Switching to the 8 lug club.

So with todays high value on low mileage Tundras I am most likely getting a 2500 ram diesel. Does anyone want to hold me back?

honestly, if you went this route i am about to take tell me your thoughts. Hold no mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me god!

i am looking at a base model tradesman 4x4 6’4” bed plain jane manual shiting 4x4 lever one.

i come from a chevy 2500 suburban Past life and miss the capability. Please share your thoughts, only thing worries me is the Def fluid, i am use to my families 06 LBZ fuel and go.

 

Reliability that should hold you back.

 

Did I just step in clickbait?

I need the tasty and nutritious champion. Also... AzureNightmare, et al.

 

So these new Diesels arent as good as a pre def diesel like a 06 duramax? Etc?

 

From everything I've read, FCA is the least reliable manufacturer in the world right now. The Cummins engine and Aisin (Toyota) transmission may be stout but the rest of the truck will fall apart around them. I think you'd be better off with a GM (Duramax/Allison) and it looks like most folks on this forum would say the same.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/3-4-ton-truck.69149/

 

Just be cautious, the 2019 and 2020 Cummins is using that cp4 fuel pump. 2018 and back uses a cp3. The cp4 is the same fuel used in the duramax,super duty, and eco diesel. It landed ford and fca in a class action lawsuit for catastrophic failures. When the pump goes it shoots metal shards through the fuel system destroying the whole thing. Car company blames it fuel contamination and kicks the cost to the consumer to the tune of about 10 grand. Fleece performance has a retrofit kit out to go to a cp3 but it’s gonna requiring tuning and more than likely void any warranty. Btw they’re already seeing failures in the 2019 trucks since the swap. Several on the Cummins forum are documented. I’d seriously look at 2018. I had a 2010 big horn, and now have a 2014 3500 dew tradesman 6-speed manual, w/ manual transfer case. Love the thing to death. It’s nothing fancy but she gets the job done and does it with ease.

What kind of payload you need? Since going to coil setup in the rear for the 2500s in 2014 the payload has really suffered. I’d look at a 3500 srw.

not to mention if you want to delete this truck at some point parts are near impossible to find, still possible to source from Canada . (Or so I’ve heard, statement for legal purposes and strictly here say )

 

A coworkers in law had a 2500 RAM diesel up in Steamboat Springs here in CO. A lifer dodge truck dude. He had the death wobble issue, the rear gear fixed, then rear end totally replaced. Under warranty. All this happened during the first year of ownership. You couldn't give me one. What's nutz is the RAM fan simply bought another 2500. Go figure.

 

I don't think it is a secret and I just did the same thing and converted over to a new Chevy 2500 HD. Even though I told myself there is no way in hell I am buying a Ram, I still left anything in the table and considered it. I test drive a 2500 with 6.4 Hemi. That was by far the worst handling truck I have been in. My 87 Chevy dang near ride better than it. Salesman said I need to upgrade to some air ride thing they have and it would be the best. Don't remember the details, but to upgrade to the air ride required other package upgrades and it would be another $21k to get a smother ride.

I then went back to what I have had in the past and that is 2500 HD. It has its downfalls, but as far as ride goes it is about the same as the Tundra. I drove a new Ford and it was a little rough also. Better than Ram, but not as good as the Chevy.

If you happen to be a Ram guy, go right ahead. Can't say it won't last or you will have problems. I just thought it rode like a cinder block with skate board suspension.

 

Ram and Ford both are using a solid axle up front versus the ifs used in the Chevy’s/GMC’s. That’s where the Chevy picks up the tundra like ride quality. The chevys usually win ride wise every time.

 

Would you say ford and their 6.2 is overall more reliable than a ram 2500 truck.

i tow a gross 10,000 toy hauler with 900 lb tongue weight.

 

I’ve personally owned two duramax diesels and my family currently has 5 of them (grandpa/uncle/cousins) and not one of them has ever given us any issues. If I were to go buy another diesel truck tomorrow it would be a duramax

 

And I also believe that the only way you can get the Aisin with the Ram is with the upgraded Cummins on the 1 ton.

 

I have several posts on here in the past on our fleet at work..... We run a fleet of several Fords ranging from F250-F750. All in, we have about 40 now. The F450's that we bought in the last 3 years are really giving us fits. They have between 50-135k miles. 2 rear ends, brake booster, leaking oil, DEF problems, etc.... To be perfectly honest, they have not been very good at all. We will be switching over time as we buy more Chevy/GMC.

