I've been seeing way too many PSD's lately!! For two weeks I was working at the Farm Progress Show here in Iowa, the biggest farm show in the nation. And about every truck there was a diesel, with the most all of them being PSD's. And these are the exhibitors, ones towing trailers from show to show needing a reliable, heavy duty and strong pulling truck to get them there. I did see a couple Dmax's, I think I counted about 2 or 3. There were a number of Dodges, but nothing compared to the number of PSD's.
The following week I was in Mt. Pleasant where they have an old antique tractor and steam engine show, and lots of camping. Again, a lot of PSD's pulling campers, a couple dodges, 1 or 2 dmax's.
You'd think someone would get sick of seeing so many of the same truck, but I haven't yet. I don't care what magazines say is the best truck from their tests, they are never well executed tests anyway. From what I've seen in the last 3 weeks alone, Ford has easily dominated the heavy duty pickup market, hands down. And I'll continue to enjoy driving my PSD knowing it's the best truck out there!

 

AMEN!!!!, regaurdless of who tests them, how many are bought back, I have NEVER seen a truck last as long as a ford, none the less a PSD. I know several 7.3 PSD's around me that are OVER 225k miles on the ORIGINAL BUILD, WITHOUT a SINGLE problem. I have full faith the 6.0's with do the same. I've said it before, I'll say it agan. Line me up against a dudmax, a dudge with their "H.O. Cummins", an in any test. Pulling, Hauling, Durability, Performance, Comfort, Quality, and Speed. The only place I will see any of them is in teh rear view. I'm not speaking out of preference, I'm speaking out of fact. I've had the horrible feat of towing 11000lbs with a dudmax. USELESS!!! Peddle to the floor the whole way. I've never sat in such an uncomfortable seat. I think their XLT or DLT or whatever it is, has a worse seat than their base. I've towed the same load with a 24valve H.O. Cummins 600. EVEN WORSE!!!! These things have absolutely NO GRUNT!! On top of that, you have screw sticking out of your door panels, you will have to have your trans rebuilt at 60 to 70k miles GUARANTEED if you tow ANYTHING!! Let us not forget doors that feel like they should be on a grocery getter. Then of course with the 6.0. Absolutely NO competition.

By the way, the dudmax I am referring to, had his all mighty Allison trans rebuilt at 62xxx. An out of pocket cost of $4900. YIKES!!!

Best of Luck,
Corey

*Parts Changers*

Edit: I meant to add that on the Cummins 600. They can't roll onto the highway with a load, not even half a load, without hitting 1400 minimum on the egt!! Can you say OUCH!!! that's HOT! I can just hear all the phones ringing at the Ford dealers in another year when all their Cummins are burnt up. Not a flame here. I speak from fact. I know this happens. I've seen it, the one I pulled 11xxxlbs with, hit 1450 on the pyro at just 65mph. Again useless!

 

The tests are somtimes NEVER well executed. I've actually watched tests on TV and I could tell they were doing it wrong. If you ask me, I think they're rigged. If a new car, truck, or SUV comes out and motortrend tests it against its competitors, the newly released vehicle always wins the award no matter what. For the record, I'm not just saying this either. For years I've been watching their show and almost everytime, the newer vehicle won; even though one, if not, all the competitors could easily out do the newer car. While there are some tests that are performed properly and fairly, the majority are just never done right.

 

Is the duramax really that weak? After all it does have 600ftlbs, thats not bad at all.

 

Yes they really are that sad. Personally the only thing they have that is SOMETIMES convenient is a quiet idle. Sometimes I get tired of having to turn my beast off at every drive through.. But on the other hand that loud idle sure gets people starin'.

Best of Luck,
Corey

*Parts Changers*

 

welllll let me tell you what i have been seeing. at automotive swap meets you always have several people selling aftermarket chubby parts, i aint talking about the little guy, i am talking about larger companies. when they are coming in to sey up, or packing up to leave they have one thing in common. they all drive fords! at indoor swaps you cant hear yourself think for the first 20-30 minutes, because of all the power strokes idle at the same time. i love it! only sell chubby parts, but you have to drive a ford to get em there!

