The only additional maintenance is the fuel filter, mine takes 5 minutes to change and costs $14 every 15K miles. Other than that there's no additional maintenance, I don't know where some of these guys come up with that BS.
Dodge builds a great truck. The truck itself is as least as good as any Ford and better than GM/Chevy. The cummins motor is superior to all others. My dodge is a 1999 2500 regular cab, it has 375K miles on it now and while it's a little beat up from all the abuse over the years, everything still works and I wouldn't hesitate to jump in it tomorrow and pull the gooseneck across the country with it.
So your telling us that there is no more regular maintenance that needs to be done on a diesel truck compared to a gas truck? That's not what my best friend tells me about his 97 F350 PS.
I am also in the camp that doesn't think there is significantly any more maintenance on a diesel as compared to a gas truck. The fuel filters are the only thing that I can think of that are more critical in a diesel than a gas (you just change them more often).
Diesels generally do have more engine oil, but that isn't significant to me. Gas engines have spark plugs and coils (that can go bad). Fairly even, IMHO.
Now a diesel truck may be used harder than a comparable gas truck. If you use a gas truck as hard as you use a diesel then the rest of the maintenance on the truck should still be equal.
A 1997 F350 may be getting long in the tooth, but I bet the same truck in a gas would take equal maintenance by now.
