War Eagle

G Pop Shop is one place to look. See my earlier post. Call them and talk to them and they will answer your questions.They can do the work for you, or you can buy a turbo outright or you can buy the parts and do it yourself if you have the know how and tools.

I installed the electric fans from Flex-a-lite on my 2nd gen and didn't see any improvement in mpg performance. The engine seemed a little more responsive on acceleration without the big vicous fan turning but you will loose some towing capacity as the electric fan is limited to 20k pounds GVW.In the end this project wasn't money well spent because my main purpose was to get the mpg gain that Flex-a-lite advertises..

Some offset rims can over come this issue if the overall width of the rim is made wider (extra rim width goes in the opposite direction of the offset) so the center line of the mass of the rotating wheel assembly is still in the same relative position as the stock wheel setup.

If you are using offset wheels then I think you have created at least a 3 or 4 inch moment arm on the wheel assembly on each side of the truck. I think this would not only make the track wider but it will allow the suspension to sag and wonder as the tires grip the road while your are driving. The moment arm basically increases the load on your suspension. The faster you go the worse the felt effect will be. I suspect they were able to align it sitting still ( not sure this shouldn't have been an issue in the alignment process) but the dynamic up and down the suspension goes through as you drive down the road with the tires gripping at the uneven road surface coupled with the moment arm is what is making your truck drive like sh*t.I think you are going to find that you need the change those rims out. IMHO!

That's what I am wondering also. Did someone change the original overloads to an aftermarket version and it doesn't fit the same and contacts the stops prematurely. The stock overloads on both my 2nd gen and third gen have only two leaves. That's why I am thinking yours have been replaced with an entirely different overload spring pack.

Be careful when comparing rebuild kits from various vendors. Make sure of what is included in each of the rebuild kits so you are comparing apples to apples. One vendor I have used is the G-Pop Shop located at: http://gpopshop.com/holset-turbo-rebuild-kits/. This company (as well as many others) offer upgrades, replacements and hybrids depending on what exactly you are looking for from your truck. When looking at changing out to a different turbo you might want to look for something that will fit up to your existing exhaust or you will have some custom work to do. Custom work is not bad, I am just saying if you are thinking about changing the turbo out just be aware of all the issues that come into play when you change something from the stock setup.

Torklift sells the bumper pads that bolt onto the 'L' shaped stop that is connected to your frame. The bumper pad is kind of in the shape of a trapazoid and actually is much thicker than the standard isolator pad that comes stock on the truck.I run then on both my 2nd gen and 3rd gen. They engage the spring pack much sooner than the stock pad and there is no sag in the truck when you load it up. I don't notice any rougher ride with them as compared to the stock set up.

Just got an email update from Edge. They have just released a software upgrade for their CS and CTS Insight guage monitor. It will enable data logging on up to 10 different parameters and it will also allow your Edge to control your Smarty PoD features from the Edge monitor. http://mv.treehousei.com/Public/Online.aspx?msgId=7a8ca451-5c63-d995-f780-a0b401715039 This sounds like a very cool set of features. I am looking forward to downloading this new software and learning more about it.

Rock Auto has them.

The Edge Insight display says it will take any camera input that uses an RCA jack as the connector to the camera. I just completed my wiring hookup and have some pictures and write-up about the camera here: http://forum.mopar1973man.com/threads/5902-Backup-Camera/page2?highlight=camera

Well life has gotten in the way so it has been a long time since I have worked on my camera setup. But I have finally finished wiring up my camera and have been using it for a few days now. Must say it is very interesting to have the camera capability. The camera is mounted in the license plate frame and has a series of IR LEDS for night vision. The camera is adjustable up and down to enable calibration of a distance grid that is displayed on the camera display inside the cab. You start by placing a measuring device so you can see it in the camera and then you adjust the swivel feature of the camera lens until it lines up with the embedded grid of the camera. Once this is done then the display in the cab shows the view as seen by the camera with the distance grid showing you the relative position of the rear of the truck to other objects seen by the camera. This picture shows the display of what the camera sees in the rear of the truck and you can see the yardstick I have laid behind the truck. The first grid line shows the distance at .5M behind the truck with each additional grid line showing the distance of the next .5M out. The grid lines go out a total of 3M. I can turn this thing on any time and it show unbelievable detail. I can read license plate numbers, I can see all kinds of activity going on behind me and the color is pretty sharp. This display is showing on my Edge Insight. This is a picture of the actual display in bright sunlight overhead. I took this picture with a hand held camera pointing at the display with no shading or blocking of the sun. I haven't used it at night yet so I don't have any input on the quality of the picture but once I get that done I'll try to post an update. I think I am really going to like this setup. Well I got to use the camera last night when it was dark. The first picture is with only the IR LEDs for light and no tail lights or backup lights are on. It's pitch black out. You can see the area iluminated by the infra red LEDs pretty good. There is not a lot of depth of field but I can certainly see if there was anything near my truck if I was needing to back up. Of course there is no visible light coming from these LEDs so when you go outside to look at the camera everything is pitch black behind the truck. This next picture is the view when the backup lights are on. You can see that now I have much greater depth of field behind the truck. It shows the row of bushes behind the truck at about 12 feet away and shows more light out the sides. Of course the backup lights are lighting up a much broader area than the LEDs on the license plate frame do. The pictures at night kind of feel similar to the view you would get looking through a night vision scope.

