Rate You Truck's Reliability - Heavy Duty Diesels

[Bill001]

Hi Again,

So I'm thinking the TC will likely be in the dry weight range of 4600lbs and used in full time conditions boon-docking variably.

I'm planning "at least" an 350/3500+ series diesel dualy 4x4 (serious thinking about a flatbed with bigger truck).

How do you like your Ford, Dogde, or GMC(Chevy)? What short of mileage are you getting and how reliable has your truck been?

Thanks again all,
Bill

[James_]

20006 Chevy (see my sig.) 150k no problems. I run at 60+ at 13mpg 65-70 I get 12mpg I would not trade this truck for anything. 😉

[arto_wa]

Just over 220,000 miles and getting about 12.3 mpg with the camper on and 15 mpg empty at freeway speeds of 70 + mph (manual check).

They do not come any more reliable than this has been so far :B

[MrPhelps]

Here is one other high mileage data point..

Bought truck new. One owner.
250+K miles on 06 Dodge 4X4 3500 CTD dually, most with camper on its back. Truck is stock.

Replaced clutch, ball joints, tie rods, U joints and water pump at about 240K miles, replaced AC compressor at about 220K, had one injector replaced at about 150K, Dodge covered 80% of cost of defective manual tranny at about 50K miles (only 36K warranty). Have one auto door lock not working right now. Other than brakes and caliper replacement and other regular maintenance that is about it. Very happy with it and plan to try to get another 250K miles.

[6pac]

Have owned a 2001 Chevy duramax LT CC SB with 180000 on it when we traded for the 2006 we have now . It has 209000 on it now . All we ever did to either was change oil,transmission fluid an diff fluid. Chevy runs on!

[69_Avion]

I have a 2000 Ford F-350 with the 7.3 engine. It has been an awesome truck. If I replace it, I will probably go with a Duramax.

[chilihead98]

I bought a used 2011 Silverado 3500HD Duramax DRW with 42,000 miles on it, with a Bigfoot TC on top. Unfortunately I've been having a plethora of niggling problems with it.

I was getting 13.5-13.8 mpg depending on whether I'm pulling my 16' x 7' cargo trailer. However, of late the avg mpg indicator has been erratic between 7.5mph and 12mpg. The dealer cannot identify any problem, but I strongly suspect the lower numbers are real based on the actual rate of fuel consumption.

I've also had to replace all the O2 sensors and DEF tank sensors.

After replacing the above sensors was then getting spurious warnings about low DEF range when I know the tank was recently filled. Not fun when you're 40 miles down Hole-in-the-Rock Road. Had to drive 300 miles r/t to a dealer in St George, UT who had to reprogram my computer.

I've been traveling in the deserted Four Corners region, so these kinds of problems have been a royal PITA. I hope these problems are resolved soon. Practically every service manager I've dealt with grumbles about the problems with the DEF systems on these trucks. I'm not sure diesel is worth the hassle....and I'm a machinery engineer by profession.

[dirtyhandz]

2006 Ram dually 4x4 cummins with six speed man. 169,771 miles so far. Have done balljoints once. Tie rods once. Rear and carrier u joints once. Front axle u joints twice. Drivers side rear caliper. And brake pads all around once. I also have an exhaust brake on it.
Regularly scheduled fluid and filter changes changes.
Still hauls my Lance 915 with a 16 foot cargo trailer and tows a 36 foot fiver just fine. Gets 15ish hauling the TC, 11ish hauling the fiver, and 20ish empty.

[Bedlam]

I started with a 2005 F250 with the 6.0 PSD. It started hauling a 11k+ lb toy hauler and finished hauling a 4k lb truck camper while towing an 8k lb enclosed trailer. It did both jobs well for my ten years of ownership but was replaced with a 2015 Ram 5500 6.7 CTD in anticipation of a larger camper and trailer in future years.

The Ram has less than 8k miles and is handling this "light" load easily even with travel through the Rockies of UT and CO.

If you don't tow, I strongly would consider the gasoline engines for your next truck to gain payload. If you tow and haul a camper at the same time, get a diesel. Both the F550 and 5500 were strong trucks. Ford beat out Ram in features and specifications, but the Ram was more value for my money than the Ford in the end.

[twodownzero]

05 Ram, 70k miles. Balljoints at 40k, other than that, only tires and clutch, not even brakes.

[Bigfootchevy]

Had 3 Chevy Diesel trucks since 2008. Very few problems and about 14 mpg with 4000 pounds of weight in the box. Been from Newfoundland to Alaska.

My new 2015 Chevy SRW carries the weight like it not there.

Never drove a Ford or Dodge with a camper on it so cannot compare!

But I like my Chevy !

