I found a dealership selling a 04 dodge cummins with 155,000 miles and 02 a chevy duramax with 170,000 miles the chevy is just a $1000 cheaper. There both four doors and automatics. My question is which do you guys think is the better deal in the long run? I own a 98 cummins now and its alright, but i want a four door. The crew cab chevy has a lot more back seat room than the 04 four door dodge. But like i said i own a cummins now and i really like the motor. Which one will pry be less costly? I would pry beef up the motor in which ever one i would get.

 

LB7 Duramax is a good motor but they have had there share of injector issues.

 

go with the cummins just if your gonna build it up do the tranny first if you go with the d max you will have injector problems but everything has its problems!

 

Pick one it really doesn't matter there both good.

 

Looks to me like the mileage is a toss up. I would ask which is the better value for your money and what do you want in your next truck? Both from this perspective look like something you are interested in. Which truck would you be the most comfortable driving and living with for a few years. Not that we all don't want to help but the choice is yours. You are asking for psychic advice on those trucks. I own a Dmax and wouldn't have anything else, there are PSD and Cummins guys that will say the same thing. Get the truck that you like the best. They make performance mods for all of them. get what you can afford and what you need.
Stay safe out there.
Ken

 

I've heard of soooo many motor issues, a several handfulls of suspension issues, and a handful of tran issues with the dmax. The cummins? Well.. they dont really have any major issues. Those Common Rails are beasts. I'd take cummins resale, quality, and performance/mileage over a chevy with an isuzu motor

 

The cummins engine will hold a higher resale value and will probably last longer.

The Chevy is a great truck and will last a long time, but yes, injector issues with the duramax engine are inevitable. It's $4000-$5000 to replace all 8, and in my experience they will last ~130,000 miles/set.

Straight shooter, your call man.

 

My 1997 12v had stock injectors at 256k miles. I've heard of stick in dmax being replaced 3 and 4 times before 200k miles.

 

As long as I'm in the neighborhood, I'll give you more of my opinion. I would take exception to all of the above comments. The first comment isn't always true. It isn't even usually true. Equally specced GM and Dodge trucks will usually favor the GM product over the Dodge. Check the prices in some truck shoppers. Unless the guys are truly pyschic they can't predict replacing injectors. I'm not thinking they are psyschics here. I also take exception to the "I've heard of stories". I have heard that comment many times and when you try to pin someone down on specifics, it gets s little fuzzy. They've all heard of them but ask for names, places and facts and the stories usually fall apart. Even if some parts of it are true, you never hear about the abuse or lack of maintenance that went along with the parts failure. Sometimes parts do break. It happens in EVERY make of truck. You can't predict it from a few lines in a post on a forum.
Get the truck you like the best and can afford. You have to live with it and you might as well like the truck. Don't buy or not buy something because of a story that begins with "I've heard of". Deal in facts and use your best judgement. It's a gamble to buy a used truck. Buy it based on knowledge and an honest assessment.
My opinion.
Stay safe out there.
Ken

 

well ima die hard cummins guy and i will admit that the dmax is one hell of a motor. and the injector issue is the same with both trucks. the 04 cummins engines had there fair share of injector problems as well. ive replaced 2 sets on my friends 04 cummins and my boss has done at least 20 of them. either truck would be sweet built up and like blacktruck said get what you want and can afford. in my perfect world everyone would have a cummins but if everyone did then i couldn get a good deal on one so theres my 2 cents