Mopar1973Man

Economy brake pads here... (180k to 200k) Then my front rotors lasted for 350k miles. Rear rotors where replaced sooner for the top hat brake (parking brake was worn) at about 300k miles. Majority of my stopping is done with my exhaust brake. I only use the service brakes to hold position like on a slope. I typically get 180k to 200k miles from brake pads. I typically only use service brakes below 25 MPH at this point exhaust brake is worthless. Economy pads do not eat up the rotors like premium pads or ceramic pads. Automatics you have to think way ahead and gear down accordingly to make it work and also a good torque converter controller. This also requires the transmission to be able to lock up in all forward gears for a exhaust brake to work. Typically the stock transmission will only lock in 3rd and 4th gear. This put more braking effort on the service brake than the exhaust brake.

Your the owner of the forum... Start posting...

I had a set of those and they sucked.

You got to join the different clubs. Once in then the posting can start.

Like myself I've got a set of stand single bulb lights in my 1996 Dodge and the last trip home sucked. Very narrow band of light vertically maybe 5 to 6 feet. Only covering just the highway on hi beam. Lo beam is worse. I need to find a quality LED for that truck being its not going to be kept as a primary vehicle. Not worth it for HID's.

So far never had a bad brake hose on ANY vehicle I've owned. But I've always changed my brake fluid at 30k miles.

Being that Cummins is using 4 different thermostats I guess not being they went all over the map. Being Motorad was a small neck and low flow, then my OEM was a different as well, etc. We can compare all kind of OEM themostats and they are all different but one thing... Opening temperature. Still there is only a few companies that produce thermostats. Sure not worth $65 bucks for... Bingo... LOL... I got charged $80 dollars for a Mopar OEM Fuel filter. Why I told the dealer to stuff it. I can buy Fleetguard for $13 dollars. Just like buying a $65 dollar thermostat from Cummins that splits apart in under 100 miles. True. But they have been very stable and failure free in my usage. Remember I service more than just Dodge. Ford and Chevy as well as foreign cars too. Subaru, etc. Remember I speak for wider range than just a 3rd Gen Cummins. There is much bigger world than just a 3rd Gen Cummins... Again I service a very wider range a of vehicles.

Might check out my tune. I'm getting pretty solid 19 MPG in the dead of winter.

Only happens when you don't change your brake fluid every 30k miles. If the brake fluid is dark or black till to dump and refill. This means pulling the calipers and cleaning the debris out of the bottom of then too so it doesn't bind up the pistons. Hence the OP problem dragging brakes... 1st was 185k miles. Second set I got 200k miles out of. Exhaust brakes are wonderful thing. I can drive most of my 125 mile trip to Ontario and never touch the brakes unless I need to stop. Slowing down is done all on the exhuast brake and service brake is only used at 20 MPH and lower.

Junk pumps... Personally. The pump is too far from the tank and uses the stock lines yet. Typically have really wide range of pressure fall over range of throttle and load.

Just like Mopar oil filter and Fram are the same... Yes the is the gasoline side but there is no special specification for this is there... Nope just the cheapest filter repainted with Mopar label. These are a few reason why I will not pay trip price for a junk product and still continues today.

This is why I would rather rebulid my own calipers. The kits at only $5 to $7 dollars for the seals and boots. Then the slide pin kit is like $5 dollars as well. Then you can replace all the pins and slide boots. Then lube the slide pins up properly. During the rebuild you can check the slide of the piston in the caliper body. Then tun e each piston to fit correctly. I've got an article on this exactly. 406k miles and rolling. 200K miles on these brakes and rolling.

Filter housing is fine. That is nothing. The ranchers out her will have up to full one inch of mud or sand in the bottom of the fuel filter from all the farm red dye. Your good! I will admit that is not a big line kit. Big line kit is full 1/2 inch plumbing and hose from the tank to the VP44. No banjo bolts. As for the test port that was a weird thing. Some had two port one at the filter inlet and the other at the VP44. Then switch to VP44 only later on. I change fuel filters about every 50k to 70k miles. My fuel supply is extremely clean and takes a very long time till my AirDog 165 and the stock filter to even turn colors.

@JAG1 Sad to say I'm out of money, I've got paying jobs to do but not enough time to do them yet. Still got the 6.7L Ford for an alternator still not done, Still got the 6.7L Ram to fix a flash tune on, Still got my truck with a bad u-joint (2002). Then last night my aux light on the (1996) still screwing up and turning off. Still got firewood to split and stack. Still got to finish moving us around from guest house to main house. Still got to run to McCall for parts and meds. I'm only one guy... So now add in the fact @Wet Vette went to the hospital again with chest pains. I called the neighbors and already had that covered so they took her up to the hospital again. Even called ahead and gave the hospital heads up with her coming in. Then last night at about 7pm brought her home too. I've got wonderful neighbors as well. She is back home and doing better again. she is sleeping soundly. Yesterday was one of those tough days that you separated from a love one and then the emergency rings out and you end up on the other end of the phone and not able to do anything but talk and calm nerves and quell the panic in someones voice. Then rapid thinking no one knows what is going to happen next I'm jumping off the interstate and start making phone calls. I was calling my buddy Brian just in case I had to drop every thing and run toward Boise. Eileen's Mom was a great help she did the phone calls to and keep me up to date on what was happening. I was able to continue my task list get things done. The only thing I didn't do is make the trip to Caldwell for the "high Idle Cables" that are ready. By the time I sat down to eat with @MoparMom Eileen was ready to be discharged. My neighbors handled the transport home for me. (Thank You Jim and Sharon Gould). I just had to go next door and get Eileen. As I start today in the dark I'm trying to figure out plans of action and getting a ton load of work down as quickly as possible today so I have a vehicle for tomorrow to haul Mom to dialysis, and get rid of at least one other vehicle if possible. Bad part is I'm calculating in the 2 hour round trip to McCall for meds and parts. Then in the meantime I need to get back and work on the website up date software, fix some server errors and other issues. I'm just to the point of dropping out of wrench turning and coming back to just web work for now because of lack of time to work for customers. I'm even struggling just to stuff 3 box and getting into the mail while I'm packing a truck and getting ready to leave for Ontario. I've got to get control on this other than that it will wipe me out. This is why I would rather drop the wrench work. I can work the web while I travel and at home. Wrench work I can only do when I'm at home and don't have other task with high priority. Actually I've got a small paycheck from the website for the sales of high idle kits. Better than nothing... Turning wrenches might take me a entire week to do some jobs being it tough to work without parts. Then have to order parts and wait for parts and install them on the next day home. Way too much time lost right now on waiting and chasing parts. Like I had a gent call and ask if I could recharge his A/C and told him it would be at least 2 weeks till I could touch it. I had to drop the job and told him to just unplug the compressor so it don't start. Going to make for a very short day of work and lots of driving. Like looking at my desk here I've got a pile of bills, property taxes, Idaho sales taxes. I've gotta get this taken care of quick time running out. 184k on the 1996 Dodge 1500 406k on the 2002 Dodge 2500 Over 1 million on my body... And the check engine light is ON! Very fitting song for yesterday and today...

