Damn Dodge

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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I think a lot of sales people must have learned to sell at harley davidson school of salesmanship, yep there the sticker you dont want to buy it somebody else will
 

ipz2222

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L235, bx2670
May 30, 2009
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chickamauga ga usa
The '07 up dodge diesel has a new transmission that is 100 % computer controlled. The gear train is super strong but the clutch pack for 2nd and over drive is marginal. The valve body wears out and gets cross leaks in it and burns the clutches out. The after market has a clutch pack with more clutches and the valve body can be reamed and new anodized valves installed. Just did one yesterday.
The superduty Ford(2010 up) has a great transmission. Not even had to rebuild one yet, all the problems are in the valve body electrical side.
The 6 and 8 speed Chevy's will pay my bills the next several years.
President
Fleet Transmission Inc
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
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The '07 up dodge diesel has a new transmission that is 100 % computer controlled. The gear train is super strong but the clutch pack for 2nd and over drive is marginal. The valve body wears out and gets cross leaks in it and burns the clutches out. The after market has a clutch pack with more clutches and the valve body can be reamed and new anodized valves installed. Just did one yesterday.
The superduty Ford(2010 up) has a great transmission. Not even had to rebuild one yet, all the problems are in the valve body electrical side.
The 6 and 8 speed Chevy's will pay my bills the next several years.
President
Fleet Transmission Inc
The 6 speed Allison's?
 

hope to float

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L3450
Feb 18, 2018
474
61
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Ireland
It seems Jeep and Fiat are two of the most common Makes that get on top of the list for customer dissatisfaction...but there are many that love them. Certainly the Wranglers hold re-sale...
I have had both. The first Cherokee had a habit of throwing a pushrod so regularly that I got to be pretty handy at putting it back. The second one was downright dangerous. You could be driving along at 70/80mph when it would just die. Of course it would then start up straight away and off you went.
Everybody said to stay away from Fiat but in the 5/6 years that I have had it, it has been very reliable. You can just be lucky, I guess. About 270K kms on it now and it will probably die tomorrow because I praised it tonight :D
 

Steve67

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B2601-fel, 60"mmm, 5' rear blade, balast box
Jan 20, 2017
344
128
43
St. Louis, mo.
Been a ford truck guy for most of my adult life but the 2019 Ram trucks have my attention. Since I have never owned a Chrysler product it’s hard to make the switch, but I’m leaning!
 

troverman

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MX6000 HSTC; 2020 Kubota Z421KW-54 zero turn mower
Jun 9, 2015
1,188
275
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NH
The '07 up dodge diesel has a new transmission that is 100 % computer controlled. The gear train is super strong but the clutch pack for 2nd and over drive is marginal. The valve body wears out and gets cross leaks in it and burns the clutches out. The after market has a clutch pack with more clutches and the valve body can be reamed and new anodized valves installed. Just did one yesterday.
The superduty Ford(2010 up) has a great transmission. Not even had to rebuild one yet, all the problems are in the valve body electrical side.
The 6 and 8 speed Chevy's will pay my bills the next several years.
President
Fleet Transmission Inc
Starting sometime during the 2009 generation, RAM heavy duty 3500 trucks could be had with the Aisin transmission. This is a very good transmission. The 68RFE that comes in the 2500 models with the Cummins is less good but can be OK. The G56 manual transmission is both good and bad.

The new Ford transmission (6R140) was first introduced for the 2011 model year Super Duty, gas and diesel. 2010 Super Duty trucks had the 5R110 transmission that had already been in use for several years. The 6R140 is a very good transmission and superior to the Allison in quite a few ways.

The Allison 1000 is a great transmission. However, it is not a true "medium duty" transmission like both the Ford 6R140 and Aisin AS69RC. For example, prior to the 2015 model year, Ford utilized an Allison 2000 medium duty transmission in it's F-650/750 medium duty truck line. However, starting in 2015 they began installing the 6R140 engine in those trucks. Nevertheless, the Allison 1000 is a stout transmission and should last very well in stock heavy duty trucks.
 

troverman

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MX6000 HSTC; 2020 Kubota Z421KW-54 zero turn mower
Jun 9, 2015
1,188
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NH
Any good news to said about the the 07 Ram with the hemi?
Yeah...the Hemi engine is a very good motor.

People have had hit and miss luck with these trucks. Some have great luck. In my area of the salty northeast, they seem to rust out sooner than similar vintage GM's and Fords, especially over the rear wheel wells. They also have some electrical issues, at least my buddies that drive these.
 

bearbait

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L3560, 64" snowblower, 72" back blade
Dec 9, 2011
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New Glasgow Canada
Yeah...the Hemi engine is a very good motor.

People have had hit and miss luck with these trucks. Some have great luck. In my area of the salty northeast, they seem to rust out sooner than similar vintage GM's and Fords, especially over the rear wheel wells. They also have some electrical issues, at least my buddies that drive these.
I agree with you about the rust. Last week I pulled the inner wheel liners out of all 4 corners and sprayed fluid film undercoating. Even though I had it undercoated with crown it was pretty dry under the liners. I do this with every vehicle I own. The Hemi is great and so far the trans is fine, can hardly notice the shifts but then again it only has 27000km's on it.
 

troverman

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MX6000 HSTC; 2020 Kubota Z421KW-54 zero turn mower
Jun 9, 2015
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I think it will work out just fine for you. With low mileage and the care you're taking, it'll be in a lot better shape than most.
 

lugbolt

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ZG127S-54
Oct 15, 2015
5,205
1,889
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Mid, South, USA
A lot of police departments went to those Dodge Chargers and now they are regretting it. They are junk. They are not near the cars the old Crown Vics. were.

