Dodge CTD vs Dodge 360 gas

I have a 92 W250, 360, 5 speed, 4X4 w/4.10 gears and a 04, 2500, CTD, 6 speed, 4X4 w/3.73 gears. The Diesel will out pull the gas truck with out trying. And it gets better mileage pulling a 6,000 pound trailer than the gas truck gets empty. GM has a 650 ft. pound Diesel now. Can't wait to see Dodge's response to it:)

Snowman needs to drive a new Diesel and then tell us about it.

Al

So when running your gas engine at 4,000rpm loaded your longevity is what about? My Cummins is somewhere in the area of 250-300,000. So, what are the advantages to the gasser? Let me help ya, there are none. Well, personal preference is one.

Roy

Got a 95 Dakota 4X4 club cab with a 3.9 auto and 3:55 gears and a

The thing SnoMan is forgetting is that his gear ratios ain't worth diddly when pulling a loaded trailer up a mountain. No way in hell the gears are going to compensate as the air gets thinner.

My wish list has DaimlerChryCo offering a 4 cylinder turbo diesel in the Dakota. Hell, a NA diesel would get my interest!

Not long since experience tells me that at that RPM, the water pump is cavitating.

Testify!

me too and i dont see why they wouldnt. they have the liberty crd.... unless that would make way too much sense.

My main experience with TD's in pickups is from RV trips with friends... Lots of comparison over the CB's about speed/rpm/etc and IMO, TD is the way to go if you tow a lot...

Last trip that I remember was about 400 mile round trip, our 360 1/2 ton gasser pulling 6,000 pound travel trailer and our friends in a ferd 3/4 with TD pulling an 11,000 5th wheel... We were cruising at a little over 60 and or rpm was about 2,700.. his was about

He averaged 13 mpg on the trip, we averaged a little over 8 mpg.. Not enough for us to justify a new truck because we're weekend warriors, but the difference when you do a lot of towing can be dramatic...

Our "test" was on flat freeway, I won't talk about the difference in speed and rpm on grades :(

that is pretty accurate. my 360 averaged about 14 around town, and about 7 towing (heavy load). on a highway trip i got about 15, maybe

my ctd gets 15 around town, 21 or 22 on a highway trip and anywhere from 10 (uphill pull) to 13 (flat pull) towing, but my trailer is heavier now.....probably around 11k.

my ctd is a 3500 and i really like the feel of that, the way it drives, a lot better than the 1500 gasser. it is an '03 so it isn't too noisy. i just like the way the ctd drives a whole lot better than the gasser.

Dennis,

You should love your Fox, very well built and handles well. I have an '04 24-5N and have almost 25,000 miles on it, coast to coast and up to Coldfoot, AK and back.

We chose the 24-5N to ride behind our '03 2500 CTD, 4WD, LB, to stay within the weight limits of the truck. With a 1200# pin weight (dry), the fresh and black water tanks forward of the Fox's axles, the way my wife packs (I didn't say packrat, did I?) and the weight of her, me and the stuff in the cab, weight was a concern.

Will your CTD pull it? Oh, yeah....... it will pull it just fine. Is it within the weight limits of your truck, brakes, suspension, etc??? I dunno, you may want to look into that if you haven't already.

The Fox you picked looks real nice. A suggestion though, don't take it to Coldfoot.

FMB

not worried, but a little concerned. i pulled about that same weight with a 360 gasser and was just not happy. at least you have a 2500, mine was a 1500 and the weight was just too much for the rear end. it swayed all over. the problem with the weight and a 2500 is discussed all the time over at tdr, everyone has their own opinion. i think you will be ok, but you will probably be over the rating of the truck. if i remember right, the 2500 is 8800 lb, maybe 9000. your truck is probably around 7200 to 7400, so you have about 1500 to 1800 pounds to stay within the rating dodge gives you. you addd what you put in the trailer, propane, water, the pin weight of the truck, you and your passengers, etc., and you are probably over. i don't think that is a big deal and the truck will be fine, but for peace of mind you may want to look at a 3500 srw, which gives you another 9900 pounds rating.

now on the tranny. my first ctd had the 47re, which may be what you have. i think you are over the ability of that tranny to tow for any period of time. that tranny was the weak spot in my '01 ctd. can't tell you haw many people i meet that have the 47re that have had to rebuild the tranny several times. in late '03, dodge went to the 48re and that is what i have now. it is a huge improvement and i havve had no trouble towing 11k with it.

the 12 valve does pull good though, especially at lower rpms. i talk to some people that like it better than the 24 valve. you could upgrade the tranny to ats or dtt and then spice up the engince with some mods.

btw, the fox is a great fifth wheel. i didn't get one but as i looked around i found no one that didn't love theirs. they are made in oregon.

A nice compromise is to get the 2500 and put a good set of air bags in... They boast the load rating (but not the max tow rating) and help you keep the truck/trailer level...

A big plus is that you can take the bags down to 4 or 5 psi when you run empty and you get a nice smooth ride..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

interesting. alot of discussion around here on the air bags. i don't have them but i have friends that do. they all love them. the techs (the guys that install them and a friend that builds custom trucks for towing rv's) say they are cosmetic. they make you feel better but do not increase the payload rating. they caution not to exceed the payload rating of the truck just due to air bags.

looking at the '06, a 2500 diesel auto has a payload rating of 1670 pounds. a 3500 srw diesel auto has a payload rating of 2500 pounds. I can't remember what the '03 ratings were but they were very similar. my brother had a '03 2500 ctd auto. we test drove the 3500 srw ctd auto and we agreed it actually had a better ride. i have had several comments from people that have ridden with me since then that my 3500 rides better than their 2500. this has been discussed over at tdr too, with opinions more varied but all in all the 3500 seems to have the most "best ride" comments. based on that, i paid a couple hundred extra to get the 3500. my new fifth wheel has a pin weight of about

mac davis wrote: >

You sure? They may increase the load you can safely carry but I don't believe they change the legal load rating at all.

From what I understand (mostly from this group), the main difference between the

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

dunno, Jerry... but if I'm towing non-commercial, all I'm concerned with is safety...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

What the heck??? Do you drive in reverse all the time? How is it you're smelling the exhaust so much?

How about sitting in traffic or even parking it and god forbid you think about others on the road.

Is he considering "others" when he's doing the job with a vehicle that uses twice as much fossil fuel, at a higher level of refining to boot? I, personally, am proud of my contributions to the environment by using a vehicle that makes far more efficient use of our precious, dwindling, holy-crap-we're-gonna-run-out-tomorrow limited supply of long-chained hydrocarbons. And, given that carbon is the building block of life, I figure contributing a little here and there into the lower atmosphere is only promoting that life.

lol. good answer.

If you really believed that, then what are you doing with that V10 and does you job require the use of those trucks?