Won't work... Need a DRBIII tool. I've tried the prying the tone ring. Didn't slip in my case. But my right hub would not register speed below 40 MPH. So the ABS assumes the wheel is locked. Even with 3 sets of sensors would not register speed. Had to replace both bearings to fix.

Yeah... But weak yet this morning but doing better. I'm way behind. Got the product boxed up and ready for the mail. My truck is down the rear most u-joint failed from salt getting into the bearing. Now got more work than I've got time to do the work. I'm going have to consider shutting down the shop for a span of time till I can catch up. Then like there is several updates needed on the website here. List goes on...

The only spec for a thermostat is opening temp. Nothing else can be changed. As for them falling apart that is a quality issue and nothing is being done about it being that Robertshaw / Mr. Gasket design is failing for all makes Ford, Dodge, and Chevy. Just think Carter fuel pumps have been junk from the start but Dodge still sells them and so does Cummins. They don't hold up period. Never met the minimum standards then and still don't.

Pay triple the price for a thermostat... Again I'll repeat again "Cummins and Mopar do NOT manufacture thermostats". Both of these vendors Mopar and Cummins buy from the CHEAPEST source they can and triple the price because the thermostat box has a Cummins logo or Mopar logo. Being that Mopar and Cummins both have no control on what the manufacture is going to produce.

Sorry for the lag in everything gang... Christmas dinner came and gone but @Wet Vette ended up getting the stomach flue even though she had the flue shot. This created a bad deal for her and screwed up her blood chemistry. I've gone down to Boise watch over Eileen and taking care of Mom's dialysis the last 3 days in Boise and Ontario. Eileen is back home and doing fine and gain her strength now. Mom is still doing her dialysis. As for me I'm exhausted from all the driving. Then to top it off managed to eat a u-joint on the rear driveshaft with all the salt on the highway. Just last week I had to change a front driveshaft u-joint because of the salt issue. I've got to do my dialysis run today and I'll be able to get the waiting shipments out tomorrow. For all you that order parts I'm truly sorry but its been a crazy holidays.

Oh even with my Emergency run to McCall hospital for @Wet Vette and quickly packing up and chasing her to Boise, ID St. Lukes Hospital and driving hard and using full power of my Quadzilla I still pulled 19.03 MPG with my foot in the throttle. But, there again I'm tuned for Petroleum diesel fuel not Biodiesel.

Ever since I did the W-T ground wire mod and the PCM protection fuse mod I've stopped all the alternator failure issues now on my truck.

Just like there is the washable oil filter... Just too risky to use any washable filter. Every time you wash the filter the media is being broke down and then possibly putting dirt and debris on the wrong side of the filter causing engine damage. Like most of use toss dirt filters in the trash and install a fresh filter and filter media. My turbo right now is spotless after 250k miles of driving. My BHAF cost about 50 dollars and last over 150k miles and never needs to be washed. 405k miles and still clocking miles... 1,200 a week.

Lets say I've never had a NAPA fail yet, in my truck and hundreds of customers I've do work on, including all makes Dodge, Ram, Chevy, or Ford yet. Remember I'm counting all my customers and vehicles I've worked on or serviced. Now Cummins thermostat I replaced plenty of them so far. Short life span, physical failed as I've documented (attachments above) etc. Also Cummins has changed providers several times being I've documented several different designs and manufactures sold by Cummins. Like example Robertshaw, Mr. Gasket, Motorrad, etc. Very unsettling when Cummins has to change manufactures over 4 different times. As for Robertshaw and Mr. Gasket failures they cover all name brands Dodge, Chevy and Ford... As for Mr. Gasket... So being Cummins is currently using Mr. Gasket since Robertshaw no long manufactures engine thermostats. I've already called Robertshaw and and asked for more info.

I've seen that too. The other I hate is touch the screen to raise or lower the power it will dump the app, then restart the on its own and refuse to connect till I shut down fully including the engine. Funny my Bluetooth head stereo will drop and reconnect to my phone every time no problem. iQuad will be stuck till full shutdown. Which happened last night in Boise at a fuel station.

Remember the PCM is the master computer to start the network, then the ECM is second in line to fire up.