Dodge Cummins Articles: General Cummins

Mopar1973man Recommended Tools for Working on your Cummins

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 18:10:02 +0000

Here is a ever growning list of tools that come in VERY handy when working on your cummins.

First and Foremost, Knipex 86 03 250 Parellel Jaw Plyers The key to these plyers is unlike channel lock plyers the jaws on these stay parellel all of the time.

They run right about $50, but we promise they are worth 3x that. Once you use a set of these they will become the single most loved tool in your toolbox. These plyers allow you to put even and steady clamping force on any size object.

Chads Toolbox sells these at the best price

A GOOD Multimeter is a absoulete requirement for working on a Cummins powered vehicle. You want a True RMS multimeter to check for things like AC noise. Most Flukes will do that. I personally use this with good results

EXTECH EX470 I like it because it has a built in IR temp gun. this is VERY handy for tracking things down like a dead cylinder

It runs about $100 on amazon

Ram Truck Order Status and descriptions

Mon, 07 May 2018 15:07:31 +0000

This article covers the general process you go through when you order a new truck through a dealer.

We have split the status's into stages to help you understand the steps. Mopar1973man.com made up the "stages" When you order a new truck these are the status's that they use. You can find your status 1 of 2 ways. 1. contacting your dealer they can find hte order info and give you a status. The dealer can look up the order via VON or VIN. 2. you can go to https://www.ramtrucks.com/webselfservice/ram/index.html and click Live Chat. They can always lookup by VIN, and sometimes find it via VON. The live chat will be much more reliable in Stage 3 of the build when you have a VIn.

If you are financing you should figure out how much you can afford, but not run your credit / loan process until your truck is on the lot. A lot of times the loan will expire after 30 days. If you get financing at stage 1 of the process your loan will likely expire.

1. you go in or call in with what you want.

2. dealer will build up the order and have you review. This is a good time to ask to see colors / options in the lot

3. Once you are ok with the list the dealer will likely take a deposit from you. It is a good idea to use a Credit Card so that if something doesn't go right you can dispute the charges.

4. The dealer will now have a VON or Vehicle order number. This is how the truck is referenced until it has a VIN. You are now in stage 1 of the process. The Factory does not know about the order until stage 3

5. Now you wait. If all is well you should move through B status's , which is order confirm and ensuring that there are no mistakes, in ~ 1 week. IF your truck has low volume opitions then you may stay in BG status until enough units are ordered for the factory to schedule.

6. Vehicles may go through several stages in one day.. example is going from b status to D status, there is a c status between but it is doubtful you will see C status.

7. once you hit D status the order should now have a Vin. The dealer will not release the Vin until D1 status.

8. You should hit D1 status, the factory now has a good idea / guess as to when the truck will leave the factory. This is when you get a VIN.

9. Your truck should move through D1 > E > F > G over the next few weeks.

10. You may or may not see status I / J / JB / JE / JS depending on your order opitions. JS is commonly referred to as storage where they wait for shipping.

11. you have now hit stage 5 where the factory is done with it and the railroad takes over. Good news your truck is on it's way to you.

12. you get the truck and pay for it.

Stage 1
BA: New order that hasn't been checked, this is the status when the order is first put in. Only the dealer knows about it
BB: Review by fleet department, the order is now being processed.
BD: Special equipment processing. This is where things like snow plow prep etc get checked. Special items.
BE: Edit error
BG: Passed edit n/a for schedule. This is where the order can sit and wait for things like low volume paint where there needs to be x number or similar orders
BGL: Edit ok parts unavailable
BX: Passed edit available for schedule

Stage 2
C: Sub firm - Tentative schedule Now the factory knows about the order.

Stage 3
D: Firm schedule - dealer has allocation and all parts available
D1: Gateline schedule - scheduled to be built

Stage 4
E: Frame
F: Paint
G: Trim
I: Built not ok'd
J: Built ok'd
JB: Shipped to Upfit Center
JE: Emission check
JS: Shipped to storage

Stage 5
KZ: Released by plant , invoiced
KZL: Released - not shipped
KZM: First rail departure
KZN: First rail arrival
KZO: Delayed/recieved
KZOA: Plant holds
KZOB: Zone/distribution holds
KZOC: Carrier delays
KZOD: Carrier holds
KZOE: Mis-shipped vehicle
KZOF: Show/test vehicle
KZOG: Damaged vehicle
KZOH: All other reasons
KZT: Second rail departure
KZU: Second rail arrival
KZX: Delivered to dealer

