Wild and Free

Figure your cost-per-mile, (fuel wise) more than the mpgs. It's closer than you'd expect. Gasoline's kinda settled into a 50 cent less per gallon these days. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is what I have been trying to say just not in as few words. Don't forget you don't just burn fuel anymore you have another tank people seems to forget about on all diesels and that is the DEF "Diesel exhaust fluid" tank, yet another cost that can't be left out of the cost per mile equation plus the use of fuel additives so many like to run need to be figured in as well and then the fuel filters and extra oil at maintenance intervals. Sorry for pointing out the finer details of figuring in "real world' costs most like to convieniently leave out when trying to compare things, that's just how I roll lol. The new 6.4 Hemi spark plugs are good for 100K miles now versus the 30-50K recommended replacement interval of the 5.7 hemi.

Here is a big Dodge Ram forum with some info, they are still new enough having just been released a few months ago there isn't a ton of real world info compiled yet. http://ramforumz.com/forumdisplay.php?f=279 http://ramforumz.com/forumdisplay.php?s=dd496bd0ff1453830aa87e2413c2216c&f=247 I myself would even look into a new 6.4 hemi over a new diesel just from an emissions stand point and especially since the OP only uses it less than 10K a year and only pulls a camper a few times a year would not justify all the extra upfront cost and maintenance costs over time plus the extra fuel costs if he just uses it as a DD rig. For the extra 2-3 mpg he would gain only with a trailer in tow a few times a year compared to what he would spend in fuel the rest of the year and extra maint cost added on top of that is a no brainer for a gasser, sorry to bust some diesel bubbles but there are times when a new diesel just isn't worth it and to me this is one of them. I have a 2010 1500 5.7 hemi and I love it, it is definitely not a slouch even with my 25' 1974 Avion TT in tow. I have never driven another gasser that would run with the new Hemi's including the 99 V10 I had. My brother inlaw works for a company that has fleets of pickups and they run all 2500 gassers in all makes and he is a die hard chevy guy until death and even he says real world the Hemi's run away from the GM and Fords and this is loaded down with construction materials.

Coworker has a brand new 2014 2500 blackout edition crew cab with the 6.4 hemi and is seeing 16 daily driving fairly hard but it isn't broke in yet only has a couple thousand miles on it. Have read on other Ram forums that guys are seeing 15-20 as daily driving and 8-12 towing no different than a diesel except for the 40-60 cents a gallon cheaper fuel.

Sounds like you need to look at a the new 6.4 Hemi rather than a diesel for what your use consists of.

Nodak mutual Farm Bureau here , been with them since I was licensed to drive in mid 80's as this is what we had for farm insurance too, and I am at 850 / year full coverage W/ 500 deductible for collision and 250 deductible non collision on the 05 Cummins and 725 / year on the 2010 1500 Hemi same details as the cummimns. The insurance gets cheaper as the vehicles age as well. Clean driving record for over 15 years and never a DUI. Deductibles have a huge impact on the paid premium, the lower the deductible you choose the higher the premium goes. Every few years I pick about 3-4 different companies and carry in my policy details and see if anyone can beat the price I pay with my current company and over the years have found some to match but never can beat and I have had extremely great service from Farm Bureau over the years so some other company would have to beat their price by a good bit to make up for the good service as well.

You would have to ask those with an SO6 and gauges to answer that.

Yes, 4 settings if you count stock. Power, torque and timing all have 4 settings counting stock setting plus the 99 levels of POD. Like I said before JR is the same as the SO6 just has 3 adjustments of each parameter rather than 9 and none of them take things into an unsafe area like the SO6 can, all the settings of the JR are for just what you are looking to gain.

With my JR I dynode at 407 hp &732 tq at max power and torque setting before doing the POD update and I tow at this all the time I run the timing one level past stock or "Mild" as it is called. I am still pretty much stock other than a muffler delete and PSM cold intake mod to the stock air box and running a deeper pleated air filter. 115K on it and no issues even the tranny is untouched. The POD update was awesome, before it would pollute the world at any setting while even just daily driving and if a trailer was in tow it hadf a constant haze but now it is clean unless getting after it to get it to kick down since the 05 doesn't have the ability to lock out OD. I made a 4500 mile trip to Arizona and back a few years ago and averaged 19.8 overall and could have easily broke 20 mpg if my wife wouldn't have driven a lot of the time, she has a heavy foot. Difference in the JR and the SO6 is the JR has 3 settings for each of the 3 parameters besides stock where the SO6 has 9 for each. With your wants and needs and seeing what you have I do not see the gain in going with an SO6 over a JR, like I said for me it is just that much more headache trying to play and the fact it takes almost 10 minutes to reload every single little setting change is a real pain, This is why I like the simplicity of the JR. But that is just my .

Yep the 2wd,s are a bit different, one instant where a 4wd is simpler.

