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Quadzilla Timing Settings for the 2nd Gen 24-Valve Cummins: Empty Truck vs. TowingThis article covers timing settings for a Quadzilla tuner on the 2nd Generation (1998.5 to 2002) Dodge Ram 24-valve Cummins. Figuring out timing takes a bit of trial and error, so here is a guide to get you started. These are starting points that work well for me. Your truck, injectors and tune may want something a little different. Quick reference Daily driver, empty truck: 15, 18, 21, 24 degrees, max 25 Towing: 12, 15, 18, 21 degrees, max 22 Where to start: 1500 RPM slider at 12 to 15 degrees, then step up 3 degrees at a time Where to startTake your 1500 RPM timing slider and start it between 12 and 15 degrees, then step up 3 degrees at a time. That is about all you really need. From there, a few other tweaks get you about as much timing as the truck will take. Daily driving, empty truckFor a daily driver running empty, I use 15, 18, 21 and 24 degrees, with a max of 25. An empty truck needs very little pulled-back timing, and the truck gets up to speed fast even with little boost. There is a catch. The more timing you add, the less energy goes out the exhaust, so the turbo spools slower and boost is harder to reach. That matters because boost is what unlocks fuel on a Quadzilla: more boost means more fuel, and little or no boost means little fuel. So advanced timing is great for an empty truck, but it is not what you want when you need power. TowingFor towing, pull the timing back to 12, 15, 18 and 21 degrees, with a max of 22. This builds a lot of power, enough to fry the tires going up a 7% grade at 45 MPH. Warning: do not get too aggressive with the fueling down low. The towing timing is meant to build power, and it is easy to get carried away. Adding a lot of fuel at low RPM, where the engine is under load but the turbo is not up to speed, puts a very large amount of torque straight into the drivetrain. That can damage the transmission, whether it is an automatic or a manual with a clutch. Power that your transmission cannot handle will cost you far more than the extra pull is worth. If you are towing heavy, work up in small steps. Make one change, tow with it, and see how the truck and the transmission behave before adding more. If the transmission starts slipping, running hot or shifting hard, back the fueling off right away. Torque management. The truck has torque management limits that exist to protect the drivetrain. Once you ask for more fuel than the torque limit allows, the extra fuel does not turn into extra pulling power. Past that limit you are only adding smoke, heat and stress. More fuel is not more power if the truck is already at its limit, and pushing past it is the quickest way to damage something like a transmission. The better approach is to set your timing first and get the boost up, then add fuel only as far as the truck can actually use it. Once you reach the point where more fuel stops giving you more pull, stop there. That is your limit for that setup. Finding your balanceUse those two extremes to find the balance you want. Start with the empty-truck numbers for daily driving, start with the towing numbers when you are hauling, and move toward the middle if you want one setting that covers both. A few cautionsChange one thing at a time and drive the truck before changing the next. If you change several things at once, you will not know which one helped. Watch your exhaust gas temperature (EGT) when you tow. If you do not have a gauge, get one before you try the towing settings. These numbers come from my own experience. Treat them as a starting point, not a guarantee, and back off if the truck does not like them. Have you found timing settings that work well on your truck? Post them in the comments or the forum. Other owners would like to see them. View full Cummins article

Share Your Knowledge: Post an Article, Earn a Free MonthThis site started in 2007 as my own notes for fixing Dodge Ram Cummins diesels. It has grown because people shared what they learned, and I want to keep that going. What I am asking forIf you know something worth passing on, write it up and post it to the article database. You do not need to be a professional writer. If you fixed something, built something, figured something out the hard way, or found a better way to do a job, someone else is searching for that answer right now. What I am offeringFor every article I accept, I will give you one free month of credit on the site. Post more accepted articles and you earn more months. What makes a good articleSomething you did yourself. A repair, a modification, a build, a setup, a mistake and how you fixed it. First-hand experience beats a rewrite of what is already online. Enough detail to follow. Say what you were working on, what went wrong, what you did, and how it turned out. Parts, tools and steps help a lot. Honest results. If something did not work, say so. That saves the next person time and money. Your own words. Plain language is fine. Photos are welcome. Topics I would love to seeCummins and Dodge Ram diesel repair, maintenance and tuning Trucks, towing and shop work Computers, networking and building your own PC Anything else the community would find useful How to submit[Add your submission steps here: which section to post in, or where to send it.] I review every submission. If I accept it, I will let you know and apply your free month. I may ask for a small fix or more detail before accepting, which is part of getting it right. Why I am doing thisI have been fixing things since I was 14, and I still learn something new from members regularly. This site is better when it holds more than one person's experience. If you have knowledge, I would love to have it here. — Titanium