 

I thought they were at 590 ftlbs and the Cummins was sittin' at 600?? Or has Chevy upped it already? Not that 10 ftlbs will make a huge difference.

I've also heard, don't know if it's a fact or not, that the Allison tranny in the Chevy is already maxxed out at the power it can handle, so if you were to do some big mods to the truck, you'd blow the tranny without major upgrades. Where as with the Ford it can handle quite a bit more hp before you need some major upgrades.

 

The Allison trans is very true. The average rebuild to be able to handle more is about $5000. The cummins h.o. while they post 600lbs. It is absolutely gutless. As stated earlier you can't even hit 70 without going over 1300 in egt.. That is just a heap waiting to blow up. Which definately eliminates the possibility of mods for the H.O.

Corey

 

Remember, it matters only half what the flywheel torque is... If one tranny has a higher power loss than another, then a less powerful truck at the flywheel miht be a winner by the time the power makes it to the road. Anybody know the power loss percent for the torqueshift, the allison, and whatever piece dodge puts in theirs?

 

I do quite a bit of interstate travel and for years I have noticed that most of the trucks on the road that are pulling campers or other heavy trailers are a LARGE MAJORITY Fords. Most are the newer Super Duty's (98 and up), half of those are dually's and almost all of them have the Powerstroke. I'll see more Dodges (with the Cummins and DRW's) than Chevy's, and most of the Chevy's are older and have the 454 instead of a deisel. You just can't beat the Ford with a Powerstroke. I have also noticed this at boat ramps and my fishing spots where there are alot of campers, also at rodeos and in front of farm service/supply places.

I have also noticed when I use to work construction that most of the trucks (company wise and personal) at the site were Ford's. Almost all of the newest one's were Superduty's with the 5.4, the powerstroke and a few were V-10's but not many. Usually if the truck had a utility bed it was on a Ford. Contrary to the interstate travel scene I saw more (company vehicles with utility beds and such) Chevy trucks than Dodge's, I rarely saw a Dodge truck on a construction site unless it was a personal truck.

 

No. It's got 605ft lbs now. But this isn't really about the power, it's about regional popularity. Here in Southern MN and Northern Iowa, Chevy advertises that it sells more trucks than anyone and it sure looks like it. At our dirtbike clubs trailride this weekend, we had about 200 rigs pulling RV and trailers come down and GM/dmax was the clear winner. And I see by far mostly GM's on farms, on construction sites and hooked to plows in this area.

Both are great trucks, in my experience. The 6.0PSD has a ways to go to claim any kind of long term dependability, though.

 

I think there's more truth to that than you think. My old man has been working at the local Ford dealer, in the parts department, and he said he's seen quite a few 6.0 come back with problems, and not just little replace this part easy fix. He said the lobes on the cam shafts wear down easily and has seen a couple with broken cranks. I sure would hate to have that kind of stuff happen to my engine, especially when the engine has only been out for a year. I think Ford jumped in way over their head trying to put the 6.0 in their trucks. Should have waited a few mores with R&D and stuck with the 7.3 until the 6.0 was perfected.

 

Does anyone remember how the 7.3 did it's first and second and third year....

 

I'm not trying to be disrespectful here, but why didn't Ford stick with an engine that had proven performance and reliability?? I understand they were trying to meet emission standards, but I think they could have done a lot of fine tuning to the 7.3, like the stuff they did on the 6.0, to make it run even better and cleaner.
Pretty much any engine that is new, will go through a couple years of critizism and improvements, I understand that. But why would Ford put themselves through that again when they already had a great engine??

 

lets not forget about the old reliable 7.3 IDI.if it wasnt for those old reliable,easy to work on,none computer controlled diesels the powerstroke wouldnt even exsist.
i am not tring to knock the powerstroke at all,guess i'm just old school.the old IDI's also go well above 200,000 and with a turbo upgrade and some exhaust work the old IDI's will out pull a stock stroker.