Diesel Bombers - Too Much Trash Talk (Rant)

Trash talk. There's just too much of it running rampant on the internet. I'm all for some good old fashioned bench racing, don't get me wrong, but there's a line you cross. The biggest share of it is from punks who don't know a diesel truck from a hole in the ground anyway. I'm seriously getting tired of all of these idiots leaving comments on YouTube and diesel forums when they obviously don't know what the hell they are talking about.

I'm a Cummins guy myself, so I'll just throw that out there right off the bat, but here's the thing; I'm not ready to disrespect anybody that shares the hobby that I love, no matter what they choose to drive. I really don't care if it's a Powerstroke, Duramax, Cummins.... Whatever. I have seen wicked cool trucks built on every one of these platforms. I don't think a person that really knows anything about engines can honestly say that any of the big three have used a junk diesel in recent memory (somebody is gonna pipe up and say "6.0!", but I'll get to that too).

We could probably make a pretty safe case that the 5.7 diesel GM tried back in the day wasn't the greatest Idea. The 6.5 was no powerhouse, but it was pretty reliable, especially next to the gas engines of the time, and it got good fuel economy. I actually had one of those old military Blazers with a 6.5 for awhile. It was a pig, but it idled around like a tractor out in the bush, and it never gave me any problems.

Most of the discussions I see these days are along the line of Cummins vs Duramax vs Powerstroke, and guys arguing over which one is "better". First off, how do you determine which one is "better"? Everybody is going to have a different set of criteria, and that's exactly the point. Which one is better depends on what you like, and what you want the truck to do. You can make a case for any of the diesel engines the Big three have put out in recent history. Every one of them has strengths and weaknesses.

"The Duramax is a piece of crap!" Um, why? "It has wimpy tie rods, and it doesn't last as long as a Cummins! Oh, and it has IFS!!!" :scare2: Ok, whatever. Slap $100 bucks worth of tie rod sleeves on it, some EFI live tuning, and go kick the crap out of most other trucks at the drags. Maybe it will only run for 350k instead of 500k while it is kicking the crap out of everything in the quarter mile, cuz you know, that's just such terrible longevity for an engine to only last 300k +. It doesn't have the same low end torque as a Cummins, but it can make some RPM, which makes it a LOT OF FUN! As to IFS, for some guys, it's the perfect balance. Not everybody NEEDS a straight axle. For some it's overkill, and they would rather have a nice ride when they are driving it every single day.

"Powerstrokes are junk!" No stupid. 7.3s are not the biggest powerhouse on the block, but they are ultra reliable, nearly bulletproof work horse engines that run forever and can be made to put out pretty darn respectable power levels. Even the 6.0, which catches such a bad rap, has almost no issues if you take care of the EGR, use some head studs, keep the EGTs reasonable... All stuff that you have to do to pretty much ANY diesel engine if you expect to hop it up and have it live a long and healthy life. They come with a pretty tough transmission too. As an interesting side note, the 6.0 that International used in their buses, which is nearly identical, had almost none of the problems that were common in the Fords. The difference was the government mandated emissions garbage, so really, you can thank Uncle Sam for a lot of that.

The Cummins is a terrific engine, and my personal favorite, but even I think that it gets made out to be a little too much of a "golden boy" sometimes. It's not like Cummins engines don't have issues they are known for, just like everybody else. KDP, 53 blocks, lift pumps, melting pisons... just depends on what generation you are talking about.

Bottome line, DIESELS ROCK! :rocking: If you drive a diesel, and you enjoy it, then here's to you my friend! :c: I'll be happy to talk shop with you, do some friendly "bench racing", and maybe even take 'em out for a friendly run, regardless of the badge on your grille. BOMB away brothers!