Figuring out timing on a Quadzilla takes a bit, but here’s a guide. Take your 1500 RPM slider and start it between 12 and 15 degrees, then step up by 3 degrees at a time. That’s about all you really need. For a daily-driver empty truck, I’d run 15, 18, 21, 24, with a max of 25. Combined with a few other tweaks, that’s about as much timing as you can get. You need very little retard on an empty truck, so it gets up to speed fast, even with little boost. The catch is that more advance means less exhaust energy, so the turbo spools slower and boost is harder to reach. That matters because more boost unlocks more fuel, and little or no boost means little fuel. For towing, pull the timing back to 12, 15, 18, 21, with a max of 22. That builds a lot of power, enough to fry the tires going up a 7% grade at 45 MPH. Use those two extremes to find the balance you’re after.

The short versionI built three computers the same way, and I made the same mistake on all three: both memory sticks went into the same memory channel. The computers worked fine. They were also running their memory at 3600 MT/s instead of 4800, and with half the memory bandwidth on paper. I found it while tuning one of them, fixed two in a single evening, and the third is next on the list. This post covers the mistake, how to check yours in two minutes, and a few other things I cleaned up along the way. What I did wrongAll three computers use the same motherboard, an ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI, with a Ryzen 5 7600X processor. The board has four memory slots but only two memory channels. The slots are labeled A1, A2, B1 and B2, and when you install two sticks, the board wants them in A2 and B2, one per channel. I put both sticks in the same channel. That limits the system to single-channel memory, and with two sticks sharing one channel, the board also holds the memory speed down at 3600 MT/s. How it happened: the paper that came in the box was thin and its slot diagram was hard to follow. I read it wrong, and then I repeated my own mistake on the other two machines because I built them all the same way. The fixMoving one stick to A2 and the other to B2 took a few minutes per machine and a screwdriver. My first boot after the swap looked dead for a bit, with a black screen and an amber warning light, before it came up. Afterward, the memory report on both fixed machines shows one stick in channel A and one in channel B, both running at 4800 MT/s. That is a third faster in speed, and now it is dual-channel. Did it make the computer feel faster? I tried to measure it, but my benchmark results were too noisy to prove a difference on small jobs. I trust the memory report more than the benchmark numbers, and I would rather tell you that than make up a percentage. The better test turned out to be a game I play, Rust. On both fixed desktops it now runs at roughly 80 to 110 frames per second at medium detail. I did not record a before number, so I cannot tell you how much of that came from the memory change. But it is a real-world result, which counts for more than a synthetic benchmark. How to check yours in two minutesOn Linux, run this in a terminal: sudo dmidecode -t memory | grep -E "^\sSize:|Bank Locator:|Configured Memory Speed:"Each slot prints three lines: its size, its channel, and its configured speed. Look at the slots that show a real size. If one is on CHANNEL A and the other on CHANNEL B, you are in dual-channel. If both are on the same channel, you are in single-channel, like I was. On Windows, the free CPU-Z program shows the same thing on its Memory tab, on the line that says Channels. Before you move anything, read the slot labels printed on the board next to the sockets. Those are more reliable than the paper in the box. Cleaning up a drive that was almost fullOne of my computers runs around the clock and stores my nightly backups. When I checked it, the backup drive was nearly full, and so was the system drive. The backups. Each nightly backup is a full copy of about 650 GB. The job that made them kept every copy until it was more than a week old, and it wrote the new copy first and only then deleted the old ones. That meant the drive needed room for eight or nine copies at once. When a night ran out of room, the job left a half-written file of roughly 600 GB behind, and that leftover ate even more space. I checked that nothing was using the leftovers and deleted them, tested the newest good backup, and removed the three oldest copies. The permanent fix is one added line in the backup script. Before it writes tonight's copy, it deletes everything except the newest three. I also cut the age limit from seven days to three as a second safety net. The next morning the drive held four copies, 2.6 TB, with 3.9 TB free of its 7 TB limit instead of about 1 TB. The system drive. The main drive was 72% full, and most of