Ram 2500 CTD in Africa

[ShinerBock]

Pretty interesting.

Owner Review: I Drove a Ram HD 2500 Nearly 100,000 Miles in Africa

[ShinerBock]

noteven wrote:

They don’t really do much with trucks that have been used for 5 or 10 years in the real world.

The only vehicles they do that with are their long term trucks that they own. Most(if not all) review sites do their reviews on new vehicles that the manufacturers give them to review. Who would be giving these reviewers 5 to 10 year old trucks?

[noteven]

I got a chance to read the article the owner sent to TFL Truck. Most of the people I know in AB or SK or BC would be pissed if a new Ram diesel didn’t run 100k miles with anything but routine maintenance and any lawyer repairs. Mine needed nothing but a clutch (95k miles) before 100k miles, 40% towing 10-14k trailers. Now at 260k miles it has a broken piston ring which I caused myself by not looking after an out of spec injector, and understanding what was happening. Yep, it broke. Of course it only towed back 1800 miles from the Mexico border with AZ to eastern AB and then got used for some heavy towing last spring and summer with a oil jug under the hood to catch the blow by slobber, but now it is quietly resting except when it’s needed on the 18k goose neck stock trailer. Misfires for a couple minutes on cold start but after that it’s a 5 -1/2 cylinder... there’s a project plan afoot...

TFL Truck is an entertaining organization- but their experience is with brand new latest and greatest (in the “real world”) or gently poking fun at 5 yr old trucks as “dated” etc etc etc
They don’t really do much with trucks that have been used for 5 or 10 years in the real world.

[Grit_dog]

^ Almost as remarkable as this thread and some of the responses! LOL

And FYI, bad DEF injectors don't ruin anything. Up in the arctic, some of the trucks ate them like candy. When your exhaust was (literally) peeing on the ice, pop a new def injector in it and away you go.

[IdaD]

hvac wrote:
For many emission components, the expected service life is 100k miles. Many are not even warranted past 36k miles. A modern diesel has huge financial exposure past 100k miles. Go to the turbo diesel forum.its getting to make sense to turn them at 125k miles or less.

The following is a brief comeback from one of lead moderators, I asked if my new 2018 CTD would be reliable past 100k miles. He's a technician as well,
Ever had to replace the complete exhaust\catalyst system when a DEF injector sticks just destroys some $4k of emissions stuff plus itself? Do that ONCE then look at the bottom line on costs. What are you gonna do when the ignition module fails and it won't recognize that playschool key anymore? Just TRY to jump that truck into running to where you can get it fixed cuz you ain't doing it yourself anymore due to the fact it REQUIRES dealer programming to install and set it up. Don't ever do any one a favor jumping their dead vehicle in a parking lot, ANY little inattention or unknown problem will take out a TIPM or ECM and you are in the same boat. Do I dare mention turbos that carbon up, head gaskets that leak for no obvious reason, injector tips that break off, injectors that hang and melt pistons on a hard pull, and the infamous grid heater bolt that burns off and gets sucked into a cylinder

It's remarkable that any of the multitude of diesel trucks I see running around every day are even on the road.

[ShinerBock]

js9234 wrote:
I wouldn't listen to that so called "technician". He sounds very uneducated on the modern cummins. He probably owns a first gen and is just talking ****. A majority of the stuff he said is nonsense.

hvac wrote:
For many emission components, the expected service life is 100k miles. Many are not even warranted past 36k miles. A modern diesel has huge financial exposure past 100k miles. Go to the turbo diesel forum.its getting to make sense to turn them at 125k miles or less.

The following is a brief comeback from one of lead moderators, I asked if my new 2018 CTD would be reliable past 100k miles. He's a technician as well,
Ever had to replace the complete exhaust\catalyst system when a DEF injector sticks just destroys some $4k of emissions stuff plus itself? Do that ONCE then look at the bottom line on costs. What are you gonna do when the ignition module fails and it won't recognize that playschool key anymore? Just TRY to jump that truck into running to where you can get it fixed cuz you ain't doing it yourself anymore due to the fact it REQUIRES dealer programming to install and set it up. Don't ever do any one a favor jumping their dead vehicle in a parking lot, ANY little inattention or unknown problem will take out a TIPM or ECM and you are in the same boat. Do I dare mention turbos that carbon up, head gaskets that leak for no obvious reason, injector tips that break off, injectors that hang and melt pistons on a hard pull, and the infamous grid heater bolt that burns off and gets sucked into a cylinder

I agree. For one, the DEF injector and SCR is the last part of the whole emissions system and there is nothing after it except for pipe so I do not see how one would need to replace the whole system if it fails. Also, the DEF injector is a removable part so there is no need to replace the whole system just for a faulty DEF injector. In fact, the downpipe, DPF, DEF and SCR can all be taken off desperately.

