Duramax or Cummings Diesel?

[ALANSD]

I would love a 2006 or prior Cummins...our friend has over 900,000 miles on his Dodge truck.
My 2006 Ford 5.4 is a fine ride, and tows well, but 10-12 mpg towing stinks. I do get 18 highway not pulling.
The experience of two Fords in a row with spark plugs that snap off on attempted removal has not sat well with me. The last repair for that issue was over $1400. The Expedition is comfortable and competent though, and retired teachers don't buy $50,000 trucks, at least not this one.

[xrvr]

Bought my 06 Cummins a couple years ago used for about half the price of new. They are hard to find. Towing the thirty foot Avion I get about 15 mpg give or take, the last trip to south Florida on the flat land I did 20 not towing. No problems, my truck is what they call a work truck. No power windows or door locks, no cruise control, no engine brake, the stock radio and no problems. I did have the ac compresser replaced under extended warranty I bought . The truck only had forty thousand miles on it at seven years old so I spent the money on the warranty figuring it wasn't old enough for all the bugs to be out. Love the truck only complaint, the 06 is still pretty noisy

[ALANSD]

so what years prior to 2006 are the best for these? I am able to take my time looking for one, as my current set up is fine for us.

[Alphonse]

Originally Posted by ALANSD

so what years prior to 2006 are the best for these? I am able to take my time looking for one, as my current set up is fine for us.

The Turbo Diesel Register has buyer's guides that are very detailed full of information. If you are seriously looked for a used Dodge/Ram thoroughly familiarize yourself with this resource. It is worth the membership in this owners group for all the technical info available.

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/

[KJRitchie]

Originally Posted by Llando88

We averaged about 22 mpg unladen going up from Tampa, and 14 mpg towing at 65-68 on the trip down. The Cummins diesel pulls like a train; it is true what they say, it is 'hard to tell' you are pulling a trailer.

Are these mileage quotes hand calculated? Odometer mileage divided by gallsons pumped.

I haven't had an opportunity to tow mine much. Only put on 1500miles since purchase in August.

Kelvin

[switz]

Our 2012 Ram 2500HD Cummins on board computer Lie-O-Meter mpg display gives some wonderful numbers. They just do not line up with the pencil and paper numbers over an extended number of refills.

Since I swapped the stock fuel tank for the under bed Titan 56 fuel gallon tank, the fuel gage is relatively useless. I reset the Trip B display at each fill up and use a conservative 11.5 mpg number for range which is a conservative 644 mile range. I can't last that long without emptying my tank, so my bladder seems to determine effective range. However, that extended range does allow me the choice of brand for fuel stops.

I look for non-bio-diesel fuel and will not use Flying J, Pilot or Love's. Their pumps show up to 20% bio-diesel blend and my 2012 vintage engine was only rated 5%. I look for Chevron and Shell, but have found them in Texas to occasionally only have bio-diesel.

Avoiding bio-diesel will prolong engine life despite the marketing hype.

[ALANSD]

Originally Posted by Alphonse

The Turbo Diesel Register has buyer's guides that are very detailed full of information. If you are seriously looked for a used Dodge/Ram thoroughly familiarize yourself with this resource. It is worth the membership in this owners group for all the technical info available.

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/

thanks, joined. Wow the 2006 go for some serious bucks. Worth studying up on these for sure.

[Tuco]

Originally Posted by ALANSD

so what years prior to 2006 are the best for these? I am able to take my time looking for one, as my current set up is fine for us.

I have a buyer's guide for these trucks from 2012 on back. If you you would like I can send it to you. Just send me a PM with a good email address.

Dave

[Short563]

The 11/23/2015 edition of the Chicago Tribune reports a new Cummins option with the all-new Nissan Titan XD. "Nissan exploits the gray area between light- and heavy-duty with the all-new Titan XD that uses a 5.0-liter Cummins turbo-diesel V-8 engine delivering 310 horsepower, 555 pound-feet of torque and 12,000-pound towing capacity."


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Rich Jenkins]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Are these mileage quotes hand calculated? Odometer mileage divided by gallsons pumped.

I haven't had an opportunity to tow mine much. Only put on 1500miles since purchase in August.

Kelvin

Hi Kevin. Ok, not sure I remembered accurately, so I went to the receipts for the trip up and back. I do recall seeing a '21.6' on the mpg readout during the trip up.

Anyway, these are per the miles driven and gallons pumped:

From picking up the truck at the Tampa dealer, to the Exxon station outside of Lakewood the night before we picked up the Airstream: 19.0 mpg

(This includes one tank running around Tampa.)

From Colonial back to Tampa down I95: 13.2 mpg

Truck is a 2016 Ram CC CTD 4x4 with the 20" tires.

[xrvr]

All my mileage figures are hand calculated. I have no such computers on mine.