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Comments
Cummins B series 5.9L I6:
Bore: 4.02"
Stroke: 4.72"
Navistar T444E 7.3L V8:
Bore: 4.11"
Stroke: 4.18"
As for the valve adjustments, the 12 valve is first adj at 24K, then every 48K afterwards. The 24v Cummins is now 150K! True, the Nav doesn't need one until about 150K either, but you have to worry about coolant-induced cavitation in the cylinder sleeves, something that can't occur in the Cummins. You have to keep that coolant additive (Fw15) in there and replenished at all times, or the engine will literally eat itself alive.
I just spoke with my dad again this morning since it is Father's Day. To answer your question, he does tow in O/D. He never tows lower than 4th. He's got the manual tranny with his 1997 Powerstroke. He says he has no problem towing in O/D because he has the 4.10. Since you have the 3.55, that explains why you would have trouble towing in O/D. As far as my dad liking to drive, he does have 30,000 miles on his truck over about a two year period.
I'm sorry I didn't respond in the Chevy 99 topic about those headrests. A dealer who works here locally said there is plenty of aftermarket companies for headrests. Now, he didn't give me any details, but he said any Ford dealer should be able to work for you. Its worth checking out.
Ford F-Series - They said the Ford had the most car like drive of any truck on the planet. It had stable handling anda well thought out interior. On the downside, it had the worst mpg, was the slowest inthe slalom, and had the longest braking distance.
Chevy C/K - It had the most powerful V-8, was quickest from a dead stop and had the strongest passing punch. They said the tires contributed to a bouncy highway ride when empty. They also said that it had the most uncomfortable rear seat of any of the extended cabs. They weren't too critical of the single rear door, since Dodge was the only truck offering the quad at the time.
Dodge Ram - They said the four door design and the built-in seatbelts gave he Dodge the best rear seat comfort. The Ram outhandled and outbraked the Ford and Chevy easily. It also had better mpg than Ford and Chevy. I found that a little surprising, since I thought Chevy did a little better. The downside was the weight of the truck which made it significantly slwoer than Ford and Chevy.
That's just another perspective. The 1997 sales figures have been given before, but risking being repetitive, here they are again:
Ford F-Series - 746,111
Chevy C/K - 553,729
Dodge Ram - 350,257
They said the combination of the Chevy C/K and GMC Sierra was 20,708 units less than the F-Series, so the GMC must have sold 171,674 Sierras.
By the way, if anyone wants a dry, text book discussion of torque and horsepower, I found an article at the link below.
www.off-road/hummer/tech/power.html
www.off-road.com/hummer/tech/power.html
The way this strike is heading, you might want to buy a Ford or Dodge now. Who knows when Chevy is coming back.
How many plants does Dodge have for their Ram truck? Might be time to get a third shift.
The UAW hasn't said anything about this, at least not in public. The two US Ram plants are pretty much maxed, so I guess it's a matter of being bale to expand the physical building that is keeping those lines unchanged.
Just wondering......
Dodge fans always talk about the 5.9L and how great it is, its way under powered. it only makes 245hp, the ford 5.4L makes 235 with 1/2L less displacement. Dodge has a great design team and the best markiting out of the big three but their quality sucks. if you look at all the interior moldings and pannel work its rough on the edges and there are gaps between the pieces. i like their designs but would never buy one (VERY POOR QUALITY). thats why i think this merger with the germans will be great for dodge. who better to help them with quality than the germans. But in my opnion Ford trucks are the best overall. they may not have the most powerful engines and they may have terrible auto trans but they are the best. anyone that is going to use a truck for what a truck is ment for anyways would never get a auto trans. you need to have a stick. (sorry aobut any spelling mistakes at work typing fast.)
the 6.0 is NOT competition for the V-10 engines. it is the base engine in the 3/4 ton and above trucks, which puts it at competition with the 5.4 and 5.9. But, right now the only engine bigger than the 6.0j that you can put in the 3/4 ton Silverados is the 6.5 diesel. Chevy has yet to release any info whether they will keep the 454 as the gas Big block, or design a new engine, ie. ~7 liter v-8 or v-10.
5.9L they have not said anything about a possible V10 yet. the 10's will still make far more torque that the 6L
still the 6.0 has a fatter torque curve than ford's upgrade v10. actually equal or higher torque at less than 2000 rpms. i don't think just any midsize v-8 can match that, whaddya say kcram
for ford, i'm curious to see if the new "pumped" 5.4 for next year will be strong enough for the superdutys. the added torque and hp should make it a very competitive engine in the light trucks. will the v10s get the same treatment, anyone?
