Originally Posted By: SundayMoney
Originally Posted By: Mike@North Bend


I like the Dodge, but my experience with them is they have good motors, but everything else falls apart before the motor can wear out.



I've got an '07 Dodge with the last of the 5.9 Cummins. The only real concern I have about the truck is the ball joints. They're a known weakpoint of the Rams,but they also have a medium duty diesel engine sitting on them. The Cummins is about 1200lbs of cast iron. The balljoints shouldn't be an issue,but they are. There are aftermarket replacements that will outlast the truck though.

Both the Dmax and whatever Ford decides to use that year are light duty engines. You ever wonder why Ford offers the Cummins in their F650 and up?

In the span of 8 model years,Ford has used 4 different engines. In '03 you could still get the 7.3,as well as the 6.0
From '04 through '07 you could get the 6.0. From '08 through '10 you could get the 6.4,and in '11 you'll get Fords in house 6.7. Not really confidence inspiring.

The Cummins also has the flattest torque curve of any of the diesels. It makes peak torque at 1600rpm and stays within 10-15ft-lbs of peak torque all the way to 2800 rpm. Essentially, at any speed you're running down the road, the Cummins is making peak torque.

The Dodge trannys since '03 are pretty bulletproof...unless you need to run 100hp over stock. The 48RE that was behind the 5.9 actually has fewer TSBs and recalls than the "mighty" Allison. The 68RE thats behind the new 6.7 has proven to be very reliable as well. Dodge transmissions are a non concern anymore. The 68RE has double O/D and the factory exhaust brake is awesome. The exhaust brake blows the grade braking of the Allison out of the water.

Dodge has always been the red headed step child in the truck marketplace. They've come a LONG ways the last 8-10 years.



Not sure about this ball joint scare. I am a Dodge master tech, 18yrs experience. back in 94 when the new body style trucks came out the ball joints were designed to be facing up, with no grease fittings, when the seal failed, water would run in them and cause them to fail prematurely. I saw them fail as low as 15k mi. and every truck either needed them or was going to need them. starting in 2000 they changed a few things and made the ball joints 95% more durable. Mainly pointing them down so that water could not collect inside of them and giving them a better seal. I have seen a few of them fail also but only a fraction of the previous design. This same general design has carried all the way through to the current models. On rare occasion we will see an actual worn out ball joint. What usually happens is that someone who knows no better will put a prybar under the tire while the wheel is off the ground and pry the tire up. at this point you can see about 1/8" of vertical movement, and that would be on the high side. I have tested this against trucks that have less than 1 mile on them and there is still a small amount of vertical movement. As long as there is no lateral(grab wheel top and bottom and wiggle) movement there is nothing worn. I cant count how many times Lester Schtaub or the Poop Boys have sent customers to the dealer to get their ball joints fixed(under warranty). Granted there are a few failures, very few.