I wouldnt say the 12v is overrated.....over used, put in stuff that is just not practical and stupid.....yes.
If it can be put in for reasonable cost, and truck will get used in a way to take advantage of a diesel engine, 12v valve is a pretty easy yes for me. Especially if the truck is torn apart and the idi needs a significant amount of work.
Whether or not the 12V is overrated really boils down to opinion. Personal preference.
I have had a lot of experience with them, and while I do like them for the most part, there are plenty of things about them that I don’t like.
I’ll leave Ford vs Dodge out of this, once again a matter of opinion.
I also have been around them in paving machines, tractors, irrigation pumps, gensets, and other equipment.
The old 12Vs are f**king
loud. You cannot escape the noise. A good muffler will quiet down the exhaust plenty, but the rattle and engine noise persists. And while from a distance their sound is generally pleasant, being near one, especially in a piece of machinery rather than a truck, may cause disdain. It has for me.
I am not the best about wearing hearing protection, especially after a particular incident, but regardless, I am certain that the 12V Cummins has played a part in my hearing loss, which I have all too much of at too young an age.
That is probably the main reason why I consider them overrated, but truly, many of their positive traits can be found with plenty of other engines. The 12V is a neat package, but still has some drawbacks.
The killer dowel pin is probably a bigger scare than an actual issue, but still a potential fail point nonetheless.
They are great engines, and especially if circumstances are less than ideal, they start far better than an IDI, but in reality, while they have more potential, in both performance and reliability, and are certainly an excellent engine, they are not perfect. Nor is any other engine.
I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to putting a 5.9 Cummins in an older Ford truck, and it’s possible that I might even be interested in doing so myself someday. But they aren’t perfect, and there are plenty of people who talk them up to be.
In short, the 5.9 Cummins won’t solve all your problems. But they are excellent engines.
Oh and the VE pump engines are gutless. Shoot me if you want. I think they’re gutless. Stock to stock a 6.9 could run circles around one. With the same upgrades to each (both intercooled with the fuel screw turned up) they are probably comparable, but a hopped up 6.9 isn’t exactly setting the bar high…
P pump engines can make easy power, and yes it’s possible to make power with a VE pump, but also possible to make power with an IDI. The level of difficulty in doing so is probably similar.
I have had a well maintained 24V (farm feed truck) let me down more often than any of my IDIs. I am not particularly fond of those engines, although not entirely scarred from them. I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to owning one, but I do think I would prefer a 12V. Neither one is quieter than the other anyways in my experience…
I have very little against the common rail engines.
The 5.9 and 6.7s all seem to be more prone to gelling than an IDI… they use the same fuel so perhaps that doesn’t make sense, but that has been my experience. It probably helps that the DB2 injection pumps return so much more fuel than really any Cummins pump does.