Cummins Newb in Phoenix...
#1
06-15-2015, 01:21 PM
Cummins Newb in Phoenix...
Hi all - glad to have found you. I'm a refugee from the Ford 6.0 world who has just bought my first Cummins.
About me... I'm in the Phoenix area. I'm generally a Ford guy - but not an "I bleed Ford Blue - don't say anything bad about the Bronco II" kind of Ford guy - I just like their trucks and have found them to hold up and work well - until the 6.0 debacle. I'd stayed away from dodge products since my '99 which had a dead-solid 318 in it which just did its thing while the rest of the vehicle simply disintegrated around it. So - between the 6.0 issue and the greatness of the common rail 5.9 I decided to take another swing with the Dodge bat.
I've been shopping for a few months without much success. I was looking for a relativly clean and low(er) mileage '06-'07 with a 5.9. By clean I mean "has not pulled a 17,000lb stock trailer on dirt roads for the last 275,000 miles" not "looks great a the mall on 22's". Seemed almost everything out there is one of the other - and not the thing in between. I've missed a few that looked good, driven a few that were bad, and generally started to get depressed at not finding what I was looking for.
Friday my little Craigslist watcher goes off and I see an new (8 minutes old) ad for a 2006 2500 Auto 4X4 SLT with 83K miles priced "firm" at $2300 below book (stuff around here seems to be selling about 10%-30% over book in most cases). So far, everything I've seen even close to 100K has been well over book. Is it a scam? crap... well gotta take a shot. Long story short - when I called 8 minutes after the ad posted I was the fourth caller, I got there first, drove what felt like a new truck, ran Carfax on it which verified the sellers story and bought the truck. By the time the seller and I met his wife at the title transfer place she had gotten 10 - 11 more calls. I'm the second owner and the truck has been a commuter driven about 20 miles per day to and from work. The guy bought it thinking he was going to retire in a year and buy a 5th wheel... well... the economy tanked - never bought the 5th wheel - just drove it to work and back... Dealer maintained, dead stock, blah blah blah...
I think it saw more dirt this weekend that it ever has... Oh - and at least the rear is limited slip... so that's nice...
Plans... Changes are all about:
1) Durability / longevity
2) Economy
3) Off-road performance and durability (not "wrap the thing in an external cage and go rock crawling type of off-roading" - but - "get in the woods for hunting and fishing in places that people don't go in their Accord's" kind of off-roading)
4) Utility hauling and towing - I have a project street / strip type car that if it ever runs will probably mean pulling 8K-10K to the track from time to time... and I live in a semi-rural area where dirt roads and driveways need maintaining and I'm looking for something on the small end of the full sized tractor market which I expect will gross at about 12K with trailer. Other stuff in this range...
The stuff that I KNOW I'm planning:
1) Change all fluids (engine oil is done - took the "safe" route with Rotella 15-40 and a Wix filter(well Napa Gold by Wix). Pulled a sample that will head out to Blackstone Labs today.
2) Deep aluminum transmission pan, and finned diff covers
3) Replacing the drivers side seat pad (and if what I read is true it sounds like I might need to look for a volume discount on these and keep a few in stock in the garage?)
The stuff that I THINK I'm doing
1) "Basic" trans "fixes" (not entirely sure what the full list is yet - but I'm fairly sure that in addition to the pan - it will involve a pusher fan or perhaps fan/cooler and possibly proactive replacement of the servo and governor pressure sensor plate... not sure what else yet - I'm still digging).
2) Chip - Pretty settled that I will run an ECU extension of some sort - mostly to maximize mileage - but I want the ability to change the behavior of the truck to suit the immediate need. No desire to have a race truck or to try to pull 25K lbs through the auto trans - but... Haven't even started to do my homework on this...
3) A-pillar gauge pod (or some other place if available) after chip. I really would like to be able to see EGT, Trans temp and boost in front of me...
