Found a truck...

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
A friend was selling his 2001 Dodge 3500 DRW diesel "4x4" (6x6? Heh.). Full MX records, every receipt. He's driven all but 20 of the 100,000 miles on it. (His wife drove it 20 miles once. Heh.)

He's done all the stuff I would have if it were a Dodge from that era.

- Replaced the factory fuel lift pump with a better one (known for failing and taking the injector pump with it)

- Ordered it with the high- output engine and manual transmission, upgraded the turbo (has the original he will give to me)

- Installed a Reese rocker style fifth-wheel hitch

- Ordered as extended cab with the little rear suicide doors, and factory towing mirrors

- Spray lined the long bed and vented tailgate (also getting the original tailgate) as well as the replacement Bambi bars when the originals rusted a bit

- Put a huge diamond plate toolbox forward of the hitch but below the top of the bed

- Diesel control computer for additional power when necessary including monitoring of all numbers and an economy mode if you're feeling wimpy

- Added a Cummins exhaust brake and proper big truck style jake switch on the shifter

- Added an additional RV plug in the bed for the fifth wheel wired in parallel with the bumper one

- All recommended engine work including adjusting valves done at Rocky Mtn Cummins, not a Dodge dealer

- Upgraded pumpkins with ones that have dipsticks and easier drain valves

- Installed the short shift kit for the standard transmission so the stick isn't flailing all about the cabin

- 4" exhaust installed from stem to stern

It was obviously his baby and she's in good shape. He decided he's done camping and has switched to playing with his FJ rock crawler on weekends and had sold the 33' trailer because he was tired of paying $120/mo to store it. The truck has had only 3000 miles put on it in the last year. It was time to sell it, and he made me a nice deal. We haven't sealed it all up yet but we shook hands on it today.

One small tear in the front driver's leather seat where he cussed when I asked him how it got there... "Got in with a pair of dykes in my back pocket". Being a 2001 I did chuckle that the factory stereo is dual CD and cassette tape. LOL! Bust out the old cassettes? No. Ha.

Brand new set of seven Michelins on it. He didn't like their ride but I'm okay with them. He has a standing deal to swap them for a tire he likes better with the tire shop guy for $300 more. I'll probably pass. He also has the 1" pipe mount and Tarheel 200 HF screwdriver antenna and that'll be included in the deal, since we are both Ham geeks.

Oh and it's loud as hell. Haha! Test drove it today. Going to have to smooth up my shifting a bit. Haven't driven any manuals except the Miata in a loooong time and it's easy to miss with the short shifter. :)

I dropped it from second to fifth at about 20 MPH. It's a diesel, so it complained and blew smoke but kept rolling without lurching or complaining too much. "Oops. That's fifth. Damn." Ha. 1st gear is a granny gear and useless in town without a load. :)

Not normally a Dodge guy but for the right price, I'll do it. Plus all the upgrades are done to fix the common problems on them. I'll probably replace the headlights, they're a little yellowed. Pet peeve but I can live with it. :)

Now to sell the Yukon, the Suburban, and I think... the Miata. Still a little torn on that last one, but realistically with the big dog (and getting bigger -- he's at least 85 pounds now), we won't be doing much two-seater driving. Will get another hammock for this truck for the back seats and he'll be ridin' in style.

Only other annoyance is that the fuel gauge isn't right. I've already got that problem in the Suburban, the Subaru, and the Yukon so nothing new there. Just keep track of mileage. Or maybe deal with fixing it later.

Now we're all set to shop for the trailer. No more missed OSH. If the airplane can't go, we'll be living the air conditioned high life in Scholler. :) And it'll tow the cargo trailer a heck of a lot better than the Yukon did. Yukon wasn't bad but it shifted too much in rolling hills.

Yay, trucks!
 
Before you write the check I can set you up with a king-bed room with in OSH for $60/night.
 
wabower said:
Before you write the check I can set you up with a king-bed room with in OSH for $60/night.
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Heh. Appreciate the offer but the plan is to go some other places too. OSH is just the bonus round. ;)

Right now a lot rests on where things go with the weirdness at work. I haven't posted here about that lately but the culture clash between the survivalist mode $150M/year company and the $1.2B/year over-proceduralized acquirers, heated up in earnest the last two weeks.

No WARN Act announcements yet so at least it's not that wild yet. :)

Yelling, cussing, angry mobs with pitchforks, etc... You name it, we've seen it the last two weeks. One Director was forced back on medical leave and then all hell broke loose.

