t-15 firefighter

Man... I guess I just don't need to race my truck. I sure didn't buy it for that. If I wanted to race I would have bought a Corvette. If you just have to race it.... find a Duramax that is towing something while you are towing something. The race will be different then.

Britt

04ctd

t-7, won't work.

the D-max guys have taught their wives to wave when they pass a CTD going uphill pulling a HUGE trailer behind thier D-max's.

my basically stock 04 got waved at twice, by the same folks.
it had prolly 5lbs on a flat trailer and 4 folks and another 1k in gear in bed.

i had let my daughter borrow it, her fiance was PO'd, especially since "had" a 2500HD gas truck. he traded it on a CTD last week using the lemon law, got $11500 for the idler arm, like 3 in 19k miles on the Chebby.

cquestad

What did the last post mean? Duramax's tow better than a Cummins???

cquestad

Got Juice...we were not talking about stock or low to mid level bombers any more.

I do admit the wieght advange does hurt a little.

Got Juice?

Personally, I think the Cummins has better gradeability than the DMX stock to stock while towing. once up to speed i would say they are equal. Part of the reason being the Allison is making up for the low RPM torque the CTD belts out. Once at 2K revs or above... pretty equal.

My DMX tows quite well, almost as well as my old Dodge did, but with a little more comfort.

In another few years i might trade it and go for another Dodge. They both do the Job well. Not having owned any ford products i cannot comment about those. But i will probably never own a ford so i will never know

Got Juice?

The beginning post seems to indicate that we are/were talking about mid level bombers.

The post i thought was funny was the HPCR Dodge spanking the HPCR DMX. Did anyone else miss the fact that they share the same pump? And by definition, we can only make as much power as we have fuel to burn? Once both are taken to the level where the pump pressure drops below 9-12,000 psi the injection event cannot be maintained.

At that point both engine's injectors are starved for fuel. HPCR injects are similar to Gasoline injects. On time and event onset are controlled by computer. Pressure is no longer required to 'pop' the injector. The pump provides both volume and pressure. Once out of fuel, no further lenghtening of injector pulse will add any more HP unless we get a bigger pump.

Weight advantage? Ext Cab 4x4 Long Box weighed in at 7400lbs with fuel and driver at Mission Raceway. There is no magical 1000lb difference between the two makes.

marc03

http://www.trucktrend.com/roadtests/...ks/index7.html

STOCK VS STOCK= CUMMINS

Got Juice?

By a gnat's eyelash!

BTW, where is the I-6's fuel economy advantage?

Huh? (poke stick smiley here..lol)

I've had both, so while not an expert, I can relate both vehicles performance.

The DMX does not have the low RPM grunt of the Cummins. BUT the Bent 8 does have a wider torque band than the I-6.. not a higher peak number, but a wider RPM band to dip into it. The only reason the DMX is close to the performance stock to stock of the Dodge is because of the Allison's gear ratios keeping the engine in its peak operating range better.

It is a tremendous package. All things being equal though, a CTD with an Allison 1000 trans would be a very sweet ride indeed.

Motor Rooter gave The Dodge 3rd? and the GMC 2nd and the Ford 1st?

I think they got the order Screwy

fahlguy

Got Juice.....definately talks in reality...

It is all about how the torque is handled through the transmission. The DMAX and Allison is definitely a sweet setup (Shift Points and all)....now i if you put a 4 speed transmission behind the DMAX with the way it is setup behind a stock Cummins...it wouldn't feel like a turd.

I know that DC is getting better with time with their 48RE...but everytime I drive or ride in a stock 48re slushbox it makes me puke.......it seems like a 50-100hp loss through the stock tranny.

My point, with a properly built/setup/matched tranny you can make the Cummins/DMAX an impressive piece! And the Duramax is the only one with that setup from the factory until you reach the limits of the stock Allison.

