Tow Vehicle

[Broke Pilot]

Maybe I missed it, what was the one 'other'? Can't believe Ram is t making a better showing. Lol
I can't say much though since I used to also tow with my '14 Chevy 1500 single cab. That thing towed the old 24SSV like a beast, but it was a pain to live with. It pretty much ruined the newer Chevy trucks for me. Here lately my brother and I have been talking about him getting a new truck, he's got a 14 Chevy as well. He's thinking he's gonna go Ford. It'll be the first ever in the family...

[Shoebox]

Maybe I missed it, what was the one 'other'? Can't believe Ram is t making a better showing. Lol
I can't say much though since I used to also tow with my '14 Chevy 1500 single cab. That thing towed the old 24SSV like a beast, but it was a pain to live with. It pretty much ruined the newer Chevy trucks for me. Here lately my brother and I have been talking about him getting a new truck, he's got a 14 Chevy as well. He's thinking he's gonna go Ford. It'll be the first ever in the family...

What was wrong with your Chevy?

[Broke Pilot]

It's probly just trivial stuff to the normal person, but to me as a mechanic and off-road 'enthusiast', it was just an annoying truck.
The grease/moly paint they use on the frame for rust proofing is first and foremost the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It's infuriating to do any work under the truck. You come out covered in that crap and it sticks to everything for months. Can't wash it off for obvious reasons. Me n my brother were covered in the stuff after we finished the lift.
The front suspension was another odd item. It's pretty poorly designed with the solid mounted top coilovers. Nothing pivots in the same direction on that front end, which makes it ride funny. (Maybe just me...)
The electrical side of things in the truck was hard to deal with if you want to put a nice stereo in. The 8" mylink was nice, but it controlled the entire truck. So it couldn't be replaced easily. All the door chimes and seat belt chimes run through the stereo and out the speakers. If you want to amplify the highs, you get door chimes at 60 watts. Plus, there was no full range signal to some of the speakers. So you had to sum them together, which also summed, you guessed it, the door chimes!
But on top of all that, the recalls were killing me, and then the dealerships not doing the work correctly really annoyed me. A simple computer flash turned into replacing the steering column when I left the lot and lost power steering.

So, that's why I went back to Dodge/Ram. Most stuff is still mechanical and easy to work on with out an engineering degree. Plus, I missed having an oil burner. Lol

[sandm]

I drove all 3 of the american boys when selecting last year. requirements were 1-2 years old, low miles and v8 as I don't tow enough to justify a diesel nor could I afford it and must have the basic tow package.
my overall opinions were:
'16 ram was the best contender if all I wanted to do was tow. it tached 500rpm's higher than ford/chevy on the highway at 70 and felt like it was better set up to tow but it felt like the "budget" choice of the 3 inside.
'16 ford was the one I went in wanting. drove the 5.0 not eco. it had the coolest features for backing a trailer for the novice. I couldn't get over the oversize grab handles on the A pillars that felt like they were in the way.
'16 chevy is what I brought home. power felt on-par with the ford but the dealbreaker was the more compliant ride on rough wisconsin roads day in and day out. it flat out rode better than the other 2 for a truck.

having had it for a year now i am consistently getting 18-19mpg's daily on my Fuel Buddy app(not the bs computer on board) and towing the boat from Wi to Ut averaged 9.5 which is a couple better than my old '00 f-150 triton.

I know that all make great rides and tons of arguments for each exist. great to live in america and have the choice

[Broke Pilot]

Yea, the 5.7 Hemi can't be beat for gas towing, especially the newer ones with that Mercedes built 8spd. That thing is a beast. Unfortunately they're still eating the camshafts around 60-80k miles and the exhaust manifold bolts are still shearing off in the block. Our old '10 1500 Hemi truck was a great one, but the camshaft replacement was about my limit with that truck. Took me 2 days of just tearing crap off the motor to get in to it.
Sandm... you really liked the ride better in the Chevy? The coil spring rear in the Rams is the tits IMO, especially if you're not towing. You're one of the first I've heard that liked the Chevy ride better! Lol
The newer 5.3L in the chevys is a great motor. Anything LS based is the best to live with every day, the power delivery is just so nice. They're hard to kill. It's the newer version of the old school 350. The ram trucks are just set on kill 24/7 lol

[deerfield]

Unfortunately ... the exhaust manifold bolts are still shearing off in the block.

Broke Pilot - How did you repair/replace these? Time? Cost? Warranty? Thanks. - Deerfield

[sandm]

^^ ford triton and v10 motors are notorious for this as well. I had 1 side done on my ford a few years ago- 3 bolts and ran me $250.

[Broke Pilot]

If it's under warranty it is covered by the power train warranty. First time it happened I had then do it. Second time it was out (I wasn't gonna let them do it anyway and use the same crappy bolts) I used ARP studs. Ran $165 I think? Took about 2 hours. Dropped the passenfervfender liner and you get them pretty easily. Luckily mine came outta the block wirh vice grips, they didn't shear below the manifold deck.

[Rilez]

That's really interesting, what package Ram did you test drive? I usually hear and would agree with that Ram is ahead of the curve as far as niceties on the interior.

[Shoebox]

It's probly just trivial stuff to the normal person, but to me as a mechanic and off-road 'enthusiast', it was just an annoying truck.
The grease/moly paint they use on the frame for rust proofing is first and foremost the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It's infuriating to do any work under the truck. You come out covered in that crap and it sticks to everything for months. Can't wash it off for obvious reasons. Me n my brother were covered in the stuff after we finished the lift.
The front suspension was another odd item. It's pretty poorly designed with the solid mounted top coilovers. Nothing pivots in the same direction on that front end, which makes it ride funny. (Maybe just me...)
The electrical side of things in the truck was hard to deal with if you want to put a nice stereo in. The 8" mylink was nice, but it controlled the entire truck. So it couldn't be replaced easily. All the door chimes and seat belt chimes run through the stereo and out the speakers. If you want to amplify the highs, you get door chimes at 60 watts. Plus, there was no full range signal to some of the speakers. So you had to sum them together, which also summed, you guessed it, the door chimes!
But on top of all that, the recalls were killing me, and then the dealerships not doing the work correctly really annoyed me. A simple computer flash turned into replacing the steering column when I left the lot and lost power steering.

So, that's why I went back to Dodge/Ram. Most stuff is still mechanical and easy to work on with out an engineering degree. Plus, I missed having an oil burner. Lol

Yeah the electrical stuff is a definite pain in the ass on the GM stuff. The day I start having electrical gremlins is the day I trade in on a Ford. I've only had one minor recall so far in 2 years, and it's been rock solid reliable.

I have the 1 ton, so the front suspension is torsion bar. The Chevy HD trucks ride far better than Ford or Dodge do, much less truck-like.