4) Suspension stuff - Picked up a RoughCountry leveling kit on the cheap from a friend - not sure I'm going to install it - need to read more to get a sense of whether this does or does not substantially reduce the life of the fabled glass ball joints... No interest in any major lift - but may run a slightly larger tire when the time comes. Based on what I've heard from a friend who is a fleet mechanic for a gvt agency that runs these trucks off-road a bunch - I'll be looking for upgrade options on ball-joints, control arms, leaf spring bushings, and front axle u-joints.
The stuff that I'd like to do but...
1) Heavier bumper with quality winch
2) Other suspension stuff...
Anyway - glad to be here... looking forward to learning and maybe even being useful at some point...
About me... I'm in the Phoenix area. I'm generally a Ford guy - but not an "I bleed Ford Blue - don't say anything bad about the Bronco II" kind of Ford guy - I just like their trucks and have found them to hold up and work well - until the 6.0 debacle. I'd stayed away from dodge products since my '99 which had a dead-solid 318 in it which just did its thing while the rest of the vehicle simply disintegrated around it. So - between the 6.0 issue and the greatness of the common rail 5.9 I decided to take another swing with the Dodge bat.
I've been shopping for a few months without much success. I was looking for a relativly clean and low(er) mileage '06-'07 with a 5.9. By clean I mean "has not pulled a 17,000lb stock trailer on dirt roads for the last 275,000 miles" not "looks great a the mall on 22's". Seemed almost everything out there is one of the other - and not the thing in between. I've missed a few that looked good, driven a few that were bad, and generally started to get depressed at not finding what I was looking for.
Friday my little Craigslist watcher goes off and I see an new (8 minutes old) ad for a 2006 2500 Auto 4X4 SLT with 83K miles priced "firm" at $2300 below book (stuff around here seems to be selling about 10%-30% over book in most cases). So far, everything I've seen even close to 100K has been well over book. Is it a scam? crap... well gotta take a shot. Long story short - when I called 8 minutes after the ad posted I was the fourth caller, I got there first, drove what felt like a new truck, ran Carfax on it which verified the sellers story and bought the truck. By the time the seller and I met his wife at the title transfer place she had gotten 10 - 11 more calls. I'm the second owner and the truck has been a commuter driven about 20 miles per day to and from work. The guy bought it thinking he was going to retire in a year and buy a 5th wheel... well... the economy tanked - never bought the 5th wheel - just drove it to work and back... Dealer maintained, dead stock, blah blah blah...
I think it saw more dirt this weekend that it ever has... Oh - and at least the rear is limited slip... so that's nice...
Plans... Changes are all about:
1) Durability / longevity
2) Economy
3) Off-road performance and durability (not "wrap the thing in an external cage and go rock crawling type of off-roading" - but - "get in the woods for hunting and fishing in places that people don't go in their Accord's" kind of off-roading)
4) Utility hauling and towing - I have a project street / strip type car that if it ever runs will probably mean pulling 8K-10K to the track from time to time... and I live in a semi-rural area where dirt roads and driveways need maintaining and I'm looking for something on the small end of the full sized tractor market which I expect will gross at about 12K with trailer. Other stuff in this range...
The stuff that I KNOW I'm planning:
1) Change all fluids (engine oil is done - took the "safe" route with Rotella 15-40 and a Wix filter(well Napa Gold by Wix). Pulled a sample that will head out to Blackstone Labs today.
2) Deep aluminum transmission pan, and finned diff covers
3) Replacing the drivers side seat pad (and if what I read is true it sounds like I might need to look for a volume discount on these and keep a few in stock in the garage?)
The stuff that I THINK I'm doing
1) "Basic" trans "fixes" (not entirely sure what the full list is yet - but I'm fairly sure that in addition to the pan - it will involve a pusher fan or perhaps fan/cooler and possibly proactive replacement of the servo and governor pressure sensor plate... not sure what else yet - I'm still digging).
2) Chip - Pretty settled that I will run an ECU extension of some sort - mostly to maximize mileage - but I want the ability to change the behavior of the truck to suit the immediate need. No desire to have a race truck or to try to pull 25K lbs through the auto trans - but... Haven't even started to do my homework on this...
