Milestone, sort of........

[Doubletrouble]

 It's not a huge deal compared to some.other members here but I've reached 150,000 miles. I've only owned the truck for a little over a year. She had about 138k on the clock when I bought it but so far, no major problems and looking forward to the next several hundred thousand miles behind the wheel.

[Mopar1973Man]

You made the first 100k miles. 

 

@dripleybeen to the moon and back. (487k miles). I'm right behind him with my truck at 424k miles. Another ~50k miles to get home from the moon. Getting to the moon is 238k miles. Moon and back is 487k. Around the world is barely 50k miles. 

[dripley]

@Mopar1973Man and I have reacked up alot miles between us. And I am proud to have made it this far and still feel this truck has long way go. As long as I can keep the Dodge part together. I hope to return to to how it looked when mine had a 150k on it or or better after I retire. There are times it would be nice to look down at the odo and see 150 on it. I have a spare intrument cluster that l might have throw in one day, it only 133k on it. After the body and paint work though. Be fun for a day.

[Mopar1973Man]

53 minutes ago, dripley said:

@Mopar1973Man and I have reacked up alot miles between us. And I am proud to have made it this far and still feel this truck has long way go. As long as I can keep the Dodge part together. I hope to return to to how it looked when mine had a 150k on it or or better after I retire.

 

No joke... With my 1,000 a week runs to handle @MoparMomdialysis trips was a mileage adder for sure. Now I'm mostly just local running. About once a week or every other week head down to Lewiston or Boise for groceries and supplies. It will take me a bit to get geared up but I'm looking at possibly doing a bit of hotshot work with the 2006 Dodge being its got a Gooseneck hitch. 

[Doubletrouble]

3 hours ago, dripley said:

As long as I can keep the Dodge part together.

 That's the tricky part. The Cummins will last it's everything dodge did to the platform that will wear out. They're not in the business of building long haul trucks (in quotes) but with the Cummins engine you have the heart of a long hauler. I really enjoy my truck and hope to have it a very long time.

[JAG1]

How many of you guys ever owned a real POS gasser that screwed over your budget and was not built right so it helped prompt you into buying a Cummins ?

 

I can easily raise two hands on that question.

[Doubletrouble]

 That's me! 

 I had a 1999 chevy suburban with the 5.7 vortec engine. My other truck at the time had the 5.7 tbi engine with 360k on it so I guess I expected the same from the vortec. Boy was I wrong. I had to change cylinder heads twice due to cracks, distributor went bad, and a few other little things here and there and I only owned it for 18 months. What a pile of crap. Then I bought my Cummins and didn't look back.

[LiveOak]

2 hours ago, JAG1 said:

How many of you guys ever owned a real POS gasser that screwed over your budget and was not built right so it helped prompt you into buying a Cummins ?

 

I can easily raise two hands on that question.

That is EXACTLY & PRECISELY why I purchase my truck.  I had a POS 1993 Chevy Suburban 2500 4 x 4 that was a gas toilet, the engine developed a rod knock at about 18,000 miles, the dealer did NOT replace it with a new crate engine but did a half assed short block rebuild/replacement that was never right.  Even with a Mag Hi Tech deep transmission oil pan and additions HD transmission oil cooler, the transmission would over heat and puke.  The side view mirrors fell apart and were replaced under warranty, the AC sucked even with the rear AC on full blast.  And it was SLOW and had NO POWER.  

 

When I saw Dodge was changing over to a new body style and common rail diesel engines, I traded the Suburban TURD in with 38,000 miles on my current truck.  I STILL own and love this truck.  I liked it so much I bought one for the wife and she loves hers too. 

 

Just a bit of unsolicited but hopefully helpful advice.  If you are not changing out your engine coolant every 2 years religiously, I would STRONGLY recommend that you flush and replace your engine coolant with Shell Rotella Extended Life ELC Nitrate Free coolant and at each or every other oil change (depending upon how much you drive it) suck out a gallon of coolant and replace it with new. 

 

https://rotella.shell.com/en_us/products/lubricants-heavy-duty-products/antifreeze-coolant.html

 

Same with power steering fluid if you are not doing a complete flush.  I suck the fluid out of the PS reservoir and replace with new every oil change.  Same goes for both axles, transmission, and transfer case.  

 

I messed up on the wife's truck and forgot to regularly replace the coolant and it I believe this was a primary contributor to the failure of the head gasket.   I believe if you do the above, you should be able to get at least 500k out of your truck excluding if you drive it in salt conditions.  Hang on to her and take care of her as these trucks are becoming nearly impossible to find for sale in good condition.  

Edited December 19, 2020 by LiveOak

[dripley]

In 98 with my present employer the wife and I hit the road to Indiana to do a Don Pablos. 4 months later we finish and I cant get everything the wife accumulated in her car and my truck. On the way home i figured F this, I am getting a fifth wheel. 1st I need a truck. In the limited time I had I bought 96 Dodge 2500 with a V10 in it. The new Cummins then were out my budget. It was good truck, drove very quick empty and pulled the 5th well. Mileage sucked. 4 to 4.5 mpg towing and 12 mpg empty going downhill with a tail wind. Glad my company buys my fuel. Anyway we were headed to NJ from Florida about 2.5 yers later and I pull off the interstate for fuel, a very common occurence at 4.5 mpg. Kicked it out of gear and costed to the stop sign. When I let out the clutch to go thru the signit ws sputtering and popping. Pulled in the gas station and get out. Walk back to the tail pipe and oil has already made puddle on ground. A valve dropped thru #10 piston. Sum beach. Towed it to the closest Dodge dealer in Charleston SC, went in, asked where to drop my trade in at and I need a truck right now. Not the best to buy a truck but I got what I wanted and the wife did not say a word. That was 2001 and I remeber the stiker shock I got t $35k. Seems so cheap now.

