I've been looking into buying a new truck and there are a couple cummins right near me. I've never owned or worked on a dodge, mostly chevy's and jeeps so far. One of the trucks is a 97 and the others a 99 so from what I've read so far that makes the 97 a 12valve and the 99 a 24 valve. They're both pretty much the same setup (cc lb) and the price is the same but the 99 has 245k miles and the 97 only has 173k. I'll try to include links here. What are some of the Dodge "gremlins" that I've read about on here and which truck should I lean towards? I'd like to do some mods to it, probably small (inexpensive) stuff at first like exhaust and intake and maybe the plate thing, I'm not sure what you call it (fuel plate?). Is going to a 10 plate or whichever profile going to be what gives you some smoke? Also with fuel prices the way they are I'm going to be looking for the best economy possible. I need some schooling here so help a possible soon to be Cumminshead out.

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Hey Jesse....

Ive got a 98 12V and a 01 24V - go for the 12V.

Why? Well, theres a number of reasons - heres just a couple:

1) the injector pump in a 97 is a mechanical Bosch P-7100 and is referred to as the "Million Mile Pump" and its just about bulletproof. You wont have to worry about the fuel supply issues that plague the second gen 24 V's and wont have to spend money on an expensive lift pump upgrade

2) Mild to medium HP upgrades are much cheaper than on the 24 V. There is no fuel plate on a 24V. With the 24V you will have to buy a computer box that changes the fuel map of the injector pump. Thats not saying a 24V isnt good - but they tend to be a little less reliable than a 12V. 12Vs are not without their issues but most guys tend to like them better.

And you can make a 12V smoke like a frieght train (which sounds like what you are after)...

Thats a quick bit of info off the top of my head...fire away if you have any more questions and someone will be sure to chime in.

 

I had a feeling the 12v was going to be the answer, I really just wanted to know what its advantages were over the 24v/vp44 setup. Thanks alot and keep em coming. What does go wrong with these trucks? Dodges do have a reputation for falling apart and eating trannys. What can I do to prevent this?

 

Dodges do not fall apart. Who told you that? A Ford or Chevy guy?

And they eat trannys due to the large amount of torque these inline 6's produce.

 

oh come down here to texas if there drove long enough or worked they fall apart i can show u many beds comalongs are holding together, other than that u cant beat a 12v

 

I'm a chevy guy

 

...


I used to be too - until I mashed the go pedal on a mighty CUMMINS

 

Beware of KDP (Killer Dowel Pin) and blocks with the "53" casting number!
A quick search of the forums will turn up plenty of info.

I beiieve *both* of those trucks are canidates for both problems. You can simply look for the 53 casting on the block (or worse yet, the stream of coolant below the exhaust manifold). You will just have to ask the owner if the KDP has been fixed.

 

You wont find a #53 block on a 97 12V - only on 98-2001.5's....

 

I read about the kdp on the frybrid site and a few other problems to look out for. I'm considering wvo or bio-d but for the amount of work that goes into the wvo kit and filtering the oil it seems like you might as well just make bio and then you can just put it in any diesel engine. I'll look into the 53 block.

one thing I'm curious about with the 12v is the vin that was provided on autotrader has a couple digits that don't seem right. The vin is 3B7KF23D8VM504205 and the bold letters should be 6U from what I've found of the dodge vins if it is a 97 12v