[Boss Hogg]

I spoke to a guy last night who has a 2003 Quadcab Dodge diesel w/ 6 speed. He said he was averaging 21mpg. His last Dodge had +400k miles before he sold it with no problems. Here's my list of questions.

1) What's the cost/power options for juice boxes?
2) How much power will the stock clutch withstand?

I won't tow a thing but would like to have some fun on the highway on my way to work.

 

[AnesthesiA]

I swear to god if you smoke screen me out on 635 I will find you DZ!

 

[STANGGT40]

forrest is a fountain of dodge (cummins) diesel knowledge...i'm sure that he'll be in here shortly!

brad

 

[SNEAKY]

no DuraCrap?

 

[Cooter]

step into the light my child...

21 may be a little steep for a 3rd gen, but if he's got lots of miles on it it's possible.

there are so many boxes out these days, but figure on spending between $400-700 for some good fueling increases.

not sure what the stock clutch will hold, but realize that the '05+ trucks have an aluminum case Getrag 6sp w/ a dual mass flywheel. I'd try to find a truck w/ a NV5600. tried and true!

 

[Boss Hogg]

I swear to god if you smoke screen me out on 635 I will find you DZ!

I would never do that to someone.

no DuraCrap?

4 door Duramaxes are too expensive with less of a warranty.

 

[Buick355]

step into the light my child...

21 may be a little steep for a 3rd gen, but if he's got lots of miles on it it's possible.

there are so many boxes out these days, but figure on spending between $400-700 for some good fueling increases.

not sure what the stock clutch will hold, but realize that the '05+ trucks have an aluminum case Getrag 6sp w/ a dual mass flywheel. I'd try to find a truck w/ a NV5600. tried and true!

]
Listen to Forrest. He's the king of Cummins. If it means anything to you we rarely ever get any deisel trucks in the shop for much of anything. Mostly fuel problems (a lot of times caused by not changing the fuel filter regularly)

 

[Boss Hogg]

21 may be a little steep for a 3rd gen, but if he's got lots of miles on it it's possible.

It had 89k on it. I talked to this guy at a gas station. On the console, he pushed the button to read the avg mpg and read it off. He said on highway trips he'll avg 24mpg.

there are so many boxes out these days, but figure on spending between $400-700 for some good fueling increases.

How much power will they put out without an additional pump. I want to keep it simple for warranty purposes.

not sure what the stock clutch will hold, but realize that the '05+ trucks have an aluminum case Getrag 6sp w/ a dual mass flywheel. I'd try to find a truck w/ a NV5600. tried and true!

I'd buy a used truck if it had low miles. I don't have time to work on anything so a warranty is very important to me right now.

 

[Cummins-Racer]

My truck gets 19 in town and 22 on the highway. It depeads how heavy your foot is. My stock clutch lasted 35,000 miles with a 120hp chip and is still good if I turn it down. 120hp increase is more than likely the limit on most clutches. I would find an adjustible programmer for sure.

 

[Cooter]

It had 89k on it. I talked to this guy at a gas station. On the console, he pushed the button to read the avg mpg and read it off. He said on highway trips he'll avg 24mpg.

the overhead is notoriously high... unless he's hand calculating that, I'd call BS... the old 12v trucks would do it no problem, but the fuel consumption has gotten worse through the generations with the 3rd gens being the worst. still not "bad" by ANY STRETCH!!! but I think Sean's getting like 19ish on his truck, and he's got damn near 150k on it, and a lot of that is pulling big weight, so it's really broken in.

but on the same note, every truck is different!

How much power will they put out without an additional pump. I want to keep it simple for warranty purposes.

well, one good thing about the 05's is that they finally put the lift pump in the tank, so maybe that'll finally aleviate the lift pump problems!

Wes Snow is the guy you want to be running all this by. I'm really not up to speed on the 24v trucks and what box does what.

I'd buy a used truck if it had low miles. I don't have time to work on anything so a warranty is very important to me right now.

I hear that, just be careful w/ the fueling boxes. again, run this by Wes. I don't know if there IS a box that isn't detectable!

 

[Boss Hogg]

I hear that, just be careful w/ the fueling boxes. again, run this by Wes. I don't know if there IS a box that isn't detectable!

Even if removed? Aren't all boxes plug and play?

 

[Cummins-Racer]

Even if removed? Aren't all boxes plug and play?

On my edge comp box I had to tap the fuel pump wire to get full effect. Thats a big no no if you want warentee work done. I have been there and done that.

On most 40-85hp boxest it is plug and play but on larger one you have to tap that wire.

