I sold my Cummins to buy my Power Wagon, and I'm still excited.
There, now that my heresy is out of the way
I have owned two Cummins, a 2001 and a 1992, and I loved both. I have never driven the new 6.7's, but I understand them to be amazing. I was very very specific about my needs in buying this new truck though, and it is exactly what I wanted it to be. I bought a heavily used 2011 Ram 2500 SLT Power Wagon with all the options except for the sunroof and leather seats. This thing was a law enforcement truck from New Mexico with 150,000 miles and has been beat and thrashed, and still runs and rides like a dream - no squeaks, leaks, rattles, odd noises, anything. I totally agree that the Cummins will be more fun to drive. It isn't necessarily even about the power. I sold my 1992 Cummins to buy this truck, and I still miss driving the '92! It isn't how much torque it has, it's that the torque comes on right at the bottom that makes it fun. The Hemi is a higher-revving engine. This truck is probably 10x easier and more enjoyable to drive than my last truck in every aspect though haha. One of the deciding factors on me getting a Power Wagon was that it did NOT have the Cummins in it. The weight difference between the two motors is almost 800lbs! All that goes on the front axle and leads to poor ride quality offroad and more blown tires. Maintenance cost is higher on the Cummins, and unless you remove the emissions equipment on the Cummins I would actually put them in the same ballpark in terms of reliability. I absolutely love that my truck has a manual transfer case, full skidplates, front and rear lockers plus rear limited slip, 4.56 gears, the disconnecting swaybar that was copied to make the Rubicon's bar, and softer lifted springs. I am about to start building a pop-up camper for mine, and will be putting some serious King shocks on it soon as well.
On your question of the Power Wagon and weight capacity - the only thing dropping its payload is the rear springs. If you got a used 2003-2013 you could pay $1000 and get a Carli spring pack for the rear built to handle a constant 1500lbs in the bed, and still have a truck that blows both a standard Ram and Ford 250/2500 out of the water on ride quality. For the newer trucks, you can swap a regular 2500's springs into the rear and get all the payload you need, or put in Carli Long Travel airbags.
I love my 5.7 Hemi for what I use it for. It does great offroad, it weighs way less than a diesel, the center of gravity of the engine is super low in the engine bay, it is easy and cheap to work on with lots of knowledge out there. It gets crap fuel efficiency, but that is almost a complete wash against the Cummins due to maintenance costs and being beat up offroad.
If you have suspension questions, call Don Thuren at Thuren Fabrication or Radio at Carli Suspension. They are the pros and nobody else is at their level. I wouldn't touch AEV with a 20 foot pole, but that's my personal opinion. Their JK stuff is sweet, but the dropped the ball big time with the Rams. You can get a race-ready suspension kit from Carli or Thuren for less money than the AEV suspension kit that is nothing more than spacers and new shocks and a trackbar. Their bumper also fails to address any problems of the stock bumper... but it's pretty
Just my 2 cents, but I wish you the best looking for your new vehicle!
P.S. look on the PowerStroke Nation forum, then on the Power Wagon Registry forum and tell me which group is more helpful... :rolling: