AH64ID

I agree with the above on taking the highlander. As far as chains on the front axle of a 4wd vehicle it really isn't about weight, as people chain up the front on vehicles that are heavier on the rear axle as well. Chains go on the front axle of a 4WD/AWD vehicle for the same reason a FWD vehicle does better than a RWD vehicle in the snow without chains, it's easier to pull the vehicle thru the snow than to push it. You also gain steering control, as well as better braking as the front of a vehicle generally does more braking. I am not a big fan of adding weight for traction as the weight you have added is now taking more braking and cornering traction than it did before. It only helps with acceleration and can be a hindrance the rest of the time.

The boost elbow's need adjusted, don't they?

This isn't really the thread for the discussion so I won't go too far into it. But most of the stuff that article talks about is mute on these trucks. For most vehicles GVWR is a good number to know, on these trucks it isn't. Just look at FAWR+RAWR and it is much higher than GVWR. So is Dodge telling you that you are only safe with partial FAW/RAW?? No, what that says is each axle and the components can handle the axle weights listed but for other reasons the GVWR is lower than the combined sum. Marketing and DOT stops is a big reason. SRW trucks for years stopped at 9,900 to avoid the 10,000 GVWR rules for certain DOT stops, chain laws, etc. But once one company exceeded 10K with their SRW's all 3 did, and without any frame/brake/suspension upgrades at first. Look around for a state law that makes GVWR a legally binding weight. I have and haven't found a state that uses that number yet. Just a quick, and conservative, look at the math says you are a big heavier than you think. You are stacked higher than the cab; however, for airspace reasons we will omit the wood above the cab. Cab height is 42.5", bed length is 101 but let's use 95" for room at the front/back. And the width varies from 49" to 64" so lets use 60" as an average as there is more space without wheel well than with. 242250 cubic inches, or 140 square feet of spruce. The lightest spruce is about 23lbs/cuft which puts your payload at 3,220 lbs. Unless your unladen RAW is 1,200 lbs you are heavier than you thought. Dodge didn't do as good of job in 2002 with publishing curb weights as they do now; however, I did find you should be around 6625 as delivered with a 4101/2524 split. That puts your rear axle weight around 5500-5700 depending on how much weight went on the front axle. 5500 lbs would need about 72 psi but luckily the math always comes out higher than the load/inflation charts at partial loading which is why 60 psi has probably worked out okay for shorter trips at those kind of weight. People are almost always heavier than they think. In most vehicles that assumption is very accurate, but not in all.

On some vehicles the GVWR is a fairly useful number, but on our trucks it is useless. Don't exceed FAWR/RAWR and/or tires and call it good. Your frame is the same as a 3500 DRW so why should the GVWR stop you? I'd be willing to be the brakes are the same too, but I am not sure on 2nd gens. I know on my truck I have the same frame/brakes/axles as a DRW and my only true limit is tires/wheels on the rear and I try to stay failry close to FAWR because I am not sure what the limiting factor is. GVWR is a marketing tool. A 2500 has to be rated lower than a 3500 SRW even thou they are 99.99% identical. There is no safety difference in the loading of the two, yet there is a difference in their ratings. So yes, I truly feel the GVWR on a HD pickup is a useless number that isn't legally bearing in any factor.

GVWR is a fairly useless number on these trucks, why even really bring it up? Michael, I would be shocked if you were not at a 6K RAW with that wood in the bed. You are certainly over 4500lbs which is what 60 psi can support.

Larger tires generally need less air per pound of weight than smaller ones, and 60 psi is a lot of air for a 285 and no load. The initial soft feel was probably the rubber being new and not the lower pressure. When empty I would be surpirsed if you require more than 40-45 in the rear tires.

Not per Oregon DOT. A tandem axle trailer can have chains on one axle as long as it has brakes, i.e. cannot chain up the non-brake axle if you have one of each. https://tripcheck.com/Pages/minimum-chain-requirements.asp http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/pages/rules/oars_700/oar_734/734_017.html

I was just going to bring up Oregon chain laws. If chains are required and you are towing you are required to chain the trailer. I have driven MANY MANY roads in the winter (with and without a trailer) where chain are required but the roads are not bad enough to wait a day or two, or more. Luckily in a 4wd vehicle with all season/traction tires you are not required to chain up in Idaho/Washington. In Oregon you don't have to unless you are towing, as mentioned. DOT's will make, and keep, the interstates at chains required when it's not needed for most. Over thanksgiving we passed thru the Blue's on I-84 just a couple hours after the chains required was removed. We never locked the hubs and never got below 50 mph, except going down Cabbage. What the DOT mandates and what is required are often not lined up. I carry 3 pairs of chains in my truck all winter, 2 pair of V-Bar and 1 pair of standard links, but have never had to use them on a paved roadway. I carry one pair of chains year round in the truck as they work great in mud too. I also have a set of drag chains for the TT that lives in the TT or truck year round. Chain are cheap, buy a set even if you plan on never using them. In some cases it may be cheaper to have chains that to get a ticket for not chaining.

I treat every tank with Amsoil Diesel Concentrate, and have since day 1 so I cannot comment on its effectiveness. When I doubt or suspect the winterization of fuel I will also treat it with Amsoil Cold Flow Improver. This is typically for October hunting as most stations have not switched to winterized yet and I can see temps in the low teens or colder. I will also treat if I am traveling cross country and have to buy fuel in a warmer climate and am headed to a colder climate. Once winter hits I stop adding cold flow improver and just rely on the winterized fuel which, aside from the B20 debacle, has never let me down. 2-stroke does not have anything in it that would effect the gel point/cold filter plug point of #2.

