Hi all i am new here and a new diesel owner as of two weeks now i am looking to get all the info i can good or bad about my new to me truck..the title says 2004 (but says in the door jam Dec 2003) 3500 Ram dually with a 5.9HO automatic trans my vin# has a DMUCXG in it dont know if you guys need more than that...it has 67,000 miles on it its a one owner..it has air bag helpers in the rear leafs a fifth wheel hitch in the bed A pillar gauges a six gun on it as well as a banks red intake thingy sorry its all new to me..what should i look out for? what should i add to make it better this is my DD right now i will be towing an enclosed trailer from time to time with at this time 2 ATVs with all the camping gear as well..i want to keep it very reliable any help on this would be great thank you!

 

They are good trucks for sure just like any other with the right maintenance and care. I may be mistaken but I thought only manual transmissions came in high output but someone will chime in to help. It was made in 2003 but is a 2004 truck which I believe is the early 04. Check the sticker on the side of the engine to see. If it is an early 04 it will have 305hp/585tq I believe. If its 325hp/600tq its an 04.5. I am not a fan of Banks anything and would personally get rid of it except for the intake horn. My suggestion is get new tuning (Smarty, Edge, Quadzilla etc.) are good. Just change the oil regularly, injectors should be good for a while, some exhaust manifolds had problems with cracking on the 03-04 models, get a FASS or Airdog lift pump as soon as possible, other than that just regular maintenance and you should be good! Sounds like a sweet truck man.

 

Thanks for the reply..i am looking at the original window sticker that came with the truck the vin on it matches the vin of the truck and it says 5.9HO i guess i need to pop the hood and get some #s ..the lift pump thing is that like a fuel pump? does it go in the tank? also should i add an after market water fuel separtor i have seen them on some diesels mounted on there frames looks like two oil filters..sorry i am new to all of this i am reading post after post to try and smarten up..thank you for any help..oh its also a four door Laramie 4X4..

 

The Air Dog or Fass come in different configurations, but imho, the best setup is what you have seen. It replaces or supplements the lift pump, then goes through the filters you've seen on the frame. One is a fuel filter and the other is a water separator. Very, very good idea.

 

Im with tdiezel im pretty sure that it only came out on the 6sp atleast thats what all the reading ive done has told me whats the 8th character of your vin

 

no they were all hos after 2003

 

The 03-early 04's HO engines were available with either the NV-5600 6-speed manual or the 48RE automatic transmissions. The SO engines came with either the NV-4500 5-speed manual or 47RE automatics. The HO's were rated at 305HP @ 2900rpm and 555Lb-Ft of torque @ 1400 rpm, which is why you will sometimes hear these engines referred to as the "triple nickel" Cummins. In 04.5, the "Cummins 600" was introduced and the SO and HO monikers were dropped. It was rated at 325hp @ 2900 and 600 lb-ft @ 1600 and was only available with the 6-speed manual or the 48RE auto.

 

learn something new everyday

 

The 8th character of the vin is C i looked at the valve cover today it says 305hp..should i be worrying about this in tank not in tank lift pump i have been hearing about ??? some people i have talked to say my year did not have this issue and dont worry until it happens..the problem with waiting for it to happen is i would bet a million its not going to happen in my drive way so i would rather fix it now if this needs to be done..thank you for the replies on this any more info?

 

Ok that clears up the HO stuff haha. What you have in your tank is a basket that catches the fuel in the tank for the lift pump to suck up. There is nothing in tank you need to worry about I would say. The lift pump pulls the fuel out of the tank and sends it to your injection pump (CP3). If the CP3 has to pull fuel from the tank because the lift pump failed, it will damage your CP3 and trust me from experience, they are not cheap. Definitely get and Airdog or FASS with the water and fuel filters.