I never was in the service even though I tried to get in the air force. Couldn't pass the physical.My dad and brother were both in the service as MP's. Dad in Korea and brother in Nam.I have the greatest respect for you all.Thank you for your service.

Ya, Texas covers a lot of ground so as you say , you are probably stuck with traveling some of it over again to undertake a trip up North. How about flying into Denver (or some other big airport that has lots of transportation options) and rent a car or motorhome and make the loop around Wyoming and then back to Denver and fly home. I guess you could even fly into a regional airport in Wyoming or ? and start you trip from there as another option. For me, Vegas wouldn't be a good compare to a site seeing trip around Wyoming.

E & SE Wyoming is kind of desert rolling hills (usually pretty dry country). NW & SW Wyoming are generally mountains and lots of trees. N and NE are trees and hills.Crowds usually drop off after school starts. When college starts the resort areas start to wind down some.Snow can come in October and make travel challenging. I seen some snow in September but wasn't major.In my opinion (if you want to see it by driving) then I would look to travel across the North side, the West side and the South side.Don't know what route you would take to get there but one could be to come up through Colorado and hit Wyoming on the SE corner then travel across the South end to the west, then go up to the North and travel back East and finish off in the Badlands. You would see all the great parts of Wyoming.

That's pretty dang cool! Congrats.

Again, more information than we needed to know.

You're right! Just a little too much detail.

I've been smoking for a few years now and I use a propane fired smoker and use a smoking box that I fill with wood pellets for the specific flavor in the meat or fish I plan on smoking.I believe the pellet brand is Traeger but I have seen others coming on the market lately. There are probably a dozen or more pellet kinds available. I use mesquite, hickory, apple, cherry, garlic flavored pellets depending what I am smoking.The bags are 20 pounds and when on sale they go for $10-12. I usually stock up on them when they are on sale. I burn about 2-3 pounds each time I smoke so a bag will last a long time. I have found the price to be much more attractive than the chunks or shavings that you can buy at more stores that stock grilling or smoking supplies.The pellets are easy to store in the bags and require no further processing.

Well I recently bought a Smarty S-06 PoD for my '05 3500 4x4 (which is the same as the older REVO, I think). I have been using the Catcher side of the programmer and just trying each of the settings beginning with SW1. I drive a few tanks with in town driving and then do a Hwy trip of 400 miles to get a reading on any improvement for my style of driving. I drive with the driving coach on a CTS Insight Guage so I have some thing to compare to on each mode level of the Smarty. I am now up to SW4 this week. After going through each of the Catcher modes then I was going to try the PoD (power on demand) modes to establish mpg data. I would like to learn more about the UDC capability sometime in the future and then try that as well to see if I can get some improved mpg. I will have to buddy up with somebody that is doing UDC so I can learn more about it. At this point I am seeing and feeling the power increases (from the stock no chip HO engine) as I go up the scale in the Catcher mode. I have seen improved mpg in my city driving (~2mpg) but haven't seen much change in the Hwy mpg. But I still am just early in the process so I am hoping that some of the higher Smarty settings will show improved mpg on the hwy. From SW1 on I am getting black smoke on acceleration as in merging on the Hwy. This surprised me because I wasn't expecting to see much at the lower fueling levels. I get it whether I am using advanced timing and fueling (i.e SW3) or just fueling (i.e. SW2). I would like to back the smoke off but I am not sure if that is going to be a normal thing from using the Smarty or I will need to look into some other cause.

DW, what setting are you running on your Smarty. Is that what you attribute your mpg improvement to or is there some other combination of changes you made recently that you think made the improvement in your mpg?

Curt Manufacturing (the hitch people)make a custom unit for our Dodge Ram just that purpose. The kit comes with premade harness and 7 pin box. The connectors plug into the wiring harness and the OEM plug and on the other end of a 7 foot long harness it has the 7 pin trailer box that you can mount in your bed. You unplug the harness from the OEM plug and you plug in one connector from the Curt unit into the wiring harness and then plug the other connector from the Curt unit into the OEM plug and then mount the 7 pin box in the sidewall of the bed.I see the local Dodge dealer stocks them in house and wants ~$70 for the kit.No re-wiring, cutting, splicing. You will need to drill a 2.125" hole in the sidewall of the bed to mount it.If you have the hole saw you will probably spend less than 30 minutes to hook this unit up.

Would a couple of traps work? A box kind is what I am thinking rather than a leg trap.

I have built one but not out of wood like you are asking and not for the weight you are asking about.I used steel posts and steel I-beam with an 'A' frame setup on roller wheels so it can be moved around.Designed for 2-3000 lbs with adjustable height an 8 foot span.You are asking about a boat load of weight on a wood structure.Not what I would want to do.

I am subscribed also.

I don't know if there are unique specs relating to the specific elements. The important thing with the oil analysis is that you are creating a record of the changes that are ocurring over time. So you need to keep getting the oil analysis so you create that history. For instance if you start seeing one or more of the elements going up (numbers getting higher) you begin to pick up on what parts maybe wearing more than others. I also do oil analysis on my plane engine looking for early indicators of problems ocurring (high wear etc.). For example silver and lead can indicate bearing wear, aluminum can indicate head or piston wear, iron can indicate cam or lifter wear, silicon can indicate dirt or contamination in the oil etc. It would be very helpful to have a general idea of the kinds of material that your engine parts are made of so you can begin to get an understanding of what the oil analysis is telling you.