We have several Fords which seem to always be in the shop for one thing or another. Looking for input from people who have switched from Ford to the Chevrolet and hear thier comparisions on the two trucks. Ford is having alot of "fuel " related problems in the 7.3 and 6.0 trucks . Does GM have any of these ULSD fuel problems? New truck would be a 3500 hd crewcab either shortbed or chassis with aluminum flatbed. Truck will tow 7k trailer daily ,all stop and go driving. Not sure of why but trying to justify the switch.

3500 is vast overkill for a 7K load...

I did two years ago, best choice I ever made so far. 85000 miles and has never left me on the side of the road. The sickos were complete junk in my case and couldnt trust them 20 miles from home. I suspose I just jinxed myself now.

I have had 3 powerstrok company trucks there always in the shop. I own 2 duramaxes there is no comparison duramax all the way

I can only talk of the 7.3 in comparison to my lb7, and in that case both engines have been great--no issues at all in over 190k on the lb7, the 7.3 had to have a new injector harness and turbo oil seal, but other than that it was also flawless in over 200k.

From my research and the experience of friends, the duramax trucks have been more reliable than the 6.0 and 6.4.

Went from an LB7 to an '05 6.0 WORST mistake I have made. The 6.0 was always in the shop for something. Then from the 6.0 to an LMM so far I couldn't be happier.

3500 is vast overkill for a 7K load...

No such thing as overkill...I bought my F450 when I knew I'd be towing 15k most days, low and behold 6 months later our backhoe had to be replaced and the new towing weight became 21k.

The 11,500 GVWR of the 2011 3500 SRW helps future proof the truck and now it can be had with a short best it's makes a great DD too. I'll be making the move to a SRW 1 ton sometime next year (Model year 2012), just got to decide which on of the big three gets my money.

You can have too little truck, but never too much truck.

OP....No problems with ULSD on the chevy's, and they've coped great with the EPA equipment (dpf's etc)

If you buy an early Duramax (LB7) you will eventually run into injector problems at some point.

If you buy the LLY model (2004-2005) you have the possability of overheating while towing. (Sitting on the side of the road and cooling off usually works)

I've helped replace more transfer cases than you would believe on both models.

Don't run big tires or you'll rub with the GM (suspension lifts usually work)

The newer Duramaxes are fine, and are extremely attractive to people who prefer driving cars more than a truck. Fuel mileage is pretty good too.


Running a tuner can leave you doing alot of key cycling on any of these, but that's cool if your into pulling over alot. (Transmission build is a good remedy)

If you buy an early Duramax (LB7) you will eventually run into injector problems at some point.

If you buy the LLY model (2004-2005) you have the possability of overheating while towing. (Sitting on the side of the road and cooling off usually works)

I've helped replace more transfer cases than you would believe on both models.

Don't run big tires or you'll rub with the GM (suspension lifts usually work)

The newer Duramaxes are fine, and are extremely attractive to people who prefer driving cars more than a truck. Fuel mileage is pretty good too.


Running a tuner can leave you doing alot of key cycling on any of these, but that's cool if your into pulling over alot. (Transmission build is a good remedy)
:rolleyes:

I always ran fords before going Duramax this round... last Ford worth mentioning was the 03' 7.3 international, ford failed completely when they ordered a new motor...

If you buy an early Duramax (LB7) you will eventually run into injector problems at some point.

If you buy the LLY model (2004-2005) you have the possability of overheating while towing. (Sitting on the side of the road and cooling off usually works)

I've helped replace more transfer cases than you would believe on both models.

Don't run big tires or you'll rub with the GM (suspension lifts usually work)

The newer Duramaxes are fine, and are extremely attractive to people who prefer driving cars more than a truck. Fuel mileage is pretty good too.


Running a tuner can leave you doing alot of key cycling on any of these, but that's cool if your into pulling over alot. (Transmission build is a good remedy)

OK, I'll play along......

Buy a 7.3 and have a shitty driving/handling/riding truck, and have less power than a tricycle.

