tonyjsan

I'm looking at pulling the trigger on a RAM 3500 dualy, 2018 with 6.7 and the asin. I have a 2002 2500 with 5.9 5 speed I have no plans of getting rid of. My reason for posting is just some general feedback on folks who might have 2018 or earlier and/or general feedback on the 6.7, such as reliability, performance stock (I plan to keep this one all stock, for now), any experiences with this truck good / bad etc. Thanks in advance

Thanks to everyone for sharing, their thoughts ideas etc. Here is the plan I'll be pursuing. I'm not going for a new truck, my reasons for this cost, cost and cost, for the truck and maintenance once out of warranty, seems each generation of truck get’s more complicated and expensive to work on for parts etc. I know the 5.9 enough to get into trouble and just enough to get out of trouble most of the time lol and I will be expecting this truck to carry me many a mile pulling a 13k 5’er once I retire Soon I will begin what I’m calling a “restorative” process for lack of a better word. I’ll be replacing various items that age clearly says, must be changed. I just got a 2004 Dakota with 5 speed with 81k miles i’ll be using that as my daily driver while I work on my 02. I’ve classified the work by safety first and reliability, so here is some of the stuff I’ll be doing Rebuild and/or replacement of front suspension (bushings, ball joints, coil springs etc), steering items, Sway bar bushings links front and back, leaf spring bushings, all of this is still factory original, still debating Energy Suspension Kit, Moog or whoever lol Then on engine, tappet cover gasket, VP44 (has 200k+ miles on this vp44, still runs fine, so coin toss on this one, being to my knowledge no real way to test vp44), Vacuum Pump (replace or seals), power steering pump. Feedback welcomed, thanks in advance.

2002 Dodge RAM 2500HD, 5speed (about 250,000+ miles), The truck is pushing 16+ years, is it realistic to expect another 16+ years out of a 2002? The truck has not been abused during it's life, modified for better mpg and towing performance of a 5th wheel RV, nothing crazy. New trucks are expensive, on the other hand I want something I don't have to work on once retired in the near future. I would have to spend $$ on needed restorative type work etc., but after work done no monthly payments lol. Wondering if anyone else has been or is at this crossroad, and would be willing share thoughts pro/cons as one considers keeping the 2002 or get new truck. Thanks in advance. Hope this correct place to post this type question.

Nice!!! I've been looking for a vendor to purchase replacement bezel and the dash pad, Thanks for the share, now I can get the bezel and new radio, my bezel is so worn out, I know it will fall to pieces soon as I try to pull it off.

Over the course of 5 years (and lots $$$$$), I’ve had to replace 2 sb clutch’s, and hydraulics. Prior to all this I had a stock clutch, not sure what the brand is but i’ve been told it was probably a Luk clutch. I would also state I do my own repairs however, I don’t have the tools or place to due a diy job like clutch replacement so I have to rely on a shop, finding a shop where I live that know’s what the hell they are doing is a huge challenge. First SB clutch I had installed was a DD, based on my research and recommendations from the shop they advised I go with a DD, so I did. Immediately after the DD was installed there where shifting issues, blocking / resistance going into gear grinding, basically acted like clutch was not releasing as it should. The shop that sold me the clutch said that the shifting issues etc, where normal cause of the heavier clutch, takes longer to spin down etc. The shop that did the work refused to pull the transmission and inspect for possible damage as a result of the shop installing the clutch wrong. I finally called SB and talked to someone called Peter (despite the very bad experience I’vd had with SB clutch, I give SB credit for having a very knowledgeable staff person, Peter.). After telling Peter like 1 issue I was having he immediately rattled off the problems I had been having. I was sent a new 13”single disk clutch kit, free, I still had to get the thing installed more $$$$. The Single disk (sd) clutch worked for little over year then I started to have same / similar issues, blocking clutch release issues and slipping towards the end. Also about this time I had to replace the transmission as the synchro where bad (I suspect the faulty clutch(s) accelerated the wear), and another set of hydraulics. After the re-build transmission was installed the SD clutch failed big time, to get the truck in gear I would have to shut the engine off, put in gear re-start while sitting in traffic. The blocking was bad as well as an odd vibration. I believe the SD clutch had a broken hub spring or was warped. With all this said, as a consumer I have a bad taste for South Bend products, as well as the local shop that originally did the work for me. Myself I will never buy another SB product, however I do give SB credit in the customer service department, based on my conversation with Peter at SB. The lesson I’ve learned and my opinion for what it’s worth, is unless running a crazy amount of HP / torque DD clutches are not worth the money, a good single disk works just as good, even stock, as I’ve gone back to the stock clutch. I am also not running a lot of hp/torque, with edge comp on 4 maybe 350hp, 760 torque. If I ever go over that, then I’ll re-evaluate the stock clutch choice.

I've not posted about the issue(s) I had with the SB stuff.

I just had the clutch replaced last week, so i've not had a chance to tow, but I head out for my summer travels in May. I can accelerate hard with edge comp on 4 no slippage (obviously no RV hooked up). Before I went down the SB road, I had stock clutch pulling 13k 5th wheel with edge comp, I never had an issue. Ironically that was 1 of the many issues with the SB clutch that I just replaced that was not even 2 years, it was slipping under hard acceleration

Yep, over past 4 years have had 2 South Bend clutches and 3 sets of there hydraulics, all failed within year to year and half. I don't abuse my truck, it's daily driver and pull 13k RV. In addition I suspect the faulty clutches also contributed to having to replace transmission as well.