3) A-pillar gauge pod (or some other place if available) after chip. I really would like to be able to see EGT, Trans temp and boost in front of me...
4) Suspension stuff - Picked up a RoughCountry leveling kit on the cheap from a friend - not sure I'm going to install it - need to read more to get a sense of whether this does or does not substantially reduce the life of the fabled glass ball joints... No interest in any major lift - but may run a slightly larger tire when the time comes. Based on what I've heard from a friend who is a fleet mechanic for a gvt agency that runs these trucks off-road a bunch - I'll be looking for upgrade options on ball-joints, control arms, leaf spring bushings, and front axle u-joints.
The stuff that I'd like to do but...
1) Heavier bumper with quality winch
2) Other suspension stuff...
Anyway - glad to be here... looking forward to learning and maybe even being useful at some point...
#2
06-15-2015, 03:07 PM
#3
06-15-2015, 08:47 PM
Transmission - It will get upgraded when it starts to die - but I'm in no hurry to spend that money when it runs and shifts fine and I don't have any intent of hot-rodding the thing. From what I hear - 2nd gear tends to die first and not necessarily spectacularly when under standard loads... so unless that is wrong - and I'll have SOME notice (like 2nd starts to slip badly under hard acceleration) I'll probably wait for symptoms to spend the big bucks - and I'm happy to spend small bucks to hold that day off...
ECM - So - if I'm reading stuff correctly the Edge CTS and EFI-Live have some substantial overlap? One (edge) is a canned "chip" system with predefined / fixed performance points and the other appears to be a full DFI solution that lets me create my own vehicle specific maps. Am I reading that right? If so - and if I'm not trying to tune my 800HP / 1600Ft/lb race truck for the air at Firebird - I'd think that there is a lot of risk and not a lot of value in EFI-Live (although in my old "megasquirt DFI on gas engine days - detonation was the killer and I "guess" I don't have to worry about that here - so maybe not so much risk?)... Anyway - please straighten me out on this if I am confused.
Fuel Filtration - Well - step 1 is underway - in that I have a shiny new Wix filter in the cab that will go in tonight or tomorrow night... I guess I'll need to read up on the next steps which I assume involve running some sort of external in line filters. Is this a universal concern? Is it something specific to my part of the country - or the truck - or... or... or... My ole country cousin used to run a series of three progressively fine filters in front of the factory unit. He sourced these from heavy equipment supplies (i remember one of them being huge and yellow and saying "CAT" on the side... :P ) and other stuff... But he was sucking out the grease trap at the local Chinese joint and dumping it through a piece of cheese cloth directly in to a big tank in the bed of the truck. So... :-)
EDIT - Please ignore the fuel filtration question... didn't take long to understand the issue. I've now read up on the issue here: http://www.dieselfuelfilterkits.com/...ilter_kit.html... I'll do some more reading and get something in place. Thanks!
Seriously though - thanks much for the input... I'm glad to have it.
Last edited by BigNate; 06-15-2015 at 09:03 PM.
#6
06-16-2015, 09:03 PM
Phoenix here to bud...
Hi all - glad to have found you. I'm a refugee from the Ford 6.0 world who has just bought my first Cummins.
About me... I'm in the Phoenix area. I'm generally a Ford guy - but not an "I bleed Ford Blue - don't say anything bad about the Bronco II" kind of Ford guy - I just like their trucks and have found them to hold up and work well - until the 6.0 debacle. I'd stayed away from dodge products since my '99 which had a dead-solid 318 in it which just did its thing while the rest of the vehicle simply disintegrated around it. So - between the 6.0 issue and the greatness of the common rail 5.9 I decided to take another swing with the Dodge bat.
