Well Mr. High Velocity,no i am not talking about one lemon....
the '91 dakota 318,5.2 i had i put 146,000 miles on.....it was a
solid engine,but you could not haul anything in it,springs were to
soft.....if you are over 6 feet tall sit in the 2000 dak....with that
oversized center console the drivers seat is about 6 inches to
narrow. talk about back ache.....the 360 cu in the ram is over rated...and the front end is junk......dont talk to me 'bout lemons...i gave dodge every chance in the world to make things
right with me and they failed......curios thought.....has anyone seen a dodge chasis under an ambulance in the last 10 years...nope......chevy gas has a few with the 502 cu
and the rest are ford F-350s and F-450s because they are
reliable......and diesels.......and they last forever that is a fact,i have been driven ford ambuances for 13 years now ,when the crap is in the fan the power stroke is the answer........they have
never let me or my patients down...if you are having chest pain
and need to get to the doc in short order believe me you'll be thankful that you riding in a ford and not a dodge.....and that is
why there isnt a dodge market in EMS,you cant count on a dodge
when it counts.........Dave

 

I think the ems thing has to do with the fact that Ford gives a better discount to the buyers than Dodge does. Plus don't Ford have a package just for them? When Dodge expands to where that can afford to build trucks that are focused twards the non public crowd then they will make a truck body that will fit many different style boxes.

 

Dodge used to build good trucks, not any more. They canned all their good motors: 318,360,440. The new transmissions are a joke they have plastic internal parts. The old Torqueflite automatics would last darn near forever if you took care of em. My buddy has a 79 Plymouth Trailduster 4x4 318 auto with over 130k on it, it has been snow plowed, mud run, towed more than Dodge said it would, and is still running strong. My other buddy's Dad works for a Bus garage, they use Dodges for the service trucks. Talk about pathetic! They have a 2000 4x4 1500 shortbed with a 360, it has gone through 4 trannies, 2 transfer cases, 3 frontends, and one rear end. Heck that doesn't even account for all the electrical problems and other stupid stuff. This truck has'nt pulled more than 2000 pounds or plowed a single flake of snow. The new Dodges are junk. They have an 87 F250 4x4 351 that faithfully continues to plow snow and pull buses and trailers on the original engine and transmission with over 200k on the odometer.

 

To day i road in 2 brand new 2003 Dodge 2500s with my grandpa. The both had the 5.9l I-6 Diesel. One was a six speed and the other was a 4 speed auto and were both 4x4. They were both around 38 grand and they road pretty good. On the inside they weren't loud until you would really get on it. On the outside of the truck it had the classic diesel sound. They both had power out the ***. The 6 speed you could really feel the power. The interior is actually pretty nice it seems to be built pretty good.. If I had my choice of either the dodge, chevy, or the ford, since i havent ridden or drove a ford diesel , the dodge would be first, ford second and chevy last since they are crap, but first and second could change soon but chevy will allways be last. But with gas engines it would be ford, dodge and then chevy.

 

It's true that chrysler should have fixed there transmission problems by now. I thought they did for 2003. My friend works for the county. Dodge won low bid for there new pickups. Five trucks with crapped out transmissions in less than 20,000 miles. That's flat out unacceptable. PS, wasn't it the ford van ambulances that I always used to see on fire on the side of the road?

 

Our county also just got 7 new dodge trucks. My best friends dad drives one with 40k on it. it is a 02 4x4 auto diesel quad cab flat bed. so far only one has bit the dust but that happen when they ran it into a tree and totaled it. Its going up for auction this month and I'm looking at buying it just for the tranny and flat bed. maybe a turbo if I blow mine.

Our School used nothing but Dodge vans trucks you name it we got it. My uncle has two the only he uses. One of his friends who has a 01 2x4 4 door auto stroker ford was really impressed by the 03 Hemi that they bought and plans to keep his ford to pull his small camper and use the Dodge to plow snow and as a daily driver. So far they have not had any problems out of the trucks the own. They use them for everything. plow snow,haul mowers,gravel you name it. They just bought two new 03 and last year they got 3 02 model trucks for the buss gradge to run around in and pull busses out of the ditches in the winter.
I like the 03 trucks but I don't think I like the square looking AC vents. the white guages are sweet and so is the middle shifter location and cup holders.

