Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Wanted to buy a new pump hauler.

I've brought this up before. The GM product, is a fine product, but they have always come up short when trying to "deiselize" The new Duramax is their best effort by far, but still comes very short of where they need to be. Aluminum cylinder heads and cast iron blocks DO NOT MIX... Maybe for racing, but definitly not for normal road use. The aluminum expands & contracts at different rates & amounts than the cast iron. This causes a scrubbing action to the cylinder heads, the end result is a head gasket failure. Sadly their Allison trans falls a little short of the heavy duty trans that is made by the parent GM corporation. Its like saying that the Cummins engine in the Dodge is the same as whats in the "Big Rigs"

As far as the Dodge, the Cummins engine is a GREAT engine, for that application. Sadly the rest of the truck, just doesn't seem to hold up.

For my money, the Ford Super Duty is the best investment. This is more than a personal opinion. I make my living with my trucks. There are a lot of different factors that go into a truck purchase that I need to take into consideration, and that lead me to this conclusion. Navistar has built a very good product here. A lot of the past problems have been addressed. Double the pump output, and double the oil capacity in the trans, as well as an additional low gear.

Now I know that this reply will bring up additional, passionate, responses. Thats fine, most of us are comfortable with what Mom & Dad always drove. But in your truck purchase, figure what is important to you, price, economy, life cycle cost, then do your research in those areas. Dont be influenced by creative advertising. Go to actual facts & figures. A truck is a large investment. Its too easy to spend a lot of money on a pretty face...