BigNutt:
<P>Some of you are CRAZY!</P>
<P>Talking about how more trucks arn't better equiped for offroad?</P>
<P>Thats the whole reasone I bought my 04' Ram 2500 Hemi 4x4, it has straight axles and its not a Ford POS. I am a Chevy man, but I hate IFS and I can't imagine offroading with it. My truck can safely run 40" MT/Rs because the strength of my axles, IFS trucks can't handle a 33" tire w/ serious offroad use. Plus I just ordered front and rear ARB air lockers.</P>
<P>I got a Hemi over (the best made) Cummins because it was cheaper and alot lighter, which helps a ton offroad.</P>

Without starting a flame war here, I find the name "Hemi" insulting when applied to a 5.7 motor that Dodge pushes. See I remember and had the privilege of riding in and driving REAL Hemi's (426's) when they were new and in their prime and they were something!!! Comparing the 5.7 hemi to that motor is like comparing a V6 to a V8 or a small V8 to a warm BB. The new "hemi" has some nice "numbers" but it simply lacks the displacement for serious torque. If Dodge had just made it a 6.5 or 6.7 or so, then they might have had something of a serious SUV motor. Even the old V10 truck motor soundly stomps the new Hemi in real USABLE power and torque. They were quite arguable the most powerful gas tow motor ever put in a SUV it real world towing power. Leave it to Dodge to "replace" a 8 liter V10 with serious torque with a 5.7 liter wanabe....  

In 69,ooh wait you werent even born for30 years ford had to copy the hemispherical chamber,just to try to be competitive against DODGE.chevy had a semi hemi chamber thing going for awhile in the 60's.nissan has a hemi head on the hard body wheelers from back in the day.Every one uses the design.I THINK YOU GOT YOUR PRIDE HANDED TO YOU BY A DODGE,AND EVERY ONE SAW YOU BRAG AND LOSE.Oh and by the way.i towed a crew cab 70's dually ford welding truck at 9k for five miles,to get a friend from trouble.IN MY NISSAN 4 BANGER WITH THE HEMI HEADED ENGINE.ITS NOT WHAT YOU DRIVE ,ITS HOW YOU USE IT.I PULLED MORE BRANDS OUT OF THE STUCK WITH MY DODGE,AND ONCE PULLED A 3500 CHEVY,HOOKED TO THE BACK OF A ford.thats what real wheelers do,we work together,we dont start arguments we dont sit by and talk while the others do the work. drive what you got and enjoy!  

even though i was born after the glory days of the hemi i am still a fan of older hemis. what do you think about the new 6.1 liter hemi avaialable in the new dodge challeneger? i know it's not a older hemi but at least its a little better than the 5.7 hemi. any thoughts?  

THE 6.1 looks a little easyer to mod, there's a moparts 392 hemi at 525 horses that is plug n play also,that one would be real tasty in a tj! put moparts on your google and see whats out there.ya can even get the viper 10 for round 26k.  

91blazer:
even though i was born after the glory days of the hemi i am still a fan of older hemis. what do you think about the new 6.1 liter hemi avaialable in the new dodge challeneger? i know it's not a older hemi but at least its a little better than the 5.7 hemi. any thoughts?

I think that the 6.1 "hemi" would be a nice engine in the right car. Big SUV need engine with lots of lower end torque and not HP peaks well above 5000 RPM. Dodge would have done well to even to have made a truck version of 6.1 with less HP and a lower RPM peak for it and more torque at lower RPMs with a torque peak at a much lower RPM. People see the number of HP and are impressed but do not realize that it is at the expense of lower RPM power and efficiency. I do not tow at 5000 RPM nor even 4000 RPM on long grades downshifted. I like a gas engine that peaks its torque by 3000 RPM or a bit less as they do better towing and do not suffer as much in MPG when towing too.  

Ford, Dodge, Chevy, it doesn't matter. I like mine, you like yours, and we get to argue about them. If you care about the facts, go sit on the side of ANY road and count tow trucks. Super Duties rule, 10 to 1 at least. Wreckers have to be able to pull, have to be reliable, have to get the job done no matter what the weather is like. Diesels are for work, cummins, power stroke, it doesnt matter, 500+ lb/ft of touque below 2500rpm? Contest over. Hemi is just a clever add campaign, not one engine ever built has had a "hemispherical" combustion chamber. "semi-hemi" at best, and most all manufactuers have made one. Chrysler was just smart enough to copyright the name.  

I drove a few real Hemi's (the 426's that gave the name some clout) long ago when they were in their prime and the Dodge 5.7 DOES NOT due the 426 or Hemi namesake proud. They would have done far better to keep V10 option for HD gas trucks as those engines were beasts.  

Years ago I was driving around out in the country, and heard a magical sound, I kept driving until I found the source, two 426 hemi engines, connected crank to crank driving an irragation pump, ever hear a v-16 hemi?  

What a sad waste of some fine engines....  

my 5.4 wont lose to a hemi, but its not exactly a fair race. mine happens to be connected to a lightning with a pretty eaton sitting on top of it. btw im not really a big fan of dodge either. cummins are nice besides that i could care less about dodge.  

and happens to be two wheel drive and boosted, so its not even a fair comparison, but, look on the you tube and put in either truck viper truck or lightning,,man those fords are fast!  

About the SRT10 and the Lightning. First of all the srt10 has a dodge viper engine in it. The Lightning doesnt exactly have a super car engine. If Ford put a Ford GT engine in the Lightning it would beat the srt10, half throttle. and Im pretty sure the srt10 is turboed or supercharged. and i said PRETTY sure.  

A SRT 10 is naturally aspired. If it had forced induction it would be even harder to "manage" as it could easily exceed 600 hp with a mild boost.  

But it would stil be like putting a Ford GT engine in a Lightning, it is simply an unfair race.