6.4 is the only engine in that list I haven't driven. Didn't really get a chance to "test" the new 6.7 Cummins either, but I still won't buy a Ram because even if the engine is the best, the rest of the truck sucks IMO.

But I with you, I didn't buy a V10 because I didn't know what a PSD could do, I bought because I didn't need a PSD and saw no reason to pay for it.

 

Another 4000 replies about nothing?

 

When someone says on the market, I take that as still be sold new. They aren't. I'm also not quite sure how being out for 15 years means anything either? I have a 22 year old 2.9 V6 in my ranger and still seem them pop up from time to time, does that make it some extraordinarily great engine suddenly?

The T444E/7.3 design is not way over 20 years old. The only thing it shares in common with the 7.3 IDI is displacement. Nothing else.

 

That time frame can help to determine the engines reliable, that is all. Many other things go into making a great engine in addition to reliability.

Reread my post, I said the 7.3L powerstroke engine design was used in medium duty truck. International was using the engine before Ford put in their light duty trucks. The engine in the medium duty trucks did not carry the Powerstroke name though, that name is owned by Ford, hence the reason the new 6.7 still has teh Powerstroke name. The fact the 7.3 PSD was not a new engine when Ford started using it is why it was one of the more reliable engines IMO. Granted it was not the exact same engine being use by International, but the design was simply tweaked to put it in the Ford's. I said nothing of the 7.3 IDI which was an "okay" engine at best IMO.

 

Just people that can't understand that HP is still HP and that if you have 350+HP on two different engines, they CAN actually do the same job.

 

So your saying a 250 HP rotary engine with 159 ft-lb torque and a late model 7.3 PSD that has 250hp and 500 ft-lb torque can do the same job as just because they have the same hp?

 

If you gear them correctly

Of course, one is not meant to be sitting there at peak torque for long periods of time, and the other is.

I would venture that a V10 IS meant to do that.

And again, this thread is about V10 vs. PSD - so throwing 250 HP rotary engines into the equation is, again, comparing apples to oranges

 

Well... maybe we can do a real test sometime. I drove the set on the picture above on Nevada desert keeping the engine close to redline for about 20 minutes when I was climbing the big mountain at 90F outside.
Not only the engine didn't overheat, but I was using AC at part of the time.
If there is a gas engine that can match that performance, I would like to see it.

 

The 7.3L Power Stroke design was not used in medium duty trucks before Ford was using it. International's version was called the T444E, they rolled it out at the exact same year as Ford - 1994. The T44E is exactly the same as the Powerstroke. The only difference being in computer programming.

Ford had been using the International 6.9/7.3 series for a long time before that, and those engines also saw limited use in International school busses.

 

Not really, even if you gear them. What if part of the job is to go down the highway at 75 mph? By the time you gear the rotary engine to move a load like that, you won't have enough RPM's left over to get it to that speed, even with a 9k redline. You will need tons of torque to the tire to move say a 20k lb load.

Lets not forget hp is just the torque*RPM/5252. So at low RPM's, when starting with a load, you need lots of torque to move that load. Torque twists the tires, HP makes it move faster. Yes, with gearing you can put the engine at higher RPM's allowing it to create more HP and and allow the the gears transform that HP into torque at the tires, but once you are rolling and try to get more speed, you'll have problems. hence the reason if that job involves moving down the highway, a torquesless engine will suffer from that extreme gearing it has on it. Unless of course you have a 5 million gear tranny and don't mind shifting through 50,000 gears for every mph. (On a side note my cousin just bought a tractor with 30 forward gears that tops out at 26 mph ) But having such a tranny is not practical, so taking this into a practical since, the torque is required to make the truck pull the load and maintain a practical gearing/tranny while towing large loads at start up and while at highway speeds, which covers probably 99% of the "jobs" you mentioned earlier.

True, this is a V10 versus PSD thread, but in truth that is what I'm comparing. The V10 has more hp and less torque than the PSD (at least from similar years). I'm just taking that to an extreme to show that torque is just as important as hp when when significant weight is being towed.

 

Ever hear of the Bugatti Veyron? They ran that engine full out for days before releasing it. Not to mention it has 10 radiators.

The VW Pheaton was also designed to run at 90% maximum power with an ambient outdoor temperature of 130F while maintaining an interior temp of 72F for a minimum of 4 hours.

It's all about cooling, an engine can run at 100% output forever if you provide the proper amount of cooling. As for the V10, I'm not sure because I don't live there, but I bet that radiator which is as big as a 3rd world house can handle some heat.

 

I could have sworn I saw that International had that engine as an option in their medium duty trucks (which includes busses) for a couple years before Ford used it. Ehh.. whatever, it is still 1.5 decades old no matter how you look at it.

 

I am sure it could pull any load that a PSD could. But how effective and efficient would it pull it? Just wondering.

 

Now that is the question. A V10 just won't be as effective or efficient at towing heavy loads as PSD. For that matter any gas engine will be at a disadvantage for efficient towing when compared to a diesel.

 

If you pull hilly, heavy and frequently, then a new emision diesel might make sense.
However, they are about 8K more to buy, very complex. not much better on fuel and expensive to maintain.
Is there a use for diesel now? Absolutely, but getting much harder for the average Joe to justify.
I got rid of an 04 Dodge 2wd Cummins about a year ago and got a 09 F150 4wd...mainly because it was a pain to drive in the winter, and I did not want a solid front axle 4wd.
The Dodge was a great truck with an unbelievable reliable fuel efficient, non emission diesel. But unless I REALLY needed one I would not buy the latest diesels on the market....just can't justify it.