I'm sure there is a reason, but why would you need 300 hp in a pickup without the corresponding increase in lb-ft of torque that is provided by a V-10 or the 454 unless you were only interested in beating someone from light to light or gas station to gas station. It sounds like a loaded, bias question since I am a Ford fan, but even if it was a Ford engine, why would we need so many horses without the additional torque?
it seems everyone thinks chevy pumped this engine up so it would compete with the v10s. No. there technology has horsepower there. and effieciency, stanford. these engines are getting BETTER MILEAGE THAN THE ENGINES THEY REPLACE. the new chevy's get more power out of the same amount of gas, because of better engineered induction and ignition. sorry, but chevy leads the pack in that department. torque is a very hard number to pump up. it is very dependent on the bore and the stroke. but horsepower increases as the engine "burns fuel" better.
the 6.0 will probably get about the same mileage as the current 350. Remember what i'm trying to say-- same fuel flow- better, more efficient burn.
from a dead stop, the 6.0 will only be better than the 350, or dodges 360, or fords 5.4, because its torque is only slightly above those. the 300 hp will be felt when you've got a 8000 lbs latched on, and you floor it get around someone, or maybe merge in traffic. engines with similar torque, like the 350, the 360, the 5.4, and chevy's 6.0 can basically do the same amount of work--that is the torque number. how fast they can do that work is the horsepower.
its not like the 6.0 is race engine, but it is going to be the best running mid size v8 on the market, (on paper right now). come on Brutus, if you got the same gas mileage in your v10, would you complain if it was 400 hp instead of 270.
stanford
i disagree with the fact the Ford motors are more effiecient. friend who runs big south texas ranch just bought '98 1 ton, 4x4, ext cab, lwb, chevy with 454. 300hp, 410ftlbs. said power is incredible, will scratch tires in 4th gear if you are going slow and floor it. gets about 12-13 mpg with 4.10 rear, and only has 2000 miles on it, so not quite broke in yet. fords v10, is .6 less liters, less horsepower, and same or worse mileage. heard a couple of v10 owners in here or somewhere report mileages ranging from 10-13.
jus wait to chevy's new big block comes out.
the 6.0 is chevy's mid level v8. if this engine is supposed to compete with the v10s. why is it available in the light duty 3/4 tons, and why is it going to be the standard engine on the heavy dutys? ford doesn't put the 6.8 standard in the superduty's, dodge doesn't put the v10 standard in the 1 tons, and chevy always put the 350 standard in its 3/4 and one tons. thats the way the industry works. do you really think that is the biggest engine chevy is ever going to make. chevy's heavy duty's don't get the redesign until 2000, then you will see chevy's redesigned big engine, just like the 6.8 is ford's big engine and the 8.0 is dodge's. you don't see it now, because there isn't a truck to put it in.
the only thing i question chevy on is the 4.8. i'm not sure why chevy made the 4.8. i can't see the need for 4 v8s. ( assuming the new big block will be a v8) i don't see why the 4.8 would be a good option on pickups when you can go from the high mileage v-6 to the 5.3 that has 260 hp that gets 15-20 mpg. that's the one thing i question chevy on.
have any of these critics ever driven a chevy? i totally understand not buying a truck for things other than the engine. i feel horsepower should not be the only reason you decide on a truck. but the current chevy vortecs are incredible. i don't own one, but i've borrowed and pulled with one, and driven a couple others. i've also driven dodge's 360 and fords 5.4 the don't compare. dodge has the closest power to the vortec 350, but doesn't have the low end torque, or fuel mileage. and now chevys new engines are going to be better yet. to me, there is no debate (on engines, that is).
Your friend from Texas is full of it. I own three 95, 305's, 1/2 ton Chevys and they pull around 14mpg. I just don't buy it.
Yeah, I own other Chevys too and I'll agree with some of your comments about Chevy power. Their engines have never given me grief but they really don't outdo my Fords either. This has been largely a myth brought about by Chevy fans to overcompensate for lousy trucks. I should know.
The deal is that none of the companies make identical engines in terms of displacement, therefore sparking these types of arguments. You can compare a v-8 to a v-10 but how fair is it? A 5.4 to a 5.9?
As a buisness owner, I look at quality of build. I need a reliable engine that will give me the fewest headaches--not more horsepower or a better torque curve. The soundness of Ford's overall package with the most reliable engine is very appealing to me. Vortec this, Vortec that, she will still cost me more than any Triton.
