Our Ram 3500 broke down this morning on the job, left 2 of my guys stranded for about an hour till I got there. Now off to the shop again, more $$$$ money, once its fixed we are thinking about trading it on an 09 Silverado. Truck took good care of our company for about 4 years, this past year its been choas... Keep in mind only 120,xxx on the clock and the truck has been pretty well taken care of. This is our first diesel pickup and probably last, I also run a Ford Aeromax and 4 diesel hi-lo's, not many problems with them. Maybe its the new ultra low sulfer diesel?

 

Best of luck with that Silverado! I am now waiting for my Cummins 5.0 V8 1500 Yaaaaa!

 

I found this article about the new urea injection systems that are going to be on all of the Ford and GM diesel pickup trucks, and on the Dodge cab and chassis diesel trucks. It does a better job at describing diesel emissions systems than I have seen elsewhere.

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2009/03...-for-2010.html

The urea injection is going to complicate things quite a bit. Urea freezes at 11 F, and decomposes to ammonia at 120 F, so these trucks will need heating lines in the tanks to prevent freezing, and cooling lines to keep the fluid from vaporizing. How are they going to use these trucks in Phoenix, where the ambient temp is over 120 F on some summer days? Will the cooling lines keep the fluid below ambient temperature all the time, including when the truck isn't even running? Paying $2.75 a gallon for DEF and having it vaporize into ammonia while your truck is parked for the day would get old in a hurry. And what happens with all that extra ammonia that gets into the air? I wonder if that is going to be just as harmful as the diesel exhaust was to begin with?

 

I also have a tripple axle 5th wheel that puts too much pin weight on the rear axle to be towable with a SRW.

When I started looking at trailers in that size range, I had a 5.9 Cummins HO, 03 3500 Dodge SRW laramie with the 6 speed (very nice truck).

I needed a dually, but the 6.7 was new, and the MPG's people were reporting weren't that impressive, and folks were having check engine light issuses, so I found a low mile 06 dually laramie with the 5.9 and 6 speed. It pulls the trailer very well, and handles well. A jake brake is very helpful.


Anyway, the 2010's Dodges are VERY nice, and the check engine light and MPG issues with the 6.7 have both improved. The exhaust brake feature built into the variable turbo provides at least as much hold back as the jacobs exhaust brake for the 5.9, and you don't have to pay extra.


Also, the 68RFE 6 speed double overdrive is a very nice setup, and it has me considering buying my 1st auto transmission. I actually like it better than the Allison. With it's double overdrive, a truck with the 6 speed auto and 4.10's actually turns lower RPM on the freeway than my current manual truck with 3.73's, and even the previous 03 that had the higher geared NV5600 stick and 3.73's.


Like you, I'm also not wanting urea, especially not at this point (where they aren't proven, and the price and availability of the fluid are unknown).

Just my .02.

 

Why not just find a used version of what you used to haul the trailer before?

 

The stupid urea rules are going to thoroughly screw up diesel pickups. The only hope if that there will be a way to bypass the urea injection crap.

I'm currently looking at an old 93 AD Platform 3/4 ton dodge extended cab with a cummins. One of the old old body style.

New trucks are just horrendously overpriced in my opinion. I'll just buy used.

 

The P pumped 12 valve cummins is probably the most fuel efficient and reliable engine to ever be put in a pickup.

Every time they redesign to meet tightening emission requirements there is also a jump in power and torque, and a drop in fuel efficiency.

Still, the common rail motor is quiet and starts better in super-cold conditions, the 68RFE is an amazingly nice transmission (finally), and the cab and interior of the 2010's is a quantum leap forward.

And you are right, they are horrendously over priced...

 

Last time I went to price a new pickup I about had a heart attack. I can buy a pretty nice house or a decent little plot of land for the price of a new truck.

Plus once you buy it you have astronomic insurance, license, taxes etc. to pay every year for the privilege.

In my state you have to pay not only to license your truck but you have to pay personal property tax on it every year. For new trucks it is ridiculously high. In order to get around this lots of people are buying new model trucks which have been rolled or cosmetically totaled and putting an older cab and bed on them. Since the VIN is on the cab it is still considered an old truck. Some of the more popular swaps are old 77-79 fords, late 80s and early 90s chevrolet K series trucks. I know a guy running around in a 78 extended cab ford with a 2007 diesel chassis under it. He's saved thousands on taxes and license.

 

Property tax on a vehicle? That's just insane... Taxachusetts? Democratistan?

Anyway, I was playing with the build a truck thing and I priced a 2010 dsl dually auto 4x4 laramie with the heated leather captains chairs and the nice stereo/nav system with backup camera. Basically everything except the sunroof and the rear seat DVD entertainment system. Came to like $53k and change.

Around here, $150k would get you a 1200 sq foot house of unibomber shack type construction on a lot in a shady neighborhood.

By the time incentives kick in on the 2010's maybe a truck like that will be in the low 40's...

 

I don't know, I have 4 hi-lo's with the Cummins 4 cylinder diesel in them, and my one Dodge with the 5.9 in it. In the machines the Cummins has been great, however my experience with my 2004 Dodge Ram 3500 with the Cummins has been less than pleasant. Just a few things I have observed about my Dodge/Cummins expierence:

-Will start at just about any temperature, lowest the truck has been in is -10 which is pretty good for a diesel.
-Gas mileage is alright for a one ton 4x4 (about 15 mpg's HWY), obviuosly significantly lower when its towing though.
-Truck body is pretty durable, although mine is an 04 and the bed is stating to rust a little bit above the wheel wells. That's Michigan for you thoiugh.
-After they make a sale, Chrysler has no interest in helping their customers, they simply don't care from what I observed. I had power steering issues when the truck had 50k on it, they did nothing to help me, dealership raped me on price.
-When I bought the truck new, my sales guy was preaching about the Cummins being a 300,000+ mile motor, and it ended up dyeing at 116,000 neither Chrysler or Cummins wanted to hear anything about it. Charged me $600 to tell me the obvious.

I am not saying they build a bad truck, maybe it has changed? Personally my experience with them has not been good, and my future purchases will reflect this.