it was my own home folder. The biggest single item was a 25 GB folder I had already marked "hold to delete." I did not delete it. I copied it to another computer, ran a checksum comparison to prove every file matched, and only then removed the original. The drive dropped from 72% to 46% full. I also ran the delete command on the wrong computer first. The folder did not exist there, so nothing was lost, but it is a good reason to read the prompt before you press Enter on anything that deletes. Making my status panel tell the truthI keep a small status panel on my desktop for each computer (I use Conky on Linux), showing CPU, memory, drives, and more. After the memory fix, it still showed 3600 MT/s. The reason is that Conky cannot read the hardware report without administrator rights, so my script was reading a saved copy of that report from weeks earlier. A saved copy never updates. The fix has two parts. A small script, run by the system at every boot, writes a fresh hardware report to a temporary file that any user can read. The panel script now reads that file instead of the old copy, so the memory block shows each stick's real speed. Then I added a backup block to the panel for the computer that holds the backups: Status: OK in green when the newest backup is under 30 hours old, LATE in yellow up to 54 hours, and STALE in red after that. Details: when the last backup ran, and how many copies are kept. Stuck files: a line that says a backup is being written (normal while it runs) or warns when a half-written file has sat for 8 hours or more. That is the failure I missed before. I made the same changes on a second computer, since its panel works the same way. Chasing a network card that kept droppingEarlier this fall, the network card on two of my computers dropped out and stopped seeing the cable, a day apart. They are the same build, so I suspected the same cause. The chip is an Intel I226-V. People report on Linux mailing lists and forums that it can disappear ("PCIe link lost, device now detached") when a power-saving feature called ASPM is on. The usual fixes are a BIOS update, or turning ASPM off in the BIOS or with a kernel option. I am not changing any of that yet, because I do not have evidence that it is my problem. When I went looking, the system logs on my desktop only went back to the last reboot, so anything from October was already gone. The first fix is to make the system keep its logs across reboots, so the next drop leaves a record. Then I wait for the next drop, search the log for "link lost," and only change the power-saving settings if the log points to them. One change at a time, with proof, beats changing five settings and never knowing which one helped. While I had the BIOS open, I also noticed two settings that matter on a computer that runs unattended: one that stops the boot and waits for a keypress after an error, and one that decides whether the machine turns itself back on after a power outage. I plan to look at both when I do the memory swap on the computer that runs around the clock. What I would tell anyone building a PCRead the slot labels on the board itself, not just the paper in the box. After you build, check that your memory is dual-channel and running at its rated speed. A computer that boots is not the same as a computer that is set up right. Anything that runs on a schedule needs a limit, so it cannot fill a drive. If you trust a number on a screen, make sure it is reading fresh data. I spent years building custom PCs at Cloud 10 Computers, and I still made this mistake three times. That is the best argument I know for checking your work. If you have a computer or network question, or want help checking your own build, ask in the comments or on the site.

Dude that's a normal manual. Unless you can float different deal.

3rd gen mirror are a requirement for 2nd gen trucks. I need to replace my broken mirror on the driver's side.

506k miles still not had that experience yet. Could you give more detail on your death wobble.

Being hit with bladder cancer twice. Then a doctor telling me you are going to die. Titanium was created to handle the stress and anxiety. Ive learn a lot from the appearance that I could not quit. Then my wife fell in love with me and married me because of my appearance. We dress up together and enjoy public interactions. So much fun!

3.5deg of castor isnt much. I usualy shoot for 5deg plus. I generally find most guys/gals at less swhab dont realy no what theyre doing wether they are my friend or not. Or they may know what theyre doing but the rushed atmosphere doesnt really allow time for quality work. Less swhab is quantity driven same as the McDonalds drive through line. Just because parts are new doesnt nean they arent junk out of the box or after obe lap around the block. That is great that loose track bar bolts where your only problem.

