Have a couple random questions about my truck:

 

1. On start up, the puff of smoke is getting thicker and bluer. It also has a slight oil smell to it. Idling for a bit also starts getting an oily hint to it as well. I'm assuming that this is either turbo or valve seals. I don't think its valve seals because those are only 4 years old from when I rebuilt the head.. Turbo is the factory hx35 with 213k on it so id think its getting time to rebuild.

 

2. While sled pulling, in my Quad's datalogs I have found that the canbus fuel is dropping off a bit then back up to 4095. I don't have back downs, and throttle stayed at 100%. The green vertical bars are canbus, the yellow line is load, and the brown/copper one is throttle position. this is my most recent sled pull. It was this past Saturday, the 7th. 200ft track and stupid sandy, no grip. The dip in the middle was me letting off to see if I could get any more traction but I think it cost me distance instead. In the last half of the pull after me letting off the throttle and getting back on the fuel keeps dropping a bit.   

Dark blue is rpm, gray is egt, peach is timing, light blue is boost 

 

3. after my pull the quad showed -40 for coolant temp then started reading again. I have mopar mans high idle kit but the bone heads at the dealer didnt actually turn it on despite having the tsb in front of them, don't know if that makes a difference. I haven't had a chance to look thing over yet to see if I melted something or if something is loose.

 

4. My sled pulls seem to never register over 30 psi on the Quad, even though my isspros show 35-38. 

You can contact the dealer parts department.  They might be able to get the build data sheet from Chrysler with that info.  I did this last week for a 2006 Volvo fuel pump.  Doesn't your dad work at a Dodge parts department? 

@IBMobile, he does, and i have the actual build sheet for my truck (all the sales codes). It doesnt say anything about the engine code. Doing some reading finds a mixed bag of results with either Cummins quickserve or through the dealership...

I didn't know where else to put this, so its going here..

 

I'm going to be selling my 2019 2500. Learning a life lesson in the money area and it's that just because you have the money doesn't mean you can get the expensive toys. Situation boils down to a not refined enough budget and you cant plan for unexpected costs. 

 

To have a spare vehicle, my brother has a 99 1500 SCSB, 5.2, 5 speed, and 3.55s that he got for cheap because it needs a clutch or throw out bearing. We/he hasn't had time to dig into it so its been sitting for a while. He's willing to sell it to me for $600. Besides the clutch, it also needs tires, current ones wont make it through winter. Which brings me to my question: @Mopar1973Man, 

 

Does the final drive ratio of 3.55-3.73 also hold true for the gas trucks as well?

 

I used to have an 01 ram 1500 sport off road edition before I had my Cummins, it got 11 mpg pretty much everywhere. Kicker was it came with 4.10s factory. I'm trying to squeeze a bit more out of this one since its going to become my daily. 

Not sure on gasser for final ratio. At least for or Cummins trucks it between 3.55 to 3.73 for optimal final ratio. Just remember every 1 pound of rotational mass you add is like adding 8 pounds to the frame.

How did you end up figuring it out for the Cummins? Trial and error?  

1 hour ago, Silverwolf2691 said:

How did you end up figuring it out for the Cummins? Trial and error?  

3 ways

1. Build sheet by vin number
2. Turn the rear wheel and count the number of times the driveshaft turns
3. Open the diff and divide the number of pinion teeth into the number of teeth on the ring gear.   

@IBMobile, that part I have, it's the effective ratio I think is what I was asking about. The one where tire size effects what your final ratio is to the ground.     

36 minutes ago, Silverwolf2691 said:

The one where tire size effects what your final ratio is to the ground.     

Ok, is this what you're looking for?

https://tiresize.com/gear-ratio-calculator/ 

1 hour ago, Silverwolf2691 said:

How did you end up figuring it out for the Cummins? Trial and error?  