I've been shopping for a few months without much success. I was looking for a relativly clean and low(er) mileage '06-'07 with a 5.9. By clean I mean "has not pulled a 17,000lb stock trailer on dirt roads for the last 275,000 miles" not "looks great a the mall on 22's". Seemed almost everything out there is one of the other - and not the thing in between. I've missed a few that looked good, driven a few that were bad, and generally started to get depressed at not finding what I was looking for.
Friday my little Craigslist watcher goes off and I see an new (8 minutes old) ad for a 2006 2500 Auto 4X4 SLT with 83K miles priced "firm" at $2300 below book (stuff around here seems to be selling about 10%-30% over book in most cases). So far, everything I've seen even close to 100K has been well over book. Is it a scam? crap... well gotta take a shot. Long story short - when I called 8 minutes after the ad posted I was the fourth caller, I got there first, drove what felt like a new truck, ran Carfax on it which verified the sellers story and bought the truck. By the time the seller and I met his wife at the title transfer place she had gotten 10 - 11 more calls. I'm the second owner and the truck has been a commuter driven about 20 miles per day to and from work. The guy bought it thinking he was going to retire in a year and buy a 5th wheel... well... the economy tanked - never bought the 5th wheel - just drove it to work and back... Dealer maintained, dead stock, blah blah blah...
I think it saw more dirt this weekend that it ever has... Oh - and at least the rear is limited slip... so that's nice...
Plans... Changes are all about:
1) Durability / longevity
2) Economy
3) Off-road performance and durability (not "wrap the thing in an external cage and go rock crawling type of off-roading" - but - "get in the woods for hunting and fishing in places that people don't go in their Accord's" kind of off-roading)
4) Utility hauling and towing - I have a project street / strip type car that if it ever runs will probably mean pulling 8K-10K to the track from time to time... and I live in a semi-rural area where dirt roads and driveways need maintaining and I'm looking for something on the small end of the full sized tractor market which I expect will gross at about 12K with trailer. Other stuff in this range...
The stuff that I KNOW I'm planning:
1) Change all fluids (engine oil is done - took the "safe" route with Rotella 15-40 and a Wix filter(well Napa Gold by Wix). Pulled a sample that will head out to Blackstone Labs today.
2) Deep aluminum transmission pan, and finned diff covers
3) Replacing the drivers side seat pad (and if what I read is true it sounds like I might need to look for a volume discount on these and keep a few in stock in the garage?)
The stuff that I THINK I'm doing
1) "Basic" trans "fixes" (not entirely sure what the full list is yet - but I'm fairly sure that in addition to the pan - it will involve a pusher fan or perhaps fan/cooler and possibly proactive replacement of the servo and governor pressure sensor plate... not sure what else yet - I'm still digging).
2) Chip - Pretty settled that I will run an ECU extension of some sort - mostly to maximize mileage - but I want the ability to change the behavior of the truck to suit the immediate need. No desire to have a race truck or to try to pull 25K lbs through the auto trans - but... Haven't even started to do my homework on this...
3) A-pillar gauge pod (or some other place if available) after chip. I really would like to be able to see EGT, Trans temp and boost in front of me...
4) Suspension stuff - Picked up a RoughCountry leveling kit on the cheap from a friend - not sure I'm going to install it - need to read more to get a sense of whether this does or does not substantially reduce the life of the fabled glass ball joints... No interest in any major lift - but may run a slightly larger tire when the time comes. Based on what I've heard from a friend who is a fleet mechanic for a gvt agency that runs these trucks off-road a bunch - I'll be looking for upgrade options on ball-joints, control arms, leaf spring bushings, and front axle u-joints.
The stuff that I'd like to do but...
1) Heavier bumper with quality winch
2) Other suspension stuff...
Anyway - glad to be here... looking forward to learning and maybe even being useful at some point...
About me... I'm in the Phoenix area. I'm generally a Ford guy - but not an "I bleed Ford Blue - don't say anything bad about the Bronco II" kind of Ford guy - I just like their trucks and have found them to hold up and work well - until the 6.0 debacle. I'd stayed away from dodge products since my '99 which had a dead-solid 318 in it which just did its thing while the rest of the vehicle simply disintegrated around it. So - between the 6.0 issue and the greatness of the common rail 5.9 I decided to take another swing with the Dodge bat.