Always entertaining. 5 buy-outs and one hostile investor takeover so far in my career not counting this one, so I'm not really worried about it. It is what it is. I wouldn't say this one has been the best run or smoothest one, but it's still a little above the worst one so far.

I fully expect a significant re-org in 30 days. Then I'll know more. I have that sixth sense feeling I'm being considered to head up a small team but nothing concrete. People who normally don't talk to me are suddenly interested in opinions and sharing details if our budget process that really are outside of the "need to know" circle.

The job networking feeler phone calls that this week triggered, brought at least two alternative Unix/Linux shops to the forefront as solid possibilities with direct referrals from folks who know my work.

There's one particular upside to the current place that erases a number of other evils and compels me more than anything else right now, and that's our organization's focus on the ability to work from home. I get more done out here in my little office on the prairie.

So the political furballs are interesting to watch, and I offer whatever advice is requested and enjoy the show. I think my counterpart is already one foot out the door after this week, and even if he doesn't disappear I have plenty of work to do. If he goes that'd be the eighth person in nine weeks. I'm getting tired of sitting through interviews.

Meanwhile... back in real life... the tow vehicle I needed for my personal plans kinda dropped into my lap unexpectedly, so done deal. Another trip to Kiowa, CO to swap license plates around here eventually, since I would like to keep my Amateur Radio plates on it.
 
us AAirways said:
Sounds nice, can you post a pic?
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That's funny you ask. The one thing I didn't do. Heh.

Eventually I'll post one. Kinda looks like every other Dodge. Silver with black interior, black Bambi bars from being sprayed.
 
The only thing you have to watch out for in those Dodge trucks is the doors like to rust out from the inside at the bottom. Poor weep hole drainage. Peel back an interior door panel and take a look, and treat it now if it looks good.

Sounds like a nice truck!
 
I have a "99" Dodge 2500 diesel with 310,000 miles on it, I have put on every mile. Auto, programmer, Crew cab. Runs better today than when I got it. A little rust on the bottom of the doors, but runs great. I drive a gas burner 2011 as my daily driver now.

The Cummins is a great engine. Put a fuel pressure gage on it. Fuel filters can clog starving the injector pump of cooling return fuel flow and burn it up. Never let the fuel tank get less than 1/4 full, and never let the fuel pressure (lift pump pressure) go less than 5 psi. Should be 10-15 psi. Diesel can suspend tiny air bubbles, not good for pump, and performance. Always use a fuel conditioner and anti gel in the winter. ;)

Sign on to DTR, Diesel Truck Resources. The info there will save you thousands in repairs, and they are a great bunch. :D

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/
 
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I've got a 2500HD with the Cummins. It will pull your house down the road without noticing it back there, but it's not the best ride for a daily driver. I do it anyway. I assume this will GI to my son in a few years and I'll get another.
 
Geico266 said:
The Cummins is a great engine. Put a fuel pressure gage on it. Fuel filters can clog starving the injector pump of cooling return fuel flow and burn it up. Never let the fuel tank get less than 1/4 full, and never let the fuel pressure (lift pump pressure) go less than 5 psi. Should be 10-15 psi. Diesel can suspend tiny air bubbles, not good for pump, and performance. Always use a fuel conditioner and anti gel in the winter. ;)
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The computer is a Edge Juice w/Attitude and has the fuel pressure on the screen. I believe it can also be set to alarm on that, but still need to read the manual. It has a PureFlow Airdog lift pump upgrade installed.

Geico266 said:
Sign on to DTR, Diesel Truck Resources. The info there will save you thousands in repairs, and they are a great bunch. :D

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/
Click to expand...

Will check it out. A buddy in Ralleigh, NC also runs a Dodge diesel forum that's been around forever. He started it when we both worked at the data center company. Probably still co-located in the Ralleigh site. Will have to ask him. He got out of the IT biz and became a NC State Trooper. Probably a smart career move. ROFL!

The only bummer about a Dodge is their logo... LOL...

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Chip Sylverne said:
The only thing you have to watch out for in those Dodge trucks is the doors like to rust out from the inside at the bottom. Poor weep hole drainage. Peel back an interior door panel and take a look, and treat it now if it looks good.

Sounds like a nice truck!
Click to expand...

I sprayed the inside of my doors with CorrosionX aviation followed by CorrosionX HD. 14 Michigan winters later they are just beginning to show some rust at the bottom.
 
