Hi My name is Chris I currently drive a 2001 Dodge Ram 3500, named Tom Dually. Tom's got a 5.9 HO Cummins backed up by a NV5600 6 speed. He has EGT, Boost and Fuel pressure gauges on the pillar. Finally he has a 4" exhaust with a long round muffler that actually muffles the exhaust note but the engine compartment needs about 3 feet of insulation to keep the diesel truck noises in... LOL I'm not a racer and I'm old and get headaches if there's loud noises as does my wife. So I try to keep the revs under 2,000 as it gets noisy above that. There's a huge gap between 5th and 6th that I don't like. I used to drive a truck with a cummins and a 10 speed road ranger and I really like the gear spacing and shift pattern. I wish someone would make a nice 10 speed transmission that I could put in my pickup, but please put synchros in it. I'd hate to go back to double clutching all my shifts.

I hope to have a Gear Vendors added to sometime. I have a MADDS Smarty programmer and the ECU is usually set for fuel mileage. I use that for any driving without the big trailer. When towing that I set it to the first power increase setting that adds timing and fuel. It runs much smoother that way than the stock settings and gets better fuel mileage than the stock settings when towing. I like the Smarty because of the "half power" setting it has for making sure there's no smoke for California's draconian smog laws. I don't like that I can't reset it on the fly but it does have the advantage of not being visible since it's not hooked up while driving. I've heard of smog checks being failed because the truck had an edge programmer or even display, on the dashboard. The checker assumed that the programing had been modified just because it was an electronic module hooked up to the engine and therefore HAD to be a modification to the smog equipment. Idiots! I'm so glad I don't live there any more.

Tom has a set of 3.73 gears in the back, way better than the 4.10's he came to me with. I wanted 3.55's but that would have cost an extra $800. He's my 3rd Diesel powered pickup. My first was a 94.5 Ford Powerstroke 7.3 with the ZF 5speed and 4.10 gears. My second was a 99 Dodge 2500 with the 4 speed auto and 3.55 gears. I really liked the truck but detested the transmission. The torque converter wouldn't stay locked in 4th under any kind of load and at the time I had no idea there were programmers that would take control of it for me. My hate for it came from towing a uhaul car trailer with a 99 mustang on it from Las Vegas to my then home in Rosamond CA. Heading south out of Las Vegas on the Interstate 15 there are 2 very long steep grades leading into a long downhill into Baker, CA. It wouldn't stay locked and the revs jumped way up whenever it unlocked and I ended up downshifting to 3rd and slowing down enough to be comfortable with the noise the higher rpm generated. Anytime that I really jumped on the throttle at whatever speed, the TQ unlocked and the revs jumped up to about 2700 which just seems stupid when you've got an engine renowned for it's torque. I looked up the specs and it said the engine made maximum torque at 1600 rpm. It drove me crazy and I had a 30' weekend warrior to tow (which the ford towed just fine if slow going up hills.). So I sold the 2500 auto and bought Tom. The difference and similarities to driving the Ford and the 01 dodge are amazing. Towed the WW on a 4900 mile trip around the U.S. with the Ford and got 12.5 mpg. Towed it up the grades on the way home at 35 mph in 3rd. No problem, right hand lane and flashers on. Drove Tom the same trip and got 12.5 mpg. Exactly the same to the tenth of a mpg. But towed up the grades a 55 in 5th instead of 35 in 3rd. Yet I swear the 1st gear of the NV5600 with 3.73's is still shorter than 1st in the ZF with 4.10's. That's why I think the 3.55's would be just fine. Oh yeah, took the same trip sans trailer with the 99 auto and averaged 22 mpg. Drove 70 maximum and speed limits anywhere it was less. I don't speed unless it's an emergency. I drive at 55 a lot even without the trailer because I like the fuel mileage and range. I have documentation... I use the electronic overhead display only for comparisons not for any numbers that are real. Tom gets 22.5 mpg at 55 mph. 19.5 at 65, 17 at 70, numbers subject to wind speed and direction. I figured them several times on the same route from my new home in Arizona to my old home in CA and back. Usually one tank was sufficient over and back slightly in excess of 600 miles. One time I had tail winds both directions and averaged almost 25 mpg. Another time I had violent headwinds going over and had to add more fuel before heading home. I added extra fuel any time I drove 70 on my way over and back.

I don't like smoke from my truck, it's wasting fuel. Even with the lower costs per gallon lately I hate wasting it.
Anyway, I'm glad to be here and look forward to reading posts and making my own when I think I have something interesting or helpful to say.

 

Welcome to Diesel Bombers Chris!! good choice of truck!!

 

Welcome to the forum, Chris! Glad that you decided to join us and post. Show us your Ram when you can. You'll find just about anything you might have questions about there. Have fun surfing around!