 

my company use's ford's and has done so for 25 years but we decided to try dodge's for oil field work on the north slope in alaska and the dodge's fall apart!!!!!! we got 6 3500 4x4 auto cummins and by 6,000-10,000 miles we had to give them back to the dealer cause we could not use them any more we had MANY problem's with them the tie rod end's broke in ALL of them in the first 5k we had many tranny problem's the insides fell apart from gravel road's( the ford's we have last 120k and have NONE of these problem's in the first 100k) so we tried dodges but there CRAP we conntinue to use for's and probly allway's will cause there a BETTER truck for WORK

 

found a site for ya
http://www.fordcummins.com/

 

Check out the June 2003 Car and Driver. They have a long-term test report for a Dodge Ram 1500 4x4. Yep, transmission problem at 37K miles.

Charles

 

My best friends both drove Dodges until they saw how hard I used to drive my Fords and how long they lasted me. I used to hot rod some of my vehicles and loved to wind them out..probably far past optimal shift point, but thats not my point..... in any case, my Fords lived longer and were driven hard and put away wet. My friends dodges each went through two engine rebuilds before Idecided to "freshen up" my old faithful 289 and 302s. They have been driving Fords for some time now, love the ease of maintenance, love the ride and continue to wish they had never owned their Dodges... although they did like the way the dodge 4x4 performed,But they like the fords 4x4 even more.

 

My buddy who owns the Trailduster much prefers his Chrysler products over the Ford products. He loves to drive my 84 F150, He openly admits my ol 300 is a stronger workhorse than his 318.

 

If hot rodding a truck is reving to 3500 rpms and poping the the clutch put me down on that list. makes a great set of posi marks on the blacktop. The only problem I have had out of my 94 dodge which is the one I put through its paces everyday it the afterrmarket clutch I used<---Centerforce dual friction my Rear end ain't got no friction anymore. Guess those 3500 burnouts don't help much but the stock clutch held longer two years vs 1 month

 

At least untill 1997 when they changed the f150. Pretty much made the f250 and bigger the good work trucks. I remember when you could get a good work truck in the 1/2 ton range without all the extra crap and just a good ole I6 and manual transmission.

I have seen my fair share of newer genaration f150s eat tie rod ends. IMO, some of the engines are getting better, but the trucks are not IMO in any of the big 3's line ups. everything is geared toward soccer moms.

 

we use 350 crew cab auto PSD (an have for 25 year's) we can't use 150's there to light duty

 

riddle me this ford tk man
How come my friends 92 ford f250 4x4 auto with 78k miles on it has rust on it when my 93 dodge 2x4 auto with 180k miles does not? Has he taken it off road only two time sense new have I taken mine off road I live on a farm even our buick gets to go off road everyonce and a while. All he does with this truck is drive on the road and not very much at that. His front end you know the one. Fords somewhat atempt at IFS I guess. it was junk and let both of his wheels start wearing funny and when we took it apart for the convershion to the true straight axle from a f350 it fell in 3 or 4 pieces and a lot of the parts showed wear really bad. I don't talk to him much anymore because he got all mad when I got my new truck and he did not have the best truck IN HIS EYES. Plus he took my turbo that I was going to use as a twin for my truck and sold it on me. I paid for it he just picked it up from work. His friend told me that his tranny just went out. What tranny did they use in a 92 Ford 250. My Junk Dodge auto has 2x the # of miles and I have actually pulled with mine. thats a lot more than he can say for his truck. What I'm really trying to say is they all make Junk....Its if you get it or not that matters. so far I have got the junk oned from Ford not Dodge. I also have a Junk chevy truck but thats a nother day/week don't get me started.