Chevy is once again selling inlines.

The cummins is a parent bore as is the duramax and the psd but all are rebuildable. The cummins is rebuildable up to 6 times. For a throwaway that is a lot of rebuilds. Very few engines of this displacement are wet sleeved.

The cummins will be used in mediums for as long as they can build them. It is a cheap reliable engine that doesnt put too much stress on the drivetrain.

The 5.9 is only available in the f650 and f750. I believe at one time is was the standard engine in those trucks. No longer so because intl is building the chassis for ford. Its no longer an inhouse truck.

There is a lot of unlightened comments about reliability and durability going around. Perception of quality and actual quality are light years apart here. Chevy pickups have the highest quality. I have no love for chevy and can admit it to myself. Perhaps you should too. Cummins engines are the most reliable with the lowest cost of ownership. Alas fords are the fastest and have the highest ratings. Except for trailers. In which case Dodge has the highest rating. Ford can tow the heaviest fifth wheel. I know splitting hairs but important to consider if towing a gooseneck.

Now I read the power ratings for the 06 chevy duramaxs is going to be 350hp. Interesting times we live in. Dont start talking reliability from too high of hp. This engine was designed ground up for higher hp than has been delivered to the public. Problems were with torque and transmissions.

 

I say that because most I6 have a longer stroke which is the bases of torque and most often they also have larger pistons which applies more pounds of force against that crank. They also have seven main bearings to better handle the torque down low. Imo the only reason to have a V8 is to make power higher on the rpm band.

 

Not all inlines are designed for low end torque. Same as not all vs are designed for high rpm torque. It is possible to have a short stroke inline or a long stroke v.

The duramax is a short stroke, as far as diesels go, and the psd is a long.

The vt 365 ,6.0s medium duty brother, makes terrific low end torque.
Unfortunately low end torque is murder on an auto. Which is where dodge got its reputation for bad autos. The tranny itself is a good transmission just not behind a 12v cummins. The 12v comes on harder than any other diesel. When they went to full electronis and torque management the problems went down drastically.

 

I agree. I stated "most".

 

Also as you probably know the 4.9 is almost square. Thats one helluva engine. Would one call the 4.9 a long stroke?

 

For its time the 4.9 was a long stroke motor. Todays motors "ford" have longer strokes. The 5.4 and the 6.8 both have longer stokes than the 4.9 and for that matter the 6.0, but that has more to do with emissions. The question that I have is if you have a V8 and I6 with the same CI's would not the I6 have better mechanical advantage over the V8 when it came to producing torque? It would most likely have a longer stroke and larger pistons.

 

Ahh!! the real question IS mechanical advantage. An inline does have a mechanical advantage to produce torque. It has a better attack angle on the crankshaft. I suspect this mechanical advantage is more pronounced in a diesel due to the longer duration combustion event.

The 7.3 had a larger bore than the 5.9. Remember you are comparing 6 cylinder to eights. Of course the 6.0 is going to have a smaller bore. It has less displacement per cylinder. Around 60ci per cylinder for the 5.9 and 45ci for the 6.0. The 7.3 was a lot closer at 55.5ci per cylinder. The cummins has a long stroke though. Bad for racing. Good for towing.

 

They're all good.

 

BTW, Dodge is supposedly putting a new (the Allison?) tranny in their diesel trucks now. Those should last a bit longer, but who knows what will actually happen. Most diesel trucks using autos, used for hauling, etc don't last more than 100K anyways. A buddy of mine has an older Ford 350 diesel, has 450K on it and has gone through 5 trannys. It's just the way that it is. If you want tranny durability, get a standard. It's just a fact with them that if you get an auto, you WILL have to replace it around 100K regardless of the brand of truck you buy. I've owned all three major makes of diesel and all have had the same "short" tranny life isssue. I quoted that because 100k is great considering the abuse they get. Basically, in my experience, they all last the same. However, as far as this thread is concerned, the CTD engine is the better one in my opinion and, imagine this, in my EXPERIENCES.

As far as the spelling goes, excuse the hell out of me for spelling Cummins wrong. Didn't think it would offend so many people. I was tired, up late and just spelled it that way w/o thinking I guess. It appears that the spelling correction is the most factual statement made in reference to my post, which says a lot for the Dodge (or Cummins) boys. Once again, I'm not grandstanding for them; I love my Fords. I think the other guy (muscle car something, I think) said it best: All three big boys make great trucks and all have acceptable engines, etc. For what I do, I prefer the CTD. I've found it to be the most reliable and sound. That's all I care about. If I wanted HP, etc, I might make a different choice. As far as the truck itself goes, yes it has it's positives & negatives as all vehicles do. Bottom line is that I do have my preferences for all different types of vehicles and they are not all in the same manufacturer. I think that it is myoptic and sophomoric to declare that, "auto manufacturer X is the best by far for everything and no one else can compete with them in any way." That's just foolish and uninformed. If I want speed and handling, I'll take out my 3 rotor RX-7 and spank the crap out of most anything out there, including many "supercars" in both raw speed and handling. This doesn't mean that it is the end all be all for that category though. I'm sure that there are cars that can beat it. It is just my choice for that category. For my daily cruiser, trip vehicle, etc., it's my EB Expedition. I call it the leather couch on wheels. Love it! However, I'm sure that the Range Rover or Escalade groups would argue with this. I could go on and on, but I suspect that those that get this already did, and those that don't never will.

 

Cummins is Ford boys.

 

Oh please. Not another claim that Ford owns Cummins.

That comes up so often that it's almost amazing. They do not. And if they did, the Cummins would be in the Ford, not the International.

 

Yep ford lets cummins sale to dodge a better motor than ford has so we here can talk about it. As 309ford has put it ....oh please

 

Cool, another Rotorhead!!!
Check your PM's

 

Just got a 6.0 F-450 Superduty. Like it alot! Haven't drove a cummins powered Dodge since 92-93 so I suppose they might have gotten better since then. Anyway the only real complaint with the 6.0 is the fuel milage isn't great, but normally I'm at 14,000 to max so far 24,000 combined vehical weight. I guess 9 mpg is acceptable since it has yet to run out of power.

 

remember you don't see any fuel mileage till its broke in ethier.