mr.mindless

I'm surprised it smoked much stock, but 3.55 vs 4.10 is a huge gearing difference. I'd be shocked if you didn't feel a huge difference under load.

If you adjust the FSS linkage, be absolutely certain not to make that rod too short. That's how I wrecked the bracket mounting holes on the pump on my truck.Checking that full pedal travel is full travel at the pump is a good idea too.

shutdown solenoid is a much easier check than any of the above, and when I was having solenoid issues your symptoms matched mine exactly. I didn't think of that.make sure its bracket is solid too. My initial sign of bracket failure was low power because the arm wasn't coming all the way up.

agreed - injectors, pump, maybe lift pump. I'd not expect actual engine hard-parts damage. Just fuel lubricated things in the fuel system.

My friends have run through MANY sets of them. One had an issue (sidewall bulge) that was fixed in short order with no drama. They've had good life, durability and performance on-road and aired down off-road on many TJs and at least one 3/4t Chevy tow rig.

I'm at 73,000 miles on my 225/70r19.5 recap drive tires on Kumho carcasses. They're thin for snow duty, but still legal tread. probably 5-6/32. I had some issues with the Continental HDRs that I put on for steer tires, one went out of round on me, and they needed frequent rotating to not chop from braking. I swapped to a used set of imports at about 55k with some tread still on them. One is a spare and the other is a retread candidate... New truck is getting some Bandag BDLD caps for drives and Sumitomo SD918s for steers in 245/70r19.5.

fuel pressure would be my first question, secondly I'd be wondering where the start wheel in your AFC is, then lastly I'd be wondering about timing or boost leaks.Yes, you should be getting smoke when you mat it without boost IF your AFC is advanced far enough to fuel it hardenough to get that smoke. If it's not, it won't build boost quickly and will be sluggish.You could also just have a bad WGA, allowing the WG to open too easily. The diaphragm is much weaker than the spring, I'd expect that failure to go the other way and allow too much boost.

when you need one, you need one, though. you can't always strap to another vehicle (long runs, corners, deep ruts, lack of traction....). I use winches more often for moving dead things around - particularly loading them on my trailer - but I do have one on my (non-lightweight) wheeling rig and if I'm doing something dumb like a tough climb I can't make, it's much safer to hook a winch up to a tree than back down sometimes, and strapping could increase rollover potential due to lack of control.Muck and mire isn't the only use but thinking about the forces involved with stalling that 13.5k if you happen to bury the truck is something that must be considered. It's a really bad thing for a cable or hook to fail but it's worlds worse for a winch to go flying or to rip a whole bumper off.

37s on 17s, I'm guessing? Tough looking truck.I'd avoid a winch on a standard single receiver mount - especially one that strong. On anything but a dead straight pull, the mount can and will tweak and twist (I've seen an 8k on a particularly flexible mount twist far enough to bind and jam solid before anything moved - had to get a second winch on to relieve pressure before it could even power out again) and a single 2" tube simply isn't strong enough for those forces.

I was all set to tear a valve cover off last night and, instead, it started right up. Easier and quicker than usual. Running on 5 and still massive blowby, but drivable...Weird.

I don't tow for primary work, I just do a lot of it. My '97 has been 4x2 for the past 55k. I've missed it twice in the last month and once last year. I'll deal for now, this is a beam fronted so easy conversion in the future. ESP if I keep my '97's d60

These seem reasonable.... http://www.blackcatcustom.com/Dodge%20Ram%20Truck.htm

I'm new to CR aside from putting a few hundred miles on a friend's 5.9 and liking it. In 3 weeks I'm picking up a 6.7 C&C truck. 352k on it. Delete, injectors, turbo, head gasket ~30k ago. Smarty Jr programmer. It's got no gauges. Guy who has it now knows 12v trucks and Dodge Cummins in general better than most and says it runs super clean, he can't get a Whig of smoke out of it. Even so, no boost/ pyro to watch seems scary to me. Are these trucks and the Smarty tunes really so good that monitors aren't needed?Does the truck already know this info and a plug-in (scangauge/ similar?) or smartphone app w Bluetooth OBD-II deal could get me that info? Or should I just get a pillar pod and go old school like I'm used to?Dumb question: is there an aftermarket cluster skin to get rid of the damn white face gauges? Biggest dislike on all the newer Mopars.

Driveline brakes are common on medium duty trucks that are juice brakes (as opposed to air) - might be retrofitable?A line lock would accomplish what you're after. Goes in line in a brake line and blocks fluid when energized. Push pedal, engage line lock, it holds the fluid pressure there for as long as you have battery power. "not for use as parking brake" but they sure work for short term situations. Very common in drag racing for burnouts, and in offloading for "parking brake" use when tech rules require one.