Buy a 6.0 and have the least reliable diesel ever made, great if your into sitting on the side of the highway watching cars drive by.

Buy a...................

On a serious note,

Buy an LBZ, LMM, LML, and have a great engine/trans combo, great truck that rides nice(ie. no more headaches), and the odds are you won't have any problems, and you'll be very happy with the purchase. I'm thrilled with mine.:)

I have never had a tuning issue and have maybe heard or it once in the 4 years that Ive owned a DMax....

LLY is known to have overheating issues but it becomes a very "heated" discussion in short time. I myself have never had an issue with heat and many others havnt.

Well the new truck would be an 2011. It will be given to a crew. What we are looking for is a Heavy duty reliable truck, Fords lost there reliability during the 6.0 - 6.4 years. I do believe that the ford is a heavier built truck but that doesnt do you any good when they are in the shop all the time. Not so sure I want to put faith in there new motor, I have heard all the testing BS before and only real world use is proof of a good or bad design.

Well the new truck would be an 2011. It will be given to a crew. What we are looking for is a Heavy duty reliable truck, Fords lost there reliability during the 6.0 - 6.4 years. I do believe that the ford is a heavier built truck but that doesnt do you any good when they are in the shop all the time. Not so sure I want to put faith in there new motor, I have heard all the testing BS before and only real world use is proof of a good or bad design.


I think you will find the 2011 is just as heavy a built truck as a Ford.

Greg

I don't know what the statistics are but it seems to me I'm seeing allot more service,fleet type trucks that are either Chevy's or Dodges now. Before they were almost always Ford's before. I guess it does not take too many times that your ambulance is in the shop before you start looking for something else.

I haven't switched from Ford to Chevy, but I am interested in seeing how the 6.7 Ford will do. If Ford gets it right, there will be more Ford owners in the future. IMO Ford builds a more solid truck... they just need to pick a motor and work all the bugs out of it.

I think you will find the 2011 is just as heavy a built truck as a Ford.

Greg

Plus, the GM's payload and towing numbers are all higher than comparable model Fords.

If you like Ford, personally, I wouldn't hesitate to give the new 6.7 a try. Seems to have been a good motor so far. But you certainly cant go wrong with a new Duramax, either. Honestly, I'd drive all three before making a decision.

I don't know what the statistics are but it seems to me I'm seeing allot more service,fleet type trucks that are either Chevy's or Dodges now. Before they were almost always Ford's before. I guess it does not take too many times that your ambulance is in the shop before you start looking for something else.

All of the new ambulances here are now chevy Dmax.
Most of the ford stuff still on the road in the service industry is the old 7.3.

All of the new ambulances here are now chevy Dmax.
Most of the ford stuff still on the road in the service industry is the old 7.3.

yip… We service the ambulances in our area and we have been doin the high pressure oil pumps left right and centre on the 7.3s on them at the dealer( gm dealer)….the only thing so far with the chevy ambs is front brake rotors ..

Just buy a Peterbuilt 379 and be done with it

As a testament to the 7.3's...our 7.3L ambulances at the end of their life have around 500K (with idle time factored in) at the end of their life. That's 500k miles of to the floor, braking hard, to floor, braking hard on rough city streets in a high call volume city. My ambulance alone does 6000 calls a year and the 7.3's hold up extremely well. I used to work part time in the shops for a change of pace from the streets. I just think its amazing the amount of abuse they stand up to. In the winter we literally idle for a month straight, or more, without shutting the truck off. We traded out all of the 6.0's for an older 7.3 because the ambulances with 6 litres would be off the street more than it was on. (they ran like raped apes when they ran though)

That said, I owned an 01 powerstroke and made the switch to an 02 duramax as my DD and I'll tell ya I will never go back to Ford. They can never produce an engine like the 7.3 again, the EPA will garuntee that. Chevy (Izuzu) had a winning engine design from the start and they recognize it thats why 11 years later we still have the formidable 6.6 that still rides better than almost any car Ive rode in and is faster, more powerful (with relatively few mods), better mpg, and more reliable (as a whole, even with the injector issue) than any other truck on the road.

