2011 truck - gas or diesel??

[BadgerFan]

Pretty ridiculous that it is 2011 and we still can hardly get over 20mpg on these vehicles.  Consumerism at it's finest.

I've always thought that too.

 

[showsteerdlux]

I have an 08 Dodge with the DPF system. I thought about moving to an 11 Chevy (DEF system), but I think I'm just going to can the DPF and let the Cummins breath instead of starting on payments all over again. On the road empty I will get 21-23 if i stay out of it. Going 80+ I will still get 18. Pulling a trailer and still staying in that 75+ range I will get 13-14. The worst it has ever gotten was loaded coming out of pennsylvania, and it got 11.5 on that trip southbound. Given, I was grossing 29,000 with a 2500, I couldn't complain.

 

[Cattledog]

Pretty ridiculous that it is 2011 and we still can hardly get over 20mpg on these vehicles.  Consumerism at it's finest.

I've always thought that too.

If they would start concentrating on fuel efficiency instead of having their power wars I think we could see some results.  The 2011 Duramax that I have has more than enough power.  In fact I would trade power for better mileage.

Seriously how much power do we need?  We had a 7.3 powerstroke that pulled like a champ back in the day and the performance numbers of the 2011 Duramax kind of dwarf it.  I know I never complained about the 7.3L in terms of power.  I actually wish I never traded the truck off! 

 

[horseshoe b]

  stick with the chevy and you will never go wrong they last and hold their value,  and yes the new gas engines will last just as long as the diesel,  and what ever you do: do not buy a dodge they should sell those things at half the price of a chevy because you are getting half the truck

 

[BadgerFan]

I have a Chevy with push button 4X4, so this might sound dumb but with the Ford and their manual lockout hubs do you have to stop, get out and lock in the hubs?

 

[showsteerdlux]

  stick with the chevy and you will never go wrong they last and hold their value,  and yes the new gas engines will last just as long as the diesel,   and what ever you do: do not buy a dodge they should sell those things at half the price of a chevy because you are getting half the truck

That may be true.for the gas, but I'd put my Cummins up against a maxipad anytime. I can guarantee I'll pull harder and longer without a problem than a Chevy could think about.

 

[Still Tryin]

From the sound of things I guess I will hold on to my 2001 7.3

 

[FutureBreeder2013]

That may be true.for the gas, but I'd put my Cummins up against a maxipad anytime. I can guarantee I'll pull harder and longer without a problem than a Chevy could think about.

(thumbsup)

 

[cbcr]

I have always heard say that for the most part the cost of ownership is about the same, running the gas burner less mpg and more frequent repairs.  But it is hard to say where fuel prices may go.

Was talking with a used dealer the other day and overheard him talking on the phone to someone that he was going to try to buy as many pickups as he could.  He said that fuel prices that while he had heard that fuel prices were going to be higher this summer, they would drop this fall, then everyone would be wanting to buy pickups again.

But how high will fuel prices be and then how far will they drop?  "The 64,000 dollar question"

I guess if fuel gets to $5 plus per gallon and then it drops back to what we are paying now or a little less, some people may be happy, but fuel prices are still too high.

Maybe a little off subject, but was watching a report the other day the everyone was complaining about the subsidizing of bio-diesel and ethanol.  But the oil industry gets more subsidies that these two groups, but no one complains about that.  And look at the greedy profits that the oil companies are making!!!

 

[DLD]

I have a Chevy with push button 4X4, so this might sound dumb but with the Ford and their manual lockout hubs do you have to stop, get out and lock in the hubs?

If the Ford has the knob on the dash, the hubs will have an "auto" position.  In this position, they're locked by vacuum when the transfer case (knob) is engaged.  They can also be locked manually in case the vacuum fails.  We've had a couple (up to nearly 200K miles) with the knob, and they've been pretty reliable - I think once a line got knocked loose from the backside of the hub.  If the truck has the lever on the floor, it will have manual hubs, still the most reliable system anyone offers.

I love my diesel for pulling, but all things considered (mileage, durability/reliability, cost of ownership and maintenance), I'd have a really tough time justifying a brand new diesel, but that's just me.

