New diesel shopping

Kevinwa wrote:

4x4ord wrote:
My vote is for Ford but I wouldn't pay a premium for it over a GM. I never got a price on the Ram before buying my 2016. I should have at least gotten a price on one. The 3500 GM rides very nice probably better than the f350. The f350 really hops and pushes bad when turning sharp in 4x4 on dry pavement. The head lights are better on the GM. I have always thought the Duramax/Allison was the perfect power train for a pick up. As strong as that power train is I think the Powerstroke and Cummins are even mightier.....but really who cares. Make certain you get the 3:31 ratio final drive if you buy a Ford.

this time around we drove all three back to back and various trim levels in each. After that we decided on either Ford or Chev. I just didn't like the Ram, even though it was a good truck. We then went to see who could get us the best price and even tried multiple dealers for both. After all that we finally decided on this truck. It was about a month of shopping to decide on tthis one and I am confident that we made the right decision.

Why do you recommend the 3-31 gears in the Ford?

I don't fully understand why but there is no doubt whatsoever that the 3:31 gears deliver significantly better fuel economy than 3:55 gears. (I wonder if the 3.31 equipped trucks could be tuned different than the 3.55 trucks?) The 3:55 gears with 20" rims don't rev a whole lot different than the 3.31 gears with 18" rims (about a 3% difference in rpm at the same ground speed) yet the fuel economy is a good 15% better with the 3.31 equipped truck. These trucks have so much torque that getting a heavy load moving is a non issue. When towing very heavy loads, I have no trouble getting the load moving and I have the option of locking out 6th gear (even 5th if I want) and running the power more directly through the gear box. This makes for a more efficient transfer of power which is a good idea under heavy load conditions.