Nate-

Sounds excellent, awesome add-ons on that truck. That jake brake is the ticket in the mountains.

5 or 6 speed? Never mind you said to have the HO engine, that is a 6 speed only option.

Dash cracked, yet? Cracked is normal, most of them are literally falling apart.

You have a Dana 80 rear end in that truck, which is a great rear end. The problem I see with almost all of them is the limited slip clutches are SHOT. An unloaded dually without the limited slip working is no good. You might check yours before the weather hits.

Can't wait to hear some more about it and see some PICTURES!
 
us AAirways said:
I love driving stick, but wouldn't it be a pia on a big truck like that? With a heavy clutch and long throws?
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I don't mind at all. Hell, unloaded it's 2nd to 4th unless you're accelerating hard. :) 1st is useless without a load. You can usually skip 3rd unless you're climbing a hill. :)

The clutch isn't that long. I wouldn't enjoy two hours of stop and go in it, but no plans to be doing that kind of driving with it.

The long throw problem is already taken care of. He put a short shift kit in it. The stick is nice and tight and actually quite similar to the Miata. ;)

Thanks for the tip on the limited-slip. I knew that was a Dana rear end which is pretty nice.

Got the Suburban detail cleanup done last night except for carpets. It's so old was just going to give it a good vaccuming but found a small coffee stain in the back so I'll clean it up... Sheesh. Who spilled? :)

Got the Yukon done today. Both look spiffy for photos now. ;)

And thanks for the pointers to research places on the trailer. There's a lot of cheaply built junk out there, that's for sure.
 
Let me know if/when you need a Ram CTD specialty shop. MAXTORQ Performance in Wheat Ridge is top notch. Their web forum (dieselram.com) is down for rebuild right now but they have a Facebook presence in the meantime.

Rob's a C-130 FE and prior engine mechanic as well.

I'm saving my pennies for one of his twin turbo setups for my 97 2500.
 
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Alexb2000 said:
Dash cracked, yet? Cracked is normal, most of them are literally falling apart.
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Forgot this question. Nope. He knew they do that and had a custom upholstered cover over it from day one! :)

I know he's had two if not three Dodges. He learned most of the quirks and fixed them.
 
denverpilot said:
Forgot this question. Nope. He knew they do that and had a custom upholstered cover over it from day one! :)

I know he's had two if not three Dodges. He learned most of the quirks and fixed them.
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Wow. I'd probably be even more impressed if I could see some PICTURES!
 
denverpilot said:
The computer is a Edge Juice w/Attitude and has the fuel pressure on the screen. I believe it can also be set to alarm on that, but still need to read the manual. It has a PureFlow Airdog lift pump upgrade installed.

]
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Nice! The Airdog filters then seperates the air bubbles from the fuel. Nice set up!
 
Having and camper is great. I have had one since 2000 and I pull it with 2003 F250 Super Duty 7.3L which I have modified quite a bit. The trailer weights 14K lbs and I can pull it at 80mph and get 18mpg with my trans temp at 115 degrees and egt's at 750 degrees. My best MPG was 25 with tail wind. I would suggest making several mods to your truck immediately. 4 inch exhaust (turbo back) if it has a K&N air filter scrap it and buy a heavy Duty industrial kit for it. I have seen the K&N filter collapse and blow turbos. If you can find an oversized trans cooler I would install that as well. I have an ambulance cooler on mine and it made a huge difference. Last but not least get a good programmer for it. Most diesels are really throttled down from the factory and being able to adjust to the driving conditions really makes a difference. Now if I could just find an airplane to tow behind the fifth wheel I would be set... LOL
 
rkdF250 said:
I would suggest making several mods to your truck immediately.
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4" exhaust from front to back. Done.

Not an industrial air filter but it's better than a K&N. Huge. Also has a spare. Done.

Computer was mentioned above. Done.

Heck, he's even throwing in the fuel additive he liked for the switch to ULSD.

Photos: I know. I know. I'll probably pick it up on Saturday.
 
Those are great trucks. A friend owns a landscaping business and bought one new.. 2001 2x4 dually with cummins diesel .. he's at 400,000 miles now and that's all working miles, pulling everything from bobcats to trees. Says he could not be happier with it.
 
Round one of the great vehicle sell-off has begun... ha. The Suburban is up on Craigslist.

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/4106316304.html

It almost pains me to sell it... it isn't worth much money, and it really runs good.

