Today, guys we are back for a rematch. Now all of you asked for a obs first topic, and i made it and in that topic all everyone commented. Is this isn’t fair? Why isn’t it 9973 versus 99.59?
So i figured we had to do a rematch, so today i’ve got my buddy liam here he has a 99 f250 7.3 power stroke and i have my 99 dodge ram 2500 with the 5.9 liter cummins. So today we’re going to be taking these trucks head to head, we’re going to be comparing their drivability power, uh their reliability, we’re going to be comparing their interior comfort, ride, quality and just general ownership. What it’s like to own these trucks from two people that own the trucks?
So to start out with, let’s talk about the powertrain now my truck is an automatic transmission mated behind the 5.9 liter 24 valve contents. For all of you, guys that are not familiar. The 24 valve cummins is an electronic, controlled um, basically nth generation of the 5
9, that are coming so that was originally introduced in 89: same legendary, reliability but updated in the late 90s, all the way through 2002 for the 24 valve truck to be electronic to one meet emission standards. Two just have more power: better control, um, the 24 buffs.
Also add more efficiency overall, the engine on this side we’ve got the 7.3 power stroke, so that is again kind of like the nth degree of 7.3. This was the last generation of 7.3, so it had all the familiar stuff for the 7.
, but it got upgraded. Injectors, better turbo, just all around it’s gon na be more power. So if you’re looking at the 73 trucks, the super duty body style 743s, like liam, has are going to be kind of the best 7.3 is ever made, and in reality this is probably the best power stroke ever made. It’S the best diesel that ford ever put in their trucks.
After this, they kind of had a rough patch with the 6-0, the 6-4, and they didn’t really get it right again until they made the 6.7. So if you’re a ford fan, this is kind of the truck right, yeah, definitely yeah, so liam’s owned this truck. For probably about 10 years now, right, yeah, just over 10 years yeah so – and i’ve owned this one for about a year now so give or take we’ve got some decent experience. Obviously, liam’s owned his for a lot longer than mine, but i was really curious to see his take and that’s why i brought him on with this video, because i’m kind of biased towards the cummins trucks and liam is definitely a ford guy flewing through.
So i want to get his opinion on what he thought of this truck and his truck now in terms of power delivery. I have to say, i think the second gen in my book wins just slightly on the low end right. So this is a six uh in a row, basically a straight six orientation engine and so that’s going to be the most efficient torque possible out of a diesel engine. So numbers aside on paper in terms of actual driving the truck. I think this one has more grunt more oomph off the line, so the 99 i’ve said this a million times, but these trucks pull so hard.
The straight stick just has a ton of torque, so even though they don’t necessarily have the most horsepower out of all those trucks in that era, the torque is just incredible. Like i, i love this engine. I love the power delivery. I love the torque um. I just really like the power band on this truck the 7.
. On the other hand, i feel like has more top end power. I think that’s where those trucks really excel is a little bit higher than the power band like over 2000 rpm. This truck kind of loses it and falls on its face. The 7.
really comes alive at that range. Is that kind of what you feel like yeah, definitely yeah, and i think, towing wise. It’S kind of a similar thing where, like this truck, it’s happier in low rpms, it just feels like it’s pulling like a freight train, whereas a 73 is going to be revved up higher kind of in a more sprint feel type of that, if that makes sense, but putting down decent power but just kind of at a higher rpm. So, coming off a stop like that is where you really notice. The 99 power stroke has way more power than the early power strokes, and a lot of you guys pointed out in the last video, where i did the 97 versus 9.9 comments and said it wasn’t. Fair um, this is fair. I mean this is a huge step up from what these trucks used to be um. You know definitely in terms of power, delivery, more torque, more horsepower. Everything immediately noticeable.
I have a bank sticks gun on it. I didn’t put it on because i needed more power, towing or anything like that, but it definitely is a lot more fun and with the six gun or with any kind of tuner chip that you put on it. These things are have a lot of power and they’re pretty quick off the line so powertrain. The final thing i want to talk about, we talked about the engine, but i think it’s fair to talk about the transmissions. Now, both these trucks are automatics.
Now liam has a semi built like lightly built automatically he’s got valve body. Torque converter. My truck is bone stock in terms of the transmission, but i think this is where ford definitely pulls ahead in terms of the power train, like you can argue back and forth. In the engines, but transmission wise, i think ford definitely has a better transmission. The 47 rh can be built very effectively very cheaply actually to be a fantastic transmission but stock to stock, like if you have a completely bone stock truck.
I think the ford is definitely going to take the cake. It’S just. It’S got a better transmission. I think overall, ford really got it right on these transmissions. They shift solidly they’re reliable everything about these transmissions just flat out better than the 47.
That’S in the second gen cummins, so ford definitely takes the win, that’s something you notice, hauling, towing or just daily driving these trucks. The trucks shift better. Now one big complaint. I have about the second gen platform in general, whether it’s 12 vap or 24 valve same thing is the transmissions are not great. So it’s stock power levels, they’re fine they’ll hold um, but the big issue is just power.
