2015 Chevy 3500 vs Ford 350 diesels

BurbMan wrote:
Strictly an armchair opinion here, but if I was in the market I would not look at Ford....I don't see that the 6.7 is any better than the 6.4 or 6.0, not from a performance spec standpoint, but in Ford's ability to get the design right. I can't imagine dropping that kind of coin on a truck and then not having a HPFP failure covered under warranty, that is unconscionable. That said, my next truck will be a Ram with the 6.4 Hemi.

Though I'm a RAM owner, I heavily looked at the Ford 6.7. The only things that made me shy away from that motor was the dual compressor wheel setup (too much length on the shaft from the bearing cartridge which is now fixed with a single compressor turbo). The CP4.2 pump that they use. Also nearly forgot the lack of exhaust braking.

The 2015 has remedied these issues by and large. However, I am still a little dubios of the bored/stroke CP4.2. An engineer pointed out some issues with the design that I wonder if they were remedied (such as the lifters in the bores and what is preventing them from spinning in the bore upon higher RPM usage and few other thigns). I would also like to point out some big changes on the 6.7 that makes it far superior to the Navistar motors in my book:

0. This motor is a ground-up design from Ford where as previous motors came from IH/Navistar.

1. Water pumps are designed so that in case there is an erosion problem, it doesn't dump coolant into the block. There's just an air gap behind the water pumps which would dump coolant on the ground.

2. Oil cooler is much more serviceable in its new location, on the side of the block near the rear and near the bottom. So easy to get at.

3. 6 bolts per cylinder vs. the Navistar standard of 4 bolts per cylinder.

4. Awesome push-rod/lifter setup, where they use a single lifter for a pair of pushrods. Then each pushrod actuates a single rocker arm for each valve versus using valve bridges for 2 valves and a single rocker arm. Also love the oil galley above the rockers, cool setup. This setup is far beefier than what international uses.

5. Love the reverse flow head concept. It just makes a ton of sense.

6. the engine is actually mostly serviceable with the cab-on. Unfortunately it's still buried in there, but it is far more accessible versus the Navistar motors.

7. Yeah the rods are smaller, but it seems like they've determined that the rods didn't need to be that big and beefy for the power levels and expected duty cycle of the motor.

I bought my truck in 2013. If I were in the game in 2015, I would look at all 3 manufacturers as they all have something to offer.