War Eagle

John, I hear ya on your methanol experience. I have also looked at propane but I don't think I want to mess with that and besides I don't have a convenient place to carry the propane tank.I like to carry a slide in camper so there is no room in the bed and I am not keen on the idea of hanging it under the truck somewhere.Not sure how I'll move forward yet but the wheels are turning.

I installed a helwig on my 2000 Ram as I also carry a slide in camper. It was a nice improvement on cornering and wind sway. Didn't stop all the sway when the camper was on because it sits really high in the air and adds a fair amount of mass to change the CG height. But it was a nice stablizing influence when the camper was on.Now with the camper off it was flat on the curves.I am going to set my 2005 up for the camper so I will also be adding the Helwig to it.

Going to revive this old post.I got some play money this week. Tax refund that was not expected to be as large as it was.So guess what I am thinking of now?Got this new 2005 truck that needs some goodies on it.The Snow MPG-MAX menthonal injection kit still has my eye. So does an Edge Insight guage kit. This kit has the mileage drive coach in it and I am thinking that can help keep me honest on the go pedal.Of course I would need a Smarty (or ??) as well as a new intake horn to plug the methonal nozzles into.Maybe I need to replace my stock muffler with a straight through one to reduce a little back pressure.I am looking for the best mpg that I can squeeze out of this baby. Of course I won't be able to justify any payback on stuff like this but I am interested in running a set of experiements to see what improvements if any can be obtained by these add on goodies (I mean tools).:hyper:So if I decide to go this route I will install and test things in a serial fashion so as to see if I can detect any pluses or minuses.Any thoughts on what I should or shouldn't do in making my choice of goodies or in the testing?

I spent 5 years in the Portland Oregon Fire department on the rescue squad, then went to College for my ME then worked in rare metals for 5 years in the Albany Oregon area. Went back to school for my MBA and then moved into the petrochemicals arena for 5 years in Illinois.After a overseas assignment with the Petrochemical company they wanted to transfer me to Texas but I wasn't too excited about that so I moved out to Idaho and went to work for HP and spent 29+ years there and recently retired.

The clip out of the catalog (the one shown in my post) shows a listing for the 2nd gen long bed but doesn't say anything about the cab. The price seems fairly reasonable to me but like I said no personal experience.Maybe a phone call to them will solve the mystery.Good luck.

Pierce Arrow Inc. makes a conversion kit to turn the pickup bed into a dump truck. I don't have any experience with it but a company by the name of Northern Tool and equipment handles the product line. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_pierce-sales+auto-suv-truck-accessories Maybe this is something that could work for you. I see there are some customer feedback on the kit.

My second gen has 225k total miles on it now and I put my first set of replacement ball joints on at about 150k miles. Last year I traveled 15k miles with my camper on the truck. I have replaced the track bar once in the 225k miles. I have also had to replace the steering box once in those total miles and I run Rancho 9000xl shocks. I get the truck lubed every 5k miles, rotate my tires regularly, try to avoid pot holes and when I am off road I take it easy (don't beat the truck up) and try not to have my foot on the brake when I do have to go over bumps and holes.I get the truck aligned once each year (with the camper on) and I just had it aligned last month and it is still within spec. So I am expecting to get many more miles before I need my second set of ball joints If my ball joints were needing replacement every 65k miles then I would have to be on my 4th replacement set now. Ouch!

I recently bought a tailgate from Rockauto. They had several different cost choices. I bought the highest cost version (think it was guaranteed OEM spec) and with shipping it still came out about 2/3 the cost of what the wrecking yard wanted for used one. Of course I had to reuse the hardware and emblems from the one I was replacing as well as paint but so far it seems to be working well.

Thanks,I am driving it to Portland this weekend so I'll learn more about how it rides and drives. I'll also check my mileage.

Got the unit all registered and home now.

Have to report that I bit the bullet and purchased this truck. Still don't know anything about the seat heater problem but I guess now I get to find out.Will pick it up tomorrow and stop by the DMV and pay my dues!Boy the 3rd gens are quieter than my 2nd gen. Hardly sounds like a diesel when you fire it up and drive down the road.Now I will have to pay more attention to the things I need to learn about the third gen.

Yes, I am still looking at this truck.Thanks for the info about the cat.This brings two questions to mind: how do you know when the things is going bad and needs to be replaced; and if you decide to remove it do you know if the emission testing people will even allow your truck to be tested because the cat is removed. Emission testing is now required up here in Ada and Canyon counties or you can't get your truck licensed.

Last year I found a VIZIO brand HD TV at Costco that was a 12v model. 23inch HD flat screen that can be used as a PC monitor also.It comes with a fat snake cord (conversion transformer in the cord) that plugs into a 120v outlet.I just bought a 12v car adapter and installed the correct size female connector onto the cord end of the adapter and I can now run this TV in my camper (off 12v) or anywhere else when 120v is available.I also plug my laptop into it and play DVDs.It is a nice combination that has worked very well for me and the whole setup cost me a shade over $200.

