Dodge, Chevy, or Ford??

Of all this posts so far, I predict this will be the most controversial.  I have taken off handed shots at Socialism, Federal Spending, and Financial Advisors.   But a choice of vehicle brand can be fighting words.   

To set the stage, lets narrow the evaluation to a specific vehicle with a specific purpose, and give a bit of context.  What we are discussing is a 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickup with a diesel motor, and nothing outside of that.  This pickup is the most popular vehicle for towing 5th wheel trailers.  Its also very popular among the people towing larger bumper pull trailers, and larger snowmobile and ATV trailers.   There are a few reasons for this.   First, your towing capacity can be over 22000 lbs.  Thats eleven tons!   Second, for the fifth wheel crowd, you can put large amounts of weight over the rear axle, over 4000 lbs.   Third, the diesel motor delivers massive torque which is required for these loads. The current monsters on the market all deliver over 900 ft/lbs of torque.   And fourth, this type of vehicle can look really cool!  You can buy today a fifth wheel that uses all of this capability and some, with full size home appliances, massive slide outs, tile floors, etc!   These ultra heavy RVs have mimic’d the increasing load capacity of the vehicles.   If you put one of these new RV’s on my 1993 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup, you would crush the rear axle and the 180hp/210torque motor would struggle to get it out of the parking lot.

This type of truck can cost from $45K all the way up to $90K, so its no small choice.  Lets look at the important factors which I deem to be comfort, drivetrain reliability and drivetrain effectivity.

Comfort can be subjective.   You are buying a consumer vehicle that has the equivalent drive train and capacity of a medium duty semi.  Yes, you are looking at a delivery truck with a nice radio!  People rarely use this capacity the majority of the time; I tow a lot, enough to wear out a set of 10 ply tires on a yearly basis, and that still only amounts to about 1/3 of the miles being with a load.   So for 2/3 of the time, I am dealing with a large vehicle that has a wide turning radius, a rough ride, and an interior that struggles to get beyond its drag racing and farm truck heritage.   Yes, you guessed it, I drive a Dodge.!!

None of these vehicles ride like a car, nor even a half ton truck.  If you have no weight on the back axle, you are bouncing off the stops.  That means a speed bump can bounce a rear seat passenger to the roof.  Oh well, I don’t ride in the back seat.  The interior of the Ford is very plush and purported to have best soundproofing.   I can tell you from experience Chevy delivery a nicer interior than Dodge.    At some point, however, you are going to have to park these in a tight lot.  In this case, you will cuss a little less with a Dodge, which has the best turning radius, and most with a Ford, which is the worst.

On to the heart of the issue, and this is where my decision always went, which is the drive train.  All three companies realized at some point they needed to partner with a motor company that had diesel DNA.   Dodge chose first, in 1989 picking Cummins as their choice and that remains in place today.  Ford created a partnership with International, called Navistar.  Chevy jumped in with Detroit Diesel, which thankfully was replaced by Isuzu in 2001 to form Duramax. Two of three partnerships are still in place, with Ford making the choice to go it alone in 2011, after years of struggling with reliability on the Navistar platform.

Cummins was founded in 1919 and has been a major player in the diesel market since WWII.  Their motors in this truck have not been without fault, with the ‘exploding dowel pin’  and ‘53 block cracking”,  along the way.   It is not unreasonable for you to believe  that you can by a new Dodge pickup with a motor that will last 500K miles.  You can find examples of this all over the internet.   Where you are at risk here is the transmission.  The 68RFE auto trans has history of sketchy reliability and just does not match up to the capability of the motor.  I always went with manuals to avoid those problems.  Manual transmission is not the future in over the road semis, nor is it in this segment.   The latest trans, now available on consumer grade pickups, is the Aisen.   Thats a purpose built unit from a Japanese specialist who is 30% owned by Toyota and been around since 1949.   Reviews on reliability and capability under load have been good, but driving it unloaded gives you a bit of the farm truck feel. 

Isuzu also has a vast history of diesel, being founded in 1926.   Duramax motors have a solid history of reliability, similar to Dodge, and I see no edge to either.   The Allison transmission is the gold standard in this segment. Allison was founded in 1909 and is the most sought after name in the transmission market. Note however in the latest 2020 offering, the transmission is no longer Allison built, but Chevy built and Allison branded.  Woops.

Ford dumped Navistar in 2011, and has had some early reliability struggles on their own, but as always are working to improve.  One thing you don’t see on the the internet are the red flag issues, with motors grenading, so that is a good sign.   The transmission is also in the same boat, built in house, appearing to have solid reliability.  I really don’t have any notes, nor do I see a lot of info on the Ford trans either way.   I think what this comes down to is that if you like Ford, you are going to buy it no matter what.   And really, there is no evidence out there to say you will regret the decision!

Before final conclusions, let me state this.   In all three brands, you are going to get a torque monster that will likely go 400K miles.   Most people are not going to tow to the capacity of the vehicle, and few are going to put more than 1/3 the miles on while towing.   I embrace this, try to keep my mileage low and focusing on towing, so I also have a small car to drive that allows me in and out of the grocery store without being angry. In addition, if you want to hit 400K, maintain the the vehicle very well.  One more thing that is now in the manuals: always let your vehicle idle for a few minutes before you shut off when you have ran it hard.  Bringing all those temps down slowly does your entire engine bay a big favor. Exhaust manifolds are seeing 1300 degrees, cylinders are water jacketed at 200 degrees, and incoming fuel is ambient temp; let it even out.

In conclusion there is a ‘fuzzy’ winner and in 2020 its a Dodge.   Given all motors and towing capabilities are very close, you have to look at comfort and reliability.   I would put the Dodge last in comfort, but first in reliability. Note if Chevy had not in-sourced their transmission, I would put it solidly in first place. Ford just cannot compete with years of learning of Cummins, Isuzu, Allison, and Aisen. This takes into account a lot of internet content and some personal experience; I have owned 5 pickups in this segment.  The depth of the overall drivetrain partnerships with Dodge is far and away the clear winner.  In this particular vehicle, that is what I am buying.