Was fully prepared to plunk down the cash for a new Tundra, til I asked a few Tundra owners how they liked theirs. So now I'm leaning toward a Cummins. I hear the 94-96's had serious tranny issues, the new models are suffocated by the emissions controls, etc.

What say the CF wizards?

I have a 2000 Dodge Cummins in a 2500 Quad Cab. The truck has some weak links that I have fixed which were mainly the lift pump and the automatic transmission/converter.

I would favor the '96 thru '98 12 valve Cummins with the 5 speed. Or any of the Common Rail which would be 2003 and up with either transmission. The automatic 48re that came out mid year 2003 (I think) is quite a bit better than the 47re that gets most of the criticism.

The 6.7l Cummins is really nice and the transmissions are excellent also. I drove the 2010 Crew Cab a couple of weeks ago and I was very impressed.

Good luck finding a 96 thru 98 without a bazillion miles on it or that an owner will let you buy....just saying.

I'd just buy a new one

Hemi

I'd say if you can find a reasonably priced 03-06 with low miles that hasn't been chipped or hot rodded, go for it. I'd be more concerned with the condition of the individual vehicle than the year.

I had an 01 which the 24V motor was bullet proof on, not a single engine repair in 130,000 miles. It also had the 6spd standard NV5600 which was a bad azz tranny too. Now as for the rest of the truck.......lots of constant repairs.

Only the automatics were problematic in those years (94-96). The absolute most reliable years for the motor were the 12 valve era 89-97. They didn't have the power the newer ones do, but they were ultra reliable.

The 98-03' 24 valves weren't bad but the injection pumps left something to be desired.

In the later years I would say the 03-07 motors were most reliable, they went back to common rail injection. In 04 they started putting the 48RE tranny in them which is a pretty good transmission, far better than the older autos they put in the cummins trucks.

The newer motors have alot of emmision bullchit to contend with. I'm glad I have an 05' model, I 'm going to drive it two or three more years or till the wheels fall off, hopefully by then they will have all the dpf, emmission quirks fixed.

If I was buying right now I would look for a 06 or 07 with the 5.9 liter motor.

Bill

All great information! You could go browse Cummins Forum as well, you could learn all you ever wanted about these trucks

I think that your best bet is the one listed above, look for a 2004-2007.5 5.9 Cummins. I would avoid the 6.7

I looked for my 12 Valve for 4 years, clean ones are difficult to find as they are pretty highly sought after

Best of luck and PM me if you have any questions, I'll shoot you my number

Drummond