diesel4life

How did the roof get buckled? Make sure you look closely at the frame and all the body mounts to make sure nothing is twisted. Your kind of taking a gamble by not being able to hear it run, I would be closely inspecting all fluids to make sure nothing is out of wack. Brand new oil in any vehicle makes me suspicious, unless they can provide service records to show that it was due. For the amount of work the bed needs you would probably be money ahead to find a nice straight rust free bed and paint it to match. Unless your labor is free/cheap the hours will add up fast. Another thing you should ask yourself is do you really need a dually? From what you described above I would venture to say no, but maybe you have other plans down the road that would require one. Duallys have their advantages, but if you are not hauling anything with a heavy pin weight or a big slide in camper they are too big and cumbersome IMO. 2 extra tires to wear out, wider stance means less maneuverability than a single rear wheel truck, blind spots in the mirrors, and a big one for me, not as capable off road. I can tow 10-12k on my 22 foot tilt trailer with my 3/4 ton single wheel comfortably, and occasionally a little more. I wouldn't do it on a regular basis, but the trucks are capable. Just trying to give you some things to consider, not trying to bash your decision. In the end you buy what you can afford and make due. if money was no option I would have one of every generation CTD!

Welcome to the forum! If you bump the starter to activate the lift pump what kind of pressure are you seeing? Does it come up right away or does it take a few seconds to build pressure? Are you still running the same pneumatic lines the PO had or did you install new fuel hose from your FASS up to the injection pump? If not I would recomend changing it out as all those fittings could be a source to draw air from and cause an occasional hard start. Do you notice if it makes a difference if you park the truck with the nose up or down hill? Sometimes (but not always) that will be a good indication because if the nose is pointed down hill the fuel is less likely to siphon back into the tank as it would if the nose is parked up hill. I am not familiar with the FASS wiring but imagine it has to be similar to the Air Dog, with a seperate relay and 12 volt source from the battery or altenator. How is your pump wired? Are you saying your using the power from the power window fuse as a trigger for the lift pump? Also, I'm sure your aware but I gotta say it because everytime I hear someone use ether it makes me cringe.....be very careful when using the stuff! If it is cold enough for your grids to ignite you could potentially set a bomb off in your engine, and blow the intake clean off or worse yet damage the engine along with anyone standing nearby. Yes that is the extreme version of what can happen but it can happen. Not to mention the stuff is just plain hard on th injection pump. If I was in an emergency and HAD to have my truck running, I would disconnect the grid heaters and use it, but aside from that I don't use it at all. I would rather find the problem, and fix it, like your trying to do. Good luck!

Just my opinion, but I would really consider doing another flush sooner than later. Don't want to take the chance of plugging off anything internally, not to mention that stuff is flowing through your heater core as well. When you do do your flush, stick a garden hose in the outlet of your heater core and back flush it, I would bet you have a fair amount of sediment trapped in there. I think your on the right track though, a good flush with a garden hose and then fill and drive to operating temp, drain, fill, drive again until you think your good. Garden hose is probably ok for the first flush since your system is so bad but depending on your water quality you may consider just buying distilled water to do the last flush or two. It's hard to say for sure without knowing the maintenance history, but poor quality water can do just as much harm as neglecting to flush the system on a regular basis.

Avalanche training...as in setting off controlled avalanches? Or more on the rescue side of things? I saw one avalanche several years ago up near my moms cabin in Wyoming. We were a ways away from it, just so happened to be in a good position to watch. It looked small from where we were, but rode in closer on the snow mobiles and realized how massive it really was. They can really cause some serious destruction. It certainly gained my respect and fear of them.

I like the idea of a bagged truck on all four corners, but not to that extent. If I'm not mistaken, the Ram 1500 has an option for air ride and has the ability to raise/lower to compensate for trailer hitching, load levelling, off roading, and will even drop at free way speeds for increased economy. I remember reading about it when they were first introduced but haven't heard any reviews on the system.

Do I sense a ban hammer coming out of storage?

Added my info, located in NE Ohio.

It is hard to find good current info on CJ spec oils, but in the earlier days nearly all the oil manufacturers recomended either monitoring with OA or shortening the service intervals when using a CJ oil with 500ppm fuel. That may not be the case anymore, but it doesn't really matter being it is not even available anymore. Again, I understand the reasons for the changes in the specs being due to the dpfs, but some of the higher detergents used in previous spec oils is simply not needed with the cleaner fuel. There is a correlation between fuel types and amounts of oil additives needed for soot dispersion and controlling oil oxidation . As far as the ZDDP, what was the requirement in change from cl4 to cj4, something like .02% reduction? I see where many companies have switched to molybdenum as an alternative. Remember there are two tests specific to Cummins engines that oil manufacturers are required to pass to meet CJ4 specs, one specifically for ISB engines for valve train, camshaft, and tappet wear.

I understand why the formulation was changed, but thats not the question at hand. What I don't understand (and the intent of the original post) is the argument for the higher TBN, along with Calcium, phosphoros, and such. Those additives were all used to counter the higher sulfur fuels, so now that ULSD is the norm, why is cl4 preferred? I have read studies that have confirmed the depletion of ZDDP isn't as big a deal as people make them out to be, especially with the addition of better plating materials in the CJ oils then was previously available.