I thought about putting a snowplow on it and keeping it as the "driveway truck" (LOL!), but...
a) good snowplows you're not fixing all the time are kinda spendy for as little as I'd use it, and
b) I really just don't need all these trucks hanging around. Just more stuff to take care of.
c) Some days I'd rather just be snowed in. HAHA.
 
Congrats on the Dodge acquisition, Nate. That design is one of the "hard to kill" ones. With the updates/mods you already have, you'll get some good use for a long time to come.
 
Hope so. The Suburban sold quick at that price. I knew it would. I priced it down a bit to avoid endless tire kickers and driving it closer to town for folks to look it over. With the 454 under the hood, even a few trips to town would have cost a couple hundred bucks.

Easier to just take it off the price and get a deal done.

Guy who bought it was so excited he wanted to meet at 9:30 at night, so we did. He arrived a little late and bought it after 15 minutes of looking it over and a brief test drive.

Kinda sad to see it go. First sale of one of dad's vehicles. I'd used it a number of times for load hauling trips both before and after he passed away.

He had a couple of teenage boys along and let one of them sit in the driver's seat and asked how he liked it, so another generation of truck lovers is begun. ;)

He mentioned they already had two other Chevy trucks from that model line, one 2500, and one 1500. They like them. They were eyeballing the big 454 engine. I wouldn't be surprised if they really just wanted to pull the engine for another project later after they're done with it as a Suburban. That or maybe they were going to rod it in place in the 6000 lb truck. LOL! I bet they lift it.

Boys and our toys.
 
The promised photos. Got her a little dirty on the dirt road to the house.

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Nice looking truck Nate.

You had a brief mention in your OP about a dog hammock for the seats in one of your vehicles....any particular brand you'd recommend or not? We're looking for one right now. You can PM if you'd rather not derail this thread....cuz POA threads never go off course, ever....at all.
 
Ah. Hit send before I finished.

That's kinda a spendy one. It matched Karen's truck. Search "pet hammock" on Amazon or elsewhere and there's many options.

There's also just covers that go over the seat, but in her truck we were tying to help the dog not come forward in hard braking or a frontal collision since he won't do seatbelt tethering well. ( For some dogs those systems with body harnesses work well/better. )

There's even a few kennels that are long and tubular that can be attached to the seat hard points.

In the Dodge there's not nearly the back seat space as in hers so I'm still thinking about it. I kinda like the hammock design as it also keeps more fur on top of it than down in the carpet. Easy to clean.

Dog likes it but does skid around a little in corners. That stuff is a little slippery. Again different for different pups. Ours is now 85 lbs I think and his head easily reaches my waist. He pokes me in the belly button with his muzzle when he wants my attention, and I'm 5' 11".

He's tall and much heavier up high than down low, so he has stability and CG issues anyway. Heh.

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Haha. Okay who's the PoA lurker who knows Mike? ;)

I love aviation. Such a small world.

One of y'all called Mike and asked him if he sold his truck. ;)

(I saw him this morning. He forgot his sunglasses in the truck. Want to weird him out? Call him and ask him if he got his sunglasses back. Heh heh. And the CD in the CD player. Haha!)
 
That was me! I've known Mike a long time. When we used to work together he and I were the only ones who parked way out in the parking lot to keep our vehicles (one of which is your new truck) from getting dings.
 
ColoPilot said:
That was me! I've known Mike a long time. When we used to work together he and I were the only ones who parked way out in the parking lot to keep our vehicles (one of which is your new truck) from getting dings.
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Heh. I will continue the tradition! :). I do that with the other trucks already.

Karen made me promise to take good care of "her" pickup. Heh. :)

She already missed hearing it pull up in their driveway. I told her I'd try to keep up with all the nice stuff Mike did to it. I'm still unloading all the fluids and stuff he had to do it right. He threw all that stuff in the toolbox.

He joked that he almost gave me all the fuel receipts he kept in the book in the glovebox since he bought it new.

I think he was a little sad to see it go. He really took great care of it.

He was bummed the BFGs on the Yukon weren't a size bigger. We were talking about putting some cheap tires on it and selling him the BFGs for the FJ.

He still wants me to look into it, but they're not as big as he wanted. But I'll check into it and also dig up the mileage on the BFGs and see if he thinks it's worth it. I have a feeling they have more miles on them than they look.

I rotate them religiously after learning that lots of rotation and re-balancing makes BFGs last lots longer. They're notorious for not being balanced and balance changing as they wear.
 
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