Compare Ford F550 to Ram 5500

Bedlam wrote:


As explained in my original post, I am seeking input on what wraps around the engine and transmission of the Ford and Ram Class 5's - There are plenty of Cummins verses Powerstroke threads here with fan boys and detractors. At this point, It may be 6.4 or 6.8 gasser instead of diesel. For example: I know the front ends on Ram pickups have had issues in the past, but I don't know enough about the chassis cab models to know if those problems are also present in the MDT's. I understand that the volume of sales is a fraction of pickup sales and that is part of the problem finding actual owner feedback.

RE: Ram front end issues
I had my share of issues with my 07 (former oilfield truck). I pretty much rebuilt the whole front end by 110,000 miles - pretty costly.

Before I got this 2014, and one of the main reasons I chose to avoid the 2013 2500s is because of the front end. The 2014s (and up) have huge beefy parts under there. For example, the center link and tie rods are huge on my new truck, I'd guess 50% bigger than my previous 3500. The U-Joint caps are also much bigger. Not that you hear of U-joints failing with regularity, but point is they really beefed up the parts. Crawl under and check it out yourself. I'd be willing to bet the F550 is similar as these are heavy duty trucks we are talking about, but my point is that Ram should no longer be known for weak front end parts as they were in the past. When the aftermarket comes out with a brace for your truck's front end, that says something.