Duramax vs. Cummins- Need some feedback

[Mike Pearson]

I would highly recommend the Duramax. I have a 2005 Chevrolet dually with the Duramax/Allison combination. I have 125,000 miles on it. This truck has not had any mechanical problems at all. The only repair I have had to do was a wheel bearing on the front passenger side. I tow a 40 ft gooseneck trailer, loaded. About 16,000 lbs. The truck pulls very good, lots of power, great breaks, excellent ride. The overall quality of the truck is excellent. The duramax engine is also very quiet. I get about 11 mpg towing the trailer if I keep the speed around 70 mph. The truck will run much faster but the fuel mileage will drop to about 9.5 mpg. I get 17 - 18 mpg as just a pick up truck depending on my driving habits. I have a friend with a Dodge with a Cummins. He has had some problems with the trans and the electrical. The two trucks dont compare in quality.
I have not added any power adders with the exception of a KN filter. The truck really does not need anything added.
The allison trans is far superior to anything else on the market in this size truck. It shifts perfectly and in the tow haul mode it gives you an engine braking feature that works real good when towing a heavy trailer.My truck has the 5 speed version. The new trucks have a 6 speed auto trans in them. Should be even better.

[Chumly]

I have a '06 Chevy 3500 dually with the Duramax/Allison combination. I have used it for the last year and a half delivering RV's from the factory to dealers throughout the USA and Canada. I have put on 230,000+ miles and have had no problems at all. I bought an Edge controller and use the towing mode when I'm towing and the economy mode when not towing. Watching my driving habits has let me get this thing to get 14+ mpg towing a large fifth wheel camper and to get 22+ mpg running down the highway at 70 mph with no trailer. I switched the trans and differential to synthetic oil and with the braking feature of the Allison, the truck still has the original brakes on it. I looked at them when I changed from the aluminum wheels to the steel ones for the winter and the pads all look like new. The engine is quiet and starts in the cold very well.Last winter I ran to Grand Prairie, Alberta (about 250 miles northwest of Edmonton) and back on a pretty regular basis. The fuel mileage dropped off a lot but the truck never gave me a minutes trouble even at -50 degrees. A lot of the other guys I worked with had Dodges and they do a good job, the Cummins is a heck of a motor and the trucks are a lot better than they were a few years ago. I could outrun most of them and got better mileage than they did. My truck has the factory air cleaner and exhaust and all I do is boost it a little bit when I'm towing. The Duramax/Allison Chevy is my truck of choice, hands down.

[Chuck Beach]

what's a duramax or maxi or whatever

[Roger K Fain]

I have an '03 Duramax Dually w/ 73K, and it runs and pulls hard w/ the best of 'em, and gets about 12.8 mpg towing, and 20 non-tow. However, it has a feature that switches the charge from the alternator between the two batteries, that causes one battery to overcharge and "puke' acid. I have had the batteries replaced three times under the NAPA battery warranty. I have had the system checked and can find no malfunction in the switching program. Anyone out there ever had a similar problem?

[greg fulk]

I have an 03 Dodge with a Cummins & a 6-speed I drove it to work all week last week it took 19.4 gals to fill & had 399.7 miles on the odometer...The thing will/can pull my 24' box with a 3500# Cutlass in it 85Mph! The only thing I've had to fix was a U-joint...but I guess 600 foot Lbs of torque will do that!

[Rob Petrie E395]

There seems to be alot of guys on here with dodges. Have any of you guys had high gear go out of your truck (manual trans here) We saw several including one we had that would be towing down the interstate and all the sudden it was like it jumped out of gear and goto the rev limiter. When you tried to put it back in gear it was gone although if you jumped down a gear you could still get home or to shop to get fixed. Most were covered under warranty still so we never fixed one at my place but I am wondering if the later models are fixed with a update from the factory or is this still happening? Sorry to sidetrack but I thought it might be seen by more guys here rather than start a new thread. We were seeing this regularlly in the 98,99 model years maybe others cant remember back that far.
Rob

[Ron Brown]

I had a 2006 Duramax Dually and it did great, no problems. I would say that you might avoid the new body style GMs because of some of the changes made in those two years have seen alot of issues. If you go GM i would say 2006 or older. However alot of Dodges seem to have manual trans. in them. The allison trans is a awsome trans and I would suggest you go with that trans no matter what you buy.