gerry

My neighbor was just in the market for a new truck... His son is 6'1" and they loved the Mega Cab... With a 5th wheel in the future and wanting to take the motorcycles in the truck for day trips he just couldn't buy the SB Mega..

The other day he brought home a New 4 door LB Duramax.. It is a REALLY NICE TRUCK.. but as I crawled around it I sure wouldn't want to have to work on it.. not much room in that engine compartment and I am not to sure about the IFS.. I like the 4 link system we have, And mine was alot cheaper to put 35's on than his will be

jeff-kc9ftp

Scaled a couple weeks ago empty with a nearly full tank and 230lbs of me in the truck.

also, I didn't check out the chevy or ford in person when shopping but, on paper, there is only like a 2-3" difference in legroom for the back seat. And if I remember right, the hip, shoulder and headroom #'s were all pretty close.

I seem to have plenty of room in the back seat on my '06. I was really surprised considering how little room my '01 had.

Luke S

Nope, those are 5.9' that are sitting on my lot today.

SBRW

For me the mega cab was the best option. We put my son's (19 month old) car seat in the back of a QC and his toes were hitting my seat (driver's side seat) and the seat wasn't the entire way back. Plus there was like 3-4 inches of car seat hanging over the back seat. Put the car seat in the mega cab and there's more than enough room and my tool bag fit's behind the rear seats and with another kid coming this was the best choise for me/my family. By a tail gate extender and you will get more bed space. I plan on having my 06 mega cab for many, many yr's and as my son get's older/bigger there will not be a issue of cab space for trip's, friends, family, accessories, and the bike's, quad, tool box and diesel cell all can fit in the bed with the tailgate extender and if I need more room I can hook up and tow my 24 ft trailer. No other choise for me than the CTD as I was considering a duramax and with the employee pricing/rebates and the cummins motor and mega cab, dodge won hand's down.

ptgarcia

Man, I could have written that! My situation is almost identical.

bamataco1

I don't really want to encourage you to get a Ford but if you feel that you must, then you ought to consider the V-10 motor. They had a truck with this option in it at the repo company my son worked at, and it was a dam good truck. It stood up to being used in the repo buisness it's whole life and was pretty much trouble free.

v8440

That's a really good idea. Not only would he save money, but he'd have a reliable truck. Somewhere, I've seen something at least ostensibly reliable (JD Powers maybe?) that said the gasoline engine(s) were like 430-something percent more reliable than the powerstroke. The exact opposite of the way it ought to be of course, but...

Tiara3100

The reason I would like a Mega Cab with an 8' bed is that I have my wife, an 8 month old baby, a blind 100# Lab, and a 75# lab/terrier mix that I take camping in our 28' camper. When we go on a trip, I load the truck up with a stroller, Pack and play crib, portable grill, chairs, etc, etc, etc..... A six foot bed is not enough. With my Quad cab, I have to move the passenger seat up to clear the baby seat. The seat is then too close to the dash for me to be comfortable when my wife drives. (Yes, with the camper) That is why I want a bigger truck.

slaveToHorses

DC marketing really does have their head in the sand when comes to the trucks.

I live near a fairly major city (that has a LOT of pickups) and have access to many dealerships. I am currently in the market for a new truck. Getting a Dodge configured the way I want it, or even real close, seems to require me ordering it. Plus I can't really get exactly what I want even then. FMC has much more flexibility and I can actually find trucks in stock that are pretty darn close to perfect. Both companies are running good deals right now but only on trucks that are in stock.

In the case of Dodge, I want a fully loaded Laramie 3500 4X4,QC,LB,SRW with a sunroof. I have so far only found one truck in the whole city with a sunroof and it is a dually. I have decided I don't really want a dually, but I really want a sunroof.

In contrast I found dozens of similarly equiped Fords. Plus it looks like they have gotten their hands around the 6.0 so that argument has a lot less weight. They also understand that these are going to be used to pull big trailers

I was swinging way over into the Dodge camp but now I am back leaning toward Ford. I am hoping to get time next week to go test driving. That may seal it one way or the other... ( see my Considering a Dodge thread )

Luke S

They have gotten there hands around it so much that it will be discontinued in January. I think that could be the shortest run ever of a diesel engine? Came out in 03.5' discontinued 07.5'. A whopping four years until a complete re-design! I like fords, traded a lot of em in and drove quite a few of em myself, but that 6.0 has been the been disaster.

ptgarcia

That would scare me a bit also because rather than perfect it they abandoned it. It's like they threw up their hands and said "aawww, forget it!" and decided to start from scratch again. That tells me there are some design issues they can't fix or are not worth fixing.

packard8

For whatever reason, sunroofs are rare on Dodges….especially the 3500 HD’s (personally, I see them as just another potential source for leaks, and have never used the ones I’ve had on passenger cars). I was very happy with my’01 F350 7.3 PSD and would probably be driving a new one if the 7.3 were still offered. I’ve been a member on thedieselstop.com for many years..back when it was forddiesel.com. When I considered a new truck I started reading the 6.0 forum and saw the many, many problems these engines were having. I’m sure there are many good 6.0’s out there, but just didn’t want to gamble on drawing the short straw and getting one of the many lemons….more buy-backs than I’ve ever seen before.

GM makes a nice truck if you stay on the pavement and aren’t interested in hauling heavy stuff on rough terrain (like towing a backhoe to an off road construction site). Find what fits you needs & budget, and best to you!

slaveToHorses

The issue here is not about how solid the Ford motor is (although I looked extremely hard into this issue and am no longer so uncomfortable about it).

The issue here is that Dodge is being so draconian about their configurations.

I want a sunroof, so give me a sunroof. I have had 4 vehicles over 100k miles with sunroofs without a single leak (I still own two of them).
I want a Laramie QC LB without DRW, so give me one.

I am not that unusual because Ford and Chevy sell A LOT of trucks configured that way. I see them all over the place around here.

Now would they sell that many Megacab long beds. Apparently some folks think so. For me that is pushing the wheel base farther than I want to go. A QC LB is already pushing it.

Mariner 250

My 06 4x4 mega turns MUCH better than the 03 Ford crew cab 4x4 lb it replaced, but the ford was not unbearable. So if a new long bed Mega turned like my 03 ford, I'd GLADLY buy one. This shortbed stuff stinks!

bamataco1

I'm interested in what you looked into as far as the Ford motors are concerned. Because when I was looking to buy that was the main issue that I looked into and was the deal braker as far as buying a ford was concerned. Are you still talking diesel or are you concidering a gas motor? I test drove Ford,Chevy and Dodges all diesels and the Ford was a nice truck.