Delivery like they just feel super sloppy. They shift so lazily. It almost feels like a cvt like it’s a genuinely bad transmission. The nice thing is that the transmission has plenty of upgrades. So if you want to make it a really good transmission, build it, it’ll handle tons of power.
It’Ll have no issues, but in stock form it really does hold the truck back. It just doesn’t deliver power. Well, it really just struggles to pull loads. It genuinely holds the truck back in comparison to the super duties. So now in terms of drivability.
In terms of ride quality, in terms of what it’s like to actually drive this truck liam, what did you think back and forth between the two? What was it like driving them? Would you rather drive a 500 mile road trip in the second gen or in your truck second gen, for sure why the suspension uh on the five nine is 20 times better than the seven three for sure, uh yeah. Seven three is extremely rough. All right!
One of the biggest cons is ride. Quality on these things, as you can tell, as you can tell it’s pretty rough, i’m in construction and a lot of the work i do is down in los angeles, so going on the 405 is terrible and everything just gets. Rattled, so that’s kind of a pain, but yeah people will probably argue with me about that on the second gens, but there’s a lot that you can do in these trucks to improve our high qualities like right. Now we’re going over super pumpy section, the road in liam’s, uh 7-3, with the solid axle on the leaf springs up front. We were literally bouncing up to the ceiling on this truck.
We’Re just cruising so having the coil sprung front end with control arms is a huge advantage. Um gives you a lot of room to upgrade so this one’s on, like a carly system right now, so super super smooth. His truck actually has custom divers on it, but even with that, it’s still really rough, because it’s just it’s lee springs on a solid axle like there’s, not much. You can do with that platform and architecture to really improve the ride quality, whereas with these trucks, you can make some huge gains so, like we said in the trucks, it really comes down to suspension architecture, so, in the rear of both the structural leaf springs. It’S going to be an even battle but up front, because the second gen is using a coil spring design with control arms.
It’S essentially like a four link. Uh coil front end: that’s gon na have the huge advantage in terms of ride quality and, if you’re looking at upgrades in terms of moving from stock to something way more potential on those trucks. Now in terms of interior comfort, uh. This is where the china tarts to pull away from each other, so the second gen is comfortable inside um. You really like the interior.
I do, but in terms of quality, it’s trash uh in terms of liam’s truck. What do you think of your quality and your interior in the super duty? It’S much better. Everything in the dodge uh feels like it’s gon na break. If you just twist it or pull it a little too hard, whereas on the seven three everything just feels like it’s set in and it’s not flimsy or loose, i don’t know everything on the on the interior.
The five nine just feels loose, but one thing about the interior um, like i said i love the the color. I love the party fabric as we call it. One thing, though we did measure and the inside of this cab is smaller than the 7-3. I know liam definitely likes the interior in this thing, better um and like, even though this thing he’s owned this truck for a long time. It’S got a lot of miles.
It’S still actually in really good shape. Aside from upholstery damage, the dash is in one piece: all the plastics are in one piece, that’s way more than you can save at a second gen of the same year with the same miles in terms of interior um. Everyone knows the second gens have horrible interiors, like they’re very comfortable, but the quality is just trash. The plastics everything falls apart, i’m literally afraid to open the cup holder in this truck because i feel like it’s going to break so i put my water bottles on the floor because i don’t think the cup holder can hold them like that’s kind of level of Quality these second gens are at, whereas liam’s truck no problem, you can put a cup in the cup holder. You want to worry about it at all, so that’s definitely a huge advantage to the seven threes and just the power strokes in general.
So the super duty just has a better interior all around. I think comfort, quality – everything i am a cummins fan through and through, but i’ve got to hand it to the 7-3, like just the super duty body style after 99. They really stepped it up and i think ford kind of set the bar in terms of quality like if you look at the chevys from that area. You look at the rams from that era. It’S just not even close, like, like ford completely set the bar on those trucks for what interior quality it should be yeah and this jeep.
This is really where the super duties pull away from the obs body style trucks, so the obs body style. So, like the early 90s trucks, they do feel a little bit cheaper, granted not as cheap as the second gens, but they definitely felt a little bit cheaper, a little bit flimsier when the super duty body style came out and uh that really kind of changed things. For for ford – and they really, i think, stepped it up in terms of interior comfort, quality everything else, the other thing that we noticed. Actually we got tape, measure out, liam’s truck the super duty. Buy style has inches more space inside.
So you measured your cab from the back of the cab to the dashboard at 69. Inches 39. Inches. Look at he’s all excited about that. This one was 65 inches from the dashboard to the back and i actually didn’t think they were that different.
But when you got the tape measure out, it doesn’t lie, there’s a big difference. Yeah there’s, definitely a difference so yeah. Definitely you notice more interior space on the super duty body style, and this isn’t even the crew cab right. So this is extended. Cap short bed truck versus extended cap short bed truck, so definitely um.
The super duty gets the window interior build quality and i think overall, comfort. I think yours gets the win too. I would say so: yeah yeah. It definitely just feels more modern overall, too yeah. So the next big thing that i wanted to talk about was kind of reliability and maintenance on these trucks.
