Ram has two excellent diesel engines in its pocket right now with the 6.7-liter Cummins I6 and the 3.0-liter Ecodiesel V6, but you won't find either of them in the company's go-anywhere Power Wagon. Mike Cairns, head of engineering with Ram Trucks, says the company looked at both options when it came time to build the 2014 Power Wagon, but the company nixed both. Why?

Cummins 6BT

The big Cummins is powerful but terminally heavy. The Power Wagon already weighs over 7000 lbs with its 6.4-liter gasoline V8, and shoving a cast-iron inline-six in the nose wasn't going to help the truck's off-road prowess. Throw in the fact that the 6.7 is a long engine, and there wasn't room for the 12,000-lb Warn winch behind the bumper.

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Chrysler/VM Motori Ecodiesel V6

As for the 3.0-liter Ecodiesel, the engine simply wasn't up to the task of pulling duty in the Power Wagon. Despite legitimate off-road tricks like locking differentials front and rear and an electronic sway bar disconnect, the pickup is still a three-quarter-ton mule, and it needs to offer the kind of tow rating buyers have come to expect from a standard Ram 2500.While the 3.0-liter engine is stout enough for the Ram 1500 line, it simply doesn't have the muscle for the Power Wagon.

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Cummins V8

I also asked Cairns about the 5.0-liter Cummins V8 Nissan and Toyota plan to use in the Titan and Tundra. Ram eyeballed that project for the 2014 Power Wagon. Before the bankruptcy, Chrysler worked with Cummins to develop that engine, and while the packaging is better than the big 6.7, the engine doesn't offer significant weight savings or power advantages over the gasoline 6.4. By the time all was said and done, the engine would also cost customers as much as the larger inline-six.

So Ram hears your pleas for a diesel Power Wagon, but no such truck is on the horizon. Now you know why.

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