personally, I am a fan of the RAM and Cummins engines. I havent owned a ford since the failed 6.0 engine, and because the engines ford used after the 6.0 was not much better, I went to the chevy/duramax, and it had its own problems, but much better than the 6.0 ford was...
and after that, I got the RAM that I currently own....
I have a lot of experience with the cummins engines (both industrial and light truck), as we work on a lot of them and can say they will have the longest overall life, IF taken care of properly....
and even though im NOT advocating for delete of the emissions, (which is illegal most places anyway) I have enough experience that I can expertly warn you of what will happen when the emissions are removed, which CAN be avoided.
the cummins emission package is a bolt on apparatus, that can be totally removed in about 6hours, and then the computer needs to be reprogrammed so it knows what has happend and can operate as it needs to....
from all one reads, one would think this is all that it takes to add power, increase mileage, and save money over the long term, and so a LOT of people do this after the warranty runs out.
this may be fine for general street use, but if you plan to tow with it, its NOT all that needs to be done, and will be very expensive if it isnt ALL done at the same time the "delete" is done...
for towing, it also will need a water bypass loop added for cyls 5-6, head STUDS to replace the head bolts, and an upgraded bridged exhaust manifold installed. (a bridged 2 pc manifold is preferred)...
the extreme heat and pressure generated from producing more power will cause the head bolts to stretch, which will cause the head gasket to fail, and usually causing the head to crack between cyls 5 and 6 (if not the first time it blows, it WILL show cracks the second time it blows the headgasket).... adding the water bypass kit will help for light towing, but the more robust head studs AND the water bypass kit, will prevent it from happening during heavy towing.
...and the extreme exhaust temps will warp the exhaust manifold causing the #1 and #6 port manifold bolts to break, causing exhaust leaks, which then causes a loss in boost pressure, which causes more than a simple loss in power, as its an electronic engine that uses the boost pressure as the baseline for all the other things the computer does for the engine..
leaving the emissions STOCK is completely safe, however desirable it may or may not be, but the emissions will still need to be cleaned periodically, at a cost of about $1400 every 70,000 miles....
ford has lost my respect and business due to the way they handled their many failed engines at the customers expense.... but the automatic transmission they use behind their pickup engines is one of the very best....
and although the chevys are the most comfortable to drive, they are more overpriced than the Rams are...
