I can say that I have owned many Chrysler products. I have been completely satisfied with all of them. I had :
1985 dodge charger
1986 Chrysler laser XE
1991 Dodge Daytona Shelby
2009 Dodge Challenger RT
I would hate to see them go under except that will make my Challenger a collector's item in the Future. There minivans would be one of the only 2 that I would own (honda being the other) and I feel that they make pretty darn good trucks, I would hat e to see them fail besides they made my absolute favorite cars of all time, the 69 Charger Daytona, and 1970 Hemi cuda.

 

the only thing chysler/dodge/mopar has had going for it is the cummins... which may be coming to an end. good riddence to that company.. they have always been playing catch up..

 

Sticking to what works and works darned well is not playing catch up... In the time span that Dodge used the 5.9 Cummins Ford and GM went through a combined SEVEN different diesels (thats counting the 7.3 IDI and Powerstroke as separate). Comments like that are what cultivate endless Ford vs Chevy type arguments. My daily driver is a '02 Dakota 4.7L, 102k and no major problems. My uncle still drives his '94 Ram everyday and everyday that 318 goes on doing its job, still looks runs and drives like new. One of my best friends still runs his '92 318 Dakota with 140k ish on the clock. If Chrysler fails there are still going to be 12 valve Cummins Rams on the road 30 years from now probably more. Dodge by itself could be a strong company with the right business practices, but like said earlier all the other weight Chrysler carries is what would ultimately be the demise of Mopar

 

well hold on here, the cummins of today is by no means the cummins of previous years, sharing just under half of the hard parts.

from its intro in 89 it had minor redesigns in 91 and 94 and in 98 it was completely redone, with minor design changes in 01, 03, 05 and 07.

Is that REALLY all that different from the gyrations used in the navistar?

oh and btw - you are on a ford board talking about 102K and 140K like thats something. most of us here have seen the clock go around at least twice.

 

The actually engine block itself, including the internals has been virtually unchanged, It has never been completely redone until the 6.7, and even then ~35-40% of the parts of a 5.9 still interchange with it. 94 they changed from the VE pump to the P7100 and intercooled it. In 98 they just changed the head from 12v to 24v and swithced to the VP44 injection system. Still pretty much unchanged until 03 when they introduced commonrail. Minor tweaks to ECM/Injection between 03-07, and then they introduced the 6.7.

 

IS the word 'virtually' used to squirrel around the fact that the block is NOT the same, nor has been since 2002, and the fact that the pistons and rods have changed at least 3 times, as well as the rocker arm? (not including as you pointed out all the pumps, all the injectors all the turbochargers and all the accoutraments?)

the 'almost 50%' of the parts I mentioned referred to the 5.9 and ONLY the 5.9 and the actual number is 43%, but I rounded. That the 6.7 shares 40% of the parts with the last generation of the 5.9 is unremarkable - that means it differs by 60%+. Different engine.

again, this is not much different than the gyrations by the other makers.

 

hahaha.. high five there! my mom had a 94 windstar that had 334k on it when we SOLD it. not when it died. find me a mopar that can do that.

 

370,000 '94 Dodge Caravan, guy worked as an artificial insemination tech driving to and from farms all day breeding cows, going through a tank of gas in one day wasn't extroadinary. All irellevant, my previous comments were to point out that saying good riddance about a company that has been a pioneer in the field of diesel for several decades is exactly what sparks pointless arguements like the one that could be going on right here. I was born into an all Ford family, I still love'em. I just get a little worked up when people verbally bash something they often times have little expirience with. Just like I get down right P.Oed when some 17 year old in his first Chevy starts spewing "Fords suck, Dodge sucks, anything not GM sucks..." not saying that describes any of you, just outlining some annoying "qualities" certain people posess. I just think Dodge deserves a little credit for sticking with what works i.e. the Cummins, 318, 360 the latter two being produced since what the sixties? Sorry if I started another pointless argument, just thought I should share

 

SEVEN?? would you care to elaborate on that comment??

i count 3-4.
first you have the 6.9. then the 6.9 was bored out to give us the 7.3 IDI. with the exception of the pistons, they are the same engine. but i will give you the benefit of doubt, and count them as 2 engines.

then you have the 7.3 powerstroke, and the 6.0


so by a ford standpoint, that is 3 engines, or if you count the IDI 6.9 and 7.3 separate, that makes 4




and the GM vehicles only used 3 different engines.
the 6.2, the 6.5, and the duramax.

what are the other 3 fords, and 4 GM engines??