Both of these are legendary for their reliability. I mean both these trucks. There’S a couple flaws here and there, if you really dig into it, but overall these are some of the most reliable diesel trucks ever put on the road in terms of maintenance, though um i think that’s where they start to separate so ease of, like simple maintenance, Like oil changes and stuff, i would say the 7.3 takes the cake. I mean how easy is to do an oil change on your truck.
It’S super yeah, the oil filter’s right there. The fuel filters right on top of the engine bay. Ford really made it easy for everything that you’re touching for basic maintenance to be super super easy to access, yeah, basic maintenance for sure yeah and on the 24 valve 5.9 trucks. It’S a little bit more difficult.
So accessing the oil filter is not hard, but you got to take the intake tube off um to get to the fuel filters actually kind of a pain on these trucks, so basic maintenance stuff. I think the super duty wins by far in terms of more extensive maintenance. Stuff, like let’s say, you’re replacing a turbo. You lose. I’M sorry, you take the cake on that yeah.
So on the 5.9, it’s just how simple this engine is. It’S actually, if you actually go by the numbers uh, it’s fractionally uh, less moving parts on the 5
9 versus a 7.3, so it’s just it’s a simpler engine platform. It’S more compact, everything’s, easier to get to the turbo’s right.
There injectors are right. There i mean just if you’re really tearing down one of these engines and having to like replace a head gasket or something i would way rather do it on the 5.9. It’S just the the engine architecture is so brilliantly simple and i think that’s what comes nailed and that’s why dodge partner with cummins is because their engine design is just just beautifully simple everything about. It is so easy to work on so well designed.
It’S basically like everything just boiled down to its perfect essence. I think, and i’m a commons fan, but as a 7.3 fan, i don’t know how you feel. I agree with that for sure yeah i mean like your seventh round. Three has been super reliable, but when you do have to work on like how hard does it replace the starter, uh stars, not too terrible, but anything that’s on the top or on the sides in the back?
Just because there’s so much motor in there 7.3 liters and the space it takes up. It’S it’s a pain yeah for sure, definitely so so, for what it’s worth, if you’re having to work on one of these, which is going to be rare, definitely cummins takes the win yeah now in terms of reliability. I really want to bring liam on because he works at a construction company that has a bunch of these trucks on the yard and you’ll notice. I did a video of 99 to 99 high low mileage trucks, and one of those trucks is actually one trucks.
They have here in the yard, and so you guys have got really good experience with high mileage, which one is more reliable for you guys between five nine and seven three yeah cause you got both they’ve, both been very reliable. I would say the five nine takes. The cake, the downtime on the 5
9 is definitely less um where’s the 7-3. I know we had to replace injectors oil cooler stuff like that, but it really all in all. It hasn’t been terrible for either of them, but the 5.
definitely for both like high mileage trucks, the 5.9. Definitely then you say high mileage: what’s the mileage that they’re both at right now, the ford’s at around just shy of 500 000 and the dodge, i’m not mistaken, that’s it was like 385 just shot at four yeah. So both those are high mileage. But i guess five: nine takes the win there, just barely just barely, but i guess, if you’re talking overall, like mileage wise for 500 000 miles that ford yeah, that thing gets parts from a to b, it gets fuel a to b, never really had an issue With it, yeah maintain it so both good trucks, yeah, so to wrap this thing up.
Uh we got ta decide which one’s the winner here and i think i’d love to hear from you guys. What you think is the win on both these trucks and obviously everyone’s gon na come into this with their personal preferences right, i love cummins, you love powerstroke, but all in all legitimately, comparing the two trucks side to side, which one would you take home like if Both were equal, both were just as clean. Both were identical, which one would you rather have all right? Well, i have to qualify first, if it’s between these two trucks, i’m taking mine, because the history i have with it and yeah all that, but if i were to take the same trucks and they’re both cherry, i think i’ll take the five nine. Why?
I don’t know i just but driving both of them today i would take the five nine. It’S just the the feeling that you get with it and the look of it. I don’t know i just i like it better huh, but okay. That surprises me. I thought i genuinely thought you were gon na pick.
Yours, yeah, yeah, well, yeah. I would but i i’m almost flipped, so i i love my truck. I really do, but i also love the 7.3. I love the sound.
I love the power delivery. I love the transmission um, the suspension kind of sucks, but i wouldn’t mind o5 axle, swapping it and doing like a carly system on it, so that wouldn’t scare me too much um the interior, comfort’s better. The build quality is better. I think the answers just have both honestly, that’s probably what i would try and do that’s probably what i’m going to try and do i don’t know i probably couldn’t decide, but i’m curious what you guys think no like if you, if all of you could only Own one truck where you had to daily drive it work, it do everything which one would you own i’d, probably just try and on both personally can i say something too yeah. I think also.
The reason why i’m leaning towards the dodge right now is where the companies are at now i don’t know i just i like the present dodge more than the present forward. Maybe that’s what’s kind of maybe that’s a future video, maybe we’ll have to do one more. Comparing more so, if you guys enjoy this, let me know shoot a comment down below. Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate it and yeah.
If you have any video ideas stuff, you want to see in the future comment it down below liam. Thank you for lending your truck and your time yeah appreciate it see you guys later
