Last weekend I was at a large horse show in Vermont. With over 250 competitors the parking lots and fields looked more like a truck and trailer show. The first day I started scouting out the diesels in the mix and in particular the powerstrokes. On day two I had several hours to kill so with pen and paper in hand decided to walk by each diesel rig and tally them up by manufacture. Results are as follows:

38 Total Diesels

21 Powerstrokes (7.3 and 6.0)
14 Cummings
3 Duramax

Question #1: Why so few Duramax's?
Question #2: Why so many Powerstrokes chosen to pull horse trailers.

With regard to #2 my thoughts are the truck has a more solid frame and thus feels more in control pulling loads; however I've never ridden in any truck pullling a load other than a Ford so I honestly don't know how solid the ride is on the other trucks.

In any case, Powerstrokes were clearly the truck of choice at this show, perhaps it is just isolated to New England. I only saw a few trucks (equal fords and dodges) that were obviously modifed (i.e. large exIhaust, guages, etc.). Another funny observation was seeing the diesels hooked up to such a variety of trailers - everything from a 40' 5 horse to a 2 horse bumper pull loaded with a tiny pony.

 

comeing back to San Antonio through houston over thanksgiving weekend last year, and other times along the I-10 drive, i've seen many TT's and other trailers being pulled. 90% of them were Ford trucks.

 

This is big horse show country here in Kentucky and almost all show grounds will be 80-90% Powerstrokes, Dodge will be second, and Duramax a distant third.

 

A guy once told me that if you go to deep east Texas, you see mostly cummins. Then get out on the hwy and you see PDS pulling horse trailers. He said the wood haulers prefer the cummins because it has more low end torque. This was before the dmaxs were out. I don't know if this is true or not. I told the guy's in my circle that they could back up to to my PSD with either and I would suck their intake manifold in!

 

Ford is the best in Texas.......

 

you mean theres makes other than Ford?

 

Rumor has it........

 

same way round here. all the rodeos i go to draggin the trailers its always more fords than anything. the guy i rope with has a 97 dodge and he likes my truck alot more. says its more comfotable and quieter. the 12v and 24v cummins is LOUD. also i can run the hills considerably quicker than he can and we have the same trailer. trails west 4horse LQ bout 11k empty. also dodge didnt have a "real" crew cab till a couple years back and thats a big thing right there that pushed alot of people to the ford.

 

i noticed the exact same thing the last time i was camping. the overwhelming majority of trucks pulling trailers where ford diesels, followed by some dodges and i cant even recall a duramax. one thing that sold me on the ford was the interior room. i am 6-4 and when i sat in a chevy i barely fit, and to this day dodge still does not have a true full crewcab

 

It's the same way with the drag racers. You will see way more PSD's in the pits than any other truck. Even many of the diehard Chevy racers pull their Chevy race cars with Ford trucks.

 

maybe cause chevy diesel wasn't even close to competitive w/ ford or dodge for a number of years. fords got more following because they had a crew cab and dodge didn't - extended cabs are kinda useless. i know a lot of guys that were die hard chevy guys. they gave up. chevy diesels sucked for too long. now that they can compete, no one is left.

 

Simple…. Ford makes the best truck. Dodge is the best value. Chevy cost the most and it’s not the best truck.

 

I'll toss in one more reason to see so many Fords out there pulling. Miles add up quick and Ford has a stronger resale value than the others also. Put 150K on the Cummins and the engine is absolutely raring to go but the truck body is going fast!
Built Ford tough is just that....from the engine clear through the body.

 

its all psd's around here. a couple of locals bought new dmax's since the employee discount so the only dmax's running around are 2005's.

luke

 

As a diesel enthusiast, here is my take. GM/Chevy built a diesel once that was just junk...People who buy diesels primarily buy them for endurance and pulling power. These folks have long memories and they will not buy a GM diesel until they get some serious mileage on the engine, so the manufacturer can sort out the problems...hence poor Duramax sales relative to Ford. The PS Diesel is well-proven over many years...makes the investment somewhat more palatable.

Then there are the Cummins folks...I don't think the majority are buying a Dodge over a Ford or GM. They are buying a Cummins over a International corn-binder or Duramax. I have to admit I came close to this direction...I do not have a lot of faith in International (due to 2 million miles over-the-road trucking). But when I compared EVERYTHING on the Ford against EVERYTHING on the Dodge, the difference was so great that it overcame my bias against International. In my perfect world I would have a Ford with a CAT engine....