We have 7 1500 Denalli's, 3 2500HD Duramaxes, 2 Kodiak Duramaxes, 2 2500HD w/6.0 Gas, 4 New 2500 HD w/6.6 Gas

I hate to say it but the GM vehicles have been much much more reliable and cost effective to a business. Some of the 1500 Denallis are now getting up to 250k miles with no major repairs. The ones that have the 6.2 have ate motor mounts in the 1500 chassis. We have replaced 4 or 5 over the past 4 years or so. Other than that, there really has not been anything wrong.

I know Chevy's have the perceived "weaker' IFS suspension, but we spend a lot more maintaining the Ford's with straight axle. Chevy's have tighter better feeling steering also.

We also have some F150 with 2.7, 3.5 ecoboost, and 5.0. I will not even talk about them as they are outlawed from being purchased. They have not been too kind at all to us when compared to the 1500 GM vehicles.

Only my opinion, but I would really stay away from Ford, especially in the past 3 years. From looking at the company Balance Sheet, Financials they are in trouble. Warranty claims are killing them with all the tech and fancy stuff they turn out. It for sure shows in the vehicles we bought in the past 3 years that are Ford's. I say this completely unbiased and from real world experience.

 

I wonder if the people who say that the solid front axle Ford uses is better than GM's IFS have seen any of the Ford death wobble videos...

There's weird bias in the industry/ media, it seems to me. People love Ram for putting coil springs and air ride suspension in the rear of their trucks but they hate GM for not sticking with a solid front axle in theirs.

 

I have been considering the same thing letely. Going up to 3/4 to 1 ton. Mostly for payload. I have never owned a diesel but I like the idea that there is little the truck can't do..I don't care so much about the ride quality. I just want to know it will take anything I'll throw at it.. Been doing alot of research an I'm just not sold on ANY of the Diesels/HDs. Everywhere you look you get a different story. Some say Cummins is the best an easier to work on which is important to me vs a Ford I read you need to take the whole cab off to get to things . I cant do that in my driveway. Or not easily. Duramax seems to be generally solid. They all seem to have there own set of potential horror stories weather it's a fuel pumps failing , turbos blowing, transmission crapping out you name it .But then you add in all the new emissions stuff an seems that is causing reliability issues across the board.. Last thing I want is a headache of constant repair.. I guess that's why I fall back on Tundras ultra reliability an ease to maintain.. It's very daunting especially when your spending so much money on a HD truck.. If I feel like I can't trust it I'll never be happy with it. All the reading just makes them all look like a 50/50 shot at a good long lasting truck or a total money pit with huge repair bills...

 

We have a fleet of about 6 tow trucks. A few Fords, one Dodge, and in the past we've had GM (before they discontinued their medium duty line years ago). The new Ford powerstrokes have been by-far, the most reliable trucks we've ever had since we opened in the '70s. Our expectations were very low initially but the trucks were cheaper by a long shot than the 5500 series Dodge. We ended up with the one Dodge because it had the wrecker body we wanted. What a horrible POS. The dealer has that truck in more often on a yearly basis than ANY of our Fords have been into the shop COMBINED since their in-service date. None of the Fords have had ANY major issues. NOx sensors and modules usually go after two years but they're not too expensive and a monkey can change them. One truck that has 190k miles needed a BCM a few weeks ago because one of the tow drivers (we call him squirrel) likes to do wiring repairs with the circuit energized. It looks like a Tesla coil experiment when he does wiring "repairs."

 

The local power company used to run all 6.7 powerstrokes. They have since switched to 6.2 gassers I assume due to less downtime for repairs, less and cheaper maintenance, and these new diesels hate idling for long periods of time.
As far as the diesel fuel pumps, duramax already moved away from the CP4 to a denso fuel pump I believe and ford/ram still use the CP4.

 

this literally just happened to my buddy with an 08 lmm duramax, pump went out and it sent metal shavings everywhere and clogged up all the injectors. $9900 to fix. now he's putting in bigger injectors, fass fuel system, and bigger fuel pump. glad I never have to worry about that lol

 

One thing I've heard is you need to check the numbers because a 2500 diesel may not have that much more payload than a 1500 gasser. Better to go 2500 gasser if payload is your target or 3500 if you need diesel.

