new guy, new to me diesel, here to learn
 

hey guys, i just bought my first diesel. its a 05 3500 6spd short bed non dually. 180k miles. literally just bought two days ago, googled some stuff the night i got it and alot of results brought me here to this site, some good info and seems like some good guys. im here to learn anything and everything.
back to my rig, i think PO deffinatly put a programmer or injectors already. i got it at a little car lot and i would assume they cant sell with program, so maybe nice injectors. i only assume this cause i drove my another 3500 6spd dually and mine has way more power. under hood looks factory exhaust is stock, but the truck gets up and effin goes. any thoughts? any suggestions on hi mile cummins would be appreciated, thanks hope to meet some cool people. :hellox:

Re: new guy, new to me diesel, here to learn
 

Get your self a 2 micron fuel filter.

Luke

thank you sir... nice web page, the airdog systems look like a good idea, and also the smarty jr. i dont wanna go crazy with my truck but would like to do a few things to it, prolly just a muffler, keep stock exhaust, striaght pipen is alittle loud for me. just want that nice cummins sound. program, alittle lift, 35"s, so thats my plans for now, thanks for input,

Everyone and anyone who owns a diesel should do an airdog or fass whether you plan on bombing the truck or not, filters much better than the stock filter and increases the life span of your fuel filter. And i see your wanting to go 35" tires, look up tough country's leveling kit, right around $150 and will raise the front end 2-3" and your 35"s will fit perfectly, i just did 20" wheels and 35" tires on my dodge with tough country leveling kit. And there's no rubbing nothing, it's an awesome deal.

Sweet, nice truck. Im with these guys on the lift pump and filtration, add a smarty, cold air intake, and some gauges itll be awesome. Dont forget to use a fuel supplement, and stay on top of the maintenance. Enjoy your new truck.

thanks man, did you get the coils or spacers?

doing just a leveling kit will clear 35s but that is with the factory offset on the wheels i saw that it said clears 35s and bought it bought 35 1250 20s and my wheels had to much offset and would rub when i would turn and hit a bump it would rub

[QUOTE=CUMMINS OR NUTHIN;766555]Sweet, nice truck. Im with these guys on the lift pump and filtration, add a smarty, cold air intake, and some gauges itll be awesome. Dont forget to use a fuel supplement, and stay on top of the maintenance. Enjoy your new truck.[/QUOT

thanks, i was! thinking smarty jr, i saw a afe on craigslist. what kinda fuel supplement?

power service or standyne fuel supplement

definately good idea to upgrade the lift pump or airdog,fass ect. my '03 has the 2" lift spacers in the front and 35 run great with the factory wheels, another thing to keep an eye on is the wheel hubs on the front, make sure to check those periodicly so u dont leave yourself stranded. and congrats on joining the diesel world :tu:

thanks, now that you mention this i do hear a humming at hwy speeds, checking tomarrow.
did you notice any ride differance with spacers? i saw the coils arent much more $ than spacers, just curious. thx again

here it is.
all stock except somthing was done to motor, i just dont know what. like i said in first post, i got it at a lot and assume they wouldnt sell with programmer, so i thought injectors. is ther any way to check by look under hood. might be dumb Q, but i for sure wanna know if it has nice injectors already, and if so, would it effect a programmer i need to get?. my buddys dually has way less power, he only has a banks exhaust. if sombody could help with that, would be appreciated. thanks

dont know if means anything but my clutch is alot firmer to push than my buddys dually also. just my abservations. im hopeing the PO put an aftermarkit clutch. or atleast a fresh one.

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

thank you sir...gonna pick some up this week end.

It varys from one truck to another on stock to stock performance, but could be u have aftemarket injectors, as for the lift spacers I didn't notice much of a ride difference until I put a ranchhand style bumper on, then it handled totally different. And the clutch like before may have a different clutch but once again not all trucks are exactly the same

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

Oh and for the "humming" noise, could just be the tires, u have all terrains or mud tires? Easiet way to check wheel hubs is to jack up one of the front tires and see if it has any slop(shakes when u move it) when u move it up and down. If it does or you hear bearings squealing or anything abnormal it would be a good idea to go ahead and replace them, easy job with a jack and hand tools.:tu:

new guy, new to me diesel, here to learn
 

Sounds to me like maybe your truck's computer was flashed. It doesn't need to have a visible programmer box to be programmed. In that case, the used car lot wouldn't have even known that it was programmed in the first place. Chances are the used car lot got it from a dealer auction like manheim and the previous owner had it flashed. My dad bought his 6.0 powerstroke at a dealer auction and this was the case. Pretty funny, the PO of that truck was his good buddy, he was even in his wedding, and he didnt even know it until he saw paperwork with the PO's name in there. He called him up and said guess what i bought your truck. Sure enough he said yeah its got an sct flash.. Turned out his buddy had it repo'd from him and hes pretty mad my dad has it now... But anyway... With 180k miles, the injectors may have been swapped out also considering the stock ones usually start crapping out at 150,000 or so. So when they put new ones in they might have gone with bigger ones. You really never know. Sounds like it's got a bigger clutch in it too if it's significantly harder to clutch it than your friends truck. Nice lookin truck. If you don't mind us askin, what was the cost??