Have your Dodge mechanic friend check and see how many turbo's it has been thru. If it is still on the stock turbo chances are it's been used in a manor that is agreeable with the DPF.

Which is from fuel gelling... It doesn't have to completely gel to plug the filter thou, which is what I think your point was :-) Yeah Bio starts to gel much sooner. In my case the "Bio compatible" treatments were not "bio compatible".

Absolutely, but it cannot get colder than ambient which was my point. On a -40° day with enough time the same piece of iron will get to the same temp in a 2mph wind as a 60 mph wind, the iron just gets there MUCH faster on the 60 mph day.. but at the end of the day they would both start the same but one would take longer to get to temp. I would work into a new habit before the new engine arrives. 10-15 minute is still considered excessive and likely does more harm than good. I had fuel gel on me once but it was B20 so that was a bigger factor than anything; however, it still sucked so I added a 2nd fuel heater to my truck. I can see a change in fuel pressure when the fuel warms up from the twin 300w heaters on a cold day (more so than just when I had 1 300w heater). It takes a while, but the pressure does go up and the flucutions with power changes are much smaller.

The lower combustion temperatures and pressures of idling, especially on a cold engine, can create incomplete combustion that "washes" the cylinder walls with fuel. This is why Cummins advises against it and considers anything over 10 minutes excessive. Yes low idle is the standard idle and fast idle (high idle is rated rpm at no load) is the 1000, 1200, etc. It is better, but still not advised to idle an engine until warm. That is directly from Cummins, as well as every engine manufacturer I know of. Get a block heater and a timer, then drive it about 30 seconds after you fire it up unless it is VERY cold (low teens or lower) then give it a 1-3 minute idle to let the oil warm up a little and drive easy. I am with you on windchill, but there are some in this thread that thinks it effects engines.

Do you hate your engine?? 35 minutes is WAAAYYY to long. Even 10-15 minutes is TOO much. Cummins defines excess idling as anything over 10 minutes and only recommends 3-5 minutes at most. 35 minutes is a great way to damage cylinder walls. I have never really understood the facination with idling an engine until it's warm. People do it at work for an hour or more and it makes me cringe every time. If you want your engine to warm up without damage then DRIVE it, don't idle it. Just seeing your post MoparMan, but you will NEVER get me to even consider the effects of windchill on an engine because by definition it CANNOT happen...end of story. You will have better luck convincing me the sky is fluorescent green.

I would run the FASS for several reasons. The FASS has better sized filter nipples for better filter choices. The FASS quality has always been up to par. The FASS has a fuel heater option. The FASS has a 95 GPH option which won't outflow the filters like the 150 GPH options will. I have looked at the fuel boss and it is a quality unit but it won't work with my fluidampr and I don't want fuel lines exposed up there.

That seems VERY light for a 3rd gen. My Dodge advertised curb weight was 7,260, but even the short box version was over 7K. Even stripped I have never been close to that number. I do have some stuff that adds weight such as a front receiver, bigger rear receiver, running boards, fender flares, 4 additional filters, a tool box, bed liner, bed mat, floor mats, etc. For most uses I think spacers are the way to go. 2" do ride worse than 1", but it all depends on what you are after.

2nd gens are quite a bit lighter. IIRC the 2nd gens prior to 00 only had a 4850 lb FAWR, and it went up to 5,00 in 2000.

Just the front axle weight. I am about 8500 GVW empty. The FAWR is 5200# and, in my experiences on my 05 and dads 06, is very easy to exceed. I haven't ever found what the weak link is, or what was changed to get the 5,500# rating for 2010-2012, if anything. I know there some knuckle changes to improve the turning radius but amok the bearings and BJ's are the same. 200lbs of additional bumper will add more than 200lbs to the front axle since it is forward of the axle.

I have wanted a bumper for a long time on my 05, but they are so freakin heavy with the stock bumper I haven't wanted to do one. My front axle empty weight is right around 5K and I am easily over 5,200 when loaded without a trailer. The upgraded BJ's and wheel bearings help but I am not sure what the weakest link is anymore.

I am not sure you can find a good spring in the 1-2" height as all the decent springs I have seen are 3" which means longer control arms and shock too. I personally have a 1" spacer and I think it's about perfect. It is made by Top Gun Customz.

The VP trucks may be difference but the ScanGauge cannot clear codes on my 05 or dad's 06. The SG guys said the Dodge code is different and doesn't clear like most vehicles. The SG works fine clearing the VW and Toyota codes thou.

I saw what The Hammer posted and ran with it, but yes fairly clear that is says rough idle. I was starting at the FSM and scratching my head...

3/4 are sister cylinders so it's odd to see them both low. I would have expected one to be high and one to be low to balance the other out. 127K miles is getting into the realm of normal injector replacement but they can also last 2x that long, or more. It's just hard to say with HPCR injectors. P00617 is too many characters for a DTC, and P0617 isn't a 2005 code.. at least not in the 2005 FSM. "starter relay circuit high" doesn't appear to be a 2005 code either as it's not listed in the 2005 FSM. Can you read it better?

The truck only gets part of my miles. I drive about 20-25K miles a year but only use the truck for truck stuff.

With all the standing pine and fir we have up here that is fire kill it's very easy to cut/burn in the same year. It was seasoned standing up :-). Even the few green lodge pole I cut down are seasoned very quickly with the high heat and low humidity we get all summer.