My brother worked for a weed spraying company one summer. On the highway, towing a trailer with their ATV or small tractor or whatever it was, he could watch the gas gauge in their Dodge 5500 drop.

 

I was in the same boat as you. I thought all the same things. I had diesels in the past and they were fantastic. An 04 and 08 Duramax with not a single problem. I am a little scared also of the emissions as I do see some problems with the DEF systems. This is no just on a 3/4 ton. I see it with Cat, Mack, Peterbilt, etc.... If it has a DEF system on it, it requires attention and maintenance.

With that being said, I am not towing 10,000k plus pounds so I went with the 6.6 gas motor. It is quite a big step up compared to the older 6.0. Not saying it is quite diesel like, but it is really impressive in the measly 700 miles I have owned it. I hooked about 5,500 pounds to it this past weekend and it did not even kick down or seem like it was struggling the least bit. Maybe something to thing about......

 

The thing that concerns me with another Gas is when I went to the Tundra. It's no slouch number wise. But the thing is working pretty hard even with my relativly small travel trailer..You just wont compete with the torque of a diesel.Atleast on paper as I've never owned one. It's one of those things in my head where if I'm gonna go spend 50k at least for a decent used truck I don't want to regret not getting it all in one shot. Do I need a diesel. No. I don't need a 1 ton either realistically. But if I'm going to blow that cash I don't want to be sitting there with a 3/4 ton gasser wishing I had.. I have no doubt that a 3/4 gas would meet any of my realistic needs . But you never know. Maybe I will upgrade my Travel trailer to a huge freaking mobile home an need that 1 ton diesel. Now I need a new truck.. unlikely but I guess that's my point .I have seen your other post on your new truck. It does look nice .

At this point I've talked myself out of doing anything. I'll hold onto the Tundra for a while an see what happens..

 

I know several people with 4th Gen Ram 2500 Cummins and they all love them and haven't had issues. The internet says a lot of bad about the Rams but they seem to be better now.

 

I do not disagree. I can't say I know a single person with one. Everyone I know owns GM or Ford when it comes to diesel so no first hand knowledge. I know some really smart people who I trust and are more knowledgeable than you can imagine with these trucks. They both say as long as you get the upgraded transmission, whatever it is called, I guess the Toyota Aisin transmission they are pretty good. As much as we want to complain about Dodge and FCA, the consensus is that those trucks have gotten better over time.

A Ford Body/Truck, Chevy Suspension and a Cummins motor would be the perfect truck!!!

 

I think in the early-mid 2000's the Ram trucks were possibly garbage with a great engine, and the 14+ stepped the game up regarding the rest of the truck!

 

Felt exactly the same way and came so close to jumping up to the diesel. So far I have zero doubts about gas, in fact I am really glad I went gas now. If I got the diesel, I would have been second guessing myself and the 10k price tag.

Take the 6.5x14 tandem axle trailer with a small John Deere I towed on it. I towed it once with the Tundra. It by no means struggled, but you sure did know it was back there! Going up a grade it would kick down and be up in the 3.5k RPM's at least. I also got about 9 miles doing it. With the Chevy 2500HD, I do not think the truck squatted even a 1/2". I never got the truck over 2k RPM's. The same grade it would kick down in the Tundra, the 2500 HD did not even kick down and went up it at 55 without even thinking about it. I also got 12.2 MPG while towing it on the same 43 mile round trip as the Tundra.

My gut instinct is that these new gas 3/4 ton trucks will really shine in the 7-10k towing range. If I am consistently towing over 10k I am going the diesel route.

So far the 2500 HD has far exceeded my expectations. Only time will tell though. I do miss several things about my Tundra though!

 

Like a very wise man once said on this forum "I would rather have my nuts hammered flat than buy any domestic truck." Every domestic I have owned was nothing but a big turd. I can't tell you how many times I have been left stranded on the side of the road. Never again.

 

If you're just looking for more horsepower and torque, would a supercharger be an option?

 

It’s all luck of the draw these days no matter the brand.

 

still wouldn't fix the problem with payload of only 1,200 pounds.

 

Never had one, nor do I want one, but my dad is looking at a new F150 to replace his 2018 150. Equipped right a 141.5" WB 4x4 with an Eco Boost has a payload capacity of 3050 and towing of 13k. Not to shabby, he is towing a 29' Toy Hauler with his 18 without issue.