Well after owning the truck for 2 weeks, I finally have all the hitches needed and brake controllers hooked up, time to load the ponys and take them for a ride.

After dropping the coupler on the trailer about 3" to make the trailer ride level(see other post about how Dodge is so High) now I have enough room between the top of the bed and the trailer I can get my head in there easiley(could barley get my arm in between the Dodge and the trailer).

Loaded 2 1250lb Quarter horses and one 800lb. pony in the rear of 6' shortwall 3 horse slant 4 Star. Loaded with tack and off we go.

I live next to the Kentucky river and there is this hill on I-64 that goes down and across the river and back up the other side. We call it "river hill" No problem for the Dmax and Allison(my wife don't like all this talk about "Allison"). Truck seems to have plenty of power, it doesn't have the takeoff power that the Cummins has, but it has plenty. The difference is in this "Allison" that's going to take some getting used to. The damn thing downshifts on it's own to help you slow down. How's that happening? I think I like it. It is a very different feel than I'm used to. Anywho I hauled the horses around for about an hour for no other reasons than to get a feel for my new truck. They seemed to enjoy the extra attention(grain) and everyone is back in the field trailer is back in the parking spot and "Allison" is in her garage. Cost me a nice dinner for the wife last night after all this talk about "Allison", I think she going to be allright, the wife I mean.

Overall I think the Duramax has plenty of power, maybe not as much torque as the Cummins, the truck rides much better, maybe not a fair compairison due to the Dodge was a 1 Ton, the GMC is a 3/4. But the Allison tranny makes up for any percieved lack of torque in the Dmax. For what I'm doing, I feel much better with the GMC, My trailer is riding completely level as it was designed to. I didn't get the feeling that the trailer was going to hit the cab(truck is a shortbed). But I was really paying attention to not turn it to sharp. So for the first trip I am pleased with my new truck.

As far as looks go, A black 4 door Dodge Dually 4X4 sitting tall and looking tough(all of that meant something to me).

A white GMC 4 door shortbed single rear wheel(imagine road crew truck). I have some wheels on order, tinted the windows, may try some stripes.

You get the picture. I'll be allright.

Thanks for the 1st hand review.  Sounds like a good time was had by all (including Allison).  You might be interested to read this review; http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=115662/pageNumber=1

"Hitching up the big Axis trailer was the real test, however, and the Silverado walked away from the Dodge and Ford there, too. With the trailer in tow and over a ton of bricks in the bed, the Chevrolet maintained the highest average speed up the pass and covered the 12-mile distance nearly a minute faster than both the Dodge and Ford. "

It talks about the "downshifting" you mentioned. It also seemed, at least in the review, that the Chevy easily outpulled the Dodge and the Ford.  You mentioned a perceived lack of pull off the line - I wonder if it really is less torquey, or if it just goes about it differently.

Have an awsome time with the new wheels - I'm real happy it leveled things out for you.

Steve

The Silverado had more gears than the Dodge.  Hardly a fair fight... but bad on Dodge for being slow to the table on an automatic with enough gears to compete with the latest offerings from Ford and GM.

For the automatic folks...  I'm sorry for you.  :-)

That gearing problem has been fixed this year...  I fixed the problem in 2006 by going with a 6-speed manual, and have never had a problem in any tangle with a Ford or GM truck.  Amazing what a Cummins will do when you can keep it in its powerband, and those of you who spec automatic transmissions on a Cummins are really missing out!!

Those "road tests" do little more than make the "winning brand" owners feel good about their purchase.  Real world rubber on the road is what counts, and that comes down to how a truck is spec'd or even what day it was built...

Buy what you like or what you can afford...  HW, glad you're liking your new truck.