suggestion - dodge or ford?

Cummins for towing.

 

Wow, $200,000? Must have all the bells and whistles.

 

Miles

 

I've always loved the 7.3. Dirty motor to play with.
But that 5.9 cummins would be my choice for the business side of things

 

Dodge, but I'd go newer if I were you? in 2002 the 5.9 only came with like 285 hp. Not nearly enough, and if you tried to add more hp with a programmer the transmissions wouldn't hold up. If you stepped up to the 2005 it has 325 hp and a more reliable transmission. But even then you'd want the lightest weight trailer possible (7500 lbs), and you want to limit your load weight to no more than 15,000 lbs

A new Ram has 385 hp, 850/900 ft lbs of torque, better brakes, a exhaust brake. It's a much better truck for working. Even with the new emissions they've put on them.

 

Dodge ever have a good transmission?..Not in my experience.

 

We've been running Dodge/Rams for a lot of years now. The only time we've seen a automatic fail is when a tuner was added trying to increase hp, a exhaust brake was added to a truck that didn't come with one, or somebody was trying to pull to much weight with the truck. As long as the truck was left stock, maintenance was stepped up, and you didn't try to pull to much weight the transmissions were problem free. At least that's been our experience

The Aisin Automatic that was available in 2008 in the 4500, and 5500 Dodge cab n chassis's had a few minor sensor issues from approx 2008 through 2012 and that was it. The Aisin today is virtually bullet proof.

We had a owner operator with the Aisin Automatic lose a transmission line and run it completely out of fluid going down the interstate. There wasn't a drop of fluid left in it and the truck wouldn't move. The owner operator had to have the truck towed to the dealer. We thought for sure that the trans was smoked and would need rebuilt. The dealer dropped the pan checked it for metal, there was nothing. They put the pan back on, fixed the trans line, filled it with fluid and the owner operator drove it away. That was approx 8- 9 months ago and the truck has been working every week since without any transmission issues. I think the truck had something like 160,000/180,000 miles on it when he lost the transmission line.

 

The Dodge.

The 7.3 is a great engine but that 24v Cummins is a beast.

That era Ford is also known to rot to hell below the waistline.

Plus the legendary/notorious Ford Truck steering slop.

But of course the Dodge isn't perfect either.

 

in 2002 either truck will work and they're both comparable. I recall my 2001 same specs as an 02. Power was somewhat Ok i suppose I have a 12 model ford now with a 6.7 and I'll never own another dodge again as long as I live least not a pickup quality is like night and day.

Back to the question at hand my dodge had 3.55's in the rear and I had the NV56 trans as opposed to the NV45 or the 47RE the automatics are junk plain and simple. worthless pieces of junk, the 45 had problems with the jam nut on 5th gear other than that they were pretty well bulletproof and would take over 800ft.lbs.tq with an upgraded input shaft. The 56 was pretty much bullet proof all the way around about the only problem they had was lubrication on the tailshaft bearing easily dealt with by adding an extra 2 quarts of fluid by removing the top PTO cover bolt and filling until the fluid began to seep out the top bolt hole.

Specs on the 5.9 were as follows 235/460 on the standard cummins it was 245/505 on the 6 speed trucks which had the HO cummins. The only difference in these 2 motors was the injection pump (don't get me started on the VP44) the HO vp used a higher pressure than the stardard output VP44. They were decent pumps, until the lift pump started to go and at that point in time with the lower fuel pressure the injection pump began to act up. If not replaced promptly the VP was destined for an early demise to the tune of about $2100 after labor. When replacing many of us bit the bullet replaced the timing cover and converted to a P7100 mechanical pump from the old 12 valve cummins motors, as well as had the 24 valve injectors repopped for the P7100 pump pressure after doing the conversion reliability improved and they were a raped ape. 500+ wasn't uncommon and after doing a turbo on them you could still tow with them as with any modified truck if you didn't know how to take your foot out of it she'd get hot and melt down but it's all about monitoring gauges and knowing how to drive. I'd recommend a set of 4.10s if you're going to tow the 3.55s would pull alright but I dropped many gears with that pickup many times.

Now when it comes to the 7.3 they were a solid motor they made slightly more power than the cummins and they would live just as long. The drivelines were smaller I learned this when examining the trucks although I believe the ford was still built better and stronger than my dodge ever was. Also after busting my knuckles on both a 5.9 and a 7.3 I still believe the 7.3 was easier to work on even though it was a V8 seemed like everything was easier to get to minus removing the exhaust, injectors and running the head on a ford was much easier than running the head on my 5.9 as the back 2 cylidners sat clear back under the firewall they weren't exactly fun but they were still doable. Ford had a better automatic but a worse manual than a dodge did. The ZF6 wouldn't take much power that was just the nature of that transmission. You can get a few more axle ratios in a ford as opposed to a dodge, I think a set of 3.73s would do better in a ford, as they're the best of both worlds you're not tacking 2000 at 65 on the flatland but you can still spin the tires eaiser than with the 3.55s in a dodge.

Either way you'll be alright I would say, I was a dodge man for years before I bought my ford, and as I said I'd never buy another dodge I'll stick with a ford, that cummins isn't what it's cracked up to be. I've never been partial to a cummins motor, I hated that 5.9 with a passion and if I could've fit a 3126 cat or a C7 under the hood you can bet your ### I would have. Also keep in mind I forgot to mention watch out for a pattern 53 block. Notorious for cracking a water jacket if I recall correctly and they required a complete crate motor to fix it. Welding never worked like it was supposed to and cummins will do nothing for it. I got the letter and had a 53 block that never cracked while I owned it. It was supposed to be recalled but from what I understand cummins got in there and denied everything, same as they did with the killer dowel pin on the 12 valves.

You'll be fine either way but if it were me I'd buy a 7.3 but like I said I never did care for that cummins, and I had a lot of problems with it over the 50000 miles I owned it.

1 more point you'll put balljoints in that dodge every 30 to 40k they changed the suspension geometry in 99 and the lower balljoint supports all the weight on the axle and all the upper ball joint does is act as a kingpin. I finally started putting the cheapest pieces of junk I could find in that 01 I had after I dropped over $600 on balljoints and had them go out in 25000 miles. there's no way around it. BTW I'd be a millionare if I could do those all day long in a shop. I can do a set in less than an hour now. That should tell you how many of those I've had to do.