To Cummins or not to Cummins?

[MarshRam]

I'm looking to get my next truck. Want it for the next 20-40 years. Will likely put 250k-500K miles on it, could be a million, I don't know what the future holds. However, current 5 year forecast says I will drive it in 10 minute intervals a day on the freeway 3 times a week. A few miles around town here and there and then it will just sit on average. Am I really going to destroy this engine by doing that, as implied in many comments I have seen. That does defeat the purpose of why I want to get a diesel, longevity. What is more than likely going to fail and the headaches involved? My neighbor recently bought a 1 owner ford diesel that was 26 years old and had 90K miles on the original engine, truck was immaculate. Seemed to run like a brand new vehicle to me, but I don't know what that owner went through on that engine. The other option is to try and own a 6.4 for 20-40 years and try and put a million miles on it. What's going to be worse? Or, maybe Ford makes better diesels? LOL.....


7/17/26 Edit: I will do a delete/tune to avoid DPF clogging.

 

[Grams]

You are worrying about the heart of someone whose dreams are about running marathons ….. but who sits in the recliner almost exclusively and watches TV.
The answer is “Yes”…. his heart is likely to fail…. Not because heart muscle cannot do the job…. but because the arteries which feed that heart can not stand that level of activity.

Diesels are capable of hard work and longevity…as long as they are used for that purpose.

A gasser is better-suited to what you describe you intend….and cheaper to re-build if you ever wear it out.

 

[MarshRam]

You are worrying about the heart of someone whose dreams are about running marathons ….. but who sits in the recliner almost exclusively and watches TV.
The answer is “Yes”…. his heart is likely to fail…. Not because heart muscle cannot do the job…. but because the arteries which feed that heart can not stand that level of activity.

Diesels are capable of hard work and longevity…as long as they are used for that purpose.

A gasser is better-suited to what you describe you intend….and cheaper to re-build if you ever wear it out.

Thanks. It is likely it will get driven more in the future, but not anytime soon. The problem is, I'm going to drop 30K into making it my own and all the fun time spent that goes along with doing such modifications. There's absolutely no talking me out of that. I spend money on my house and my cars, my two biggest assets and where I spend most my time experiencing life, so I do "make them my own" so I can truly enjoy them. LOL. I don't want to find myself in a position a few years down the line selling my HEMI after all that. I would wait a few more years, but it is getting that time where I need to make this move/decision. Am I really going to create enough catastrophic chaos/headaches with a diesel because it didn't get driven like it should for the first few years that outweighs the other likely possibility? I've never owned a diesel, so that's what I know, nothing about nothing....

 

[Docwagon1776]

My neighbor recently bought a 1 owner ford diesel that was 26 years old and had 90K miles on the original engine, truck was immaculate.

That's the difference between pre-emissions diesels and current diesels. Pre-emissions motors don't need to do regen cycles, current ones do.

 

[MarshRam]

That's the difference between pre-emissions diesels and current diesels. Pre-emissions motors don't need to do regen cycles, current ones do.

Thanks Doc, but can you not force regen with Alfa obd to solve this?

 

[Docwagon1776]

Thanks Doc, but can you not force regen with Alfa obd to solve this?

I don't know if you can force it to or not, never looked in to it. You aren't supposed to shut it off during a regen, and remember it's dumping more fuel in to artificially raise the temperature so you're introducing more fuel dilution.

There's a lot of ways to force a square peg in a round hole, but you're better off just getting a round peg. Modern diesels are for people who are going to work them. Longer trips, heavier loads, big boy truck stuff. I don't do big boy truck stuff any more so I haven't had a diesel since the 7.3L Power Stroke.

 

[jejb]

Absolutely agree with the others, don't get a modern diesel pickup, of any brand for your use case. Or if you do, know you will have to replace DPF's and likely have other issues. I've been driving diesel pickups since the Duramax first came out in '01. The current generation need to be worked hard all the time. Very disappointing.

Now, if that money you're going to throw at it includes a full delete and tune, you'd probably be fine. But it won't pass emission testing, if that's a worry.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

If you're wanting a Cummins with simplicity and longevity then look to a common rail 5.9, these are beasts!

 

[ramffml]

The simple truth is, you're not going to put 1 million miles on a 6.4 gas engine by driving it 10 min intervals. You'll be lucky to reach 200k. All the high mileage engines, regardless of manufacturer, are "freeway" miles. They start the engine, drive it on the freeway for hours on end, then shut it down. The reason this driving style lasts longer is because the vast majority of engine wear occurs in that period of time between starting it cold and getting it up to operating temp.

A modern diesel is going to be a PIYA for your use case. Count on emissions issues, with some possible repair bills exceeding the cost of a new 6.4.

I would adjust your expectations to something more reasonable. 40 years and 0.5 to 1 million miles (gas or diesel, but especially gas) is quite unrealistic even though you can find examples out there.

I'm hoping to get 15 years and 200k miles out of my 5.7. I'm almost half way there, but even at 10 years I'd consider that "well done" and the truck not owing me anything. Bought it new, drove every mile on it so far.

 

[MarshRam]

Absolutely agree with the others, don't get a modern diesel pickup, of any brand for your use case. Or if you do, know you will have to replace DPF's and likely have other issues. I've been driving diesel pickups since the Duramax first came out in '01. The current generation need to be worked hard all the time. Very disappointing.

Now, if that money you're going to throw at it includes a full delete and tune, you'd probably be fine. But it won't pass emission testing, if that's a worry.