Got rid of the west coast mirrors as they call them. I was pretty much blind with them. These are cheap 107 dollar power mirrors off ebay. Harnes was already in the door so they bolted on and work great. So far no shakes work and look great. the best mod ive done along with fuel pressure gauge. Thanks for the photo capabilities. If i havent yet thanked you.

My eyes popped i was like ohhhh man gender reassignment or something crazy. Lol Thanks for shareing your life through the website. Sorry ive never stopped by when you where home. One of these days.

The part where you let of throttle grab stick and row it into a gear. ;)

One Reminder, One Long Day: Forum Upgrade, File Cleanup, and a Network Card That VanishedIt started with a simple reminder: the forum software needed updating. It turned into a full day of server housekeeping. Here's what I ran into and the commands I used. Anything in ALL CAPS is a placeholder, so swap in your own values. Back up before you change anything. 1. The upgrade that always failedThe one-click Invision upgrade never worked for me, so I'd been uploading updates by hand. The cause was file ownership. Years of unpacking files as the administrator left hundreds of them owned by the wrong user, and the site runs as a normal account that couldn't overwrite them. Check for it: ls -ld /PATH/TO/FORUM find /PATH/TO/FORUM ! -user YOUR_SITE_USER | wc -lIf that count isn't 0, fix the ownership and look for world-writable (777) folders: sudo chown -R YOUR_SITE_USER:YOUR_SITE_USER /PATH/TO/FORUM find /PATH/TO/FORUM -type d -perm -0002 | head find /PATH/TO/FORUM -type d -perm -0002 -exec chmod 755 {} \;After that, the one-click upgrade ran clean. Test a photo upload afterward. Lesson: when an auto-updater fails, check file ownership before blaming the firewall. 2. Cleaning personal files off the serverPhotos, music, and documents had piled up where they didn't belong. Before deleting anything I made sure it was all safely on the desktop. First, check that no sync program (like Syncthing) is set up on the server, because deleting synced files can delete them everywhere: sudo find /home -maxdepth 5 -name config.xml -path '*syncthing*' sudo grep -hE '<folder |<device id' /PATH/TO/config.xml | cut -c1-200Then run a dry run (-n changes nothing) to see what the desktop is missing, and copy only those files: rsync -rn --ignore-existing --exclude='.stfolder*' --out-format='%n' YOUR_USER@SERVER_IP:/SERVER/PHOTOS/ /DESKTOP/PHOTOS/ > /tmp/missing.txt wc -l /tmp/missing.txt rsync -av --ignore-existing --files-from=/tmp/missing.txt YOUR_USER@SERVER_IP:/SERVER/PHOTOS/ /DESKTOP/PHOTOS/For music and documents, I compared filenames anywhere on the desktop: export LC_ALL=C ssh YOUR_USER@SERVER_IP 'cd /SERVER/HOME && find music documents -type f -printf "%f\n"' | sort -u > /tmp/srv-files.txt find ~ -type f -printf '%f\n' | sort -u > /tmp/desk-files.txt comm -23 /tmp/srv-files.txt /tmp/desk-files.txtFinally, don't delete. Move the old copies to a hold folder until everyone has looked things over: mkdir -p ~/_hold-to-delete-YYYY-MM-DD mv ~/photos ~/music ~/documents ~/_hold-to-delete-YYYY-MM-DD/Lesson: verify, copy, hold, then delete. 3. The network card that fell off the busA wired network card died and the link showed NO-CARRIER. First, find the card, its driver, and what the log says: lspci -k | grep -A3 -i ethernet ip link sudo dmesg | grep -i YOUR_DRIVER | tail -20My log said "PCIe link lost," which means reloading the driver won't help. Removing the device from the PCI bus and rescanning brought it back without a reboot (use the address from lspci, like 06:00.0): echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:BUS:SLOT.F/remove sleep 2 echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/rescan ip linkConfirm it has an address, and that Wake-on-LAN is still on if you rely on it: ip -4 addr show YOUR_INTERFACE sudo ethtool YOUR_INTERFACE | grep -iE 'wake|link detected'To make a repeat less likely, I turned off PCIe power-saving (takes effect at the next reboot): sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.bak sudo sed -i 's/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="\(.*\)"/GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="\1 pcie_aspm=off"/' /etc/default/grub sudo update-grubLesson: read the kernel log first. It tells you which kind of problem you have. 4. When the spam filter eats your login codeI'd tightened the mail filtering to deal with spam, and it then blocked a verification email I needed. I looked in the mail log to see who the real sender was, then whitelisted that domain, but only for mail that passes authentication: grep -hiE 'SENDER_NAME' /var/log/maillog | tail -15 sudo cp /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf.bak echo 'whitelist_auth *@SENDER-DOMAIN.com' | sudo tee -a /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf spamassassin --lint && sudo systemctl restart spamassassinFile locations vary by mail setup, so adjust the paths for yours. Lesson: tighten the filter, then whitelist the few services you really use. Questions or similar war stories? Drop them below.

