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28,330 Posts
Honestly man, any of the CRs are good. Theres little quirks here and there, but you really cant go wrong with any.
The 03s, and possibly the 04s, had an issue with the u-joints binding. They make a kind of growling noise, but likely any truck youd buy now would have had those replaced. And the lift pumps on these arent as good as the in-tank pumps on later trucks, although some have been retrofitted to the in-tank units
05s had plastic end tanks on the intercooler; added boost can blow those out.
As far as tuneability, their all more than capable of making huge power. 04.5-07 325hp trucks respond better to simple mods than the earlier trucks do. This is because of the bigger turbo, electronic wastegate, third injection event (probably the biggest reason). Take a Smarty and put it on an 04.5+ truck itll flat walk an 03/04. The 03/04 runs out of air on the topend; the wastegate opens early whereas the 04.5+ wastegate is electronic and a programmer can disable it.
The 03/04 gets better mileage. Its definately noticable even not calculating. And get into injectors and modded pumps and the 03/04 trucks make plenty of power. I can think of 3 or 4 off the top of my head that are over 1000 on fuel, all 03/04 models.
As far as recalls and such, I have no idea
The 03s, and possibly the 04s, had an issue with the u-joints binding. They make a kind of growling noise, but likely any truck youd buy now would have had those replaced. And the lift pumps on these arent as good as the in-tank pumps on later trucks, although some have been retrofitted to the in-tank units
05s had plastic end tanks on the intercooler; added boost can blow those out.
As far as tuneability, their all more than capable of making huge power. 04.5-07 325hp trucks respond better to simple mods than the earlier trucks do. This is because of the bigger turbo, electronic wastegate, third injection event (probably the biggest reason). Take a Smarty and put it on an 04.5+ truck itll flat walk an 03/04. The 03/04 runs out of air on the topend; the wastegate opens early whereas the 04.5+ wastegate is electronic and a programmer can disable it.
The 03/04 gets better mileage. Its definately noticable even not calculating. And get into injectors and modded pumps and the 03/04 trucks make plenty of power. I can think of 3 or 4 off the top of my head that are over 1000 on fuel, all 03/04 models.
As far as recalls and such, I have no idea
arty018:
