I've owned several Tahoes and now an Ex. The Tahoes ran forever with basic maintenance, but they weren't heavy duty in any sense of the word. I spend my working life in fleet shops. 90% of them run Fords, the others run GM's. I NEVER see Dodges in these fleets other than US DoD shops. They do this stuff for a living and have run the numbers on service costs and downtime costs. I'm going to assume they know more than I do.

The one's that run GM's always have many crates of rebuilt and core diesel motors sitting around. That's a bad sign.

The thing is, most of us aren't going to run these trucks like a fleet does. Some of these trucks are at max weight from day one to out-of-service and sometimes aren't shut off for days at a time. These fleets do maiintenance by hour meter, not mileage. You and I drive to the grocery store and to the office and pull the boat a few miles once a week. In that application, they're all good trucks- for awhile. Maybe several years.

I'm a GM guy- I even am eligible for the employee pricing. I bought the Ford because it was a stronger, more reliable, more dependable, more proven truck that's going to hold its value substantially better than anything else out there.

I have done a lot of upgrades on all three and I still prefer the Ford Powerstroke over the Cummins or Duramax.

Now I will say that you when you "bump" the power on the cummins, it is a monster and will probably out tow just about anything all day long.

Don B.

Does anybody four wheel any of these trucks? I notice nobody mentions the fact that Dodge and Ford run straight axle front ends, no real 4x4 enthusiast would run IFS. Straight axles are stronger and give you WAY more articulation. Dana 50 and Sterling 10.25 in Ford F250 and Excursion, Dana 60 and Sterling 10.25 in the F350 dually. Not sure about the Dodges. You may not have the ground clearance in the center but still you never see rock crawlers, running IFS.

There Used to be an old saying, If you want to look good on a date, buy the chevy, If you want to look good at work, buy the ford. I take my dates to the boat, so I bought the Ford, 350,powerstroke,crewcab, sometimes she isn't the prettiest girl at the dance, but she always takes me and my boat home. Maybe I am just lucky with this one, but I bought it used, three years ago, towed and driven the hell out of it, 280k miles, changed the oil, but not religious about it, and the thing has yet to have a problem other than new tires. If only my boat was like that.

thanks for the info, I am going to try and borrow a ford and give it a try.

im a ford guy, and will only buy ford for many reasons. i think that the ford and the chevys are neck and neck in many ways. dodge on the other hand seem to be behind in too many aspects, like tranny and cab size for example. my brothers partner just bought a dodge 3500 dually crew cab. good looking truck, but was so surprised how small the cab was and how awful it shifted with no load. it seemed to clunk in every gear, kind like a bravo....lol anyway, we like what we like and very few guys are on the fence about what they like. im a ford guy for life and not much will change that. all three are respectable trucks for sure... i just think ford is a nicer truck for me.. oh yeah, the rest of them suck.... stecz

I think you could find pros and cons about each manufacturer out there today. It really boils down to choosing which truck will suit your needs the best. As you can tell, everyone has an opinion about all of them. My recommendation is to drive all three and choose for yourself. I've had the powerstroke, duramax and now the cummins. I basically switch back and forth depending upon who has the best deal. To each his/her own.....

I (Like Most) compared the Ford to the Chevy, then wound up making my decision based on size, and interior room and went with the Ford. To date I have had a problem with the Tranny (which was recalled) but that was it. I have friends with the GM Duramax, and I like the truck, but I prefer the interior room of the Ford, and the overall size.

I have no opionion other that the Vols blow. ........"First Down Florida"

:-)

I have both a 05 Powerstroke and Duramax duallys in our fleet. If you could put the Duramax/Allison and interior on the better looking, better suspension Ford, you would have the best of both worlds. I drive both on a daily basis, its a very tough pick. For 05 Ford has gone with springs vs leafs, the ride is better than my 04 F350 dually but handling suffers slightly. The GM is easier to maneuver. The truth is when towing my new Nortech 4300 (17500k) I feel slightly more comfortable behind the Ford, even though I am a GM man. Fords suspension is stout. These vehicles see 50k plus a year, and I have a 2001 Duramax with close to 290k and a 2002 powerstroke with 140k. My Dodges went limp around 100k, all three of them, to costly in repair average's. Good luck, you cant go wrong with either Ford or GM. Dodge just plain sucks.