thats a pretty funny story. dont blame guy for being upset, but loosers wheeeeppers!!!
thank you, this is the reasurance i was looking for. didnt kno about a flash. i thought a programmer you plug in OBD and unplug when done. i had a hypertech for my 03 chevy 2500hd gasser that was like that. sticker on the truck was $17k, i traded my gasser in, so it only ended costing me around 12k. thanks for info on clutch. mine curtainly dosent feel like its slipping or anything and it grabs really early in the release so at best its gotta be a newer clutch. my buddys is a 04, only other 1ton 6spd i can compare to, but think i lucked out on mine. it thros you back in the seat. would this affect what kinda of programmer i should get?. i was thinking just the smarty jr. thanks again

Any time I buy a truck I always start my mods with intake,exhaust, and a programmer. It will instantly give you more power and better mileage depending on how you drive. I have run bully dog programmets in powerstrokes and now a cummins and have liked them in both.

i agree. im gonna go straight pipe hopefully next week end, im lookin for a nice cai, i assume as long i get a good filter, any intake would be fine, are you using a bully dog intake as well? i think i have nice injectors already, so i cant wait to get a programmer, thinking smarty jr. dont wanna go too crazy since i got 180k miles.

I have an airaid air filter and an ats arc flow which its nice because it is pre drilled for the water meth

No i just had to do the leveling kit, and my rims have 5" backspacing and -12mm offset, just thought i would throw that in since someone said they would only clear with the factory offset.

any pics of your truck? still dont kno if i want just a level kit or the 6". i do like the stance of them. my old gasser had a 6" but only could fit 35"s.

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

well, i just went and straight piped my truck aanndd.... alittle disapointed. not loud at all, can hardly notice at idle. any input what i need or should do to get that cummins sound. thanks

Yea I'll make a photobucket account and get some up.

Welcome to DB.

Here ya go!

Attachment 41179

Attachment 41180

there to much shit to list you can do:c:

nice truck man! i like your wheels. thats just the spacer lift? thats a nice ride higth. i think i might just do spacers. what size tires and rims? how far do they stick out the sides?

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

thank you sir... how do you like that smarty jr?

Tough Country Leveling kit, and the tires are 275/60/R20, Wheels are Helo Black Maxx 8 20x10, But the tires stand about 35" tall, And they stick out about 2" so I'm gonna be buying fender flares here soon, but i love them.

nice man... i wouldnt of guessed 20"s. they look pretty good. thanks for posting.

Np, just glad i could help.

whats ur exhaust set up? i just got rid of my muff. and not loud enough, guess i have to kill the kitty.

4" pipe from down pipe back, no muff, no cat.

[QUOTE=Youngblood;768370]4" pipe from down pipe back, no muff, no cat.[/QUOT

nice. sounds good ha? im gonna cut my cat off this wkend, maybe us some flex pipe till i can put a little peice of 4" in its place. thanks man.

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

i got bored this evening and took off silencer ring.... i gotta get my cat off cause still i didnt hear much of a differance. it sounds good but not cummins good, u kno?

Yea, I removed my silencer ring when i put my full metal intake on, my turbo screams now and the intake just makes it echo. It sounds badass

that afe intake is pretty nice. cant wait to get one.

wondering if anybody has seen or used this afe intake tube i got off ebay? only $100, cheap and easy and better than pvc or flex pipe or anything else ive seen homemade( no offense). gonna pick up a filter and try to use my factory airbox some how. pics comin.

use that intake tube and get a universal dry filter from afe while your at it. that stock air box is junk. after that get a turbo back exhaust 4" or 5" either way. smarty is the best way to go with a 03-07 cummins. dont bother with the smart jr, get the s06-pod. that way you dont have to sell the jr after you get bored with it. just go ahead and get the sr. after that a good set of gauges. its also a good idea to do some tranny work. and that airdog is a great idea as well. :rocking:

thanks man, ill look into smarty sr. everything else u mentioned is the plan.
with factory box was thinking of taking and leaving off top, some cutting underneath poss. and just using it to surround the filter. thanks again.

no problem. any questions you can always shoot me a message.

i took off silencer ring and also took out the baffles in stock intake tube. sounds bad ass. cant wait to remove cat.

Smarty "was" the best way until EFI live was released.