I used to be a big Chevy fan but I have been dismayed at GM's attempt to lure customers by avaiability of V-8s and not overall quality. They have been slow to respond to trends(fourth-door?). They also lack and real guts to enter the diesel market with their phony Detroits.
Sure, I love a good 67 Firebird or any Vette but their trucks lately have fallen behind. Remember, not just behind Ford but also---GASP!!!-Dodge!! Can you imagine if you brought that idea up 30, 20, even 10 years ago?
Now with this strike, GM really is hitting the mat. People will be saying:"Hey!--where's my 6.0?!!"
i can tell you why your trucks get bad gas mileage. first of all, the 305 has always gotten the same, if not worse mileage than the 350. Its the thing about "the smaller engine working harder." plus i think you said a while back that you have 3.08s, correct? i can't remember. if you do, then that is a really bad package. those are very tall gears to ask a 305 to do what you put them thru on a daily basis.
plus in 1995, GM pulled a goof. they derated the horsepower on all their engines about 10 hp. example, the 350 went from 210 to 200. that was the year before the Vortec. i don't know if it was marketing ploy, so they say their engines increased "this Much", or if they did it for CAFE reasons. but what happened is the engines got terrible mileage that year. they didn't have near the power either. I own a '94 with a 350. business i worked for had 2 exact same trucks as mine, with the 350, '95 models, and get 2 less mpg than mine. you picked a bad year to buy chevy.
my uncle owns a '92 crew cab 4x4, solid front axle, 4.10 gear. truck weighs 7200 empty. gets 13 mpg with his throttle body 454. believe it.
one last thing, how are the triton engines less expensive to maintain than the vortec. i've never heard of any probs with the vortecs from anyone, but i've heard several probs with the 5.4, especially when it first came out. there are some reports in here of it.
cdean,
Horrible consolation that 95 was a bad year to buy Chevy. There shouldn't be a "bad" year for any manufactuer. Second, yes they have 3.08 rears but where does the mpg derive from? Average payloads of 1100 lbs shouldn't be too much for that ratio. What do you mean "work harder"? If I had 350s, there probably wouldn't be much difference in the mpg. I don't tow or weigh her down! If I had a six, I would think twice but the 305 is proven. So what gives? Chevy sucks. Plain and simple.
the only engine from chevy i've seen that got better mileage with 3.08s than with 3.42 or 3.73 is the 6.5 diesel in the half ton, it fetched about 22-24. i'm willing to bet a 3.73 would get the same mileage you are getting now, and the trucks would drive much better. plus the 305 puts out significantly less torque than the 350, meaning you really have to put your foot into if you load it with gears like 3.08s. people have asked for advice between the 305 and 350, and i've always told them, the 350 will get the same mileage, and have better power.
by saying a bad year to buy chevy, i meant specifically the engines, because the hp was less and the mileage was worse that year.
so why exactly are your reasons for thinking the chevys suck like you say they do. you've given reasons why you are dissappointed in the dodges, but you've never said anything more than chevy's suck. trannies failed on you, if i remember, too lazy to look up. strange, since gm puts out the best automatic by far in the business. what specifically is this quality difference? my experience with the fleets i use to run with, the GMs were flawless, and got abused daily, 350s and a couple of 6.5s. the fords were good trucks too, but cost us WAY more money. they were powerstrokes that started dropping injectors after warranty was out. and 4 or 5 injectors per truck, $800-900 per injector, we could have bought an entire replacement gas engine for what we paid to fix the each of the powerstrokes. plus we were getting 7 mpg, but that was mainly because of the 5.13 rears.
Now if we could combine all three, we could have a decent vehicle:
1. dodge diesel
2. ford chassis
3. chevy comfort
Looks are up to the individual.
The critics say the F-150 provides the most car-like ride. The Chevy back seat in the extended cab is considered to be the most comfortable. The comfort aspect is a toss up. I'd say the biggest Chevy advantage is their V-8 engines. More power and better mpg. People will argue about the Cummins vs Powerstroke. They are both good engines.
I'd give Ford the nod for overall quality when you factor in all components of the truck. But, then again, we all know I'm bias.
Other than the steering column problems,
I like it. But because of the constant column
probs, its getting, actually has been, traded in
for a 99 Ford F250 XLT SC 4X4 SWB 5.4 3.73 SD.
I wanted an extend cab, and was going to go with
Dodge again but they have not fixed the column problem for the 99 year, so F'em...I went with
Ford. Hope I don't have problems with it!!
cya
Vaughn