Cappy and I use to be squaddies, I just like busting his stones from time to time that's all, he's a good guy.
I just don't like Dodge products. Many like Chevy, many Ford many ,Toyota. Being a contractor I have subcontractors and friends that have all types of trucks. The generally consciences with the crowd that I run with is that the Dodge trucks seem to be at the bottom of the line as far as overall considerations went. Most that had diesel powered trucks liked the Ford's and Chevy especially the new Chevy's . The Allison tranny seemed to be the main reason for the Chevy's popularity. That being said it seemed that the Ford was the most popular and the most praise. With standard trucks it seemed to go to Chevy more then Ford for the big trucks go although the new Tundra has some liking it better then their old standard Ford or Chevy trucks. It's just a matter of opinion and like I said I do not like Dodge products.
for heavy duty work trucks....like contractors......around here, fords. e and f series 250 and 350's. the only common problem they have is bvalljoints. if they have over 60k on em than the balljoints are bad. period. it's a poor design. ford simply kept things close to when they used kingpins, and stuck balljoints in there.......this overstresses em, and they go bad.
no problems with the ford deisels, although the turbo-deisels are over complicated.
the gm 6.5 deisel tends to have injector pump problems.
not very many people around here use dodge trucks for any contractor type of work. that all seems to be ford and gm.
most dodges around here seem to be the dakotas and durangos......almost always modified in some way.
for towtrucks(i worked for a company with 7 of em) based on personal experience, and that of other local companies.......
my old boss had 7. 3 fords, and 4 gm's. they had cat(i think) engines in the fords, and duramax engines(i dunno who makes them) in the gm's. they ALL had allison trannies.
the gm's never gave any engine problems, although the 07 ford, and the 05 ford had injector problems. the fords never had any other issues. the gm's used to eat up rear brakes a LOT. they all averaged 8 to 12 miles a gallon.
the fords were f650's, and the gm's were 6500's. all gvwr'd at 26,500.
most companies locally with this size truck use fords.
a lot of companies that choose to use smaller trucks, mostly use ford f-450 superdutys. they're usually powered by the 7.3 powerstroke turbo-deisel. haven't seen any major problems with them.
i've not seen too many toyotas used for contractor type work yet.(newer ones that is.) the older ones that i do see in use as work trucks, are lookin like old fords and chevys.......mostly rusted away.
the tacomas and titans i see, look like they're just there to be "pretty". there's a guy that gases up out front, and feels the need to rev his engine, like he thinks it impresses people. kinda funny in a sad way.
like i've said before, i base my opinions on real world experience. i work on em all. idler arms on the gm's, balljoints on the fords.......not much on the dodges. usually water pumps, or the like. they just don't get heavy duty use around here.
i still favor fords for performance. i had a 12 second mustang(passed nj state insp with flying colors too). that got totaled. now it's drivetrain is in a 78 futura.
i have a 68 camaro. it used to run 9.9's. with the new engine, once i can afford to run it, she should dip into the high 8's.
i've never had my dakota on the strip, but i think specs were somewhere in the mid 14's....and that's about what she feels like on the street.
