2004.5 Cummins

[nhl_bullitt]

Finally purchased a truck.

2004.5 Ram, 170k miles, with paper work for $6k auto trans build, Smarty s06 tuner, 5" turboback. I am going to run a boost and EGT guage. What other smart things can I do to treat the truck with the care it deserves to run long and reliably? A certain fuel additive you guys prefer? Help a brother out, only the 2nd diesel I've owned.

Thanks for being patient with me btw. I know I brought up other trucks when I was looking. Nice to have the truck in my possession.

 

[easleycrawler]

Sounds like a good solid truck. Keep an eye and ear out for ball joints and axle ujoints. Those are weak areas in the Dodge.

 

[Bronco72]

Sounds like a good solid truck. Keep an eye and ear out for ball joints and axle ujoints. Those are weak areas in the Dodge.

Aint the weak link everything beteen the front and rear bumper?? LOL

 

[xjmarc]

Pick up a trans gauge while you're at it. Hate for you to kill that new tranny.

 

[Not your toy 85]

Trans temp Guage, fuel filtration! ( definate must) , also rail pressure Guage for extra insurance

 

[MoparMan]

Aftermarket lift pump with good filters, lift pump fuel pressure gauge, rail pressure gauge, trans temp gauge. If trans temps start to creep up I would get an aftermarket trans pan with extra capacity and also an extra trans cooler or swap to a Ford 6.0 trans cooler. The electric fan clutch can go out or the wires can get cut by the fan....if that happens it'll still run cool enough most of the time until you try to pull a load with it. Also, I would go ahead and put all aftermarket intercooler boots and clamps on it.....I always ran the VP Max ones.

 

[money_pit_yj]

Power Service Diesel Additive and keep a bottle of rescue during the winter it will Nigel your fuel iffin it gels up. Fill up at wal mart their Diesel already has it added they just don't advertise it

 

[Eddyj]

Front wheel bearings. If you have a hum when turning slightly replace them. I've personally seen two front wheels come off because previous owner went with cheap replacement bearings then second owner waited too long. They were both 03. They may have upgraded by 04.5 I dunno.
Basically the entire front suspension on a 2wd is underbuilt.

 

[the_white_shadow]

pics?

 

[J/Cope79]

Dont get crazy with the tuner
With 170k on the ticker, I would be saving up for injectors and then do the fuel filtration/fuel pump upgrade after they are replaced.
I have used Stanadyne fuel treatments for at least 8yrs in my current and previous dodge. Google it and check it out for yourself.
If you are doing any tuning with the smarty make sure both batteries are fully charged. I was resetting mine after it had been sitting for a week or so and i had all sorts of issues till I figured out that the batteries were a little low. They were good enough to start the truck but not hot enough to make the computer happy.
Thats just my experiences from owning one for a while. Good luck and welcome to the world of flipped up tow mirrors and barely legal ghost trailers...

 

[SHELBS44]

Fuel filtration for a fact! Get you a lift pump with caterpillar filters. Cat filters are 3 micron where dodge factory is only 8 microns. So that's why injectors go bad and down the road cylinders was out normally #1 and #6. Also I always kept a spare fca in the tool box just in case. Never had to use it but did have to replace it once. It was $113 bucks from cummins

 

[wizzo]

Get a Edge Insite CTS2 Monitor. Sweet set up and can monitor everything you will want. Also, can control your S06 tuner
http://www.xtremediesel.com/Edge-Products-84130-Insight-CTS2.aspx
http://www.xtremediesel.com/edgeproductsaccessorysystemeasexpandable.aspx

Air Dog you can run a 10 or 2 micron filter
FASS comes with 3 micron
http://www.xtremediesel.com/XtremeDieselPerformance-04.5-2007Dodge5.9LCumminsLiftPumps.aspx

Fuel additive, run something you can purchase easily and will use regularly.

 

[stuftmunky2k]

Trans temp, airdog lift pump, and keep that tuner down. Had the same on my 04.5 and started having transmission hunting gears which is common on a stock trans. Think 3 or 5 on the tuner. The only issue i had with mine was the factory lift pump crapping out and then went to a air dog. Also ran boost, trans temp, and egt for gauges and rock it out for couple years before selling it.

 

[nhl_bullitt]

Thanks for the replies. Read through them all.
It does have 3 new injectors, the others checked out. I am the 3rd owner which is nice. It has new Moog ball joints and a brand new steering box.

The truck isn't perfect but it runs like a freaking dream.

pics?

20170420_180142https://www.flickr.com/photos/146897672@N05/


20170420_180158https://www.flickr.com/photos/146897672@N05/

 

[MoparMan]

Damn, that's a good looking truck! :****:

 

[nhl_bullitt]

Thanks partner!

 

[ranger11]

Re:

Looks good. What kinda mpg you getting? I'm about ready to lift mine and put wheels and tires just don't want to loose mpg.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[xjmarc]

That's a sharp looking truck. I wish I had black bumpers instead of chrome, be a lot easier to black it out.

 

[nhl_bullitt]

Looks good. What kinda mpg you getting? I'm about ready to lift mine and put wheels and tires just don't want to loose mpg.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I haven't checked yet. My gut tells me I like how long a full tank has lasted me though. Ha. I need to check it out.

That's a sharp looking truck. I wish I had black bumpers instead of chrome, be a lot easier to black it out.

Thanks bud. The painted to match bumpers is kind of cool, not quite as many 3rd gens like that. The truck had an aftermarket grille that was cracked, so I wanted to replace it. I sat at the computer wondering if I should do black or chrome.....eventually chose chrome to break up some of the black. I like a little bling.