Please do. I love to see an article made for this. 💙

I’ll try this week to pull my shroud and install it and see if my theories on fitment are correct. I’ll post some pics to show what I mean.

Sometimes cost isn't realitive for fun, hobbies, customization etc. Trust me I know! 🤣 So I get it. I think its really cool you found a way to do it and offer another option for a fan. Im definitely following and might be tempted to do it myself.

I work at a Freightliner dealership as a tech now for years. All trucks run plastic fans. When they engage via electrical or air actuation they PULL air. I don’t think electric fans pull as much air since the blades are quite a bit smaller and the motors aren’t as strong. I’m sure in a city stop and go situation they work fine but if your pulling a serious grade with some weight they’ll fall short. Really, I just wanted more fan blades and the chance that a rivet won’t come off and a blade going into a rad as the case with our own fans. This fan isn’t really heavy, I think it’s lighter then the oem one. Plus I like the modern look. Time will tell if it’s actually cost effective but this is my hobby.

I've worked with many plastic fans being a JD mechanic for years and some are actually quite heavy. I dont know the weight of this one, I will assume that it is probably lighter than the oem metal fan. What benefits are you expecting or obvious benefits from switching to a plastic fan? I guess to further the discussion, aside from the obvious bigger cost difference, what about electric fans?

The price set (not by me) but the manufacturer is $275 USD and must be ordered through any of their distributors. I haven’t installed it in my truck yet but there will be 2 issues to overcome: 1) the holes in your fan hub will need to be drilled & tapped to 3/8” course, the manufacture builds heavy truck fans and they all use 3/8” studs. Their balancer doesn’t have a means to run 5/16” bolts or studs. I already have done this and it fits fine on the Hayden 2842 fan hub, lots of material to work with on that hub. 2) if you run the fluidampr you’ll need (I believe - haven’t tested it yet with mine) you can only run it with an oem style fan hub and the Geno’s Garage fan hub extension adapter (moves the fan hub ahead 7/8”). The Hydan 2842 sits so close to the rad the extension won’t work with adapter. The Fluidampr is 1-3/8” thick while the oem is 7/8”. If you have the Fluidampr then just an oem fan hub & the adapter extension and it should fit perfectly. I was trying to make this work with the 2842 since it seems to be the new upgraded fan hub everyone uses. Any fan hub you use must be used with stainless bolts. You don’t want iron/steel ones in there with aluminum fan hub because they can galvanize, corrode and split your hub holes (over time of course). I haven’t had time to install mine yet as I’m one guy with a full time job and 2 kids. Again, the price is NOT set by me. I won’t make a dime on this. I do to further my passion for 2nd gens. Titanium, PM if you what the part number, I didn’t want to release this until I was sure what works and what doesn’t with certain aftermarket parts.

Any updates on this fan and where to get it and how much? Very interested yet.

