OBS F-350 vs Dodge Ram Cummins: Old-school Nineties Diesel Face-off
Though OBS F-350 wins out on comfort, classic Ford faces uphill battle against the diesel Ram. A few things could change the tide, though.
When the F-Series split in the late 1990s, so, too, did the fanbase. On one hand, there were quite a few people who loved the new F-150’s looks, especially compared to the boxy styling it had before. On the other hand, other fans wanted no part of the new truck’s car-like persona, preferring their beloved OBS Fords. Luckily for them, the F-250 and F-350 trucks held onto to their looks for a while longer.
A few years earlier, Dodge threw all caution to the wind with their redesigned Ram. Suddenly, Ford had to pay attention to the lunatics over at Auburn Hills (which may explain the F-Series split at the end of the Nineties). How did this all pan out? Andrew of Just Diesels pitted his ’97 OBS F-350 with the 7.3-liter Power Stroke against his friend’s ’99 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 24-valve Cummins to find a winner.
“Ford is going to have the slight advantage in terms of interior comfort and interior build quality,” Andrew said. “This is still a Nineties interior. It’s all plastic, stuff’s painted blue. It’s not exactly modern by any standards, but it’s very comfortable.”
The biggest advantages the OBS F-350 has include more durable plastics, and a crew cab option. Meanwhile, the Ram 2500, despite being garage-kept, still has hard, creaky plastics. Said plastic is notorious for falling apart and cracking all over the place. Plus, the redesigned Ram didn’t come with anything more than an extended cab with doors until 2006.
“In terms of just overall drivability, if I was gonna daily drive this [OBS], these get very good fuel economy,” said Andrew. “This truck on 35s has no problem pulling low 20s in terms of fuel economy. It’s quiet. It’s comfortable. It does lack some of the power that is offered on the Cummins trucks, but for daily driving, it’s not that necessary.”
However, Andrew favors the Cummins for doing the harder towing and hauling jobs, owing to the extra oomph the inline turbo-six provides over the 7.3. Of course, that can be fixed by dropping a Cummins into an OBS. This fixes another issue he has with the old Power Stroke: ease (and lower cost) of upgrading and reparability.
“At stock power levels, both these trucks are going to be very, very reliable,” said Andrew. “That’s evidenced by how many of them you see with really, really high mileage.”
Though he gives the overall win to the Cummins Ram, he hasn’t parted ways with his OBS F-350. After all, it is more comfortable and durable where it counts. Again, if he wanted to, he could swap the 7.3 for a 12- or 24-valve Cummins to make a Fummins. Then, he’d have the best of both worlds. And a blue interior.
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