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

I just bought a 2007 Dodge 3500 dually  6 speed manual transmission 4X4 flat bed quad cab. It has the 6.7 liter cummins diesel that has 71,000 miles on it. I pick it up in Dallas Texas on May 9th. The price on trucks are alot better in price in Texas compared to the price around Wyoming and Colorado. I love the cummins diesels but are not familiar with the 6.7 as I had only drove the 5.9's in the past and liked them. I heard the 6.7 has really good power and gets good fuel milage. Anyone else driving a Dodge with the 6.7 liter cummins, any comments? A diesel mechanic friend of mine said the 6.7 has enough power to pull a house down, said the only problems he has seen was something to do with the exhaust and said if I have any problem with it's exhaust we will put aftermarket exhaust on it as that is suppose to cure the problem he told me from working on them. I grew up a Dodge fan growing up 2 miles from the Dodge plant in Fenton Missouri and love the cummins diesel, you 6.7 liter owners give me your comments on what you like and what you don't like.

 

[showsteerdlux]

I have the 6.7 and put a lot of miles on it, almost all pulling either a 24 foot stock or 30 foot flatbed. The only issue I have had was an oxygen sensor which was attributed to "to heavy exhaust" when I was pulling out of Pennsylvania with a load of hay and weighed 29,000. Evidently, when you blow to many particles with this new exhaust system with the DPF, it trips the sensor system. I have also had to have a water pump replaced but thats it. I have the 6 speed auto and it is doing fine. As I said in a previous post, I'm kicking the DPF system to the curb and from what I have seen on a friends truck, this thing might just be unstoppable.

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

I have the 6.7 and put a lot of miles on it, almost all pulling either a 24 foot stock or 30 foot flatbed. The only issue I have had was an oxygen sensor which was attributed to "to heavy exhaust" when I was pulling out of Pennsylvania with a load of hay and weighed 29,000. Evidently, when you blow to many particles with this new exhaust system with the DPF, it trips the sensor system. I have also had to have a water pump replaced but thats it. I have the 6 speed auto and it is doing fine. As I said in a previous post, I'm kicking the DPF system to the curb and from what I have seen on a friends truck, this thing might just be unstoppable.

That must be the problem my friend was talking about, he works on only diesel motors and said to put a different exhaust and a different computer on it which will be adjusted to the new exhaust which is suppose to let the motor breath better. He said the motors he did that to run like a beast and still get better fuel milage than the stock set up. He said a lot of the guys that run hot shot service around the oil field around here are using the 6.7 as they are pulling upwards between 35K and 40K with triple axle commercial trailers and they pull like a beast when you get them things done. What is the DPF system? Is that the computer or something to do with the exhaust? But he told me with a new computer and exhaust I was looking at $1000 to $1,100 with installation which I did not think was bad, would probably pay for its self over time with fuel savings while pulling.

 

[showsteerdlux]

DPF is short for Diesel Particulate Filter, which is now the old exhaust technology, and the "computer" stuff your friend is referring to. My truck is going in a couple weeks and everything I'm doing will be in the $14-1500 range.

 

[Cattledog]

  stick with the chevy and you will never go wrong they last and hold their value,  and yes the new gas engines will last just as long as the diesel,   and what ever you do: do not buy a dodge they should sell those things at half the price of a chevy because you are getting half the truck

That may be true.for the gas, but I'd put my Cummins up against a maxipad anytime. I can guarantee I'll pull harder and longer without a problem than a Chevy could think about.

Do you have an aftermarket enhancements on your Cummins?  The new 2011 Duramax is a beast.  They pretty much re-worked everything but the sheet metal.  Don't get me wrong I think Cummins is a darn good motor but my Duramax outpulls the other 2 cummins that we have on the farm.  It isn't close.  We've got a 5.9 and a 6.7.  The 6.7 has had egr problems but the 5.9 has only had a turbo go out in 300,000 miles.

 

[cjd]

Anyone have any thoughts on which of the big 3 have the strongest gas engine these days?

 

[flacowman]

Well gm says theirs is their strongest ever so I will hazard a guess at chevy/gmc, but it's just that, a guess

 

[jakeb]

Its easy just get the one you WANT

 

[uluru]

I just traded in  my 08 Chevy diesel with 121,000kms on it on a 2011 GMC diesel that was on the lot with everything on it that I wanted.
My 08 Chevy was a better truck than my Chevy 05 diesel.
Hopefully they have improved the 2011s the same way.

 

[titanic]

Well I think that the Chevy's are piles of crap they ave know power compared to the Dodge Cummins when you are on a long pull the new Dodge Cummins will out pull the chevy with a loaded cattle trailer it just leaves the chevy in its dust.