Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives No B/S, whats the best late model 3/4 ton diesel?

I have 3:55 's in my 98 dodge and I pull a 20 ft gooseenck over Colorado Mtn passes. 3-4 mules all hunting gear, food, hay,grain, tackI have never wanted for more power. Going up the east side of Vail pass,I usually hit the top in 4th gear. Going down the west side of Loveland or Vail passes without a compression brake is a hell of a lot more exciting.
The 4:10's are just going to eat up more fuel when the 3:55 will do the job.
I also pull a 22ft flat bed goosenck tri axle I put 5-6 T of hay on it and the trailer weighs about 3000.Still no problmem.I don't go down the road at 75 mph, but anybody who does pulling 15K is out of thier minds as is one who wants to pull 10K with a 1/2 T truck

That's interesting to know Saddlesore. I've got an 06 Dodge with the Cummins and the six speed stick. I carry a camper that probably weighs 4400 lbs. loaded, and it still easily drags a 2000 Jeep Wrangler on a tow bar.
Been thinking rather seriously about getting an 18 ft. flatbed trailer rated for 7900 lbs. and putting a Dodge Power Wagon on it. I've wondering how well my '06 would do with both it and the camper. Guess I don't have to worry. E

Stick with the GM/Chevy...Allison/Duramax, you'll be a happy camper.

the 2011 1/2 Dodge do have the 800 ft. lbs.

they are supposed to have a heavier built tourque converter to handle the extra power

Thanks for the replies. My current trailer is a Starcraft hi-bred that weighs in at 3700 lbs. dry, my half ton chevy does ok when its flat towing. Otherwise the transmission and engine heat up rather quickly. Chevy literature says this my particular truck is rated at 7000 lbs +, which is laughable.
We plan on upgrading trailers once the new truck is acquired, thats where the 10,000 lbs come in, which is more than the new trailer with toys will actually weigh, I just want to make a confident decision when the time comes.

Two dirt contractors I know personally both have diesel trucks and they both said they would NEVER have 4.10 gears in a pickup truck again. They said they are slower, eat up more fuel like saddlesore stated earlier. They both run with 3.73 gears in the rearend.

Slip Sinker.............WHAT DID YOU SAY? MY ENGINE IS RUNNING NOW>>>>>>>>CAN"T HEAR YOU....Yep I need hearing help a bunch you betcha.

It depends entirely on what size tires you intend to run. Taller tires require numerically higher ring and pinions. Figure out what RPM you intend to run at and buy/change accordingly.

I am running .285's on my 1-ton Ford but stock tires were .265
I am not sure what the dirt contractors are running on their rigs.

I once had a Chevy pulling truck that ran 38's on it at the state fairs 15 years ago, BF-Goodrich tires that were around 15 inches wide.

I disagree. That is true with most gas engine because they seldom have much low end torgue, but not with diesels.
I, too, know a dirt contractor who pulls a 16,000 lb. rig with his stock Dodge with 3.73's. E

I'll have to disagree to a point E. I agree with you, going up 1" or 2" won't make much difference, but if someone goes higher than that it can affect low end power.

Of course most of the guys who are running huge tires aren't pulling anything anyway and need a 3/4 or 1 ton diesel truck like they need a hole in their head.

Bill

Yes, I agree. Almost everybody I know that goes to taller/wider tires and a lift kit seldom has any idea what that will do for them or what it will cost them in performance and reliability.
The only reason one should put on a lift kit is if they need higher angles of attack and depature, and, especially more breakover angle. Most off road vehciles can get by quite well as they come from the factory.
Bigger tires are only needed by those who need more flotation over soft sand. E

Eremicus, that friend of mine who is a dirt contractor is running .285 size tires on his 1-ton Dodge and he is pulling over 14,000 pounds and says the engine does NOT know it is behind the truck!

285 is only one size larger (about 1") than the stock Dodge tires (265), not even enough to notice.

I myself have always loved that Cummins Diesel but those Dodge trucks have other things about them that cause me to shake my head and walk away. Things like brakes, rear springs etc.

i'm trying to decide between the Chevy & dodge also. I'm leaning Dodge. I have 3 of the Cheys now and have had to replace 1 Alison tranny at 125k and rebuild 1 Duramax at 140k. Not helping me decide Chevy. 163bc

Out of all my aquaintances that have had diesel trucks of all three major manufacturers. The only one that was bought back by Chrysler under a state lemon law was a Dodge Ram...he had all kinds of issues non related to the engine.

You can get a lemon regardless of what brand. My uncle had a nice new Ford F-250 that got lemon lawed for a number of things. Doesn't mean Ford's are a POS any more than your friends example of one Dodge does.

I personally know an incident where all three brands of diesel pickups were on a hunting trip traveling together, the Chevy Duramax got left at a dealership about halfway there (injectors went out), after arriving at the destination the Ford gave up the ghost (granted it was a 6.0), needless to say the Ford got towed home by the Dodge, and the Chevy was picked up on the way home. True story.

There were way more Fords and Chevies and one Dodge Ram involved in my "results"....On probably a 20-1 scale. True you can get a lemon anywhere but Dodge seems to have that process patented

Hahaha! How long was it before you could live with the Dodge guy after that trip?