Aertex Lift Pump & Relocation Kit Install & Comments

[LiveOak]

I recently purchased a 2001.5 Ram for my wife which still had the OEM lift pump in the stock location. After testing and determining 2 psi of fuel pressure, I replaced the filter which brought the fuel pressure up to 9 psi. Still not good enough in my book so I replaced the OEM lift pump with an Aertex lift pump in the stock location. This brought the fuel pressure up to 16 psi at idle but it could still be pulled down to about 10 psi. I found this to be marjinal and still not good enough. The next step was to relocate the pump. A friend was installing a 60 gallon fuel tank on his Ram 3500 and was generous in offering me the use of his shop to install my Air Dog 150 on my truck. He needed some help installing his tank as it was a steel tank a kinda heavy, not to mention bulky and a shoe horn fit. We decided to do all 3 trucks at once the same day so we started with the wifes truck. My friend had an old big line kit left over from when he replaced it with a FASS so we took the parts and installed them on my wifes truck along with an Aertex pump modified to accept the 1/2 fuel lines all the way up to the injector pump. The Aertex pump is still fed by the OEM 3/8 line coming from the tank. Wow! What a difference! The Aertex pump now makes 21 psi fuel pressure at idle and pretty well stays at that pressure throughout the engine operation range. The pump relocation down under and in front of the fuel tank REALLY makes a BIG difference and improves fuel flow. My wife' s truck is pretty much bone stock so this fuel mod. is a great low cost option fix to the fuel starvation problem. For a stock truck and I suspect even a stock truck with something like an Edge EZ, this fuel mod would work well.Is this mod. on the same level as the Air Dog or FASS??????? Not hardly, but every truck does not need an Air Dog or FASS although they are the top of the line solution to cover all applications. In my case, the wife does NOT like "all those gauge thingies" to confuse and distract her, so we compromised and installed only the fuel pressure gauge on the steering column. :cheers I guess what really surprised me is how hard the OEM lift pump had to work in the stock location to keep fuel pressure to the injector pump. It is a wonder MANY more failures weren't caused by this. I still think the Air Dog or FASS is the best solution but $500 is a lot of money and for folks on a budget and want a simple and reliable fix; this might be a good option. Note: Aertex requires a 70 micron or smaller prefilter for their pumps for warranty coverage. I still have to install an inline filter just before the pump. I am confident that as long as the OEM fuel draw straw pickup is intact with the fabric strainer screens, this will stop any particles big enough to cause any damage or problems after seeing the strainer screens in my truck's fuel pickup intalling the Air Dog.

[Dave3500]

So how is this pump working out? Sounds like a low cost option, money well spent! B) Dave

[LiveOak]

Dave, So far so good. The wife has been driving the truck without issue and I have driven it a few times to check the lift pump operation and performance. It is working well and holds good pressure well within acceptable limits.

[Mopar1973Man]

Can I ask what kind of pressure range are you seeing??? :confused:

[LiveOak]

Idle is approx. 20 lbs. Normal operation is between 16-17 psi. A hard 5th gear pull @ wot approx. 14-15 psi.

[LiveOak]

Bare in mind these pressures are predicated upon the lift pump being moved to the frame rail just under and in front of the fuel tank and 1/2 inch ID fuel lines and AN fittings up to the injector pump. When I had this pump in stock/OE location on the engine with the stock/OE fuel lines, these pressures were about 2-3 psi lower across the board.

[Mopar1973Man]

Not to bad... About 4-5 PSI drop bout holding 15 at WOT is really good... :thumbsup