Ford had their day and it was a great commercial duty truck but GM won the endurance race. Dodge..well we all know the only thing good about a dodge is the cummins inside it and cummins is even altering their winning design so...

as for me and my house, we'll buy GMC :).

I moved over from a 07 F350 with the 6.0 PSD to the new LML. I never had any problems with the 6.0 over the 30000 miles or so that I owned it, but I've seen too many blown head gaskets, bad injectors, bad turbos and stretched head bolts on the 6.0's to ever own another one (the fire/ems service is rough on these trucks). I will say that the 7.3 was a solid platform, and a buddy of mine still drives his 7.3 with 450k as a work truck, all stock.

As for the comparison of the two, there is none. In my humble opinion the new LML is much more a pleasure to drive than my 6.0 ever was. After reading that the new LML was going to use the Bosch piezoelectric injectors, which are also in my 09 VW Jetta TDI, I knew this thing would make some outstanding torque...so I made the switch and am much happier for it....almost no turbo lag btw...I'll be sticking with GM from here on out.

Picking up a new 3500 crewcab short box . Was really
impressed after driving one.

If you buy an early Duramax (LB7) you will eventually run into injector problems at some point.

If you buy the LLY model (2004-2005) you have the possability of overheating while towing. (Sitting on the side of the road and cooling off usually works)

I've helped replace more transfer cases than you would believe on both models.

Don't run big tires or you'll rub with the GM (suspension lifts usually work)

The newer Duramaxes are fine, and are extremely attractive to people who prefer driving cars more than a truck. Fuel mileage is pretty good too.


Running a tuner can leave you doing alot of key cycling on any of these, but that's cool if your into pulling over alot. (Transmission build is a good remedy)


This guy's a riot. You're going to have these issues with a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge.

Tough Question for me!! I have ALWAYS been a GM person. Now with that said, I did want to try a Powerstroke. I bought a (NEW) 1999 F-250 Super Duty 4x4, with the 6-speed manual tranny. It was only back at the dealership once soon after I bought it for a "recall" because the bed might come off during a side impact and cause the fuel tank to become ruptured. They strapped down the bed and moved the fuel tank towards the rear, one inch!! For the next ten years this truck performed flawlessly. I didn't know how much I really liked it until I traded it off. I now have the same equivalent in the Silverado. An '06 truck I bought 2 years ago with 40,000 miles on it. The engines in both are great. Fuel mileage was 14 city and 22 to 26 highway for the F -250. The Silverado is 11 city and 15.5 to 18 highway. I thought a newer truck would have had advances in fuel mileage department. Wrong. My LBZ engine is powerful but the mileage sucks-out-loud. I guess I would be happier with the Chevy if it got better mileage (unloaded) because it rides smoother and is considerably more quiet. The Ford was a great truck and it seemed to me to be more of a TRUCK probably because of the ride. I like them both!!!! The 6.0's and the 6.4's (from Ford) are a different story and I can't talk about those as I haven't had one.

I know this is old and I am new, but I have owned multiple Fords of the 7.3, 6.0, and 6.4. The 7.3 was flawless, the first 6.0 had program issues( not a big deal for new technology), second 6.0 had EGR, Turbo, and head gaskets by 33000 miles all on a stock engine. The 6.4 started giving problems by 21000, High pressure fuel pump, rear cover leak, front cover leak, bed plate leak, engine harness, body control harness and way too many days in the shop. I have since opted to go old school and purchased a 8.1 gas truck. I figure with all the emissions changes I need to sit back and find where all the pieces fall, before I look at another diesel. I also have to agree that the Ford is a heavier duty piece of machinery, but does no good sitting there because it won't run.

Well, since this thread is back I guess I'll put in my $0.02.

