Duramax vs. Cummins- Need some feedback

[BRIAN SEATE]

My uncle is contemplating on buying a new dually. Are there comparison tests out there? How about durability, and mileage? The Dodge and Chevy are the trucks of interest. Any owners out there that could share experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[Alan Roehrich]

We've had great luck with the Duramax powered trucks. Excellent mileage and power, and good reliability. So far, in our group, that's about a dozen of them, and only one gave any real trouble. It was not all the fault of the truck. It was already long out of warranty, the aftermarket shop screwed it up badly, and it took the dealer 3 tries to fix it. From my experience with the Dodge and the Cummins, you get either mileage or power, but not both. If you get one with a 3.55 or 3.73 gear, they get decent mileage, but don't run that well. If you get one with a 4.11, it runs good, but the mileage is nothing to brag about. And the BullyDog stuff makes the Duramax get better mileage and more power.

[Rob Petrie E395]

My father has a cummins in his it now has over 300K on it and other than adjusting valves as recomended and other regular maint it has given us very few problems, the worst being getting Ball Joints to last. This a farm truck that spends alot of its time loaded with a large cattle trailer behind it and it still went 250K before it got its first clutch. It has started leaking oil from the front cover area which is no big deal considering the milage and would be no problem to fix if I could just get him to let me have it for a day or 2. I am not a Dodge fan and cringed when he said that is what he wanted, but this has been one tuff truck. We also have a gas powered GM that I pull my car with and another with a Duramax. I am a die hard GM fan and I can say I HATE this Duramax truck. It spends more time at the dealer getting more BS problems fixed under warranty than it does here. It was originally bought to pull my GN car trailer and for pulling the cattle trailer when he goes to shows and sales but with all that has gone on with it we dont use it for that very much. When we first got it we had nothing but problems with fuel filters and check engine lights seems to be better now that I switched it over from a GM filter to a Napa 3910 but still needs replacement faster than any diesel I see and we see a ton of them in my shop since this is farm country and everybody seems to own at least one truck. The blower motor burns up a resistor pack and the connector going into it about every 6 months no big deal to fix but GM needs to get off thier buts and find a real fix and not just keep on replacing it with the same parts. The cabin air filter has to be changed real often or smells like a garbage dump inside in the summer. There is more but I think you get the idea. Has it had any major problems no, does it pull like a freight train yes, does it drive like a car yes. With the exception of the filters and the blower I am starting to believe I just had bad luck with this truck as like I wrote earlier I see a ton of them and nobody else seems to have as many problems with thiers. Now if you want to hear about some real problems as me about a Ford some of those owners have a real problem on their hands.
Hope this helps
Rob

[buzzinhalfdozen]

I see quite a few Duramuts in our shop (chevy dealer) mostly small issues very few major problems. The most problems we see are usually caused by "power up" software or controllers. Please be aware that if you add one of these to your Chevy diesel and you have a failure GM is aware of what is causing them and will deny any Warranty repairs. Even if you have a programmable that you can switch back and forth to stock setting it leaves a trace in the software that can be detected by GM. Just want to give you guys a HEADS UP so you don't get denied. Personally I pull with a 7.3 Power stroke never had a moments trouble with it, it will pull anything you hook to it and delivers good mileage, obviously the 6.0 and 6.4 has had issues.The Cummins I have no personal experience with however the guys I know that have them LOVE the Engines don't have alot to say about the trucks themselves though. You have to remember Cummins was building diesels before GM or Ford and have much more experience doing so. Joe

[Sean Marconette]

I have a 2002 Dodge Dually with the manual 6spd. I added the Edge with Attitude to add display of boost,EGT, and lift pump. I already had 18MPG unloaded, now with Edge on milage mode it is a different truck and has increased to 19MPG. I have had no problems and am the second owner. Truck has 71,000 miles and all that has been done is replacing all brake rotors and pads. Only issue is it is noisy.

Sean

[neb5445]

I would think the duramax with the Alison transmission would be a consideration.

[Charlie Ford]

I have a '96 Dodge Cummins with 250K on it. Most of it pulling a 50' trailer w/2 cars. It gets 11-13 pulling and over 20 empty. The clutch went @ 200K. It's by far the best vehicle I've ever owned. It doesn't have the EFI so I had the pump worked on and the turbo turned up right after I got it. It wouldn't pull before that. It has all the power I need. I run 70-75 pulling the trailer. That said, I've heard good things about the Duramax. I don't know anybody that has put my kind of miles on one. I do know what my Dodge has done though. I plan to keep right on going with it.

[63corvette]

I have not owned a Duramax but I do have a motorhome with a Cummins.
I can tell you from experience that my Cummins has had no major issues but the small things have been a problem.
Another major issue is that Cummins has NO Procedure For Recall problems.
I had a controls issue and after I was towed to the Cummins shop I was told there was a recall on the parts which were bad. I said I did not receive the recall. I was then told Cummins does not send out recalls they just wait for a failure. Cummins does not have a recall system for owners notifying them of a recall.
So if you have a Cummins engine and it has a recall issue the only way you will know is if you research recalls on a regular basis or have a failure you will never know of it.
I have an issue with that after purchase of their product.
That is really an issue when a formerly recalled part fails after the warranty expires.
The owner then pays for the recalled part and may never know about it.
Been There Done That!!!!!!!!!!!
My 2 Cents

[Chuck Beach]

I have a 2001 Dodge with a Cummins 6 speed, only 50,000 miles and I get over 13 miles to the gallon pulling a 38' gooseneck ... it's not even broke in yet ... excellent truck, great thru the mountains. I get about 20 mpg empty ...

[Mike Pearson]

I would highly recommend the Duramax. I have a 2005 Chevrolet dually with the Duramax/Allison combination. I have 125,000 miles on it. This truck has not had any mechanical problems at all. The only repair I have had to do was a wheel bearing on the front passenger side. I tow a 40 ft gooseneck trailer, loaded. About 16,000 lbs. The truck pulls very good, lots of power, great breaks, excellent ride. The overall quality of the truck is excellent. The duramax engine is also very quiet. I get about 11 mpg towing the trailer if I keep the speed around 70 mph. The truck will run much faster but the fuel mileage will drop to about 9.5 mpg. I get 17 - 18 mpg as just a pick up truck depending on my driving habits. I have a friend with a Dodge with a Cummins. He has had some problems with the trans and the electrical. The two trucks dont compare in quality.
I have not added any power adders with the exception of a KN filter. The truck really does not need anything added.
The allison trans is far superior to anything else on the market in this size truck. It shifts perfectly and in the tow haul mode it gives you an engine braking feature that works real good when towing a heavy trailer.My truck has the 5 speed version. The new trucks have a 6 speed auto trans in them. Should be even better.