They buy on fleet pricing. They buy a bunch of them and do it on bid pricing. Whoever has the lowest bid gets the deal. I worked at a dealer who did fleet stuff.

Local police department bough 140 Chevy Tahoe's about 12 years ago. They converted every one of them to CNG, for the tax incentives. They figured it up and with the tax incentives of using CNG vs gasoline, they'd pay for the fleet in 15 years. THe other side of the deal is that they struck a nice agreement with a company who oversaw the drilling for Natgas, so they were getting a HUGE discount on CNG (like close to free).

The tax incentives went away, the drilling companies left town (like they always do) and now they're STUCK with a bunch of CNG trucks that they can't sell and are too expensive to maintain.

So they did some car shopping and found that the Ford Explorer-GASOLINE-was cheaper to buy than the Tahoes. That and they're smaller, get better fuel mileage, more comfortable and have more torque to take off from a stop (this came right from a police officer's mouth).

Sheriff's office has a bunch of Chargers and the 3 deputies that I know personally don't care for them. I thought they were all V8's. Wrong, they're V6's which I thought was odd, but whatever. Again they buy them on bid so whoever's got them cheapest is who sells them., and then they're also in charge of warranty and accessory installation (at least here they are).

I'm back to dealer work and the dealer I work for also has powersports, motorcycles/atv/tractors/etc. Police department came in looking for 4 police bikes and we lost the bid on them-THANK GOODNESS. Let someone else have that nightmare-and that's exactly what it is especially if the dealer stays busy like we do.

The days of nice, low maintenance, diesels are gone forever. EPA has ruined them, and now they're so expensive that the only folk that want them is business owners who need a tax write off and then the younger generation who wants a great big expensive 4x4 with a diesel because they haven't grown up yet. Once they get the payments, though, they're starting to re-think it. I fell into it too, payments were $900/mo. Sold it within 3 months. Shopped trucks and found a nice used 2003 F250 4x4 crew cab lariat with 89,000 miles. 7.3L which I didn't want (wanted V10). But the money was right and the trade deal was right, my payments ended up at $118/mo for 19 months-which I paid off early, and kept the truck. Still have it, like it, but wish it was a gas burner.
 
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troverman

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MX6000 HSTC; 2020 Kubota Z421KW-54 zero turn mower
Jun 9, 2015
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They buy on fleet pricing. They buy a bunch of them and do it on bid pricing. Whoever has the lowest bid gets the deal. I worked at a dealer who did fleet stuff.

Local police department bough 140 Chevy Tahoe's about 12 years ago. They converted every one of them to CNG, for the tax incentives. They figured it up and with the tax incentives of using CNG vs gasoline, they'd pay for the fleet in 15 years. THe other side of the deal is that they struck a nice agreement with a company who oversaw the drilling for Natgas, so they were getting a HUGE discount on CNG (like close to free).

The tax incentives went away, the drilling companies left town (like they always do) and now they're STUCK with a bunch of CNG trucks that they can't sell and are too expensive to maintain.

So they did some car shopping and found that the Ford Explorer-GASOLINE-was cheaper to buy than the Tahoes. That and they're smaller, get better fuel mileage, more comfortable and have more torque to take off from a stop (this came right from a police officer's mouth).

Sheriff's office has a bunch of Chargers and the 3 deputies that I know personally don't care for them. I thought they were all V8's. Wrong, they're V6's which I thought was odd, but whatever. Again they buy them on bid so whoever's got them cheapest is who sells them., and then they're also in charge of warranty and accessory installation (at least here they are).
Good police departments will buy police vehicles that get the job done at the lowest tax burden to the public. Of course, the gray area is "what gets the job done?"

The police departments running Camaros and Challengers in South Carolina are bending their taxpayers over for zero reason in my opinion. I also see very little need to run a Tahoe...yeah, it's roomy and comfy but it's expensive, slow, cumbersome, and thirsty. If you need an SUV, the Explorer is a better deal - less expensive, less thirsty, more nimble, quicker, and still offers decent interior space and payload. Or maybe the pursuit rated Dodge Durango would be a good choice, although I'm not aware of pricing or reliability history.

My own town is pretty fair to the taxpayer. We are a city in a rural area, in the pretty heavy area of the snowbelt, with a lot of hills and deal with mud season on the outskirts. Our town previously ran Crown Vics like everyone did in the late 90's through mid 2000's...and then ran two fleets of Chevy Impalas. The idea was a cheaper purchase price, front drive goes better in snow, and better fuel economy. Well, they found out the front drive didn't really give much of an edge compared to the heavy old Vics with long trunks...and while the fuel economy and purchase prices were cheaper...they had higher maintenance than the old sleds. So they are now on their second fleet of primarily the Taurus Interceptors. These cars have actually held up maintenance wise a bit better than the Impalas, although still not as good as the old Vics. They have standard AWD, do nearly as well as the Impalas on fuel, and are probably the cheapest police vehicle you can buy. The department bought just a few Explorer Utility Interceptors to supplement as K9 vehicles or as better mud season vehicles to respond to more rural calls. And the department bought one F-150 basically to use for utility purposes...move police ATVs to the trailhead, set up and take down barriers for road closures or parades, tow the DUI trailer, etc, etc. It could also be used to get to remote crime scenes. I feel this is pretty responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
 

hagrid

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This thread echoes my thoughts when I bought my 2015 4Runner.