yah my fire dept had a duramax and it did well but we also had a cummins and we had alot more problems out of the duramax and the cummins pulled better but had a couple of riends who had a dmax and liked them but switched to cummins after takeing them to get repaired every fiew months and don't get me started on powerstrokes i was raised on them and personally i wouldn't have one if you gave it to me my cummins smokes my dads and grandfathers powerstrokes

 

my work truck is a powerstroke, it does 0-60 in 36 seconds! granted it weights 19k but its way slower than the duramax and cummins trucks we have that weigh the same! and i have to fix it about once a month. a duramax is a fineky engine but as long as you take care of it its fine! my cummins never did break on me though.
but back to your original question my cummins had 200hp injectors, quadzilla adrenaline, he351ve turbo, 4 inch to 5 inch stack, built auto, airdog lift pump, etc and i think all said and done i paid $1600 in upgrades. if you look around you can find things cheap or trade for things you already have thats what i did mostly! it was ok to drive but still kinda slow for me haha
if i were you i would just start checking local classifieds, here and other online forums, there is always used stuff for sale for great prices! they aren't bad if they are used as long as you can trust who it is coming from

 

i'll agree to that and thanks ( sorry but a cummins can absolutely smoke a dmax seen it done many a time dmax turns many rpm cummins makes power) oh and a friend of mine has the strongest dmax in the country running a stock turbo i forget what it dynod but he is in dieselpower magizene

 

haha with enough money anything can be fast i was just saying with simple bolt ons, tuners ie intake exhaust tune, not injectors or turbo swapping the duramax will win. with similar mods the duramax will still win. if you swap the turbo on a cummins and race its onlyfair to swap the turbo on the max too. if you do it apples for apples in drag racing there is no replacement for displacement and rpm's help a lot with the win! not bashing cummins at all because i will admit it will pull much easier and more wieght than the dmax just not a race engine. there is a guy here with a built auto (given at that power level) stock motor, injectors and twins done with idaho robs tunes and he runs in the mid 10's all day long and drives it home! full street trim no weight dropping done realy. and if you look at the record for diesel dynos its not a cummins.

 

i tell you what i will stick with pulling power and reliability any day over speed and the cummins diesels that were raceing the dmaxes were at a dragstrip and both heavily and some barely modified if at all go to a sled pull sometime and pay attention who wins and what the bigboys are driving also see who gets through it without tearing something up there are some dmaxes that do it and do it good but from what i've seen mostly cummins not many pstrokes or dmaxes make it

 

at a tractor pull yes cummins is the way to go, although i have personally seen duramaxes around here at the local pull win over cummins and surprisingly a ford once, drag racing dmax. the major reason is that there are so many more cummins in these competitions than the others not because they are the only one to go with but because they were around 13 years before the dmax was, and most owners don't want to tear up there newer trucks in a pull.

 

from my home town and the pulls there its about even between new and old and dmas pstroke and cummins and yes i have seenall three win but mostly cummins and you have to admit cummins is harder to break and more reliable than the others the only pstroke worth anything isthe old 7.3 and ford shot their self in the foot when they stopped makeing that engine and the dmax just don't have the reliability for me cause i depend on my truck to make a living and beaing stranded is no option

 

Yep they do break more, no boubt about it. Cummins does take a lot more abuse. I wont dispute that , stock Dmax engine is only good to around 500 hp, cummins (with at least headstuds they all have weak points) are good much past that. And ford had to stop makeing the 7.3 to meet emissions standards they didn't just decide to darn epa and carb

Sent from my DROIDX

 

yah no kidding that was the only diesel that ford has eve made worth any thing and tree huggers got to go screw it up hey i will have to say at some point in time each of the three diesels have been superior than the other unfortunately fords ended in 2003 but i think cummins is going to win the race because it burns soo much cleaner than dmaxor powerstroke that you don't have to use the diesel exaust fluid crap that you have to with the dmax and the pstroke

 

Since you have vp44 powered cummins, id save ur pennies and get a lift pump. Air dog or fass, doesnt matter but you need to get one on there ASAP. Increase your air for now but dont fuel it anymore til you have a lift pump. Id replace the intake horn, get a stage one AFE ( u dont need a stage 2 on 24v), and there is a boost elbow you can get from BD. Its like 35 bucks and it gives the turbo a little more on the topend. I had it on mine. Worth the money. On the DMAX vs. Cummins thing, a well tuned Dmax with minimal mods can smoke a well built cummins. The Dmax is a little more delicate but if they are done right they are quick. EFI tuning, exhaust, intakes, and few other things and they can be knocking on 500hp. Just my .02