Edited December 19, 2020 by dripley

[Doubletrouble]

 I've often wondered what mine stickers for when new just out if curiosity mainly. 

 Since I've bought my '01 Cummins I don't think I can be happy with anything else. With the low mileage I have on mine I should have it for quiet a while as long as I take care of her.

[dripley]

2 minutes ago, Doubletrouble said:

 I've often wondered what mine stickers for when new just out if curiosity mainly. 

 Since I've bought my '01 Cummins I don't think I can be happy with anything else. With the low mileage I have on mine I should have it for quiet a while as long as I take care of her.

I cant think yours would have been much less than mine unless you had the higher trim level. Mine was a SLT which was not the highest by any means. It does boggle my sometimes when I see a low mileage truck such as yours for sale. According to all the myths I hear, yours is not evem broken in yet. I hope you enjoy yours as I have and will still enjoy mine. It still tickles me to catch someone on the interstate in my faded truck and old wrinkled man in the cab passing your BMW in the right lane and they cant stop me. 

[Doubletrouble]

 I hear ya brother. I do get plenty of looks in my truck, I think because it's a 2nd gen and Cummins. Those who know these trucks want them. I've had 3 offers from guys I work with but I won't part with it.

 The 2nd gen body style was always my favorite dodge truck, when I found mine with low miles, and the 5speed I felt like I struck gold (especially for what I paid for it. I didn't even haggle with the guy). I wasn't looking for a dually but what the heck, never had one before so why not.

 I don't even know the trim level on mine. It's a basic work truck, manual windows and locks, rubber floor mat. It has a/c and am/fm cd player. That's about it. I believe it came with just steel wheels when new, someone added the simulators after. The simulators are 4 hole but the wheels are 7 hole steelies.

[dripley]

[Dieselfuture]

On 12/19/2020 at 6:13 AM, Mopar1973Man said:

You made the first 100k miles. 

 

@dripleybeen to the moon and back. (487k miles). I'm right behind him with my truck at 424k miles. Another ~50k miles to get home from the moon. Getting to the moon is 238k miles. Moon and back is 487k. Around the world is barely 50k miles. 

Oh common, we all know moon is made of cheese and not something you can land on, plus it's only as far as your imagination. All kidding aside I was always fascinated with it and always wondered if it's so far why am I seeing it so clearly with such a detail and can my eyes really see 240000 miles away with such details. Idk, I know someone does.

Don't mean to be a party pooper and ruin the moon drive

[wil440]

I have gone from a work Ford Transit and my truck parked on the drive festering in the winter with bucketfuls of condensation on the inside to my truck is my work vehicle, pulls a box trailer workshop and it's just at 165 ish K

 

It's now dry inside and will last better for the use I'm sure

 

Totally agree on the dodge bit....... babying the trans, careful of ALL electrics and deleting as much as possible, grid heaters and fuel pump and PCM fuse

 

Fuel here is a killer @ £1.20 plus a litre but  I figure that tax man pays for that

 

Would really like a real US 5th wheel flat bed with my box on the front and a bed for transporting but here thats silly ££

[JAG1]

1 hour ago, Dieselfuture said:

Oh common, we all know moon is made of cheese and not something you can land on, plus it's only as far as your imagination. All kidding aside I was always fascinated with it and always wondered if it's so far why am I seeing it so clearly with such a detail and can my eyes really see 240000 miles away with such details. Idk, I know someone does.

Don't mean to be a party pooper and ruin the moon drive

What I could never figure out is when I look at the moon with my old transit scope you see all this high detail with craters all over it. It's really cool to see, but why then does the Earth only have a few craters? 

 

Not counting the ones around Dripley's place after doing electrical work 

[IBMobile]

1 hour ago, Dieselfuture said:

Don't mean to be a party pooper and ruin the moon drive

Dripley ready for his moon drive.

[dripley]

 

1 hour ago, Dieselfuture said:

Oh common, we all know moon is made of cheese and not something you can land on, plus it's only as far as your imagination. All kidding aside I was always fascinated with it and always wondered if it's so far why am I seeing it so clearly with such a detail and can my eyes really see 240000 miles away with such details. Idk, I know someone does.

Don't mean to be a party pooper and ruin the moon drive

Just put it in perspective. The moon maybe 240k miles away but its diameter 2160 or so miles. A lot of the details you can see are miles in size yet small to us with the distance. Size matters. 

 When I lived Marietta ga I used watch the planes coming in and out of Dobbins AFB. The C5A's would almost seem to be floating they were moving so slow. Then I got to see one up close and they are huge airplanes. Thats whenI realized that the ones I was seeing were mile or more off. 

29 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

What I could never figure out is when I look at the moon with my old transit scope you see all this high detail with craters all over it. It's really cool to see, but why then does the Earth only have a few craters? 

No atmosphere or weather on the moon to erode them away like here on earth. No atmosphere also allows you to see the details better. We do still have some on earth just google it.

34 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

 

Not counting the ones around Dripley's place after doing electrical work 

Just another reason why I dont like electrical work.

 

 

And as usual I see my old buddy @IBMobileis messing around in the classified pictures again.

[JAG1]

57 minutes ago, dripley said:

 

 

 

 

And as usual I see my old buddy @IBMobileis messing around in the classified pictures again.

Dieselfuture started this hijack not me.

[Doubletrouble]

 If a rooster crows I'm outer space can you hear it?