W3500

Yeah... don't

you should buy the D3500

the Tilt masters are twice the truck the dodge ever thought of being. Bigger brakes, heftier axles, beefier frame, and a near bullet proof tranny, engine brake is standard equipment on diesels, adding one to the Cummins voids the warranty. The engine is very reliable. And the W3500 is a medium duty truck by classification, as opposed to the Dodge D3500 still being classified a light duty truck. What sucks is its a jap truck, even if GM does own a huge share in Isuzu. Why the hell cant we build a medium duty cab over.

Whitelightning

Quote from a Dodge guy:

"In the truck world all pickups are light duty, IIRC 3500's are class three, sometimes pushing class four a bit. Chevy's 3500HD might get to four, not sure. Now that it's on my mind was it 14,000 lbs that pushed them into class four? Mebbe they're all there now?

Adding an exhaust brake to the Cummins has never voided the warranty. Chrysler has something to say about the automatic transmission (lock up torque converter concerns) but not the engine. I believe the newer autos are approved for exhaust brake use.

Who in the world still wants a cab over? IIRC only Freightliner still builds one, the Argosy class and they don't sell well. Even J.B. Hunt gave up on cab overs. Excepting for some specific medium duty trade uses like garbage trucks and such I can't imagine why that's a big deal. It's a very small market.

Now that I'm looking at the start of the post I'm replying to, who in the world would be making a direct comparision of a tilt master to a pick up truck? I've seen 4L80E trannys in tilt masters trashed too. Even behind a

The tranny isn't the issue with an exhaust brake, its valves and cylinder heads becuase exhaust temps go up upstream of the brake. And the ONLY exhaust brake that wont void the Cummins warranty is a Jacobs installed by a Cummins dealer, or an approved Mopar dealer. Any thing else installed by any one else will void the engine warranty.

Well lets see, the cab over design allows a longer bed or box on the same over all length So where a standard cab tops out at 10 bed, the cab over the same over all length can run a 14 foot bed. In city enviroments the cab over will out turn and out manuver the dodge, ford or GM standard cab trucks. The cab over design in Class 8 fell by the way side because the LOA (Length Over All) laws were changed and a convential cab could legally pull a 58' trailer, where as before there were many places where a 48 foot trailer put a convential cab with a sleeper over length. Take a cab over, ether GM/Isuzu, Iveco, or a Fuso(there's a real peice of junk) and put it againt an D3500, with Flat bed wrecker bodies, and the cab over will turn circles inside the D3500's turning radias. The W3500 will also get better fuel mileage. Iin fact the 176 inch wheel base Tilt Master will turn in the same space a 163 inch wheel base D3500 needs.

The 4L80E only comes behind the gas engine, the diesel gets the 450-43 LE.

The only thing I will agree with you on is if some one is looking for a pick up, then the tilt master is over kill. But a contractor needing to handle 12 foot sheet rock, or lumber, or a lawn service company, or a moving out fit or host of other uses, the cab over is the heads up winner. And the W3500 does not require the driver to have a Class B CDL in most instances.

Whitelightning

The short wheelbase W3500 appears to be shorter than my pickup and may be several thousand dollars less.