Posted by Steve in PA on Friday, September 16, 2005 at 2:04PM :
In Reply to: OT - '05 Dodge w/Cummins posted by Joe Cimoch on Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 9:03AM :
Joe,
My trucks are usually used for towing a 36' 14000# GVW living quarters horse trailer.
I've had:
1993 Dually W-350 4WD Ex Cab 3:50's with auto and the 47RE trans. Sold it with 92,000 miles and never did anything to it other than a fuel shutoff solenoid, and pump pressure increase for power boost.
Mileage empty was always 19.5mpg and towing about 17 mpg in the Pocono Mountains of PA.
Then a 1998.5 QC 24v 4x4 47RE Auto 2500. Bought it with 21,000 miles. Sold it with 93,600 miles to a friend who tows horses in a stock trailer. They now have about 126,000 miles. Nothing on that other than normal maintenance. Mileage empty was always about 18 empty and 14 towing.
Made a mistake and bought a 2002 F-350 4x4 SRW Crew Cab Lariat 7.3 PSD with 3:73 new. Had it for 14000 miles, got 15 empty and 10 towing. Never had a maintenace issue, but it was not a cummins.
Next was an '03 Ram with HO 6-spd QC and 4:10's 4wd in a 2500. Truck always got 17.7 empty and 14.5 towing. Bought it at 11k mikes and tradede it at 49k miles. No unscheduled maintenance ever, just got tired of shifting and it was had on the horses.
I now have an .05 QC 2400 4WD with the 600 cummins and auto. Just turned 13700 at lunch while towing a car trailer with 3 pallets of retaining wall block at 2600# each, and a skid in the bed with 20 18" patio clocks and 10 100# bags of paver base... Yes it will be a long weekend. Did this all while smiling all the way. In tow/haul mode (no more OD off button), trans shifts crisply up and down and does not hunt, which is the ususual killer of the automatics, along with drivers that do not know how to respect a 3/4 ton truck with 600 lb/ft of torque.
My point is that there are probably millions of these trucks sold every year, and almost all owners are smiling all the time they drive them. Sometimes you get a problem child, but most of the time we create our own problems, and they are the ones you read about.
A little tip for New Englanders... Make sure the truck has the BFG Rugged Trail T/A's on it. My '03 did and it did well in mud and snow and got 40k miles out of them. I missed it on the '05 and it came with Michelins AS tires on it. They do not wear well (showing decent wear now) and there is absolutely no traction or control in mud or snow with them.
Sorry for the bandwidth... Good luck.
Steve
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