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gjm4l
Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2009
- Messages
- 468
- Reaction score
- 9
- Points
- 18
- Location
- Jackson County, NC
- Vehicle Year
- 2011
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.3L 4cyl
- Transmission
- Manual
Cliff notes 3 posts down
Since Friday I have been behind the wheel of a Duramax. Let me just say I am NOT impressed. This is my future brother in laws 05' 4x4 crew cab long bed 2500 duramax and as I said I am not impressed at all. A little history on the truck. It's got about 144k on it and he drives it like a flippin sports car and the Federal "whatever" mt's on it are cupped all to crap (I couldn't imagine the vibrations if it didn't have a diesel up front) so they're so loud you can't even talk normally even with the windows up. I put new shocks on it around 6 months ago but it rides really weird. The rear end feels nice and solid but the front feels wayyy to soft and marshmallowy making for an unsettling ride as the fronts gets floaty and the back remains firm and almost harsh like you would expect from a truck built to tow. The engine itself is awesome in that it's a diesel and I'm used to 2.3L of fury but it's wierd too, you get in the fuel anywhere from stopped to about 30 and you can literally count to a mississippi 3 before it gets on it like it should. Now when it's on it she sounds sweet as you hear the turbo spool up and ride the torque back into the seat and pick up the pace good and hard but that lag is creepy. At speed going to pass it's the same story it takes a long 2 count before it'll downshift (if it does) to give any power unless you matt the fuel pedal and then it still takes to long to drop(also supposedly the transmission was serviced sometime this year).
Friday I got it because I had to go to our shop in winston-salem and pick up our bobcat and bring it back. Same story. Pulled it just fine except the extra weight didn't even help the ride. It had way more sway than I expected. Maybe the cupped to crap tires had something to do with it idk. Even with the tow/haul engaged it still had alot of lag when getting up a head of steam for a pass on the interstate. Needing a head of steam in a diesel in the first place is really disappointing because I wasn't close to what it's rated to tow. For comparison a couple months ago I used the exact same trailer to tow the bobcat up to Winston originally but then I used our 07' 2500hd chevy ex cab with the 6.0 gas engine. Yeah it downshifted and yeah the rpm's were up there more than unloaded but it's a gas engine. It was way more composed on the interstate and frankly at that time I was impressed with that chebby and how it handled towing around 12k at 65mph. I guess the thing that I didn't expect the most was the stopping. Both times at the same light I got caught doing 45 but it's a quick light so you kinda gotta hurry to stop. No problem in the 07 (which has 80k on it btw) stopped at the line with no hassle. The duramax even had a little more distance to stop but when I hit the brakes I went huh, mashed em harder, huh, slammed on them, damn, the tongue of the trailer stopped on the line
yeah, yeah, extra 800ish pounds of diesel up front, extra weight of the crew cab vs. ex. cab but still the diesel also gets more natural engine braking.
I mean what the hell, are all duramax's like this? I've driven powerstrokes and cummins and yeah they all got lag but nothing like this. Dodge and ford ride like a truck should, nice and firm. I've only towed with an 05' crewcab power stroke once and that was a mostly empty 24' enclosed trailer and you barely even knew it was there. Is there something wrong with this duramax? Yeah once the turbo was up we were definitely GONE with the trailer but as I was getting the turn signal on and making sure I'd fit in the left lane I had to drop 5mph as a car was going 50 in a 65 then stomped on it as I moved over and wow the typical underwhelming feeling of mashing the gas in the ranger came over me for what seemed like an eternity before it finally dropped a gear or two and took off like it should.
I suppose I'm just venting and wondering if there's something wrong with it because my fiance's brother will get straight up pissed when I draw him out into conversations about his precious chevy's lol. I'm a Ford guy though and through but I admit I love her 09' GMC 1500 and was impressed as hell with the shops 07' 2500hd, but his duramax was all kinds of underwhelming
In case anyone's wondering I drive dump trucks, for a living now and used to drive whitewater rafting buses where I was a guide so I have been in a few diesels in my time just not many pickup truck sized ones. Of course now that I see it written down, maybe thats why he drives that poor duramax like a race car because you gotta ride the top end to feel that sweet, sweet torque hug lol.
