Hi All,
I started this thread to share (maybe inspire, feel free to add posts on your own) fellow 2nd gen owners on the refresh of my truck as while its getting older, I think there are simple ways to make it fit better into the modern world.  This mindset started when I started considering buying a 4th gen, and while they are awesome I realized that with a little TLC my 2nd gen could fit better into the modern truck world and I could avoid a truck payment! 

What I have done thus far:

1.    New shocks on all four corners (no pics, sorry)
2.    Additional lighting upfront (I can get a picture this weekend)
3.    Removed, cleaned and remounted the weather-stripping (no pics, but made a huge diff in wind noise).
4.    Replaced the front / rear sway bar bushings (pics below, 100% improvement in ride)

 

Future Items (next few weeks/months) – Will be better on pics!

1.    Heat wrap downpipe to trans mount (heat / sound reduction goal, manifold & turbo already wrapped)
2.    Big Line Kit from filter housing to vp (I have my upgraded fuel pump feed into the stock housing).
3.    Traction bars for the rear (goal is improve power transfer / remove axel twist)
4.    New front control arm bushings
5.    Interior deep clean
6.    Additional sound deadening under carpet
7.    Updated speaks / stereo (still researching)
8.    Attempt to Fix my cruise control
9.    Fix my dripping transfercase
10.    Valve Adjustment Check and new injectors    
 

Better late than never.....

 

 

  On 4/21/2018 at 3:01 PM, KATOOM said:

Better late than never.....

Nice work and thanks for the pic!

 

What thickness is the blanket?  

I dont remember the "thickness" of material but I do remember that each section was 6" X 36".  There's two of them on there back to back shielding about 6 feet of exhaust pipe.  When running the engine I can hold my hand on the blanket so its working.

 

I should have also mentioned that I plan on installing a turbo blanket as well just because I have this crazy feeling that the 1100*+ turbo has to be radiating so much heat that the intake is sucking some up.  And that kind of intense heat cant be good for anything around it either.

Edited April 21, 20186 yr by KATOOM

  On 4/21/2018 at 3:19 PM, KATOOM said:

I dont remember the "thickness" of material but I do remember that each section was 6" X 36".  There's two of them on there back to back shielding about 6 feet of exhaust pipe.  When running the engine I can hold my hand on the blanket so its working.

 

I should have also mentioned that I plan on installing a turbo blanket as well just because I have this crazy feeling that the 1100*+ turbo has to be radiating so much heat that the intake is sucking some up.  And that kind of intense heat cant be good for anything around it either.

Thank you for the details and let us know how the turbo blanket works out for you.  

Sure is easier to justify fixing these older rigs up instead of buying newer and the expensive problems that go with them. BTW second gens are still my favorite too. 

So I feel this is a fitting place for what happened to me a little while ago. 

 

I was coming home from my girlfriends house. The speed limit on this road is 60 and I had the cruise set to 63. I was coming up on old suburban who was poking along and I just passed him. 

 

Came into the next town and I pulled into the Cenex for a splash of fuel. 

 

I see the Suburban get on the brakes and makes a hard turn into the lot. He bee lines right for me. I was thinking here we go for what ever reason. 

 

He comes up, rolls down his window, and says "Where did you get that clean truck? You passed me and I went holy cow!!  You rarely see nice 2nd Gen Cummins any more."

 

I laughed, told him the story and said it looks good from 5 feet. 

 

We talked and he has a 95 and 98 3/4 tons. Both low miles, extended cabs, and never seen MN winters. He bought the 98 a little bit ago from a lady in ND for 12 grand. 

 

I told him awesome score and did he realize what he had. He replied "One of the most sought after Cummins there is?"

 

Anyways it was fun. He also said the 2nd gen is his favorite looking truck. 

 

So we aren't the only ones. 

 

 

Edited April 22, 20186 yr by Ben

That's awesome.  I had to go from Michigan to Tennessee for my truck. Worth the drive, rolled 98,000 on the way home. 

Hello All,

As requested over a few posts, the part numbers for the bushings (measure your sway bars!) are below along with photos of my light upgrade and heat wrap in the engine bay.  Photos of the traction bar install to follow later as I have to writeup my install notes still.