First, why does everybody say the Ford is the more solidly built/heavier duty truck? Is it just because it doesn't look like their 1/2 trucks so it's assumed to be better? I think if you look at the '11 HD GM chassis you'll see it's actually stronger than Ford's currently. Or is it just the IFS (which was also beefed up on the '11) that makes everybody say the GM HDs are weaker?

Anyway, I have never owned a Ford PSD, but I have driven tons. When I was younger I worked for my buddy's concrete pumping business. They are a Ford family, so I always had a Super Duty to tow with. The pumps are pretty light (~8k lbs) but I towed them non-stop, in all sorts of traffic conditions, hills, heat etc.

The first truck I was using was a '99 SD with the 7.3 PSD. It was a tank in every way. It rode like hell, was pretty slow (even w/ the stupid Hypertech programmer they had in it), but it never gave them any issues and did its job well. In fact, that '99 is still in service in their business and has only needed things repaired that they broke (one of their employees crashed it and broke the steering box output, things like that). My buddy had a '01 7.3 PSD that was also his daily driver/personal vehicle. The '99 is an extended cab, but the '01 is a crew cab. I'm not sure if there were improvements from '99 to '01 (both are still the leaf spring front susp IIRC) or if the extra length helped, but the '01 rode and drove a lot nicer. My buddy modded the '01 so he had it running pretty strong (different compressor wheel in the stock turbo, tuning, full exhaust w/ down-pipe, intake, and I think injectors at one point). However, that truck has been through 3 or 4 transmissions. The combination of my buddy's driving style (heavy right foot) and the extra power was clearly too much for that trans design. That truck is still in service (not his DD anymore though) but has been returned to 100% stock. Next my buddy had a 6.0L to replace the '01 7.3 as DD and also to use for towing the concrete pumps if/when the two 7.3s were out of service. I never used for work (I had moved on by that time) but I did drive a few times going to Pismo and stuff like that. The 6.0L was much better with my buddy's 5'er toy hauler (~14klbs loaded) when it could keep the Charge Air Cooler tube on... which it pretty much never could do. In fact, he started making/selling these brackets: http://turbohosefix.com/ because it was so much of an issue. I think he had turbo trouble with the 6.0L too, and it ended up getting Lemon Lawed. He replaced that w/ a 6.4L King Ranch that has been trouble free thus far. It does well with the 5'er and is pretty nice inside. It does regen a LOT and gets pretty horrible mileage though.

-TJ

had a 2000 7.3 with small problems. a new harness and the cam sensor are the only problems with it.i have close to 180000 miles on it.the new lml is by far a superior engine (performance wise anyway) lets see how long it can last. the check engine liht is on and it needs urea already with less than 2000 miles on it guess it has good and atributes . like anything else:)

had a 2000 7.3 with small problems. a new harness and the cam sensor are the only problems with it.i have close to 180000 miles on it.the new lml is by far a superior engine (performance wise anyway) lets see how long it can last. the check engine liht is on and it needs urea already with less than 2000 miles on it guess it has good and atributes . like anything else:)

Your dealer probably didn't fill your DEF tank, seems really common. I got the ~700 miles until urea empty warning and I'm only at ~900 miles.

-TJ

We have had some Ford Ranch trucks that were not holding up very well, so we moved to Chevy and havent turned back, I like the 7.3 hands down it was a great motor but does not compare to the power of todays motor so if your happy with an older truck then stick with it, I love my Duramax! My lly would get hot but I would just let off the throttle and not force the truck so much it would cool down while driving never once had to stop. I do haul heavy and live in 105+ degree summer days. Now my new LML is a beast very happy with over all performance. I have always felt when you load down a Ford you have to drive it a bit more vs chevy just hugs the road. I have four 6.7 fords in laredo down and out my buddy in the shop for two months before he got back electrical issue, two with main seal and turbo leaks, and one that Ford bought back after two visits to the shop the third time out the truck ran away from the guy, full throttle not wanting to stop. Needless to say Lemon law and ford bought it back, he drove my lml and is a chevy man now!