 

Thats including GMs 6.2,6.5,6.6... again, not looking to start and enless and pointless arguement

I also excluded the 6.9 since it had already morphed into the 7.3 when the Cummins arrived, the Fords I was refering to were the 7.3IDI 7.3PSD, 6.0&6.4

 

I like to think that among rational people (not always the case on these boards) the 5.9 CTD has been the premier diesel to have since its induction. While most people will say that since its wrapped in a Dodge body thats its worthless, they couldnt be further from the truth. I was one of the guys that went out on a limb and bought a 5.9 CTD a year after its induction and have owned one ever since (with the exception of spending part of '07 and all of '08 with a PSD, which I will NEVER do again).

Strictly speaking 1 ton vehicles here, Dodges may ride rougher, and not have all the creature comforts that Ford and Chevy do but I buy Dodges because A. I pull HEAVY loads, and B. I pull them ALOT. When I pull them I want to beable to do it with as little stress on the pickup as possible. Ford might be rated higher but who cares if the motor itself damn near has to throw a bearing just to get the load moving?

My Dodge has 4 doors, enough room in the back seat for anybody (I'm 6'7 and fit easily in the back), Sirius radio, and a ton of power, thats all the creature comforts I need and at way less than what I would pay for a Ford or GM.

As far as 3/4 tons go, Ford has it wrapped up with the V-10 (if you dont want to go diesel), as soon as I can I am getting rid of my HEMI, not because its crap but just because the V-10 is better.

Half tons-anything but a Ford. The 5.4 is gutless (relatively speaking) and doesnt get any better mileage (better meaning 3-4, not .5-2) for the power you sacrifice. The I mean everything in buying a truck is all the buyer perogative but its hard to ignore common sense (unless you are from the south, j/k).

 

well, if i am not mistaken, the ford 6.4 diesel was not offered as a production engine when dodge offered the 5.9.
the 6.4 came out for the 08 model year, the same time the 6.7 CTD did.

 

Hmm, correction noted thank you. Six engines. Look, I'm not too proud to admit when I'm wrong, I'd just like Dodge to get a little recognition for what they've done in the heavy duty truck market and not have people cheering when hard economic times threaten to drive them into obsolecence. As much as I hate GM (mostly their annoyingly arrogant die hard fans) it is no less heartbreaking to hear that 1200 people lost their jobs only a short drive from here. We're all honest hard workers here, I'd think that others would appreciate a good thing even if they prefer something else.

 

what dodge has done, or what cummins has done?

cummins is an excellent maker. My family has run cummins for nigh onto 4 decades now (starting with the nifty 250 and the shiny 290 small blocks and then decades of KTA, NTA, NTC engines etc)

cummins improved that motor each year and not because dodge was using it, but because that motor is sourced into a crap load of other 'things' not called dodge - some with wheels, some with hulls, some with gensets. In fact, It was 95 or 96 the big news was ford was dropping the navistar for the cummins (which would have been welcome but odd timing - as I have pointed out before, ford ALSO had a 5.9 TD in the same power ratings as the B-cummins was available. And the ford truck (80-96) body was better suited for a large I6 due to the 300

 

For Dodges choice to remain with that excellent maker. Are you saying that Ford gets no credit for the 7.3PSD(itself a great engine). For a heavy duty pickup maker its pick your pony, Ford chose International Dodge chose Cummins, Im probably mistaken on this one but weren't the first Duramax's made or designed by Izuzu?