 

·         Energy Suspension 5.5159G 34mm Front Sway Bar Bushing Set

·         Quick Steer K3170 Stabilizer Bar Bushing Kit

 

Edited April 23, 20186 yr by NightHawk

  On 4/23/2018 at 5:46 PM, NightHawk said:

Hello All,

As requested over a few posts, the part numbers for the bushings (measure your sway bars!) are below along with photos of my light upgrade and heat wrap in the engine bay.  Photos of the traction bar install to follow later as I have to writeup my install notes still.

 

·         Energy Suspension 5.5159G 34mm Front Sway Bar Bushing Set

·         Quick Steer K3170 Stabilizer Bar Bushing Kit

 

You should've added a pic of you knuckles. Bet they are a little dinged up. It looks great but probably a PITA

 

L8tr

D

Hello All,

 

As promised, the traction bar install photos are below and the kit part number is Tuff Country Part # 30995.  Overall the install was easy (directions weren’t the best) and took me about 3hrs from start to finish including cleanup.  They are 90% bolt in, the front brackets require two ½” holes to be added into the frame for the bolts. 

 

I chose these bars because I liked that each end was a rubber bushing which came off as more DD/road friendly then the solid linked bars.  I would not consider them high hp or racing bars though, so be aware of your end goals!

 

I put 75 miles on my truck post install and noticed right away the increased rear stability under accel & braking.  Once I put more miles on I can report back but believe that these should have gone on much earlier in my truck ownership.

 

Thanks

Edited April 24, 20186 yr by NightHawk

I'm VERY interested to see how those traction bars perform for you NightHawk.  I've been eyeballing them for a long time merely because they're the only ones out there which are bolt on.  Everything else is custom fab / weld on and expensive, and I'd say that my axle wrap condition is nothing close to needing that kind of strength.  But.....I could be wrong.  So please update the thread as to how they hold up.

After 120 miles of 65 MPH...

It tough to get mine even warm on 60 to 70 degree day. No heat shield. No transmission coolers. Just a stock NV4500.

Edited April 24, 20186 yr by Mopar1973Man

  On 4/24/2018 at 4:10 PM, Mopar1973Man said:

After 120 miles of 65 MPH...

It tough to get mine even warm on 60 to 70 degree day. No heat shield. No transmission coolers. Just a stock NV4500.

 

Hmm. That seems low to me. Has that always been like that? You would be the one to notice something squirrelly. If that's how it always has been then cool. 

 

Is the temp sender original? Like I mentioned before, my old truck ate those. Just as much as my old Powerstroke ate glow plug relays. 

  On 4/24/2018 at 4:10 PM, Mopar1973Man said:

After 120 miles of 65 MPH...It tough to get mine even warm on 60 to 70 degree day. No heat shield. No transmission coolers. Just a stock NV4500.

 

In the warmer weather mine will hover around 120* - 140* on a long drive empty.  Towing in 4th gear (1:1) it will even maintain about 150*.  But if I have to downshift to 3rd while pulling up a long grade then the fluid temps can climb to 190*, depending on how long I have to hold that gear and how hot it is outside.  Anything over 175* isnt common.

 

The heat blanket on the exhaust is hardly doing anything for transmission temps until I'm pulling those long hot grades where the airflow can be lower from slower speeds, and the EGT's are maintaining 1100*+ the entire time.  Thats where I found it to be effective.

  On 4/24/2018 at 6:39 PM, Ben said:

 

Hmm. That seems low to me. Has that always been like that? You would be the one to notice something squirrelly. If that's how it always has been then cool. 

 

Is the temp sender original? Like I mentioned before, my old truck ate those. Just as much as my old Powerstroke ate glow plug relays. 

 

Verified with a digital thermometer and it right on. Mine rarely comes up above the 130*F mark empty running. Now towing it common to see the 170-190*F realm. The only time I could push that is now shift in 3rd gear crawl a 7% grade in 110*F weather. Now that was the only time I've seen my warning light trip at 225*F. 

