[ParkerRS]

I've owned three of the 5.9 cummins powered dodge trucks. Both one ton and 3/4. I own a Ford with the 7.3 which was the last dependable powerstroke engine, and one duramax for a short time.

The Chevy had the smallest interior room for a long trip in my opinion. The ford is the better handling truck when towing of the three. I could never beat the Dodge at all for longevity, also as long as they were serviced properly they were all three trouble free for over 200,000 miles in heavy towing use. No dodge I ever owned had to go back to the dealer for anything after purchase. I simply did oil and filter along with fuel filter evry 5K and an air filter every 15K.

This is all my personal experience and opinion so take it for what it's worth. A lot of people talk the dodges down on qaulity, but I've owned 8 dodge vehicles with zero problems from any.

The chevy's look nice and run well, but the cabs are just uncomfortable to me compared with the other two. The materials inside also seem a notch down compared with the other two. As i said this is all opinion but look at all of them. Your opinion may prefer something different.

The 6.0 and 6.4 Ford are notorious for problems. The new ford engine hasn't been out long enough for any useable feedback yet. The Duramax had teething problems in the first 2 years but seems to be a very solid unit now. The cummins has been around forever and is by far the heaviest and best built engine. The other two are faster off the line but with 10K in tow when you hit a long hill the Cummins will easily hold speed and pull on up while the others will need more pedal or lose speed.

All of the new diesels are quiet, compared with just 4-5 years ago they are almost as quiet as a gasoline engine. The pre 2007 emmisions engines will give much better mileage though due to not being strangled or using fuel for regen cycles on the DPF. The Cummins is the "ONLY" new p/u diesel which does not require "DEF" (diesel exhaust fluid) to meet the 2010 emmisions requirments. This is another fluid you must buy and replenish and the other two will not run without it. Some of the new chevy's have been having troubles with this locally. Also don't believe the salesman when he tells you DEF is the same price as fuel per gallon. It's not, it's higher depending on where you buy it is between 5-7 dollars a gallon.