Stage Canceled
ZA: Canceled, the dealer or you have canceled the order

Speed and MPG

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:41:16 +0000

Speed

I hear it all the time how everyone is driving at the speed limit or faster on the interstates. Then throw a snide comment about my driving here in Idaho. Most people don't even have a clue about what Idaho highways are like or the road conditions we face out here. Let me get this out first. Most all speed limits in Idaho are 45-65 MPH period. The only places where the speed exceeds this is the two interstate highways (I84 and I90) that pass through the state. So for me to get to I90 to just drive fast its 4 hours 10 minute drive or if I went south to I84 its 2 hours and 12 minutes just so I can drive faster than 65 MPH. So the whole idea of driving fast is not happening in this part of the state of Idaho. As for the state of Idaho, there is no minimum speed limit in the state. But... If you holding up more than 3 vehicles you must yield to traffic. If you think this is slow, try city speed limits of 25 MPH and residential of 15 MPH and its radar enforced.

Animals

Another factor that everyone discounts is game animals crossing the highway. This occurs quite often and more times out of ten either causes vehicle damage or accident with oncoming traffic trying to avoid the animals in the highway. There have been a few cases of death from game animal accidents. Some parts of Idaho are open range so that is another factor of hitting a cow is devastating to a small car let alone a semi-truck. As for my truck I've had one occurrence of striking a deer at lower speeds thankfully, I was traveling slower other than that I would have done serious damage.

Landslides & Rocks

Since the mountain is constantly on the move from either animals or weather you will have from time to time a rock or landslide dump out on the highway. So traveling at the speed limit isn't always a great idea when you round the next corner to meet head on with a landslide or boulder on the road. Being I do drive cautiously around canyons and steep terrain I've been able to avoid many rocks falls.

(Idaho 55 south of Cascade, ID)

Weather

The weather out here is very quick to change from one extreme to another. An old local saying is “If you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes or drive 15 miles.” For where I live it's about true. I can drive to Riggins, Idaho for work and be out of the snow and then turn around drive the 15 miles back home in be in foot deep snow when I pull in the driveway. Now with bad weather be it fog, snow or heavy rain you can be given a ticket for sliding off the pavement or losing control of your vehicle. So I'd advise slowing down in poor weather. Like below heavy fog, snow, and black ice is not something to drive fast on. As for my truck, it's never slid off the pavement.

(US95 north of New Meadows, Idaho)

Volunteering

I've been volunteering with Search & Rescue with Idaho County and Salmon River Rural Fire Department for many years now. I've seen many highway accidents with deaths and severe injuries. After being to a few of this kind of call out you tend to slow down giving you more buffer room for avoiding accidents. So I tend to drive slower than posted speed limits typically on average about 55-60 MPH. As for most vehicle accidents I've been to I've seen more accidents involving excessive speed.

(US95 north of Riggins, Idaho)

Towing

As for towing my trailers I will not drive fast than 55-60 MPH. All ST tires are rated for 65 MPH maximum speed. There is no sense in running the trailer tire at redline speed or faster to just have a blowout. To this day 28 years of driving I've never experienced a sudden blow out on a vehicle or trailer.

Claims of high MPG at high rate of speed

I've got guys all the time to claim 20's MPG at 70-80 MPH speeds. Most of these I call BS on these claims. First off if your capable of hitting those kinds of MPG numbers at those at that speeds then at a lower speed you should be hitting the ball out of the park. More times out of ten the owner has oversize tires or changed wheel sizes and has an odometer that is way out of whack. If your going to post a claim of high MPG numbers I highly suggest you get an accurate odometer like a GPS and figure your MPG's from GPS distance and not your erred odometer. Most people that I challenge with this disappear because their numbers are typically way lower or there method of calculating MPG was erred.

Like all my reports of MPG numbers are fully logged from 22k miles to current. I've got a full spreadsheet all mathed out and even in graph form. As for correction of odometer for my truck is exactly 0.5 MPH off so I've got both my GPS and ScanGauge II that give corrected odometer as well as the ScanGauge II giving correct MPG numbers. With an odometer, off by 0.5 MPH, you can be off roughly 20-30 miles in a tank of fuel this roughly translates to roughly 1 MPG error.

Idaho Highways

As you'll see here Idaho has very few Interstate highways and majority of 2 lane highways. Like said above all 2 lane highways out here range from 45-65 MPH. Now as for the Interstates they have been upgrade to 80 MPH. The blue dot is approximate location of where I live. It's roughly 2.5 hour drive to reach I84 and about 4 hours to reach I90 from where I live. So high speed travel is not really possible here.

So, Please keep it to yourself when you going to post snide comments about how I drive in Idaho.

Note: All photos are from right here in Idaho on Idaho highways or from Idaho vehicle owners.