 

All winter It never moves from the 100*F mark. Most of the summer I'll be below 160*F empty truck.

  On 4/24/2018 at 1:15 AM, KATOOM said:

I'm VERY interested to see how those traction bars perform for you NightHawk.  I've been eyeballing them for a long time merely because they're the only ones out there which are bolt on.  Everything else is custom fab / weld on and expensive, and I'd say that my axle wrap condition is nothing close to needing that kind of strength.  But.....I could be wrong.  So please update the thread as to how they hold up.

 

Also interested as well.

  On 4/25/2018 at 1:54 AM, Mopar1973Man said:

Verified with a digital thermometer and it right on. Mine rarely comes up above the 130*F mark empty running. Now towing it common to see the 170-190*F realm. The only time I could push that is now shift in 3rd gear crawl a 7% grade in 110*F weather. Now that was the only time I've seen my warning light trip at 225*F. 

I thought I saw in another thread that you are using a 50wt synthetic transmission oil and wondering if you are still running a 50wt?  Looked into getting 50wt at my local Napa and it was very expensive for a 5 gallon container.  Mobil 1 or Valvoline?  Been using Redline MT-90 for years and switched to Pennzoil Synchromesh recently and qreatly preferred the heavier wt Redline and it might be beneficial for me to use a 50wt Synthetic in my NV5600 with more than 253,000.  Pennzoil feels "THIN" especially in cold temperatures and is not as quiet and the MT-90.  

Any experience and advise appreciated.

I have used Pennzoil in my first 6 speed and lost 4th at 245k. Got stuck in gear and I had to hulk out. Never went back in. It resides in my shop since. I bought one from a junk yard with 52k on it and it still resides in the truck. Still shifts fine and has had a steady diet of the Pennzoil and now has about 250k on it. I cant say anything bad about the Pennzoil. 

  On 4/25/2018 at 3:46 AM, dripley said:

I have used Pennzoil in my first 6 speed and lost 4th at 245k. Got stuck in gear and I had to hulk out. Never went back in. It resides in my shop since. I bought one from a junk yard with 52k on it and it still resides in the truck. Still shifts fine and has had a steady diet of the Pennzoil and now has about 250k on it. I cant say anything bad about the Pennzoil. 

I drained the original trans oil in the NV5600 with around 39,00 miles and went with the Pennzoil Synchromesh at that point.  Tried Redline MTL around 75,000 miled and it was an improvement over the Pennzoil in warm weather, but was a bit more "nothcy shifting" when ecold temps.  Went with the MT-90 at around 105, 000 miles and been using about every 30, 000 to 45,000 since with great results.  Thought I would try the Pennzoil again since is is about 1/2 the price, but it just does not feel the same.  Shifting is notchy when cold and is not as quiet.  Maybe my trans has some wear at 253,000 and benefits from the synthetic Mt-90.  It is similar to a 5w-40wt oil.  Thinking with the miles it might be good to try the synthetic 50wt heavy duty oil?

I guess mine can be notchy, if you mean it seems to pause in neutral while shifting. Mine does to a degree but I have grown used to it. But if I want to shift quick I can do that, just requires some thought. The NV5600 is a big tranny and I never expected it to shift like a sports car but it is fun to try. I personally will stick with the Pennzoil.

  On 4/25/2018 at 3:13 AM, Michaelsloft said:

I thought I saw in another thread that you are using a 50wt synthetic transmission oil and wondering if you are still running a 50wt?

 

Yes, sir. 70,000 miles and no issues. I check the fluid level at 60k miles and the color was still clean like out of the bucket. I'll be doing a fluid change at 100k miles. I kind of feel it will be early...

 

  On 4/25/2018 at 3:13 AM, Michaelsloft said:

Looked into getting 50wt at my local Napa and it was very expensive for a 5 gallon container.

 

No it's not. If you look at the factory lube at $27 a quart from a Dodge Dealer... That's $108 for a gallon. I bought a 5 gallon bucket for bit over $200.00. Napaonline is $245 a 5 gallon bucket. $49 a gallon. $12.25 a quart. It's nearly half the price of the factory fluid.