I have come upon an '05 3500 Quad Cab 4x4 with the 5.9 and 48re auto for sale. It wears the Laramie badge and has the navigation radio set up. The owner has moved to Hawaii and left the truck behind for relatives to sell.It looks really clean and has no accident history. It has had a total of two previous owners making me the third if I purchase it.It is just at 90k on the clock. I have driven it and it runs really good and goes like crazy. It has the HO engine and everything is stock expect the tires. The owner is running 285's instead of the stock 265's.There is one problem that I have identifed on this unit. The seat heaters don't work but everything else seems to work right. I don't know anything about the heaters but I did some preliminary checking and there is power in and out of the switches and the heaters in the seats don't show an open circuit. There is no blown fuse but there is no heat.So what I am concerned about is how big an issue this is likely to be to remedy the problem. The truck is currently priced at $17k. Both the NADA and KBB clearly say it is worth several thousands more than that. Sellers say it is for sale as is so I am wondering if I may have a potential $1k or $2k bill to fix this. If I have a big bill staring at me then I wouldn't have such a good deal if I bought this truck.Anyone had any experience or thoughts on what I maybe looking at on these seat heaters?The other thing I noticed is there is a large melon shape bulge in the 4 inch exhaust line just ahead of the muffler. I am guessing this truck must have catalytic converter on it but the strange thing about it is that there are no probes any where in the exhaust system to monitor the exhaust emissions. So I am wondering if this bulge is really a CAT. How would you know if it is working or not or needs to be replaced. On my car there is an O2 sensor before and after the CAT monitoring it's performance and telling me when the emissions get out of whack. So could this bulge really be a CAT and does it ever need to be serviced and how are you supposed to know that?Any knowledge on this would be helpful.The last thing that I have seen is that the navigation system (RB4 model) is very unsophisticated. No moving map like most GPS use today. It only has directional (arrows) output like you would have on written output. I would like to know if it is possible to replace that model of navigation radio with one of the more useful versions of indash navigation systems ( Ram or other aftermarket). Has anyone had any experience or input in doing that?Thanks for any thoughts you might be able to pass my way.

Subscribed.

Yup, pretty much as you describe. You'll have to evacuate the system before you change them out unless your system is already empty from the leak.

I got mine from Napa also but that didn't stop the new one from going bad again. The second one is working good now and as I said I am running on a year and no loss of AC performance now.

I had a very similar situation with my AC. I would add refrigerant and it would cool for a few weeks then the air temp would start rising.Did the dye and leak check multiple times and still couldn't find the leak.Finally replaced the schrader valves (2 of them) and the cooling worked longer than a few weeks. But alas I started getting the warm air again after 5-6 weeks.Checked the schraders again and found one of them leaking again. Installed a new one again and this time it stayed cool all summer long.Are those schrader valves made in China? I was sure wondering.

I carry a slide in camper and I went with the Rancho 9000's. They are adjustable so you can change stiffness a bit. I went with them because I wanted as much control as I could get while carrying the camper because it sits so high. I also went with the larger (than stock) steering dampner that I got from www.topguncustomz.com

Actually when I installed my 275's I noticed a big difference off the line. I have the auto and I can now spin the tires even with the limited slip differential. No brake locking required. I couldn't do that before with the stock injectors.

I also think it might be related to the u-joints on the front end drive shafts. Particularly if you felt the grabbing was in the steering or front end.But if for instance you had a limited slip rear end and you were turning on some patches of dry pavement and snowy pavement you might get a bit of noise coming from the rear end because one wheel was trying to turn faster than the other and one would be grabbing more on the dry pavement while the other was slipping on the snowy stuff. If all wheels were on the snowy stuff all the time then the wheels would just slip when turning corners rather than grabbing and slipping as they get traction then loose traction. Hope I am explaining this well enough to make sense?If you recently changed fluid in the rear end and it had a limited slip in it you would need to add a limited slip additive or you would experience a grabbing and maybe clicking noise.

JOHNFAK is one of the members that runs the methonal kit.

I had one of the gearvendor over/under drive unit on a 1 ton Ford van (auto) with the diesel engine. I didn't have any problems with it and I used it for almost 6 years then I sold it to buy my pickup. The final drive ration was .78. So that means your double overdrive rpm would be 22% lower rpm than whateveer rpm you see when your in 5th gear on your current rig. Another way to calculate is multiply your current rpm by .78 to get the actual rpm in double overdrive. (i.e. 1500rpm x .78 reduction ~ 1170rpm) http://www.gearvendors.com/4x4dfacts.html

My brother runs the Van Aken chip on his 99 Dodge and has had good luck with it. I believe it's over 6 years that it's been on his truck and he never had any problems with it or the pump.

My truck came with and HX35 while most automatics seem tohave the HY35. Mine also had the 12mm exhaust housing. I started to have the oil seal weeping on the compressor side so when I pulledthe unit out to have it rebuilt I opted for the HX35/40 hybrid with a 14mmexhaust housing. I also run the Quadzilla ZXT + chip which has 2 settings for35hp and 70hp. I had two thoughts in pursuing this solution: first I wanted to see if I couldimprove my mpg by decreasing the exhaust back pressure some by going to alarger exhaust housing, and second I wanted to get some more pulling power forpassing. I just never felt I had much increased poop when I mashed the throttleat 65 or 70 to pass someone. Now I fully expected with a larger exhaust housing I could see a little lowspeed lag but I wasn't too concerned because I don't generally try to do manyjack rabbit starts. Well sure enough when I got the new turbo installed with the 4" (turboback ) exhaust I did acquire a small lag when I mashed the throttle from a deadstop, but I got a nice increase in the pulling power on the top end. So I wasok with the new turbo. At this time Iwas running the stock injectors. Sometime later I then installed a set of RV275 injectors and then I saw a wholenew ball game. When I mash the throttle at a stop sign my wheels will lay asmall patch of about 10 feet (I have posi trac) from both rear wheels. Now mytruck has an auto and I have never seen that happen from a full stop and justmashing the throttle to the floor. Sonow the low speed lag is gone and this thing really pulls nice when I need topass someone from 65 or 70 mph. Now I haven't been able to verify that I actually got an mpg improvement byopening up the exhaust housing to lower the back pressure but with theincreased hp from added fueling and increased air from the larger compressorwheel, I haven't seen any loss of mpg when I drive sensibly. Would I do it again? You bet.