CL4+ was formulated with higher TBN after our engines were even produced, particularly for egr equipped engines . to combat the acidity due to the EGR and higher sulfur fuel prior to ULSD. Since the fuels have changed, is there really a need to stick with those additives? Being we don't even have EGR? The only real argument I see for a CL4 oil being advantageous over CJ4 is for higher sulfur fuel, when CJ oils are used they advise shortening the service intervals, but I am not aware where any 500ppm fuel is even available in the US anymore.; BTW, all the most recent documents I can find on the oils I mentioned above have a TBN of 10-12, which is right in line with Amsoil AME

I haven't been that lucky. Bought Interstate batteries 3.5 Years ago, too good of a sale to pass up. during the fall one of them completely went south. One day they were working fine and the next I went out to start and it was very slow To start. Passenger battery failed at something like 60 CA. I check the acid in them once a year, and my truck does not sit more then a day or two at a time. If it gets started it generally gets run a minimum of 50 miles or more. Then there is the whole pro rated joke, I still ended up paying over $50 bucks since it had been 3 years, and they won't prorate the good one. So now I'm stuck with one new battery and one 3 years old. We have had a lot of cold weather this year for Ohio, lots of single digit to below zero nights, and I can tell it is a little slow turning over when its cold. That's why I'm thinking of just dropping for 2 new for the truck and then seperate my truck batteries. If I do I will buy AGM's this time around

The argument is that the older CL4 specs have higher TBN, which is supposedly better for battling acids in the oil especially for longer oil change intervals. I have also seen the argument that the CL4 oils were needed to neutralize the higher sulfur fuel of the time period and that with ULSD it isn't as near a big deal. I'm no chemist so I don't hold a real strong opinion either way, but to your question running CJ oil in your truck is not going to have any real consequences, or we would be seeing engine failures on a regular basis. I believe the vast majority of people are running CJ4 and don't know the difference.

The water pump is not a bad idea, I do carry an extra belt as well. I also have my OEM Carter lift pump mounted on the block in the event of a lift pump failure. All I need to do is switch 2 ball valves around and plug it in, good to go. Not so important for you CR guys but a real deal breaker for a VP truck when a lift pump goes.

Glad you got her fixed, nothing worse then breaking down on your way to the hunt, or vacation, or wherever your going. Puts a real damper on what's supposed to be a good time. I remember a discussion a while back about what extra parts to take on the road, and my reply was no parts to speak of but I do carry the essential sensors. There was some discussion for and against, but this is the exact reason I carry the.essentials. They don't take any room up to speak of, they can fit right in the glove box if need be. As our trucks age, there is no telling how long they will last or when they go.. I can service my rig top to bottom on the mechanical side but them electrical gremlins can come up out of nowhere. It's just one of those things that makes me uneasy leaving far from home, which I do a handful of times a year, and carrying my Smarty and the basic sensors helps to ease that concern a little.

It does seem like the Delo MG is rather hard to get ahold of...must be they gear it more towards commercial/industrial applications.

Hey Yabba Doo, tell me about the witches brew! Interested! Actually the newer gps systems are pretty good, as long as you keep them updated. The exception of course is in the mountains they always seem to get scrambled. Strange because the gps on my fourwheeler will pick me up no matter where we are and we go pretty deep in the mountains when we go to West Virginia every year. Our cell phones rarely even work where we go. I keep an Atlas in my truck on road trips, but unless you keep buying new ones they become outdated and unreliable too. They are good for back road and country highways that don't change often but if I have to go into a city I prefer a gps. Especially if I'm driving alone.

I agree, I think a 5.0 Liter diesel engine with 500 ft lbs torque is just too much for a half ton, early rumors of fuel mileage are somewhere in the low To mid 20s at best. Not good enough IMO considering the extra cost of the engine, maintenance, and fuel prices. It would have been nice to see Ram stick with a Cummins but I don't think the 5.0 Is a good fit in a half ton. You can have an engine pushing 700 ft lbs and it isn't going to up the towing capacity any, a half ton is a half ton. One truck I would be interested in seeing come to production is Nissans concept Frontier with the 2.8l Cummins. I think there would be quite the market for a compact truck with a diesel. I know if there were some used ones out on the road right now I would probably own one for a daily driver.

Valvoline Premium Blue 15w40 and Premium blue synthetic 5w40, Shell Rotella T 5w40 synthetic, Chevron Delo 400mg, are all cl-4 plus oils that tested high according to the TDR oil analysis done by an engineer from Lubrizol. High TBN, lots of calcium and phosporos and zinc. I know I'm about to flame someone by mentioning that study. LOL

In all honesty, minus a couple hundred dollars worth of parts to get that truck up and running I would be offended at an offer of $7500... Yes in reality that may be what it is booked at but I guarantee you if you were to post that truck on a national forum where it had good exposure you would get much more than that. Shoot, I see trucks around here going for 10k with over 200k miles and rust in the body to boot. Being family your cousin should at a minimum be willing to give you some free advice and maybe even a hand, but if not there are a lot of people on this site that would be willing to answer any question you might have no matter how silly you think it may be. If you were in my area I would be more than happy to give you a hand, but I'm on the wrong side of the lake. Whatever you decide, I would NOT even think about running that nasty old fuel through your engine. ULSD is much more susceptible to algae and water contamination. It might still be suitable for a heating oil furnace, provided its not all gunked up.

I do periodic oil analysis on all my vehicles, it gives me a good idea of the general health of my engines and in some cases can show potential problems before they get out of control.

Yes the MG is cl4+ rated and would be a better option then CJ4. Have you looked online? I would imagine you could source it through Amazon.

I wish I could find a tappet cover off a junk 12 valve, or better yet an enclosed CCV system for the ISBs just randomly laying around. I was peering into my radiator between it and the intercooler and it's looking pretty knarly. Gonna have to come out for a good cleaning come spring time. Gonna pull the front cover and check the pin just to be safe. Going to replace the damper while I'm in there, trying to decide whether or not the Fluid damper is worth the extra coin or just go with OEM replacementat. Gotta get her prepped for a few good road trips coming up this summer. Oh the joys of maintaining a 15 year old truck.