I've been shopping for a few months without much success. I was looking for a relativly clean and low(er) mileage '06-'07 with a 5.9. By clean I mean "has not pulled a 17,000lb stock trailer on dirt roads for the last 275,000 miles" not "looks great a the mall on 22's". Seemed almost everything out there is one of the other - and not the thing in between. I've missed a few that looked good, driven a few that were bad, and generally started to get depressed at not finding what I was looking for.
Friday my little Craigslist watcher goes off and I see an new (8 minutes old) ad for a 2006 2500 Auto 4X4 SLT with 83K miles priced "firm" at $2300 below book (stuff around here seems to be selling about 10%-30% over book in most cases). So far, everything I've seen even close to 100K has been well over book. Is it a scam? crap... well gotta take a shot. Long story short - when I called 8 minutes after the ad posted I was the fourth caller, I got there first, drove what felt like a new truck, ran Carfax on it which verified the sellers story and bought the truck. By the time the seller and I met his wife at the title transfer place she had gotten 10 - 11 more calls. I'm the second owner and the truck has been a commuter driven about 20 miles per day to and from work. The guy bought it thinking he was going to retire in a year and buy a 5th wheel... well... the economy tanked - never bought the 5th wheel - just drove it to work and back... Dealer maintained, dead stock, blah blah blah...
I think it saw more dirt this weekend that it ever has... Oh - and at least the rear is limited slip... so that's nice...
Plans... Changes are all about:
1) Durability / longevity
2) Economy
3) Off-road performance and durability (not "wrap the thing in an external cage and go rock crawling type of off-roading" - but - "get in the woods for hunting and fishing in places that people don't go in their Accord's" kind of off-roading)
4) Utility hauling and towing - I have a project street / strip type car that if it ever runs will probably mean pulling 8K-10K to the track from time to time... and I live in a semi-rural area where dirt roads and driveways need maintaining and I'm looking for something on the small end of the full sized tractor market which I expect will gross at about 12K with trailer. Other stuff in this range...
The stuff that I KNOW I'm planning:
1) Change all fluids (engine oil is done - took the "safe" route with Rotella 15-40 and a Wix filter(well Napa Gold by Wix). Pulled a sample that will head out to Blackstone Labs today.
2) Deep aluminum transmission pan, and finned diff covers
3) Replacing the drivers side seat pad (and if what I read is true it sounds like I might need to look for a volume discount on these and keep a few in stock in the garage?)
The stuff that I THINK I'm doing
1) "Basic" trans "fixes" (not entirely sure what the full list is yet - but I'm fairly sure that in addition to the pan - it will involve a pusher fan or perhaps fan/cooler and possibly proactive replacement of the servo and governor pressure sensor plate... not sure what else yet - I'm still digging).
2) Chip - Pretty settled that I will run an ECU extension of some sort - mostly to maximize mileage - but I want the ability to change the behavior of the truck to suit the immediate need. No desire to have a race truck or to try to pull 25K lbs through the auto trans - but... Haven't even started to do my homework on this...
3) A-pillar gauge pod (or some other place if available) after chip. I really would like to be able to see EGT, Trans temp and boost in front of me...
4) Suspension stuff - Picked up a RoughCountry leveling kit on the cheap from a friend - not sure I'm going to install it - need to read more to get a sense of whether this does or does not substantially reduce the life of the fabled glass ball joints... No interest in any major lift - but may run a slightly larger tire when the time comes. Based on what I've heard from a friend who is a fleet mechanic for a gvt agency that runs these trucks off-road a bunch - I'll be looking for upgrade options on ball-joints, control arms, leaf spring bushings, and front axle u-joints.
The stuff that I'd like to do but...
1) Heavier bumper with quality winch
2) Other suspension stuff...
Anyway - glad to be here... looking forward to learning and maybe even being useful at some point...
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