OK fellas, thanks for the info. All of this is extremely useful. Both motors make similar HP and torque, the Detroit will work better with the 13 speed, the Cummins has more abundant parts, and the like. Now, being that both motors will work with my application, I think that I will go with a 6-71 for 2 reasons:
One: I am making a unique vehicle here. John Deere green cab, orange snow plow, some oddly-colored crane on an old army truck. I want this to have a unique engine as well. Cummins are everywhere in trucks. Detroits are quickly dying out, and I want to preserve a special part of the trucking industry that helped build it. It's a unique motor that functions very well that is falling by the wayside, and I think it is only appropriate that one power my vehicle.
Two: I like working on trucks. I really enjoy nothing more than tearing something apart and puting it back together. I would just as well drive a truck as work on it.
There is NOTHING else I do in my spare time. Eat, sleep, and go work on "that big green, butt-fugly lawn orniment that gets in the way of mowing..." If it needs frequent work/maintainence, this is my kind of motor.
Also, for you guys calculating speed out, read the first part of my post. I am working on a 5-ton, not a deuce. The 5-tons have 6.44 gears, not 6.71.
Thanks again for all the info. You guys are AWESOME. I could have never hoped to have this many people be this willing to help out, or pour this much info into a simple engine comparison. I found this site by accident, and have yet to regret it.
Thanks again to everyone.