Thank you for stating this in a polite manner. I would have handled this with much less tact.

I get sooooooo tired of seeing "Americans" making ignorant statements against OUR products/engineering/manufacturing with no actual knowledge of today's reality.

This particular situation is a bad example of one CSR and dealership doing all the wrong things. I hope they step up and resolve this.

I guess everyone has their story and different experience's with different manufacturers , but i have owned dodge's since 1995 , (5 brandnew 3500 single wheel cummins deisels )

but the last one i bought 2005 3500 single wheel cummins has been absolutely awsome plenty of power , and i tow absolutely every day , either a t-300 bobcat 10k lbs or a 337 excavator 12k lbs , so .... 73k mis later and not a single problem , and i am by no means easy on it .

i have heard alot of complaints about all makes and models but my experience with dodge has been very good over all , never been stranded , the worst break down i had was last year on the way to my house on sacandaga , the main carrier bearing for the front wheel started seizing up on the thruway right before amsterdam , i got to the dodge dealer on rte 30 just outside of amsterdam at 1pm they called all over got the bearing from another dealer 40mins away and also fixed a worn ball joint nearly busted front u-joint all by 5pm that same day , and got me a pick up truck loaner for the afternoon so i could continue to the house and drop the wife and kids off

and my home town dealer is just as good with service , loaners ect .

With such a common problem Ford should be stepping up. Perhaps a different dealer is the answer. Seems like parts warranty should handle it.

Thanks rlj676, I tried to be carefull, I am not naturally tactfull. Americans supporting imports over domestic products are a large part of our economic problems. Everyone wants to bash GM (and now Ford for getting a loan) for being in trouble. The way I see it, they make a fantastic world class product and over pay their work force. Sounds downright evil. The imports cost as much or more and pay their employees far less. Where do you think the money goes? At least GM put the profits back in our economy.
OK I'm off my soap box, time for a cocktail.

You have just summed it up. I always try and ask what is the horror of UAW guys getting overpaid (and putting that money right back into the economy), vs the Japanese/Germans whoever getting rich off of us! You pay LESS for equivalant domestics still. The 80's (maybe even 90's) are gone, the cars are good.

There's a reason nobody else is in the big truck market, it is not easy to make one that does what a 450 does for as long as they are built to. That's no excuse for what's happened here though.

All of the pro cummins posts I have read are for the 5.9(pre-2008) motor. The 6.7 has its fair share of problems, and the fuel economy has gone to sh*t compared to the 5.9, but the auto tranny has taken a quantum leap forward in the cummins 6.7.

I am not trying to bash the ford, but I know many poeple who haul heavy horse trailers and bought 450/550s, and many are having problems. I know of one on her third motor, try breaking down with a trailer full of 20-30k dollar horses. By the same token I know several with F250/350s that have been maintnance free. I think the low gearing and running the truck the same highway speed has something to do with it.
The Dmax/Allison combo had its problems for the first 3-4 years, but are trouble free now, the only problem is the independent front suspension, it sucks. The motor and tranny are awesome, just put it in a strait axle truck.

Every deisel out there has its compromises. I had a 7.3 for few years, Trouble free motor, but if you are used to towing with a newer diesel the power will be a let down, and the trannies suck too. Sure you can add power, but it will diminish life of a legendary high mileage truck, and your egts will be high when towing.

You want the perfect truck, 5.9 cummins with a allison tranny in a ford body.

I think the best truck is a six door F650 with a built 5.9 Cummins(700hp/1400tq) and the new 68RFE Dodge automatic transmission. For $5000 you can buld a Cummins that will never break(hard to break them even stock).

Mine is a white 2006 quad cab dually with the G56 six speed manual and 3.73 rear end. Perfect match of the transmission gears and the rear end gear. I do wish I had the 68RFE though. I get awful tired of shifting this truck around town now that I'm not working.

Oh and for you Powerstroke guys;

www.fordcummins.com

I don't think that Ford or other car manufacturers makes a better or worse automobile then any one else, but they have a LOT to learn about how to treat their customers. For example most dealers require you to leave the truck at their shop for at leaste a week for the smallest of problems. They ussually will not order parts in advance. They tend to treat you like ****. My Saab however, the dealer comes and picks the car up no matter were I am in New England for free and gives me a loaner. Not a Neon either but another Saab! If they could just get the customer service back to the place it was in the early 80's then I think they will be fine but for now they do not appreciate the money we spend so I always look at the imports first. Again not because the quality is better but because the service is superior.

While it is great to think that the UAW's are getting all this money that they can pump back into the economy the problem is that the american car manufacturers are loosing money on every car that they sell now. How long do you think that they can sustain that? Well I can tell you they just hit the wall and now we have to bail their azzes out. Now long do you want to keep bailing them out? If they do not get their labor down to a point that it is competitive with the imports then we will have to subsidise the American manufacurers for ever.

[QUOTE=Audiofn;2900756]I don't think that Ford or other car manufacturers makes a better or worse automobile then any one else, but they have a LOT to learn about how to treat their customers. For example most dealers require you to leave the truck at their shop for at leaste a week for the smallest of problems. They ussually will not order parts in advance. They tend to treat you like ****. My Saab however, the dealer comes and picks the car up no matter were I am in New England for free and gives me a loaner. Not a Neon either but another Saab! If they could just get the customer service back to the place it was in the early 80's then I think they will be fine but for now they do not appreciate the money we spend so I always look at the imports first. Again not because the quality is better but because the service is superior.

The Lexus dealer does the same thing but it never breaks down or gives us any problems. My Honda Civic is the same no problems. My f250 v-10 has been a good truck also. I have had my share of Dodge transmissions and GM motors and poor customer service from the US brands that is why I didn't buy another US brand

I did get another call from Gail at Ford yesterday. Gail was calling me to let me know that if the thermostat is where the problem originated they would be willing to fix it at no cost to me. I hope her shirt is buttoned all the way up so her cold black heart doesn't fall out. I am expecting another follow up call tommorow. To my knowledge the truck hasn't even hit the shop yet. Thanks again for the views and replies, hopefully someone at Ford will read this.

Would make me consider buying one again even with the one I have being trouble free.... knock on wood