Ford 6.7L 1050 ft lbs TQ at 1,600 rpm, 475 HP at 2,800 rpm

When we bought our 2015 3500 SRW RAM it got used one winter with a 12,400 5th wheel, then two winters with a 16K 5th wheel. Now it is semi retired towing a 8K bumper pull. Should I get rid of it. Heck NO! It is a great vehicle loaded or empty and was paid off before we got in the plane to fly to Colorado to bring it home.

Chris

I owned a new '94 and currently own a 2000 Super Duty. Even with 167000 miles the SD drives better than the new '94. Both are/were manual transmissions. IMO the automatics of that era in stock form were schizophrenic junk, rarely lasting more than 100K, especially behind a diesel. By comparison the automatics today are golden.

blofgren wrote:

burningman wrote:
I’m beyond caring anymore which brand of new pickup has the highest numbers.
If I could buy a brand new 1997 F350 7.3 or a brand new 1998 12-valve Dodge Cummins, I’d take it.
It gets your stuff where you want it to go and it keeps doing it reliably for a long time.

The way I look at it is, it’s like there’s only so much power and engine can make in its life.
You can either do it all at once or slowly.

I agree except I would buy a Super Duty with the 7.3L because they were much more comfortable trucks than the OBS but still super reliable, especially with the ZF6 manual transmission.

The leaf spring setup on the front end of that Super Duty is not very comfortable compared to the twin coil spring setup on the OBS trucks. I will say the Super Duty cabs overall are better. And I'll take an auto in any truck configuration all day long.

burningman wrote:
I’m beyond caring anymore which brand of new pickup has the highest numbers.
If I could buy a brand new 1997 F350 7.3 or a brand new 1998 12-valve Dodge Cummins, I’d take it.
It gets your stuff where you want it to go and it keeps doing it reliably for a long time.

The way I look at it is, it’s like there’s only so much power and engine can make in its life.
You can either do it all at once or slowly.

I agree except I would buy a Super Duty with the 7.3L because they were much more comfortable trucks than the OBS but still super reliable, especially with the ZF6 manual transmission.

vjstangelo wrote:
I get a great laugh watching these diesels on the street. Except for those on rev.net, I’ll bet the most that 99% of these tow is a load of mulch on a utility trailer. Speculation is that many will never tow and just be a $75k daily driver. Ah well, to each his own. Isn’t that the beauty of America?

I will bet that 99% of four door sedan's/SUV's/Crossover's has less than two people in them and most owners would be fine in a smart car. Or that most Sports cars never get taken to the track. Or most Jeep or 4x4 truck owners hardly ever go off road. However, these people, just like diesel truck owners, buy one because they want whatever it is they bought even though they don't use it to its full potential most of the time. I see nothing wrong with it if they are paying for it with their own money.

vjstangelo wrote:
I get a great laugh watching these diesels on the street. Except for those on rev.net, I’ll bet the most that 99% of these tow is a load of mulch on a utility trailer. Speculation is that many will never tow and just be a $75k daily driver. Ah well, to each his own. Isn’t that the beauty of America?

But you never know when you may get a bigger yard and need to haul/tow more mulch. According to rv.net purchase the vehicle for the job you may do in 10-15 years. :B

burningman wrote:
I’m beyond caring anymore which brand of new pickup has the highest numbers.
If I could buy a brand new 1997 F350 7.3 or a brand new 1998 12-valve Dodge Cummins, I’d take it.
It gets your stuff where you want it to go and it keeps doing it reliably for a long time.

The way I look at it is, it’s like there’s only so much power and engine can make in its life.
You can either do it all at once or slowly.

I have the same philosophy on beers.

I get a great laugh watching these diesels on the street. Except for those on rev.net, I’ll bet the most that 99% of these tow is a load of mulch on a utility trailer. Speculation is that many will never tow and just be a $75k daily driver. Ah well, to each his own. Isn’t that the beauty of America?

my Freight Shakers are all 12 + 40..

ksss wrote:
What was thought behind 12K fronts and 46 rears? It would seem that you would over on the fronts before you got to take advantage of the 46 rears? I am not sure I have seen that combo before.

To be honest I'm not sure, our axle limits are no different than down south. But we do have a lot of mountain passes in BC, and crappy weather, and 132k B-trains, so perhaps it's done strictly for durability reasons (in a GCWR sense).

Either way, the axle capacity to gross combined ratio is much higher on a semi than these new crop of 37,000 lb towing duallies.

I can tell you grossing 100k on a triple axle reefer feels more stable than towing 20k 5th wheel on a dually. You feel the combination is designed for it.