geekboy

"the Tilt masters are twice the truck the dodge ever thought of being.
Bigger brakes, heftier axles, beefier frame, and a near bullet proof
tranny, engine brake is standard equipment on diesels, adding one to the
Cummins
voids the warranty. The engine is very reliable.
And the W3500 is a medium duty truck by classification, as opposed to
the Dodge D3500 still being classified a light duty truck.
What sucks is its a jap truck, even if GM does own a huge share in Isuzu.
Why the hell cant we build a medium duty cab over."

bigironram

Where to start, this sounds like some of the political threads.

In the truck world all pickups are light duty, IIRC 3500's are class three,
sometimes pushing class four a bit. Chevy's 3500HD might get to four, not
sure. Now that it's on my mind was it 14,000 lbs that pushed them into
class four? Mebbe they're all there now?

Adding an exhaust brake to the Cummins has never voided the warranty.
Chrysler has something to say about the automatic transmission (lock up
torque converter concerns) but not the engine. I believe the newer autos
are approved for exhaust brake use.

Who in the world still wants a cab over? IIRC only Freightliner still
builds one, the Argosy class and they don't sell well. Even J.B. Hunt gave
up on cab overs. Excepting for some specific medium duty trade uses like
garbage trucks and such I can't imagine why that's a big deal. It's a very
small market.

Now that I'm looking at the start of the post I'm replying to, who in the
world would be making a direct comparision of a tilt master to a pick up
truck? I've seen 4L80E trannys in tilt masters trashed too. Even behind a
350 gasser engine.

snoman

Like it or not Isuzu make a tuff little truck and a very good engine
for them too that weigh less than CTD too. GM errored is stopping the
3500 HD because it had a very serious chassis under it and sturdy axle
option for front and rear. (as I recall they had a option for a 7K
capacity front axle which was low tech straight axle design that was
very sturdy and simple. As I recall the 3500 HD also had a 11K rear
axle in it too and 10 bolt wheels all around that took it clearly out
of P/U class. What has hurt Dodge for many years is patrt of the
government bailout deal in early 80's was to bar them from making
trucks over 1 ton rating to keep competitors happy. Here only way
around that is to market another brand. Heck I remember when Dodge
made a W400 P/U chassis in 70's and at one time I was considering to
order one. The reason I did not was it had fulltime 4x4 back then
(which was the rage from about 73 to 79 when oil prices killed it)
stick or automatic which I did not want anyway.
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TheSnoMan.com

geekboy

I guess their time ran out as they are ramping up production for 5500 and
6500 series trucks.

mpberti

WHY THE JAPS BUILD BETTER ONES LIKE THE UD OR THE FUSSO

scott

I've herd that the new 6.7L Cummins come with an exhaust brake. I
think there pushing 350 HP / 650 LBS of Tourqe.

snoman

I think it has something to do with a deal that was cut after benz
merger several years ago but word is the Chysler is for sale and GM is
considering buying it before Toyota does maybe and if GM does the 5500
and 6500 trucks will without doubt be scrapped along with some other
models as well and GM will not buy Cummins engine for long either if
they indeed buy them out. You know it kinda makes sense why Benz did
not use a in house engine for dodge trucks to replace CTD because they
were positioning themselves to cut ties with detriot auto unit some
time ago and if they sell it they want a clean break from it with no
loose ends.
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TheSnoMan.com

tom lawrence

It's incorporated into the variable-geometry turbo, and is reported to be
more effective than an aftermarket butterfly brake.

Correct - when coupled with the 6-speed automatic only.