Mixer Man

You have to admit the Duramax really does respond well to mods but the jury is still out on durability over the long haul . Being a former Aircraft mechanic I have more training in Metallurgy and Thermodynamics than I care to remember and the different expansion rates of an aluminum head and an iron block pushing 17:1 compression doesn't sell me on long term reliability . Granted I don't own a Duramax and never will after dealing with all the headaches of my wife's Impala SS { biggest turd I have EVER owned } and warped rotors ,electrical ,etc . I can't sit here and slam the ISUZU derivative but all my experiences in the past with v-8 diesels like Detroits ,they will run like mad for about a 100,000 miles then it is rebuild time . Besides I had never seen an Isuzu engine that was a v-type config until the Duramax came out . Was cruising down the highway in a Detroit powered concrete truck all of a sudden smoke everywhere and engine missing big time pulled over and it sounded horrible . My tight *** boss had another truck tow me back with a freaking 6 foot long tow cable on the intestate for 10 miles with another truck { I had 11 yds on @ 77,000 lbs ... pucker factor of 9.5 ) we discovered the right head had cracked and filled 2 cylinders with antifreeze . Judging by the fact I see TONS of guys pulling massive sleds (which Dodge dominates )the Cummins has proved itself plenty ,I am still waiting to see how the Duramax holds up over the long haul .

Got Juice?

Well, inching up on 100,000 miles on the original injectors (no aux filtration, stanadyne perf formula used religiously) only another 4 months and i will pass that mark!

There is nothing wrong with an Aluminum head diesel. IF it has been designed that way from the outset.

All things being equal though, the CTD is a model of serviceable simplicity with the inline configuration... something the DMX lacks!

SoCal-305

I've watched alot of these comments about drag racing a Cummins against either a Ford or Chevy and the big advantage is the V8 deisels have that nobody has mentioned yet is their reciprocating assemblies are much lighter than the Cummins. We are talking a seven main journal long crank with super oversized rods in a Cummins compared to five main journals with medium duty connecting rods in the other V8s. Their has to be around 50lbs more metal in a Cummins assembly. Yes, the V8s have two more cylinders of pistons/rods to move around but I believe the Cummins still has a weight penalty there as well as their pistons are pretty tall and beefy too. (IE the "Connecting Rod" picture.)

I test drove all three brands of trucks in the same day in the same drive layout in 2004 and by far, the Ford was the fastest. However, there was no way I was going to buy Ford given the problems that were being publicized. The Chevy was a second in acceleration capacity and Dodge was a close third. I eventually chose Dodge because of the Cummins engine baritone diesel sound and overbuilt nature, and the Dodge trucks are slightly more manueverable.

I've done import drag racing for 10 years now and 1.0lb or weight removed from the crankshaft/rods/pistons/flywheel/clutch etc. can measure up to about 1.0hp at the wheels in 1st gear and about 1/2-1/3rd of that in 2nd and 3rd gears. By the time you hit the 1:1 gear in the tranny, the gain is hardly measurable. There are many variables involve here such as the radius of the weight removal and etc., so this is just a gross approximation.

In summary, stock for stock/apples to apples, Cummins will probably lose against the other trucks in a drag race to 80mphs. My guess it will be even with a Duramax with a 10-15hp mod and it takes an additional 25hps to catchup to the Fords 6.0. However, the Cummins is the only engine out there that can produce a reliable 600+hp without doing anything to the longblock. This is something that I hope to take advantage of in the near future!

Forrest Nearing

did you really just say "beated"?

Got Juice?

You also know then how weight effects the durability of the engine in terms of accelerated/decellerated masses. So the point is moot IMHO. Stock for stock the CTD will outlast a DMX. No argument there. When talking about bombed though, CAT did a study based on their own ACERT engines. Longevity was related to power output no matter the engines configuration. More power= less life.

As Far as a reliable 600, I have been 550+ for quite some time.... and Diesel Gods willing, I hope to be near the 6 mark... but i am making no predictions... All on #2 only of course.

SoCal-305

I actually was looking forward to the Duramax engine release and followed it's development all the way from '97 and on. It was a last minute personal preference that made me choose Dodge instead. I'm glad to see your DMAX has been alive and well at 550hp. IMHO, I would cringe with those stock connecting rods to go any higher, especially if you have a momentary malfunction with one or your power add-ons.

I understand your comment about mass accels/decels and how it applies to mechanical stress. However, I believe that would only apply in high RPM engines where piston speeds are approaching a critical window where you need to really pay attention to all variables such as component weight , structural considerations, metallurgy and etc. Mechanical stress is a square function with rpm in that with the our diesel engines, there is 4X less strain than with engine that have double the engine redlines. Even though the stroke of the diesel engine in longer, there won't be the same absolute parameters at play. Just my opinion my original point in not moot.

Lastly, I agree in general, more power equals less life, but specifically with what I'm trying to say:

Cummins at 600hp+ = a little less life.
DMAX and Ford6.0 at 600hp+ = borrowed time!