318k on the pump. I was thinking about getting the needed gaskets and seals to put together a complete 'kit' and maybe having the pump checked out by a diesel shop. If I go that route I'd probably put the full monte on fleabay and see 2500+ out of it. I've seen 215 full kits go for 3200. If I pull it all apart and ship it as-is, lines/ housing/ pump/ etc, I think I'd ask 2500 and take a reasonable offer. not sure what a rebuild costs yet and I think it's 100-150 in gaskets and seals for the timing housing and front cover. That was a while ago.

If the brake is weak, once the rig starts to roll it won't stop again.

so if I doot doot do this and wait for that thing to come up and then close the window or go back and click around I should see a restore thing? yup - tested and now I know what to look for. whatever went hinkey in Chrome when I submitted, it didn't keep that cache either. I've never seen that happen. Didn't crash or lock up or anything, but it said I submitted a blank post. And when I went 'back' it was blank. Oh well, the bottom line is I put a deposit down on this guy and I'm parting out the Dump Bus starting on or about 3/9, when I hopefully have another project finished and my garage cleared out enough to receive some Ram parts for safe keeping. big tickets will be the 215hp P7100 conversion incl 24v lines, and the RoadRanger. It's also got a 3/4 brand new and completely rust free front clip in white, great tan cloth interior, uncracked black over tan dash, HX35 with a Banks Brake, drum brake dually width 4.10 geared dana 80, new radiator, and a bunch more things that I'll put up in real for-sale threads once I'm ready to start moving things.

well I screwed up. browser ate my post. Now I really want to know where that little "auto saved post" thing that pops up in the lower right corner all the time goes.

lifetime (242k-301k) mpg on my '97 is 11.8. 12.7 mpg average since the 13sp transmission, removing all the figures were I had broken injector lines. I have a small pile of receipts from the last year to input, these numbers only go through May 2012 and just over 300,000. I think my figures in the last 18,000 miles have been very similar.

High miles, deleted, lots of fresh parts. The business that owned it changed direction and sold it when the rear end blew. A friend picked it up cheap a few months ago and had a shop rebuild the rearend. It was broken in properly, rechecked, and filled with synthetic goodness.352k 2007 4x2 6sp C&C with 9.5' CM flatbed. 30k on delete, head gasket, turbo, injectors (it was loosing coolant, turned out it was the EGR and that's when/why). 9/10 on paint and body.Smarty Jr, no blowby, 3.42 gears, fresh brakes, front beam axle and steering were gone through, tranny is tight and doesn't grind, South Bend twin disc & hydraulics.cruise non-op, ABS light is on, needs tires, needs E-brake refreshed, driver seat has the typical wear.I'm real close to sending him a deposit, and I haven't even pulled the valve cover off my pile yet.

Tbd...

[ATTACH]5061[/ATTACH]Probably fine, right? :spend:I think I put 4 gallons in (in 100-150 miles) before a friend gave me the good idea to clamp the breather hose shut and vent through the filler cap. That bought me 100 miles using only a quart or so. 50 miles after that it started running on 5 with 100 miles left to go and took 2 gallons again. I got home with the light coming on again, and I guess enough to blow it through the filler neck. When it dropped to running on 5, it was acting like an exhaust valve wasn't opening. HARD, slow crank. Barely got it restarted. I stalled it parking and didn't try hard but once it's cold I doubt I'll get it to run again in its current state. This motor has had pretty healthy blowby since I put it in ~59k ago. I think the nail in its coffin was a vacuum line coming off on a haul to/from Newburgh NY. It pressurized the crank case and blew 2 gallons out in 300 miles and again on the way home. It was okay on short trips after that and finding the bad vac line, but a week later it picked up a nasty tap/ knock. I ran the valves hoping to find a bent pushrod, but all seemed good from the top. Didn't fix anything. Towed empty to Albany Wednesday to pick up a jeep. Picked up the jeep and added 2 gallons again. Dropped the trailer there and continued to Worcester for work. Used another gallon on the way there, and continue to get worse. Figured I'd get the mess as close to home as I could before she blew and it turns out I was only about 30' short of where I wanted to be. It's out of the street, it's late, and it's fine!

Sounds like a boost leak to me. Tough to tell from under the hood with no load.

Funny, that's exactly the bolt of mine that got drilled and tapped for my garbage picked fuel pressure gauge.

I found a broken vacuum line on my CAD crawling around underneath last night, so I'd have had at least a minor vacuum leak. Extra crank case pressure is never a good thing - but I know the breather isn't the only place it was exiting. I'm towing 12k 20-25 miles tomorrow morning and then returning at night with a near empty trailer, hopefully it does better than a quart lost