What I have done in the past with my 24v is take the box off and get a friend with a superchip programmer to delete all the codes and memery. I didn't think you can do this with the 3rd generation trucks though.

 

[aggie97]

Wow, I must be ragging on mine then as the overhead only shows 14.5....hand calc'd to 15.5 or 17.5 on the highway. Mine only has 12,000 miles on it so I am sure it will get better upon break in.....

Personally, I wish I had gotten an Auto having now driven my 6 spd for 6 months. Sitting in traffic is a bitch and the tranny shifts really slow with all that mass moving. I love the truck but I am second guessing my tranny choice. Dollar wise the 2500 4x4 Dodge 6spds are VERY hard to beat.

 

[Cooter]

Wow, I must be ragging on mine then as the overhead only shows 14.5....hand calc'd to 15.5 or 17.5 on the highway. Mine only has 12,000 miles on it so I am sure it will get better upon break in.....

Personally, I wish I had gotten an Auto having now driven my 6 spd for 6 months. Sitting in traffic is a bitch and the tranny shifts really slow with all that mass moving. I love the truck but I am second guessing my tranny choice. Dollar wise the 2500 4x4 Dodge 6spds are VERY hard to beat.

put some taller tires on it to calm down the gear, and put some fuggin' FUEL to it so you don't have to shift so much!

as long as I'm going ~9-10mph, I don't even have to take it out of 3rd...

an automatic would be the tits if you resigned yourself to spend $4-5k on it when it takes a dump on you...

with the 5600, a $1000 clutch will hold 550-600rwhp, an $1800-2000 clutch will hold more than you're ever gonna make

an auto is obviously the cat's ass for drag racing, but the hand shaker is best all around IMHO.

and no, you're nowhere near broken in... they way you drive it, it'll probably start breaking in around 80-90k

Forrest

 

[aggie97]

put some taller tires on it to calm down the gear, and put some fuggin' FUEL to it so you don't have to shift so much!

as long as I'm going ~9-10mph, I don't even have to take it out of 3rd...


Forrest

You are lucky to have the 5 spd......I can ALMOST start out in 3rd. If the truck is rolling at all, 3rd is fine till 30mph, 4th is good for 40, and 5th is good for 35-70.

I agree I need to fuel this bitch but $$$$ is an issue and keeping the warranty for a few more years.

 

[Cooter]

You are lucky to have the 5 spd......I can ALMOST start out in 3rd. If the truck is rolling at all, 3rd is fine till 30mph, 4th is good for 40, and 5th is good for 35-70.

I agree I need to fuel this bitch but $$$$ is an issue and keeping the warranty for a few more years.

if you would have gotten the auto, you would be bitching about wishing you got the 6sp!

I'll trade you straight across

 

[Boss Hogg]

On most 40-85hp boxest it is plug and play but on larger one you have to tap that wire.

A 40-85hp box won't fog anything! I need more power.

 

[Cooter]

A 40-85hp box won't fog anything! I need more power.

98.4 12 valve! first year of the quad cab, you can make 450rwhp with about $450 in fueling mods, and with a 12v, there's no need for a warranty!

oh, and NOTHING fogs like a cranked up 215 pump motor!

Forrest

 

[DT2]

If you need any Diesel work done, you need to seriously contact a DTT dealer in the North Texas Area, and I happen to know one if you guys would be interested in turning up the power on your diesels! Best in the business, plenty of references!

 

[Sean88gt]

I think he's off on mileage. my 04.5 has 153k on it and I'm averaging about 18.5, higher if I slow down.

Out of our four dodge diesels my 91 gets the best at around 19.5 and my 93 gets the worst at around 15.5. My 04.5 gets better than our 05 by approx 1 - 2 mpg.

Mileage on the trucks is as follows,
91 - 382k
93 - 252k
04.5 - 153k
05 - 10k

I've heard various things about the stock clutch. Mine lasted 146k pulling up to 40k lbs. I think it depends how you drive it. With my new turbo, AFE intake/torque tube/ats manifold/exhaust and at some point a box, I hope to be around a safe cool 480rwhp. I'm sure a SBC clutch will be in order at that point.

As for torque, I can start in 4th, no the best on the clutch I'm sure, but it's doable. 3rd no problem, 2nd always, 1st when I'm towing.

Something to be aware on the NV5600 is the cost. I just dumped over 3k into having mine REBUILT, this included the clutch. A new unit was over $6400!!
But apparently the auto is more due to labor. I felt raped

If you have any other questions let me know. I'll have an idea of how hard the turbo is to change in about a week