Ideas for beginner mods?
 

Hey there. Well, I guess I'll just give a little description of myself as I'm new to Diesel Bombers. My names Rhett, I'm 19. I'm currently a full time farmer. My first truck was an old beat up 1995 gm 6.5 diesel with stacks (lol). I've always been a natural fan of diesels ever since my first tractor ride at age 4. My dad has had 2 different 7.3 powerstrokes that I've helped work on. A lot.. So I broke the norm and bought a brand spankin' new used 2006 Cummins!

The details of the truck are as follows -
(pic is my avatar)
2006 3500 5.9 MegaCab short bed 6 spd. manual
5" EZ Ride lift
35" Mastercrafts
5" turbo-back exhaust (unknown brand, but it's stainless)
Boost/Fuel Pressure/Pyro pillar gauges

The man who had this truck before me put the lift & tires on. There's a SMARTY sticker in the backglass, but he kept it :dang:

So now I'm looking to start my own mods. Everything motor wise is stock. Air/intake/manifolds/turbo/injectors. All stock. I pull goosenecks/hay carriers\misc wagons around a lot so I suppose towing and MPG would be the target with the ability so still have a little fun :rocking:

I've got about $800 burning a hole in my pocket to use on this beast as I'm already in love with it. I was thinking a Smarty Jr. and S&B intake to start with, but I'll ask for some advice from you good folks.

All ideas/suggestions are welcomed. If all goes well and I don't change my mind, I'll order said products on Saturday (12\28).

Thanks!

2006 Dodge Cummins advice -- Good Choice
 

Regarding your question about the mods, I use the Smarty Jr. on my 2006 Cummins, and it works excellent for the 100 HP bump (that's all I needed for towing hay, horses, and fire wood). I have the Smarty S03 on my 1999 and 2002 with no complaints.

Regarding maintenance and helpful information about your truck, I would recommend you check out Turbo Diesel Registry – TDR.

Since the late 90s TDR has compiled information on the Dodge/Cummins Turbo Diesel truck. Each year TDR updates the book. The TDR calls their manual the Turbo Diesel Buyers Guide which is free to down load, and the Buyers Guide allows you to do topic or word searches to help guide you to information and answers quickly.

Over the years there have been many changes to the Dodge truck and Cummins engine. For detailed information, I would suggest that you download the 300+ page PDF file “Turbo Diesel Buyers Guide” from the Turbo Diesel Register website (Turbo Diesel Register). Keep in mind that the information in TDR is written by Cummins parts and tech service personnel.

In this document you will find that they give you a concise answer to each question and often referenced detailed (often four to six page articles) where you can get more information. I think you’ll find the TDR answers and references helpful in this Buyers Guide. I did.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to dieselbombers Rhett! Sounds like you have a nice truck! A tuner would be nice for more power, smarty is a very good performance tuner, I'd get that it efi live which is tuned directly for your trucks and mods! Intake would be good to lower egt's and perfect for towing!

I have a 2005 dodge dually I just recently bought the smarty jr on and it runs great! A question for our experienced diesel
Lovers I programmed the truck for performance I pull heavy trailers and spend a lot of time driving in town. Is my truck at risk for any problems it does have the muff and cat cut out. I don't wanna do very much to this truck, I have a '95 12 valve and a '98 24 valve, that I want to pushing big horse and torque

I wouldn't think so as long as your EGT's are lower than 1300 degrees. My dad's '99 dually 7.3 powerstroke was programmed to 110hp boost with a Predator (I hear these run a little hotter than a smarty) and it ran great for years. Cummins may be a little different though so I'd be sure to ask someone who knows for sure.

Get the Smarty Sr, the extra cost is well worth it, or, you can go EFI live with your truck.

Forget the S&B, build a cold air intake from the stock box and use the 4" pleat filter that fits the stock box. Take the money from the intake and get gauges.