I've never run a lot of mod's, just Comp Edge at 4 all the time, at the 275 injectors, and few other small mods. I went down the road of the so called stronger better clutch, it's been costly and frustrating, from my perspective, never again on South Bend, it's garbage (yes I know lot's out there swear by it but I've had nothing but problems, as they say mileage varies). I went back to a stock clutch, if I ever get crazy with the power beyond what I have i'll re-look at the clutch.

Thanks for the information, helped out on what I was going to do in regards to a clutch. Finally my long painful and costly mistake of using anything South Bend clutch is gone!!!!! Yeah!!!!

Does anyone know what the torque and hp rating is on a stock clutch?

Socket size is 40mm, on 2wd. Anyone know what the torque specs is for front axle nut 2wd?

I've had a front bearing go out on my way home from my summer Campground host job, new hubs ordered. My question, what is the socket size for front hub nut? Searches have shown all kinda sizes mostly for 4wd, of 1 11/16, 43mm etc. I will need to buy a socket, largest I have is 1 1/2 and it's to small.

@jlwelding Did you get your nv4500 from Allstate gear in San Antonio? Was curious what your experience was with them. I'm looking a new tran or rebuild tran, as syncros are bad on 3rd gear on mine, getting worse. San Antonio is closest place to me for that sort of thing.

If possible via this forum can you private message me?, if not i'll post my email here.

Mine stopped leaking after the last round of tighten, but each time only tighten a bit more. If it continued to leak weep then i would have, checked mating surfaces. But so far it's sealed. again thank to all the awesome help from this site.

hmm wonder if SB DD has the same procedure in there install instructions.

You are correct @Dieselfuture I had no way of knowing if the clutch bad or a bad install. The shop that installed the clutch insisted that the clutch was working correctly, which it was not, it was not releasing correctly, and basically refused to do any other investigation of the problem. I went to another shop and they confirmed clutch was not releasing. After that I called SB and they sent me a brand new single disk clutch setup. So far clutch is working great, however my 3rd gear syncro is bad. Unfortunately I don't have the tools or place to do work like this at home so I have to take it somewhere. I am thankful that SB did stand behind there clutch and sent me the new single disc kit, and the DD was out of warranty at that time. I still have the SB DD clutch, tried uploading picture but forum upload would not work, hope the links work. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3EL_J88_MOKNjRoVVZZX09MaGc https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3EL_J88_MOKdXFuQjZvZ2xZT3c

I don't recommend the South Bend DD, had one installed and had lot's of issues with it, from my experience it was a bad clutch, and there hydraulics don't last either. I will say that South Bend (think I guy named peter), did give excellent customer service, after all the problems I had with there DD clutch, South Bend sent me brand new single disk kit (organic I think) with flywheel etc., With that said when it's time to replace clutch again not sure if i'd use south bend again, as this clutch incident left a sour taste for South Bend and the nv4500 with very bad syncros, from not releasing correctly and other stuff. So I'm looking at replacing nv4500 soon, this all happen over course of 2-3 years. Then it did not help that the company that installed the clutch for me was bad, they where great at dazzling with bull shit.

Finally got the new injectors installed this past weekend. Thought I’d share that it has solved my ruff idle and loss of power on the high end and I’m hoping this will bring back the 2 mpg that I’ve lost for some time. I've attached pictures of old stock injectors appreciate any comments on if they look normal for having 231k miles on them. Seemed to be a lot of carbon bulid up, not sure if that normal or not. Few things I noticed when doing this job, the lines where not that bad getting off, in 2 groups. However, getting them to seal (at cylinder head) was a pain, and of course #2 is the one that did not want to seal. In retrospect perhaps I should have attached and torqued lines at cylinder head, then at injector pump. I ordered a torque wrench for the job, it was defective when I got it so had to guess (went by what was said in the pepsi video hand tight then snug them up), this next weekend going try get hold of good torque wrench from a local auto store on a tool loaner program and check torque on lines at cylinder head. Anyone have a brand torque wrench you would recommend? The fuel lines have never been cracked open before and some of them, from factory where torqued a lot. Thanks to all that posted and the articles on this site great information, and DAP for a great set of injectors.

One more question, does everyone recommend replacing the valve cover gasket? Mine's orginal 15 years old. They are spendy, I'm thinking yes it should be replaced?

Ordered the rv275 injectors from dap, now to deciede if I install them or find a shop to do it, that I trust to not screw it up. I've reviewed the material and video's on this site, for injector replacing great stuff thanks. Looks like a straight forward swap out the old for the new. Anyone know how many hours labor the books say this job would take?

I ran acroos this post that pretty much describes a problem I've been having for some time now. First post that clearly explains why miss in idle when warm and why ac on it goes away. Any rpm above idle runs fine. One other question. When this happens is ac off idle is missing or ruff, if I turn the engine off then re-start ruff idle miss is gone why?????? From all the reading I've done on injectors seems the one's called rv275 seem very popular and majorty say they work very good. Anyone have any other thoughts comments on replacment injectors? Is it good idea to replace the connect tubes or just a new O ring k? Thanks in advance

thanks for sure Am I understanding this correctly the stealth cover will void the warranty, as that's considered a wire tap?

So VP44 dying, my budget dying also now. I plan to keep this truck for very long time, who would this group recommend for replacement VP44? I have been looking at the Blue Chip stuff they are $$$, and I've seen VP44 on rock auto amazon. One other question injectors are still stock and have about 240k on them, thoughts on replacing them cause they are old and might fail soon as well? Thanks in advance.