I'm looking to get back into a diesel pickup. I had a 6.0 PSD a few years ago, and it ended up costing my tons of money in maintence...so I swore off them.
I looked at a few duramax's, and some 24v cummins.
Stock 24v is rated at 235hp and 460lb ft.
Stock LLY Duramax is 310hp and 520lb ft.
See if my thought process makes sense here.
Keep in mind that I tow 10k-15k through hills, so anything I get will be tuned.
I'm not going to consider a Cummins with an automatic transmission.
To make the 24v Cummins reliable, it looks like they need a $800 lift pump, then $700 for a tuner, probably $500 for engine monitoring, then about another $1k for a good clutch that'll hold it all. That all adds up to $3000.
I've been trying to find LLY and LBZ duramax's, but have looked at some LB7's as well. I haven't been able to find a LB7 with good balance rates across all injectors though, so I've steered away from those so far. LBZ's seem to bring stupid money, thus why I'm considering the LLY route.
Anyways, to make a LLY reliable, it looks like they need $120 for a CAT fuel filter, and possibly $150 for a intake tube, $500 for cooling if needed, $500 for engine monitoring, and $100 to unlock it with HPT. That's $720, or $1370 if I can't keep it cool in the summer.
Is there any reason for me to even consider a Cummins? I understand that they are pretty reliable, but it seems like there is a pretty decent price tag to get it there. I could almost bulletproof a 6.0 PSD for that. It is my opinion that the Ford body/chassis is quite a bit better than the Dodge. So that has me raising the question of whether a Dodge would actually be any better than a Ford.
Either way, the LLY Duramax seems to be a lot cheaper than the Ford or Dodge options.
Do my numbers seem reasonable? Any other input on this?
I looked at a few duramax's, and some 24v cummins.
Stock 24v is rated at 235hp and 460lb ft.
Stock LLY Duramax is 310hp and 520lb ft.
See if my thought process makes sense here.
Keep in mind that I tow 10k-15k through hills, so anything I get will be tuned.
I'm not going to consider a Cummins with an automatic transmission.
To make the 24v Cummins reliable, it looks like they need a $800 lift pump, then $700 for a tuner, probably $500 for engine monitoring, then about another $1k for a good clutch that'll hold it all. That all adds up to $3000.
I've been trying to find LLY and LBZ duramax's, but have looked at some LB7's as well. I haven't been able to find a LB7 with good balance rates across all injectors though, so I've steered away from those so far. LBZ's seem to bring stupid money, thus why I'm considering the LLY route.
Anyways, to make a LLY reliable, it looks like they need $120 for a CAT fuel filter, and possibly $150 for a intake tube, $500 for cooling if needed, $500 for engine monitoring, and $100 to unlock it with HPT. That's $720, or $1370 if I can't keep it cool in the summer.
Is there any reason for me to even consider a Cummins? I understand that they are pretty reliable, but it seems like there is a pretty decent price tag to get it there. I could almost bulletproof a 6.0 PSD for that. It is my opinion that the Ford body/chassis is quite a bit better than the Dodge. So that has me raising the question of whether a Dodge would actually be any better than a Ford.
Either way, the LLY Duramax seems to be a lot cheaper than the Ford or Dodge options.
Do my numbers seem reasonable? Any other input on this?