Some of the stuff like injector tips breaking off or grid heater bolts breaking off is not nonsense, but the chance of them happening is so rare you are probably more likely to be hit by a truck than it happening if you properly maintain your vehicle. Injector tip blowing is usually a sign of fuel contamination from water.

[js9234]

I wouldn't listen to that so called "technician". He sounds very uneducated on the modern cummins. He probably owns a first gen and is just talking ****. A majority of the stuff he said is nonsense.

hvac wrote:
For many emission components, the expected service life is 100k miles. Many are not even warranted past 36k miles. A modern diesel has huge financial exposure past 100k miles. Go to the turbo diesel forum.its getting to make sense to turn them at 125k miles or less.

The following is a brief comeback from one of lead moderators, I asked if my new 2018 CTD would be reliable past 100k miles. He's a technician as well,
Ever had to replace the complete exhaust\catalyst system when a DEF injector sticks just destroys some $4k of emissions stuff plus itself? Do that ONCE then look at the bottom line on costs. What are you gonna do when the ignition module fails and it won't recognize that playschool key anymore? Just TRY to jump that truck into running to where you can get it fixed cuz you ain't doing it yourself anymore due to the fact it REQUIRES dealer programming to install and set it up. Don't ever do any one a favor jumping their dead vehicle in a parking lot, ANY little inattention or unknown problem will take out a TIPM or ECM and you are in the same boat. Do I dare mention turbos that carbon up, head gaskets that leak for no obvious reason, injector tips that break off, injectors that hang and melt pistons on a hard pull, and the infamous grid heater bolt that burns off and gets sucked into a cylinder

[ShinerBock]

RobertRyan wrote:

Some how your 10million magically disappeared. Cannot see how you get 5 million out of those figures and the 3 million is even more fairy dust. Global Sales were on track for 100 million far cry from 80 million

They stated that the current vehicles sold is 73 million and they expect to be around 88 million by years end so 80 is a lot closer than the 100 million you stated. Again, I said OVER(as in ABOVE) 5 million because the last time I looked at the figures for last year it was at 4 million so I was not incorrect with saying it was OVER 5 million. So in 2018, 6,356,870 trucks were sold globally and of those, 3,198,760 was from the NA. So yes, NA sales more trucks than the rest of the world combined.

RobertRyan wrote:
No they do not effect the vehicle, they regulate the emissions. Cummins is still poor, 350,000 miles is pretty ordinary for a 6.7 almost 7 litre Dieel

Yes, emission system does have an effect on a vehicles reliability. So your saying that 350k is ordinary for most 7 liter engines, but only the Cummins is poor? What? That does not make sense aside from the fact that you just want to say something from America sucks again.

[hvac]

For many emission components, the expected service life is 100k miles. Many are not even warranted past 36k miles. A modern diesel has huge financial exposure past 100k miles. Go to the turbo diesel forum.its getting to make sense to turn them at 125k miles or less.

The following is a brief comeback from one of lead moderators, I asked if my new 2018 CTD would be reliable past 100k miles. He's a technician as well,
Ever had to replace the complete exhaust\catalyst system when a DEF injector sticks just destroys some $4k of emissions stuff plus itself? Do that ONCE then look at the bottom line on costs. What are you gonna do when the ignition module fails and it won't recognize that playschool key anymore? Just TRY to jump that truck into running to where you can get it fixed cuz you ain't doing it yourself anymore due to the fact it REQUIRES dealer programming to install and set it up. Don't ever do any one a favor jumping their dead vehicle in a parking lot, ANY little inattention or unknown problem will take out a TIPM or ECM and you are in the same boat. Do I dare mention turbos that carbon up, head gaskets that leak for no obvious reason, injector tips that break off, injectors that hang and melt pistons on a hard pull, and the infamous grid heater bolt that burns off and gets sucked into a cylinder

[RobertRyan]

RobertRyan wrote:

Shiner Brock wrote:
keep saying, the US truck market is so big that truck makes do not have to sell outside of this market to leverage costs. When half of the worlds trucks are sold in one market, you can make vehicles specific to that market.

Which is rubbish, when the OEM is not making money that cannot keep losing money. Remember GM was too big to fail...but it collapsed

Shiner Brock wrote:
said over 5 million because it has been a while since I looked at the numbers and have not seen updated ones, but I knew it was over 5 million. I did not say exactly 5 million.

