Well I bit the bullet and bought new truck. It is a 2015 Ram 2500 ccsb 4x4. 6.4l "hemi". 4.10 gears. I did a pull this past weekend and it did very well. I towed our 32ft camper about an hour away. Camper weighs about 8500-9000. All in all a very stout combo. Truck does very well towing. Noticeable power improvement over the v10 and smooth delivery of power. It pulls steady through entire rpm range where my v10 would just make a lot of noise above 3k rpm. I guess that's 10 years newer for ya. Any ways I was gonna get another Ford but just liked the overall package of the ram better. I suspect someday I will be in another superduty again. It may be awhile though. Still got the 77 F 150 to haul firewood though. Just some food for thought for some people considering a new gasser.

 

Nice truck. Lots of advancement in every facet of automobiles in 10 Years. I would love to have a newer truck, but just cant seem to let go of one that has NO issues and is paid for. I just keep changing oil and driving it. Besides, new trucks are so stinkin expensive.

 

Yeah I didn't want to but I didn't wanna put 4-5k into current truck either. So new one it is. I got 9ne project with the 77 I didn't want 2

 

have fun with the Fiat

 

Have fun with the new ride.

I'm surprised with your V10 observations about running out of steam after 3K. My 3V pulls strong right up the HP peak at 4750 (the 3V is still making 400lb-ft at that RPM).

The Dodge (sorry, Ram) 6.4 specs are:
410hp @ 5,600, 429 lb-ft @ 4,000

So the 6.4 is making 381 lb-ft at 5600RPM. According to the numbers the 6.4 only makes more horsepower than the V10 above the V10's HP peak of 4750 (the same statement is true of the Ford 6.2L vs the 6.8L). But of course there's different transmissions and rear gears involved as well, so it's not totally that simple on the road.

I have to love that the V10 was a $600 option in 2005...$600 for 92 lb-ft and 62hp...a great bang for the buck.

Ord

 

The biggest difference is the management of that power- today's high tech auto's, compared to what was in his 05. Today's transmissions have changed the game.

 

Once Fiat took over Dodge the Quality went way up. Nice truck.

 

All I can say is my 05 v10 would not do much but make a lot of noise much above 3-3500 rpm. It most likely needed a tune up among other things. It only had 89000 miles on it. Yeah it may be a Fiat/Chrysler pickup. To be honest I have owned other Chrysler products. I have had nothing but good luck with them. I never had any problems with any Ford products I have had over the years either. My view point is this. The 2017 superduty is the truck Ford should have came out with 3 or 4 years ago. The boxed frame will help tons in towing comfort I can attest to that already. Also the coil springs are very nice too. Softer with no load and stiffen up when you load it down. I know Ford will most likely never put rear coils on their F250 but you never know. I wasn't going to spend my precious money on a brand new truck that would give me the same towing experience a 10 year old truck did. Being frame and suspension wise. Hell at least it's not a chevy with ifs and from what felt like to me a turd of 6.0l gas v8. Anyways I am an equal opportunity truck owner. I buy what I feel will do me the best job. It so happened to be ram this time. Down the road it could be Ford again. I figured I would give some info out there for some people who might be looking for a new gasser in the future. I will tell you this it's not a easy choice these days. The big three are all bringing very good trucks to the table. I hope this doesn't sound like a rant. The fingers just got carried away. Time for a beer!

 

so you didnt get the air suspension ? that would be the one thing that would sway me to a ram is air ride. the fords did change the rear leafs to be longer in 2008 so its not the same as your old 05

 

Honestly that's a nice looking truck and hope it treats you well, I've been rather interested in the 6.4 vs 6.2 comparison and a 6.4 vs 6.8 is also interesting to me.
I am a little bit surprised that you're 05 6.8 was lacking in power above 3k, my 06 pulls impressively well below 3k rpm and very rarely need to go above that but if you put the hammer down and let it rev it really goes when it gets around 4/5k rpm! And that's with towing a really hevy trailer.

 

Congratulations on the new truck. I hope it serves you well.

Ram's quality is supposed to have really picked up lately.

 

No I did not opt for air ride. I wanted to keep it simple as possible. If I am correct. I believe you only get air bags with no coil support like in a semi. I know an air bag failure would be minimal but I didn't feel I needed the extra cost or worry of another system.

 

That's when I noticed the lack of power the most was in the high rpm. Down around 2500 it was good. But once revved out it didn't have that pull more of just revving noise. Who knows maybe it had a transmission issue I didn't know about and was slipping a bit. I tried new fuel filter but didn't help.

 

A Chrysler-Fiat product made in Mexico.

 

Yep you're right. I could have purchased a 6.7 powerstroke that's made in Mexico also. And they still get close to 9k for that Mexico built diesel. Along with many other parts. The truck itself assembled in Kentucky though. We all could argue all day about build quality. I honestly see no difference. Whether it's an American who doesn't appreciate his job or a Hispanic who doesn't appreciate there job. It all comes down to the worker whether they take pride in their work. Frankly I have seen a lot of Americans who don't give a crap about their workmanship. So I'll take a truck a truck assembled anywhere as long as it's put together with some pride for God's sake.