I love the Alcoa wheels on that rig.

The Ford is very clunky throught the gears with the turbo being very obvious. The Duramax with the Allison is much smoother.

I have a 2004.5 3500 CTD Single rear wheel- with the Intake done, edge juice and a 6 speed I get 19-20 unloaded all the time. Towing the boat at 70 it drops to 15- that is with 35 inch tires also. 30k miles and love the truck- I had a 01 auto dually CTD and the best I ever got was 16- and went through 3 trannys as well- get the newer motor and 6 speed if you tow often or want to do hop ups-which all of us on this website do!!!!

sydwayz,
Just remember the Turbo Diesel Register guys motto regarding engine and drivetrain upgrades: "You are your own warranty station".
If you like that warranty, pretty much any chip upgrades including the Banks stuff will void it, contrary to what the aftermarket vendors wil tell you, so be careful! This is not applicable to only the Dodge either.

Believe me, ANY diesel you pick will smoke that gasser in the long run, and don't forget that the Cummins will get better with age! My 2003 HO /6spd 3500 SRW is pulling the 15K load like a totally different truck now that it has 16,000 miles on it and gets a legitimate 19 mpg currently and on occasion creeps over 20(and no, I don't use the overhead console-it's off by 2-3mpg most of the time). Towing mileage @70-75 is around 13 mpg.

As far as reliability the Cummins will outlast the V8's simply because there are less things to break on an inline 6, much more rigid design, and fewer stresses on the block. But any of these engines will generally outlast the trucks they are in.
I am not too familiar with the newer auto, but am hearing good things so far, the old automatics were CRAP, even without engine upgrades. I don't like 'em anyway , the only one I might trust is the Allison.

If you get the dodge, here's the best $35 you'll ever spend:
http://www.turbodieselregister.com/

My somewhat insignificant opinion,
Paul

I have had ford all my life and would not spend the money on another. Went to dodge and love the truck. But you can not compare the ford and the dodge they have two diffrent motors. you can not beet displacement. My 2500 cummins pulls a 35 fountain in the hills of up state N.Y. with no problem. and for ford We had a 2002 250 super duty that could not pull a rubber raft. Last week Ford gave us a brand new 2005, we have not taken delivery yet , will have to see how this one will run.

Has anyone heard that the Cummins might be on the way out? I read somewhere (sorry, cannot remember) that the parent company (Mercedes Benz {spelling?}) was going to start installing their diesel. They already have one of theirs in the funky looking tall Dodge van. MB made their reputation in diesel cars.

My 04 duramax 4dr 4wd got 19.5 mpg running 88-92 mph running empty to florida last december w/hypertech in stg 2 w/stock tires with non-winter gas in it. The winter gas i left with knocks mileage down 2 mpg and i tried taller than stock tires before they also knock mileage down 2 1/2 mpg . Truck gets 17.5 w/stock tune running hard on expresssway on summer blended fuel (88-92mph). 15.5 mph w/stock tune w/winter blended fuel running same speeds. Truck likes the hypertech in stg 2 at those speeds. Truck gets 12-13mpg on summer fuel w/hypertech in stg 1 towing 7000lb boat and trailer at 75-80mph,10-11 mpg towing 3200lb enclosed snowmobile trailer w/winter fuel in 2wd in cold weather in stg 1 at 70 mph,9-10 mpg with same set-up in 4wd. These numbers are from topping off the same way each time and calculating off the odometer which is within 1 or 2 % when checked with gps. No crack being smoked here just i watch my mileage and have tried various stages of the hypertech at different conditions. The hypertech whacks 5 mpg of mileage in stg 3,taller tires killl your mileage even when i correlated for the speedo reading slow(the hypertech actually lets me correct the tire size) and cold weather/winter fuel whacks mileage,Smitty

My neighbor is the GM of a large Dodge dealership in Fort Wayne, IN and he just opened a brand new facility for their Dodge vehicles. Their old facility they just moved out of, just next door, will have the vehicles that you are speaking of. They will focus on the commercial market with these tall, ugly vans that have the Mercedes diesels. I'm actually considering them for my service fleet. They're ugly as heck, but you can run the wheels off them with proper maintenance. I haven't heard that they will be replacing the Cummins. Too strong of a product line for Dogde to drop that line in my opinion. I have a 2004 Dually with the Cummins and it pulls my 38' like a dream.

I here that the lease with the cummins motor and dodge will be up soon. I also have heard that ford is bring out a twin turbo cummings for I think 2006 or 2007. Time will tell.

c'mon. I know I'm new to this site, but that's completely not true. You have to rev to 4500 RPMS to get to the same hp that a diesel gets a 2900. The torque on a gas burner maxes out at almost the redline, where with a diesel it comes in at barely above idle.