Here is the most updated link of the 2018 truck sales.

Worlds best selling pickup 2018

It also has best selling models at the bottom.

Here is the one for 2019, but it is only mid year.

Worlds best selling pickup 2019 1/2 year

Here are the 88 million vehicles for 2019 projected based on the 73 million sold for the first 10 months of 2019. They even state that the 100 million vehicles sold was optimistic and will not be achieved.

Global vehicle sales 2019

Some how your 10million magically disappeared. Cannot see how you get 5 million out of those figures and the 3 million is even more fairy dust. Global Sales were on track for 100 million far cry from 80 million

Shiner Brock wrote:
Emissions devices actually have a lot to do with how long and engines lasts and are the major causes of dealer repairs with many new diesels. The fact that it did not have any where it was located is actually saying something. Also, 350k miles is it B50 life, no

No they do not effect the vehicle, they regulate the emissions. Cummins is still poor, 350,000 miles is pretty ordinary for a 6.7 almost 7 litre Dieel

[RobertRyan]

noteven wrote:
“Wrasslin a hog in the mud...”

Correct 😉

[RobertRyan]

Shiner Brock wrote:
keep saying, the US truck market is so big that truck makes do not have to sell outside of this market to leverage costs. When half of the worlds trucks are sold in one market, you can make vehicles specific to that market.

Which is rubbish, when the OEM is not making money that cannot keep losing money. Remember GM was too big to fail...but it collapsed

[noteven]

“Wrasslin a hog in the mud...”

[ShinerBock]

RobertRyan wrote:

Selling to markets outside leverages costs.Tariffs have nothing to do with a downturn in production

As I keep saying, the US truck market is so big that truck makes do not have to sell outside of this market to leverage costs. When half of the worlds trucks are sold in one market, you can make vehicles specific to that market.

RobertRyan wrote:
Several things where the 5 million Pickups and the 3 million sold in the US figures? You mentioned
No that article states a much lower figure, but comes up with 100 million

I said over 5 million because it has been a while since I looked at the numbers and have not seen updated ones, but I knew it was over 5 million. I did not say exactly 5 million.

Here is the most updated link of the 2018 truck sales.

Worlds best selling pickup 2018

It also has best selling models at the bottom.

Here is the one for 2019, but it is only mid year.

Worlds best selling pickup 2019 1/2 year

Here are the 88 million vehicles for 2019 projected based on the 73 million sold for the first 10 months of 2019. They even state that the 100 million vehicles sold was optimistic and will not be achieved.

Global vehicle sales 2019

RobertRyan wrote:

What has that got to do with it.? Emissions have no impact 100,000 miles is nothing for any Pickup. 350,000 miles on the Cummins seems pretty low indeed, seeing a 3 litre ISuzu gets 220,00 before a rebuild

Emissions devices actually have a lot to do with how long and engines lasts and are the major causes of dealer repairs with many new diesels. The fact that it did not have any where it was located is actually saying something. Also, 350k miles is it B50 life, not when it needs an overhaul. When it needs an overhaul is much longer than that.

[RobertRyan]

Shiner Brock wrote:
So you shifted your debate from being sold outside of US markets to where they will produced? How does this matter in regard to the amount of trucks being sold in the US? Especially since the new USMCA trade agreement requires 75% of a vehicle made in US, Mexico, or Canada to avoid a tariff.

Selling to markets outside leverages costs.Tariffs have nothing to do with a downturn in production

Shiner Brock wrote:
There is a big difference between a there will be assumption and what is. Especially from an article written in the second month of the 2019. The actual most up to date numbers says they are dead wrong in their assumption since there has only been 73.3 million sold the first 10 months of 2019.

Several things where the 5 million Pickups and the 3 million sold in the US figures? You mentioned
No that article states a much lower figure, but comes up with 100 million

Shiner Brock wrote:
It actually is considering it is a full US Tier 3 emissions equipped vehicle with a NOx limit much lower than Euro 6. Also, the B50 life on the Cummins ISB is 350,000 miles(560,000 km).

What has that got to do with it.? Emissions have no impact 100,000 miles is nothing for any Pickup. 350,000 miles on the Cummins seems pretty low indeed, seeing a 3 litre ISuzu gets 220,00 before a rebuild

[RobertRyan]

JMLN wrote:
Having owned and operated LDTs in commercial service I can say it is amazing when one can go 100k miles without any issues on the highway....but especially amazing in those conditions that Ram truck was operated in. 

Not that surprising that is my point, 100,000 doing all that is par for the course for Global Pickups.Maybe unusual in the US, but certainly not outside the US