I owned Chevy pickups over the years, as my dad, uncles, and both grandads owned and drove Chevys. The last Chevy I had was a C30 Dually, with a 454 and an auto. Passed everything but a gas station. Got about 4mpg, empty, loaded, fast, slow.
I spent a small fortune keeping that thing running. Rebuilt the tranny twice. At some point before I bought it there had been a bearing failure on the right rear, and I had to tear the whole rear end apart, replace all the bearings, the locker, ring and pinion, and repair the housing where the bearing failure had happened (cut off and weld on a new threaded stub). It had headers when I bought it. The exhaust runs so hot while running it cooks itself to a rusty and crumbled mess in short order, and keeping leaks sealed are a waste of time. I ultimately bought new cast iron manifolds from the dealer, and mounted them with copper gaskets. That solved that maintenance headache. Even with the hydroboost brakes if the trailer brakes weren't doing their share the thing took way too long to get slowed down. Coming down the hill from the Westwood circuit up in BC with the trailer and car was always a scary proposition. With just a canopy, some of my gear in the back (tires, fuel, some spares), and everything else in the trailer with the car, it weighed around 18-19,000lbs.
Driving that beast was brutal. The floor was not insulated, the carpet and padding doing little to keep out mechanical and road noise. Or heat. Remember the hot exhaust? Even when the A/C was working, a tow on a summer day sucked. And in the mountains I couldn't use it, the engine would overheat.
And it didn't have the torque to climb grades loaded like a diesel. Even the big trucks would pass me.
Even though it was a one ton dually, the weight of the trailer always seemed to push it and pull it, I always knew the trailer was there.
So.
I bought a Ram 3500 with the ISB 24 valve, and six speed manual gearbox new in 2001. It has 130,000 miles on it now. I have changed the oil and filter every 5,000 miles, the fuel filter every 25,000. I found one of the exhaust manifold bolts broken while performing an oil change service, it was replaced under warranty. The fuel pump crapped out just outside of the warranty, I bought one at NAPA for $125 and had it swapped out in about 20 minutes. The tranny is supposed to never require a lube change, but at 150,000 I plane on changing it and rear end lube. I replaced the batteries at about 70,000 miles. A new set of tires at 85,000 or so, I can't remember for sure. The serpentine accessory drive belt has been done twice, each time at around 50,000 miles. I still have not had to reline the front brakes, but probably will before it gets to 150,000 miles and don't expect to do the rears until around 250-300,000 miles. With diesel engines the exhaust is oily, and this rig gas stainless from the turbo to the outlet. It may never wear out.
And it does not leak.
I expect to go at least 500,000 miles before even thinking about maybe an inframe on the engine, 1,000,000 miles is not an unrealistic expectation given good maintenance practices. The radiator, heater and CAC hoses are silicone, should last 500-750,000 miles. The (extended life) coolant is good for 600,000 miles or 6 years (I actually changed it out in 2011 when the test strips showed it was breaking down, 4 years overdue, but way before the miles limit). Do that with a gas engine.
The truck is rated for 22,000lbs combined GVW. When I tow to a meet, with the camper, trailer, car tires, fuel, spares, tools, etc. it weighs 21,500lbs. On a trip to Thunderhill I got 18mpg, and only had to drop one gear in the hills of Southern Oregon and Northern California.
And I barely know the load is behind me, unlike with the Chevy.
If I am traveling with just the camper or the canopy I can get better than 20mpg. I know guys that have the 3500 single rear wheel Rams that are getting 23 to 24. Towing.
Driving the Dodge is like riding in a luxury car. Heated leather seats with 6 way electric adjustments and inflatable lumbar and side cushions. Power windows and door locks. Cruise control. Air conditioning that can be used no matter the terrain or load. A six speaker stereo that doesn't need to be cranked to hear over the noise of the engine or road.
Of course the thing is 6 wheel drive too, so going skiing in the winter is way better than with the Chevy, as it was only RWD. But I also can never use winter snowstorms as an excuse to not be able to get to work.
I would never go back to a gas powered pickup. Ever.
And I see that diesel fuel has come back down to the same as regular gas again, just like it was when I bought the thing.
Sure, the newer gas powered pickups get better fuel economy than they used to, but the newer diesel pickups get even better mileage than they did when my Ram was new. And you never have to change spark plugs on a diesel engine. Or fiddle with the fuel system save for changing the filter periodically, gas fuel delivery systems always seem to require more attention than diesel ones, costing more money. And gas engines have lots of moisture in their exhaust, so even with stainless steel, the vapors combine with other compounds from the combustion process to form some pretty corrosive stuff. And most of the ones sold have automatic transmissions. The only automatic gearbox I would ever tow with would be an Allison. But I don't own any vehicles with automatic transmissions anymore, and really don't want another.
Shifting is way too much fun.
So I was born and raised a Chevy man, but the Ram has got me hooked. It is built with a medium duty truck engine and transmission. The axles and suspension are designed to do the job. The engines that Ford and Chevy use V engines for their diesel pickups. Inline designs are better I think. Look back at V diesel engines, the 8.2 that GM had in medium duty trucks in the late 70's and early to late 80's. A boat anchor. And that converted car engine that Chevy and GMC put in pickups for a while. The various versions of the Ford Powerstroke suck from a maintenance and repair standpoint. Working on them sucks, they barely fit in the engine bay and there is little room to get at anything. There was one year recently that required removing the front clip and cab to pull the engine. The apparent popularity of these things escapes me. I don't hear too many complaints about the Chevy Duramax, but given the General Motors track record with diesel engines I was reluctant to give them more than a passing glance back in 2001. The son in law has one and he had some issues with injector drivers in the ECM that the local dealer had a very difficult time sorting out. It left him on a hook quite a few times. My Ram has not failed me yet.
One last comment.
Look at how these things are marketed to us. Sam Elliot pimps the Ram with that deep cowboy drawling sound, making us connect with the Marlboro Man image of the rugged Wild West. Dennis Leary tells everyone how tough Fords are, like a Bronx punk itching for a fight. Chevy, well, Chevy plays a game show kinda thing with 'regular' people just like us, where the answers are their pickups.
I dunno, not one of them reaches out and grabs me.
I really can recommend the Dodge though.
Diesel.
With a manual transmission.
Take control of the power.
And tow safely and comfortably.
And great styling.
I work in the heavy duty truck and engine world, so diesel power is just a no brainer for me, and I’m biased.