 

People forget I deal with hundreds of Dodge Cummins trucks. I've seen the absolute worst with 37 inch tires on 3.55 gears. I've help several get 18 to 21 MPG with bad set ups. Yes final ratio makes a huge impact. Like Beast with 245s which lands me at 3.69. Like my last high mark at 28.04 MPG. Then fix Thor with 33 inch tires and brought it back to 3.73 final and gained 4 MPG putting me close to 19 MPG.

@IBMobile

 

Yep. I have been playing around with it and it seems like the tire size and gears have the fixed ratio between themselves.

 

What I was asking Mike about was if the same tire sizes would match up with a gasser.

 

The NV3500 in the ram 1500's has much different gears than the NV4500. Plus with the gasser having a different powerband I was curious if the knowledge needed tweaking or could be applied properly. Because the 245s would match up with what Mike put via the calculator.

 

Maybe I'm gonna be the guinea pig to see how this translates for the gasser community..     

2 hours ago, Silverwolf2691 said:

What I was asking Mike about was if the same tire sizes would match up with a gasser

Yes. The calculation is the same for gas or diesel. Just Cummins does better around 2k RPM at 65 MPH. I was running the same ratio on Lil' Red. 215/85 R16 on 3.55 put nearly the same like 3.65. On Lil' Red the 4 speed auto is taller in 4th. So the out come it a bit lower RPM.

5 hours ago, Silverwolf2691 said:

How did you end up figuring it out for the Cummins? Trial and error?  

 

People forget I deal with hundreds of Dodge Cummins trucks. I've seen the absolute worst with 37 inch tires on 3.55 gears. I've help several get 18 to 21 MPG with bad set ups. Yes final ratio makes a huge impact. Like Beast with 245s which lands me at 3.69. Like my last high mark at 28.04 MPG. Then fix Thor with 33 inch tires and changed back to 265's brought it back to 3.73 final and gained 4 MPG putting me close to 19 MPG.

NO, WE DON'T ALLOW BRAGGIN' ! 

@JAG1, he kinda owns the place..

 

I think he can do what he wants .

 

If i can even get a 5.2 gasser to half of that high mark around town, i'd be bragging too. 

I owned a '95 K1500 Suburban, 5.7L, auto trans, 3.73 gears (I think) for over 10 years and put almost 100k miles on it. Always had load range E tires on it for some reason. When my mixed mileage dropped below 16.5 MPG I began looking for problems.

 

Are the older Dodge gassers really that thirsty that 14 MPG is something to brag about?

48 minutes ago, LorenS said:

Are the older Dodge gassers really that thirsty that 14 MPG is something to brag about?

I had a 1998 half ton gasser with v6 and it avaraged around 18, I also had a tundra in that year range with a V8 that averaged 18 with way more power, hand calculated.

Forgot to say 1998 was a Dodge ram 1500

Lil' Red was about a 14 to 16 MPG at best. Never put a lot effort in Lil' Red. Now its no longer my problem. SOLD.

@LorenS yes they are, within reason. The truck I had had 4.10s and 285/70r17s. Perks of the off road package.

 

I had done a fair amount to it to try and fix some of the issues that were inherent to the motor in an effort to get better economy and a bit more power. None of it really worked.

 

Then come to find out recently, some of the things I had gotten for the truck weren't the best for it, specifically the guy I got the tune from. Tuning philosophy was just add fuel every where. Even with a cat, my truck smelt rich. Think car show muscle car.    

 

Only time I got above 11-12 mpg with it was two highway only runs. Got 13.9 and 14.1 going from Essex, CT to East Stroudsburg, PA and back for fireworks. It was a tank down and a tank back. 13.9 was 70-75 down, 14.1 on the way back was my best friend driving at 65-ish. Cops don't like explosives going across state lines.. Didn't want to attract attention to us.     

Not me, I only wish to spread a few smiles. I guess came across the wrong way... sorry about that.

No problem @JAG1. Hardest thing with text only based communication is implying any emotion. Got into trouble with my ex girlfriend on more than one occasion because of that. And different phones had smileys/emojis show up wrong. My Android phone to Her Apple phone.