it. The truck makes more power than it did previously, it's a solid motor, but there is no description of what " killed it " means.

Thanks!
 

OnSale

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Well the real question is do you need a 3/4 ton the fuel economy between the 1500 diesel and 2500 are very different but both are good for there size and utility needs do yoy haul a 7000lb trailer all over get a 6.7 do you just buzz to and from work and once in a while haul sum 2x4 buy the 1500 diesel then it comes down to price too get a loaded lifted 2500 you will spend 80g buy the 1500 loaded its like 60g. So its what your using it for and what budget you have
Please for the love of god learn what punctuation is.... please. For my sake and everyone elses.

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SwollenMonkey16

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same truck, one with a cummins the other a hemi all things equal, the cummins will be more dollars. of course i dont buy vehicles based on resale.

Clearly a diesel will sell for a little more but he made it seem like ppl desire 150-200k diesels when that's not the case. Either way both motors are reliable and durable. **** I have a 4.7 with 222k miles and it hasn't lost a step and that's with 400-600 pounds constant load in my truck bed.
 

Shady

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Wow... A lot of non-diesel truck owners here are such experts on diesel trucks... I'm just sayin.. you would get more accurate info about the diesel truck if you talk with some of the fellas on a Cummins forum... there is a lot of claims about maintenance costs, mileage, reliability, and resale values, that I've read here that are exaggerations, and sometimes pure BS. But these claims keep getting repeated and are generally accepted as truth now. I am not here to debate though. I'll just share a bit about my personal experience.
I've owned Cummins trucks for the last 20+ years (1st, 2nd, and now a 4th gen). I sold my 17 year old 24 valve last year for $4000 over book value. It had 125k miles on the clock. (Very low mileage for a diesel truck of this age).
I've always got excellent fuel economy on all of my diesel vehicles. I take good care of my vehicles, and they have always taken good care of me. Sure, I've bombed them a bit, better injectors, a little tune, etc. nothing outrageous.
My truck is my daily driver, my tow vehicle, rock, dirt, bark, and whatever else I need hauled vehicle. I load my camper on it and drive to Mexico and back each winter (3000 miles each way).

They make badges for our Cummins grills for 100k, 200k, 300k, 400k, 500k, and up to a million miles.

The 1500s with the hemi engines are fine trucks, but I'd bet that you don't see many with high mileage badges on them..



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SwollenMonkey16

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We are all biased to what we own plan and simple. I've owned 3 of the gassers (4.7 5.7 6.4) and my bro owns a new Cummins so I'm familiar with them all. They are all great motors so its really preference and financial abilities. We can all make valid arguments that will get no where. The only true and valid answer is when it comes to towing CTD is king
 

JRG18

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Wow... A lot of non-diesel truck owners here are such experts on diesel trucks... I'm just sayin.. you would get more accurate info about the diesel truck if you talk with some of the fellas on a Cummins forum... there is a lot of claims about maintenance costs, mileage, reliability, and resale values, that I've read here that are exaggerations, and sometimes pure BS. But these claims keep getting repeated and are generally accepted as truth now. I am not here to debate though. I'll just share a bit about my personal experience.
I've owned Cummins trucks for the last 20+ years (1st, 2nd, and now a 4th gen). I sold my 17 year old 24 valve last year for $4000 over book value. It had 125k miles on the clock. (Very low mileage for a diesel truck of this age).
I've always got excellent fuel economy on all of my diesel vehicles. I take good care of my vehicles, and they have always taken good care of me. Sure, I've bombed them a bit, better injectors, a little tune, etc. nothing outrageous.
My truck is my daily driver, my tow vehicle, rock, dirt, bark, and whatever else I need hauled vehicle. I load my camper on it and drive to Mexico and back each winter (3000 miles each way).

They make badges for our Cummins grills for 100k, 200k, 300k, 400k, 500k, and up to a million miles.

The 1500s with the hemi engines are fine trucks, but I'd bet that you don't see many with high mileage badges on them..

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This x1000 except I found the crowd here a whole lot better to get along with than guys on cummins forum :happy107: Personal preference that's all.

I don't find my truck to be very costly at all. Oil and filter cost about $60 bucks and I found fuel filters for around $72 on amazon. The fuel filter minder still says I have 40% life left but they've been in there a year. Each time I got it on the freeway for some long miles I got almost 23 mpg, nuthin to shake a stick at.

The 4 Cummins trucks I've owned have taken care of me, and you can't beat that.
 

bubbagumpshrimp

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From what I've seen and heard, you can't order a 3.0 Diesel for 2017. I haven't seen any on any dealer lots. Could it be that they can't meet emission standards?

The impression I get from the news is that Bosch did the same type of "special" tuning on the Ecodiesel ECU that they did for the '09-15 VW TDI.
 

Gump

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I've owned 5 (95, two 01s, two common rails), and two 6.7s at work. Three of those made close to or over 600 horses from work I personally did. One 6.7 had perpetual computer problems, and the other was alright until sent back when the lease ran out.

The new Cummins trucks make lots of power, but the DEF will freeze, the emission system will need serviced, and compared to a pre-DPF truck they will get crappy mileage. Nothing about them sounds appealing.
 

Gump

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But between the 6.7 or 3.0, I would go Cummins.
 

Shady

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This x1000 except I found the crowd here a whole lot better to get along with than guys on cummins forum :happy107: Personal preference that's all.

^^^Truth!!

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spoon059

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OP, what kind of "around town' driving are you planning to do with the truck? This modern Cummins is a GREAT engine, but it doesn't like to be lugged around town and driven cold. Lots of short trips, stop and go, lugging engine (low speeds) will either plug up your DPF or else have you going through a lot of regens.