Pretty straight forward. They either get the steering wheel straight when the alignment is done or they don't get it quite right the first time. The collar on the drag link has a single bolt that clamps it tight loosen it up and turn the threaded collar in one direction or the other to center the steering wheel and retighten the clamp bolt. Eazy peazy, just need to fiqure out which way to turn the collar, never need to go more than 1/2 turn to recenter the steering wheel if its 1/4 turn or less off center. If the tire shop does it after it is not right and I take it and leave to find it off then go back and tell them then 1/2 hour goes buy they test drive to confirm then another 1/2 hour to get in in and reaqdjust and then retest drive to make sure and then maybe readjust. Me just going home and making the adjustment takes about 10 minutes at most if I have to make a couple attempts.

JR POD here, it has more than enough adjustability for me. I don't have the time or patience to wait 10 minutes every time I want to change things. I miss the simplicity of the comp on my old 02.

Here is another take on it from a local conservative blog here in the state. http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/war-on-coal-2/

They chip seal the pavement in town like that but rarely do it on open roads any more but I do see it on occasion on open roads but they have the speed limit down at 25 mph if that is the case. I have been very lucky and have had to replace more windshields "About 1 every other year or so" from being sand blasted by sand and salt from the roads in the winter time than from rock chips. Been about 10 years since I had a good sized bullseye, now typing this I will be guaranteed on in the next few days, Dam..........................

Ever find out how much was ever milled off the block or head and what thickness head gasket was needed?

Nope, don't have beets in my area they are in the eastern side of the state closest beet farms are probably 150 miles east of me. The main thing we have that take out grills and windshields are the millions of Pheasants, grouse and partridge we have around here not to mention all the other small birds. Rocks are always a hazard especially this time of year with all the construction going on, even if the loads are covered a lot of the end dumps and belly dumps ect. have rocks laying on edges that fall off going down the roads.

Fixed it for you. Nitros would be a very bad thing in a tire. Nitrogen is a very stable inert gas that changes very little with temp fluxtuations versus regular air. The thing is it is a sales gimmick when they fill tires with nitrogen, to do it correctly the tires need to be seated and then pulled down into a slight vacuum and then filled with nitrogen and this has to be repeated 3 times to get a near complete nitrogen charge in them, If they just charge them after initial air up bead seat there is at best 50% nitrogen in the tire. To do it correctly would be so time consuming that it is not feasible plus the amount of nitrogen one goes through to do it correctly is astronomical. Again just a saes pitch that sounds good at face value. I have been to Michelin Off road tire service school for a week in Greenville SC just so folks don't think I am full of it. When you are dealing with tires on our mining equipment that are 50-over 100K per tire one wants to keep track of things pretty close.

Yeah yikes that wiring is a mess. I would invest in some Deutsch connectors, very easy and simple to use, just the initial investment of crimper.

Good to hear its alive again, did you have the injectors checked before reinstall in rebuilt engine and did you go with a modded VB to feed the pressure to the new TC?

Seems alignment / tire shops get the wheel straight about 50% of the time, I find it faster to just do it myself when I get home if they don't get it, only takes me about 2 minutes to straighten it versus the lost time waiting at the shop.

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/epa-coal/ http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/north-dakota-epa-2/

It is very small minded of people to think that China who is building a better life for its citizens by providing power from coal just as we did during our industrial revolution to present to think they need to do it different than us and stay away from coal, the cheapest and most abundant form of energy on the planet. Even our own legislatures realize after this cold winter we had that many of the coal fired plants in the eastern 1/3 of the country slated to come off line and be decommissioned in the next year or two were all running at 89% of capacity on top of all the other forms of energy, this is called base load power and can not be supplied reliably from renewable sources now matter how much they dream at night. Obamas dream of shutting down the base load grid from coal plants is a dream that will not come to life, it is not a realistic option at this point with the amount of demand on todays electrical grid.

Glad its fixed. I do not know how many time I have told people on this forum to check for that very thing "Wires popped out oor slightly pushed back from the connector", I have seen it personally on my own rigs and as a tech many times and the techs I now supervise find this sort of thing on equipment quite often as well. It is unreal how common it is on OBDII ports as they get used a lot and if one doesn't get the plug lined up straight can push pins or sockets out of the plugs resulting in no communication.

A bit more on it. http://www.kxnet.com/story/25616244/9-injured-as-tornado-hits-camp-near-watford-city http://www.kxnet.com/story/25641784/teen-injured-in-tornado-upgraded-to-good-condition

Watford City is about 150 miles north west of me, I am 25 miles west of Bismarck / Mandan. This was a surprise pop up storm and the folks had nowhere to get away from it. There are some unreal videos and pictures of it where folks were literally right at the base looking straight up at it. Was rated at an EF2 with approx. 120 mph wind was on the ground for half a mile and was about 100 yards wide. http://www.kxnet.com/story/25635811/nowhere-to-go-for-man-camp-residents http://www.kfyrtv.com/story/25634200/emergency-managers-review-siren-placement

If you are just doing a pan drain and refill just fill it to just above the low level marks cold and then check it a couple of times once warmed up, should be close and then you only need to add just a bit to top off when hot at neutral idle and not have to worry about being too full from the start.