Tractor man is right. I'm up here in the frozen north and cold winter days will cause a few things to happen. IAT below 80℉ by design on the ECM will add about 4 degree advancement. This is why my high idle kit with the IAT fooler was created so you can hold the timing from shifting sharply with cold air which in turn reduces the MPG's. Too cold will bring down MPG's. I found that hotter coolant say running a 200℉ thermostat 6.7L Cummins will improve MPG performance providing the added warmth to the engine for cold winters. I end up covering my grill over to block air flow to my intercooler to keep IAT temp up in the bottom end at 70 to 80℉ on a -30℉ winter day. Racing yes you need a intercooler and keep your temps in check, and Cold air and cooler coolant is great for racing power. But... MPG is completely flipped backwards. Warmer air is best 80 to 140℉ promote good ignition. Coolant temperature increased to 205 to 210℉ will add +10℉ roughly to the IAT temperature and will keep the timing more productive. I typically run a fairly advanced tune for empty running. Then towing I retard the timing and it build boost quick and hard enough to fry the rear tires on a 7% grade. Optimally you can run about 20° BTDC @ 2000 RPM and its sweet spot for the most part. This will vary depending on pop pressure of the injectors so you may need to adjust timing to fit the set up. Running high pop pressure gives a cleaner bottom end and retards about 1 degree for my 320 bar injectors. Do not use cetane boosters! Lower the cetane more BTU's per gallon. Example on the grid is my locally Cennex Diesel fuel when I looked up their specs. 2 cycle oil is one of the few additives that does not have cetane booster and then if your using snowmobile 2 cycle oil the reduced pour point of the 2 cycle oil (-50°F pour point) that pour point depressant will help with gelling issues of the diesel fuel. 506k miles on Beast and still going! Then final Ratio another MPG killer. versized tires typically kill the MPG in a few ways. (Optimal ratio for MPGs - 3.73) Rotational mass wider and heavier tires require more power. Larger tires will reduce the ratio number of the axle. My truck came with 265/75 R16 tires. I changed from that to 245/75 R16 tires like the door panel sticker shows. This shifted my final ratio from 3.55:1 to 3.69:1 and now increased torque output and reduced engine load by a bunch. Cruising at even 80 MPH @ 2450 RPMs no sweat! I've done well over 24 to 26 MPG on the interstate.

@Honestbest333, everything you posted about charge air is true, but not necessarily relevant for what you are trying to accomplish. You stated, "I decided to take it to the next level and do everything possible to get 30 MPG when empty at 65 mph." Three key phrases here - "30 mpg", "when empty", and "at 65 mph". Under these conditions, your engine is going to be producing very little boost, thus very little charge air heating. Consequently, light engine load, along with lower engine rpm and a stock intercooler, will easily bring the charge air temperature back to ambient air temperature efficiently - even on a 85°F day. At this point the engine is virtually performing as a naturally aspirated engine and there are more than enough oxygen molecules available for the power being produced. I think what @Mopar1973Man is alluding to is when you are driving your truck on days when the ambient temperature is 50°F, or 30°F, or 5°F. There are many such days during the winter months. Since your diesel engine does not have a throttle plate (like in a gasoline engine), every intake stroke brings in a full charge of very cold air at low ambient air temperatures. There will likely be less efficient combustion under light engine load in this circumstance. This is where your charge air intercooler can be your enemy. Once you begin working your engine, such as in towing a 15,000 lb gross combined weight, then everything about cooling the charge air before entering the combustion chamber for better fuel efficiency is relevant - even at lower ambient air temperatures. However, this is not where you are going to achieve 30 mpg, as you well know. John

Thank you for all the information above! I'm learning a lot. Grok AI states: "Why cooler charge air helps a turbo diesel... Turbo diesels compress air, which heats it (often to 250–300°F+ under load). An intercooler cools that air before it reaches the engine. Cooler air is denser, so it packs more oxygen molecules into the same volume. That denser charge improves combustion efficiency: the engine can produce the needed power with less fuel (or more power from the same fuel). Sources commonly cite roughly a 1% density/power gain per ~10°F drop in charge-air temperature, along with corresponding drops in exhaust gas temperature (EGT). A 20°F cooler charge is a meaningful difference (roughly 2–3% denser under typical conditions via the ideal-gas relationship). Practical results align with the physics. Upgraded intercoolers on diesel trucks (Cummins, Duramax, Power Stroke, etc.) are frequently reported to improve fuel economy in the 2–5% range (sometimes more with supporting tuning), while also cutting EGTs and improving sustained power under load or towing. Banks and others explicitly list better fuel economy as a benefit of larger, well-designed charge-air coolers."

Curious what about them? I want to understand what part of it that sucks?