On the other hand, if you are getting out on the highway 3 or 4 times a month and driving at highway speeds and getting temps up, you will find the truck likes you better. Ram engineered these trucks to work. They like to haul trailers, they like to haul weight in the bed.

I get about 17-18 mpg around town. For me, around town is the suburbs mostly. 45 mph highways and far too many red lights. I can get 21 or 22 on the highway at speeds of 65-75 mph. Personally, I think those are darn good numbers. Diesel fuel in my area is only 10 or 15 cents higher than 87 octane. I bought my 2015 used, which is how I afforded the diesel.

I would look hard at the Pentastar engine if I were in your shoes. I would also research the heck outta the Ecodiesel, which can give you close to 30 mpg on the highway.
 
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yillbs

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OP, what kind of "around town' driving are you planning to do with the truck? This modern Cummins is a GREAT engine, but it doesn't like to be lugged around town and driven cold. Lots of short trips, stop and go, lugging engine (low speeds) will either plug up your DPF or else have you going through a lot of regens.

On the other hand, if you are getting out on the highway 3 or 4 times a month and driving at highway speeds and getting temps up, you will find the truck likes you better. Ram engineered these trucks to work. They like to haul trailers, they like to haul weight in the bed.

I get about 17-18 mpg around town. For me, around town is the suburbs mostly. 45 mph highways and far too many red lights. I can get 21 or 22 on the highway at speeds of 65-75 mph. Personally, I think those are darn good numbers. Diesel fuel in my area is only 10 or 15 cents higher than 87 octane. I bought my 2015 used, which is how I afforded the diesel.

I would look hard at the V6 engine if I were in your shoes. I would also research the heck outta the Ecodiesel, which can give you close to 30 mpg on the highway.

you should be a little more specific, I was confused even. When you say look at the v6, then research the eco, you are talking about two engines right ? the pentastar vs ecodiesel?
 
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Big_Sarge

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OP, what kind of "around town' driving are you planning to do with the truck? This modern Cummins is a GREAT engine, but it doesn't like to be lugged around town and driven cold. Lots of short trips, stop and go, lugging engine (low speeds) will either plug up your DPF or else have you going through a lot of regens.

On the other hand, if you are getting out on the highway 3 or 4 times a month and driving at highway speeds and getting temps up, you will find the truck likes you better. Ram engineered these trucks to work. They like to haul trailers, they like to haul weight in the bed.

I get about 17-18 mpg around town. For me, around town is the suburbs mostly. 45 mph highways and far too many red lights. I can get 21 or 22 on the highway at speeds of 65-75 mph. Personally, I think those are darn good numbers. Diesel fuel in my area is only 10 or 15 cents higher than 87 octane. I bought my 2015 used, which is how I afforded the diesel.

I would look hard at the V6 engine if I were in your shoes. I would also research the heck outta the Ecodiesel, which can give you close to 30 mpg on the highway.

So I currently drive around 17 miles one way too work, we also drive any were between 60-120 miles every other weekend going to the other bigger cities around where I live. But that will change whenever I move to a new post. But we normally try to live away from post so we don't have the "Army" feel 24/7.
 

yillbs

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So I currently drive around 17 miles one way too work, we also drive any were between 60-120 miles every other weekend going to the other bigger cities around where I live. But that will change whenever I move to a new post. But we normally try to live away from post so we don't have the "Army" feel 24/7.

As everyone has pointed out, 17 miles to work and 17 miles back, that's going to be "meh" in that Cummins. If you can afford it buy it, if you have to justify it, grab a gasser. My last input on the matter, promise :)
 

BBRAM2500

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I've owned 5 (95, two 01s, two common rails), and two 6.7s at work. Three of those made close to or over 600 horses from work I personally did. One 6.7 had perpetual computer problems, and the other was alright until sent back when the lease ran out.

The new Cummins trucks make lots of power, but the DEF will freeze, the emission system will need serviced, and compared to a pre-DPF truck they will get crappy mileage. Nothing about them sounds appealing.

They have fixed the def problem now as long as you plug it in at night the def has a heater in it as well or thats what they are marketing here in alberta and it gets cold where i live we had 2 weeks of -40 C and i had no issues
 

Gump

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Kinda sucks to be tied to a cord whenever it's below freezing. The fords at work left drivers stranded twice due to frozen DEF..
 

Shady

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This is an example of what I was talking about. This is a claim I see all the time in some forums, that is not based in fact, but is generally believed due to how often it is repeated.

The fact is thatRam has a heated DEF tank and lines. I Just went through a month long period where the temps were in the low teens and didn't get above freezing during the day. I never plug my truck in (don't even have the cold weather package on this truck). Even if I did, the plug heats the block, not the DEF tank or lines... I have never had ANY issues with frozen DEF, nor has anyone I know. I am not saying that it has never happened, any system can fail. but The only time I ever hear about this phenomenon is from guys that drive gassers and knew somebody that it happened to... it certainly is not a common occurrence, nor is it debilitating if it were to freeze. A 32.5% DEF solution will start to crystallize at 12deg F, and freeze hard at -11 deg F.

This is the way the system works in extreme cold conditions:
"During vehicle operation, SCR systems are designed to provide heating for the DEF tank and supply lines. If DEF freezes when the vehicle is shut down, start up and normal operation of the vehicle will not be inhibited. The SCR heating system is designed to quickly return the DEF to liquid form and the operation of the vehicle will not be impacted. The freezing and unthawing of DEF will not cause degradation of the product."

Even if the DEF tank froze solid, you could start up and drive 70 miles before any derating would occur. And if the system is operating properly, the DEF would be thawed enough to function normally by that time.

With this being said, I do not have any knowledge about FORD's DEF system.


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