Since Friday I have been behind the wheel of a Duramax. Let me just say I am NOT impressed. This is my future brother in laws 05' 4x4 crew cab long bed 2500 duramax and as I said I am not impressed at all. A little history on the truck. It's got about 144k on it and he drives it like a flippin sports car and the Federal "whatever" mt's on it are cupped all to crap (I couldn't imagine the vibrations if it didn't have a diesel up front) so they're so loud you can't even talk normally even with the windows up. I put new shocks on it around 6 months ago but it rides really weird. The rear end feels nice and solid but the front feels wayyy to soft and marshmallowy making for an unsettling ride as the fronts gets floaty and the back remains firm and almost harsh like you would expect from a truck built to tow. The engine itself is awesome in that it's a diesel and I'm used to 2.3L of fury but it's wierd too, you get in the fuel anywhere from stopped to about 30 and you can literally count to a mississippi 3 before it gets on it like it should. Now when it's on it she sounds sweet as you hear the turbo spool up and ride the torque back into the seat and pick up the pace good and hard but that lag is creepy. At speed going to pass it's the same story it takes a long 2 count before it'll downshift (if it does) to give any power unless you matt the fuel pedal and then it still takes to long to drop(also supposedly the transmission was serviced sometime this year).
Friday I got it because I had to go to our shop in winston-salem and pick up our bobcat and bring it back. Same story. Pulled it just fine except the extra weight didn't even help the ride. It had way more sway than I expected. Maybe the cupped to crap tires had something to do with it idk. Even with the tow/haul engaged it still had alot of lag when getting up a head of steam for a pass on the interstate. Needing a head of steam in a diesel in the first place is really disappointing because I wasn't close to what it's rated to tow. For comparison a couple months ago I used the exact same trailer to tow the bobcat up to Winston originally but then I used our 07' 2500hd chevy ex cab with the 6.0 gas engine. Yeah it downshifted and yeah the rpm's were up there more than unloaded but it's a gas engine. It was way more composed on the interstate and frankly at that time I was impressed with that chebby and how it handled towing around 12k at 65mph. I guess the thing that I didn't expect the most was the stopping. Both times at the same light I got caught doing 45 but it's a quick light so you kinda gotta hurry to stop. No problem in the 07 (which has 80k on it btw) stopped at the line with no hassle. The duramax even had a little more distance to stop but when I hit the brakes I went huh, mashed em harder, huh, slammed on them, damn, the tongue of the trailer stopped on the line
yeah, yeah, extra 800ish pounds of diesel up front, extra weight of the crew cab vs. ex. cab but still the diesel also gets more natural engine braking. I mean what the hell, are all duramax's like this? I've driven powerstrokes and cummins and yeah they all got lag but nothing like this. Dodge and ford ride like a truck should, nice and firm. I've only towed with an 05' crewcab power stroke once and that was a mostly empty 24' enclosed trailer and you barely even knew it was there. Is there something wrong with this duramax? Yeah once the turbo was up we were definitely GONE with the trailer but as I was getting the turn signal on and making sure I'd fit in the left lane I had to drop 5mph as a car was going 50 in a 65 then stomped on it as I moved over and wow the typical underwhelming feeling of mashing the gas in the ranger came over me for what seemed like an eternity before it finally dropped a gear or two and took off like it should.
I suppose I'm just venting and wondering if there's something wrong with it because my fiance's brother will get straight up pissed when I draw him out into conversations about his precious chevy's lol. I'm a Ford guy though and through but I admit I love her 09' GMC 1500 and was impressed as hell with the shops 07' 2500hd, but his duramax was all kinds of underwhelming
In case anyone's wondering I drive dump trucks, for a living now and used to drive whitewater rafting buses where I was a guide so I have been in a few diesels in my time just not many pickup truck sized ones. Of course now that I see it written down, maybe thats why he drives that poor duramax like a race car because you gotta ride the top end to feel that sweet, sweet torque hug lol.
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I did admit to being really impressed by the gasser 2500 lol
Stray is that an ocelot in your avatar?
