cummins - Diesel Forum

1hoover · 07-09-2008, 01:45 AM

I put this question up on the powerstroke board and wanted to put it here also because I have a 6.9 E350. What does the international do better than the cummins?

arthurgoboom · 07-09-2008, 12:08 PM

...anchor boats?

Seriously, the only advantage I can think of for the 6.9 IH over a 5.9 cummins is it's an IDI, which makes it more adept to running on alternative fuels (vegetable oil and waste motor oil blends). It's also cheaper to repair the fuel system when something goes wrong.

The cummins wins in both power and reliability.

Fordiesel69 · 07-09-2008, 09:40 PM

The powerstroke and the P7100 pumped and VP44 pumped 5.9L cummins are very expensive to repair and both have equal weaknesses. I would agree cummins hold the flag for durability and power potential. The old IDI's were just designed for light duty apps. The 5.9 is a medium duty engine.

1hoover · 07-09-2008, 10:16 PM

Thanks. I have wondered this for a while.I have a 6.9 and a 12v.and the 12v
is definately a better performer. Didnt know if there was something that isnt obvious. The idi is not a bad point.

macmaniac1 · 07-10-2008, 09:59 AM

hmmm! A friend of mine a car dealer challenged his buddy a motor cycle and car dealer to a race. This is after a dodge dealer totally sold the motor cycle dealer on a new 97 dodge rollback to replace his older turbo ford rollback. The two rollbacks were setup the same as far as gearing and trans. The ford had a slight dissadvantage. It seems that the owners employees had ran several tanks of gas threw because they didn't realize you were supposed to fill it with diesel. This is one of the reasons that the owner wanted to buy a new truck. He thought the engine in the old one was screwed by running gas threw it. The challenge was to transport a two cars of equal size on each truck from an auction about three hours away in pa to home. The car dealer drove the old ford and the motorcyle dealer drove the new dodge. The result was that the ford beat the dodge back home by over half an hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ford pulled away on the hills and kept on going. They decided to get the cars weighed and the ford was slightly heavier. How is that for performance! I believe that you will find out that the factory v-8 fords could out run the factory cummins at takeoff and on the hills in the earlier setups. As far as reliability goes there are alot more old ford diesels running around my neck of the woods than dodge. Might not be engine related. It just might be that the older dodge trucks just fell apart faster than the fords.

jmd025 · 07-14-2008, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macmaniac1

hmmm! A friend of mine a car dealer challenged his buddy a motor cycle and car dealer to a race. This is after a dodge dealer totally sold the motor cycle dealer on a new 97 dodge rollback to replace his older turbo ford rollback. The two rollbacks were setup the same as far as gearing and trans. The ford had a slight dissadvantage. It seems that the owners employees had ran several tanks of gas threw because they didn't realize you were supposed to fill it with diesel. This is one of the reasons that the owner wanted to buy a new truck. He thought the engine in the old one was screwed by running gas threw it. The challenge was to transport a two cars of equal size on each truck from an auction about three hours away in pa to home. The car dealer drove the old ford and the motorcyle dealer drove the new dodge. The result was that the ford beat the dodge back home by over half an hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ford pulled away on the hills and kept on going. They decided to get the cars weighed and the ford was slightly heavier. How is that for performance! I believe that you will find out that the factory v-8 fords could out run the factory cummins at takeoff and on the hills in the earlier setups. As far as reliability goes there are alot more old ford diesels running around my neck of the woods than dodge. Might not be engine related. It just might be that the older dodge trucks just fell apart faster than the fords.

I think you are confused!

I at least hope you are talking about a powerstoke or something because a NA IDI don't outrun much of anything with a turbo. And this was a 97 cummins too huh.
Don't get me wrong, I love my ole Fords, but comparing these engines is definately apples to oranges.

ken wilhelm · 07-15-2008, 08:33 AM

you fellas are missin the piont here ,the 6.9 is a reliable motor with good power for its time the ford trucks these went in are still on the road ford put great time and money into its work horses the cummins might be a stronger motor but show me the numbers on how many dodge trucks are still on the road from the 6.9 era

jmd025 · 07-15-2008, 04:35 PM

See my sig. The 90 model Dodge had 456,289 miles on it when the odometer broke 3.5 yrs ago. Original engine, I have replaced the upper radiator hose, the valve cover gaskets, and a few serpentine belts. It tows heavy and runs hard and is 'trust it with my life' reliable.

The guy asked why people say a cummins is better than an IDI. Some posters gave there opinions. Then somebody went and stretched the truth about an IDI "blowing the doors off" a P pumped 12 valve, with a load.

Im a Ford fan. I like all diesels, yeah even 6.2s and 6.5s. But I have also owned or driven them all, and know some of thier ins and outs. IDIs fall short of Cummins in most areas.

Flame suit on!

EDIT: I see that the rollback was some old TURBO ford that had been running on gasoline some. Still doesn't change my opinion.

LMJD · 07-15-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Then somebody went and stretched the truth about an IDI "blowing the doors off" a P pumped 12 valve, with a load.

Im a Ford fan. I like all diesels, yeah even 6.2s and 6.5s. But I have also owned or driven them all, and know some of thier ins and outs. IDIs fall short of Cummins in most areas.

I agree, the above story you're referring to falls laughingly short of any kind of a sensible comparison test to put it mildly.

I've never owned a Dodge Cummins but I was sent to a school on that engine about a year before Dodge started putting it in their pickups. It started out as an industrial heavy equipment med duty engine. We were getting a number of loaders with the 5.9 and a few graders with the bigger "sister" engine. It was definitely designed internally to be more than a pickup truck engine. At the school we tore both engines (in test stands) down to the bare blocks, then re-assembled both and had them running in no time. Simple, uncomplicated, but double-tough. I remember the instructors said they were designed to be "international" engines. By that he meant they could be sent to the third world countries in the middle of nowhere and major repairs could be done with a minimun of hand tools compared to many other diesels.

Quote:

The 90 model Dodge had 456,289 miles on it .....

Yea, I also know of one on a ranch out of Casper, Wy, and as of five years ago it had over 400,000 on it and never any major engine work. The truck's the old body style so that would make it pre-'91 I guess.
On the other hand, I've got no complaints against my 7.3 either. 239,000 and no major engine work other than routine mantainance like water pumps, etc. Only time I had the valve covers off was to re-torque the heads when I installed my ATS turbo. I'm even still on my original starter.

1hoover · 07-16-2008, 10:58 AM

Thanks good stories and info.