Paul

[jefe_4x4]

Not a lot of high mileage diesels on this list. One over 200K mi. One @400K.
Our 2001.5 Dodge 2 series 5.9L, 6BT Cummin$ H.O. has 168K miles. Hard miles. We bought it because it had the most H.D. drivetrain and strongest engine (245HP/505TQ, 17.5:1 compression ratio) available at the time in a short bed pickup. No trouble with the drivetrain. No engine work. Original turbo. Original injectors and injector pump. Original clutch. Original transmission/t. case. Original driveshafts/U-joints. Unbroken front and rear axles. Aftermarket air intake. Aftermarket lift pump (the bain of the Gen2 Cummins'). One reason we bought the truck that we had no idea would be a plus at the time, was it has no smog device at all, just a muffler, which we upgraded with larger pipe and lower restriction muffler. It has no CAT; no pee canister and will run on 3rd world diesel fuel if you keep changing the filter. At my age this may look better on paper than in reality, but I'm holding out for one more run of the entire Baja with my bros.
Time and terrible roads have been cruel to the front end on this truck. Ball joints have taken a beating; all tie rod ends were toast. I just rebuilt or replaced much of the front end, the whole unit bearing assy is gone, new free wheeling hubs/outer stub shafts, new steering parts, tie rod, drag link, Gen4 pan hard rod, upgrade, greasable 4 links, all anti sway bar rubber, because we tend to abuse the rig off road and it almost always has the camper on, luckily adding all the weight to rear axle (Dana 80/35 spline/FF/8 leaf spring pack). The front Dana 60HD, 35 spline axle assy is now 35 spine all the way out to the hubs with heavier U joints outboard. Next week I'm installing the Eaton/Detroit True Trac all gear driven, 5 pinion, limited slip for the front D-60. I'll report back when I've tested it.
Have replaced: Rancho 9K shocks. Front 4WP shocks. On the third set of brakes. On the third set of batteries. First set went 6.5 years. E-brake plastic release handle broke (user error). One interior light does not work. Added a fuel pressure idiot light. Replaced fuel sending unit in tank so the gage would read correctly. Replaced entire exhaust system due to soda corrosion going on the Mojave Road.
It gets between 13-14 mpg with the Lance on. Sometimes better; sometimes worse, depending on the headwinds and speed. The most offensive aspect to the truck is the noise of the engine. The '01-02 Cummins H.O. is THE loudest diesel engine I have ever heard, especially when cold. It just RATTLES your eardrums. Inside the cab you are protected by lots of insulation keeping said noise outside for others to enjoy.
I cannot think of anything else that has gone wrong. I have run it out of fuel twice, once because I could not find a fuel station @ 4:10 a.m. and once when our fuel gage and sender went into fault code so we thought we had more fuel than we had. Even then, after priming each injector and fuel filter housing, no lasting negative to the injector pump. This truck will not win a sled pull, but it's kind of like Italy: no matter what it will always be there.
Yes, I would say this one has been reliable. As a guess, I would say it has been less trouble because I did not hook it up to a 'wire' with any add on power improvers.
jefe

[rwiegand]

2007 F350 DRW long bed extended cab with 70K miles

Small camper, a Lance 735, but I pull a 24 ft 11-1/2 ft tall, 8000 lb trailer in addition. With the trailer on I get about 7 mpg, adding the camper improves it to 8, presumably because the aerodynamics are much better.

Only problems so far have been a frozen brake caliper that trashed the rotor and a leak that stopped the on the fly 4wd from engaging. The truck sits unused for 7-8 months a year, which I'm sure is not great for it.

[Jeepers92]

I purchased a 07.5 dodge just for the Cummins 6.7. I mostly use this for the camper, having been in most every state and Canadian Province. I have traveled all three of the worst highways. The Alcan, Novi Scotia, and the state of Lousiania. ??
I have no mods to my camper. We also pull a 22' pontoon a lot in the South East. No drive system issues at all. This Gen Dodge has a weak front end. I upgraded the steering system to the newer 2014 system. This included new Moog hubs, upper and lower ball joints, etc. Although Dodge did some of these reworks under a recall, Most everyone will need it from what i read on line. Expect to spend $3k if you have it done. I am also experincing wiper motor problems. Otherwise No problems. I averaged a little under 14 mpg on our 14,000 mile trip to Alaska and back. I would buy the Cummins again.

[805gregg]

Current truck Dodge Cummins 2003 3500 SRW crew cab long bed, 130,000 trouble free miles, last truck 2000 Dodge Cummins 2500 extended cab, short bed, still going strong after 400,000 miles, stock original auto trans, sold to a friend of mine, he's in construction and tows a 10,000 lb. dump trailer frequently