I would absolutely do a full delete and tune. I'm in FL, so no concerns about emissions testing. As you can see, I'm trying to see if I can make this work. Reason. I'm getting ready to sell my 2014, probably get 18K, had it for ten years and have put an extra 20K in mods in it. I might as well return it to stock and pay someone $2k to get it out of my driveway. Not really, but you get the idea. I don't want to be faced with this situation again in ten years because then a diesel makes more sense. Would much rather get it all done now and that's my big truck until I die. I might need to pull a 5th wheel around the country later. Old people like to travel. LOL.

 

[tjfdesmo]

Bear in mind 2022-2024 Cummins require $$$$ ECM swap to tune and/or delete. It appears that 2025+ are locked down even tighter.

 

[Grams]

I know a fellow…. now a sworn bachelor….but previously married Four different times…. because, while he was single and met beautiful women…. All he could Think About was the anticipation / intense-pleasure of or’gasm….
…Only Later did he face the realization he had to deal with All The Rest of it EveryDay, Every Week, All Year-Long.

Similarly….Dreaming of diesel-ownership is different than owning one.

I know what I write of. My $100K ‘24 Cummins sits between the twice-annual vacation-trips pulling the Airstream…while my $10K ‘15 Hemi is driven with pleasure every day.

 

[Gr8bawana]

The title of your thread is "To Cummins or not to Cummins"
for your intended use it would be NOT TO CUMMINS
But in spite of opinions you asked for, you seem very intent on going with a Cummins so good luck with that.

 

[Docwagon1776]

I would absolutely do a full delete and tune. I'm in FL, so no concerns about emissions testing. As you can see, I'm trying to see if I can make this work. Reason. I'm getting ready to sell my 2014, probably get 18K, had it for ten years and have put an extra 20K in mods in it. I might as well return it to stock and pay someone $2k to get it out of my driveway. Not really, but you get the idea. I don't want to be faced with this situation again in ten years because then a diesel makes more sense. Would much rather get it all done now and that's my big truck until I die. I might need to pull a 5th wheel around the country later. Old people like to travel. LOL.

If you want to fiddle with something, buy a pre-emissions diesel and fiddle away. If I was ever dumb enough to get another camper I'd probably get another 7.3L Power Stroke, get one of John Wood's transmission installed, and drive it until I die. But with diesel costing what diesel costs, with what a decent camper costs, and with the general PITA of pulling a trailer in some areas I doubt I ever do.

You can rent a lot of really nice cabins, hotel rooms, and have a real decent campground set up for the costs of pulling an RV. And you can get gas anywhere, take the short turning radius trails, not worry about thieves, not worry about dumping, etc for the cost of an RV.

RVs make sense if you go somewhere and sit for weeks at a time. If you're actually traveling, they are a PITA.

 

[Jeepwalker]

No engines like short drives as others have said, but Diesels in particular ...even pre-emission are going to suffer on short drives. There is a lot of extra *mass* in a diesel engine, which wonn't get up to operating temp. They tend to get heavily gunked-up inside, oil accumulates in the turbo-tract. Turbo's don't like gunk. For guys who live in the north, short drives...keep a blanket on the pass seat and be prepared for ice-cold feet every winter -- you'll never get a drop of heat out of it. Unless it has a supplemental electric cabin heater.

My neighbor went through this recently. He was set on a diesel. He's another short-drive's guy with occasional long drives. I gave him the plusses and hard-truth negatives that people don't always talk about. Others must have done the same ...he bought the gas-engine truck.

But on long drives, pulling over hills, etc ...they're fantastic!

 

[MarshRam]

I know a fellow…. now a sworn bachelor….but previously married Four different times…. because, while he was single and met beautiful women…. All he could Think About was the anticipation / intense-pleasure of or’gasm….
…Only Later did he face the realization he had to deal with All The Rest of it EveryDay, Every Week, All Year-Long.

Similarly….Dreaming of diesel-ownership is different than owning one.

I know what I write of. My $100K ‘24 Cummins sits between the twice-annual vacation-trips pulling the Airstream…while my $10K ‘15 Hemi is driven with pleasure every day.

And that's ok for me. I don't care if the truck practically sits for the next few years for the most part. I much prefer to use my 2012 racer to zip around town. And I will always have two trucks. One for fun and one to get $hit done, whatever that looks like! My dad had a muscle boat we took out once a year when I would visit. And every year, same crap, one or two days fixing stuff that pretty much never got used in the first place just to get it running to take it out for a day. So let's say, I don't drive it (skip all small trips), unless I'm really going to drive it, like once a month or every two. I can make that work. As long as it's not like that boat. I am diesel illiterate, but I do know they need to be pressured. There has to be some way to make this work. It looks like a delete/tune may not be the answer to solve this. We'll see what the community says. This is a an early 2027 objective, I have time. My neighbor did have a RAM 3500 diesel he used for grocery shopping pretty much most the time (I think it was a 2019 model), lived next to me for 5 years and he never had a problem. Not sure what magic he performed or if he should have been a regular lotto player, he's gone now so I can't ask.

 

[Jeepwalker]

MarshRam, If you're going to do it anyway, now that you know the good and *potential* bad's, it's probably a matter of planning your days/drives to ensure you get it out on the hwy periodically for somewhat longer drives to keep the engine healthy. Maybe that incudes taking it to truck shows/cruises/cars&coffee, a bit further away on weekends to show off your mods. Or visiting friends/family a little further away a little more often. Or taking that little-longer drive to visit/see some local sites in some other state you've been 'thinking' about doing someday ...with your significant other/kids or whatever.

Whatever it look like...if you can weave a few longer drives 1/2hr+ (and a few even longer than that once in a while) between those short trips, you should be ok.

 

[Jeepwalker]

If you buy new or nearly new, might be worthwhile to shoot for a lifetime powertrain warranty deal since you plan to keep it a while. Considering the cost of maintenance, might realy pay off in your case.