Re-geared and free-spinned the 3500 4x4 diesel

[skyking]

It's all good man. Camping, diesel trucks, it is all on topic
One thing to be aware of: the trucks coming from the oil fields in Canada and North Dakota should be avoided. They will have relatively low miles, but thousands of idling hours in many cases. This kills the engine. The common rail has those three injection events, and two of them smooth the power and reduce noise. those other two also put carbon behind the rings during long idling, that is what likely killed my engine.

[Hersbird]

That's why I actually kind of like the newer 200,000+ mile trucks. It's tough to get miles quickly while idling! Especially if they have receipts for things like the lift pump, front end parts, and injectors. My brother bought a car last year that had almost 100,000 miles put on it in one year. To me that means it was driven for hours on end at freeway speeds which just isn't hard on anything. My mail truck is a 1994 (relatively new for Grumman LLVs) and has about 100,000 miles on it. It gets turned off and on a good 50 times a day, and runs probably 4-5 hours to cover 20 miles, 0-20-0-20-0-20... 400 times over a day. All winter it's turning heavy chains in deep snow. It has had at least 2 engines and 4 transmissions and that's just in the 18 years I have known it. Aluminum body still looks good though!
Do the Dodge trucks 03-06 log engine hours in a way I could read it? I do have an OBD2 bluetooth and the Torque Pro app.

[skyking]

I think so. The overhead has a resettable hour meter, so there should also be a hard count in the ECU.

[slowmover]

Engine hours is read on odometer. Don't remember exact procedure but it's holding that trip reset button down and key on/off. See CF. I always have to look it up.

Mine is an '04 I bought in '07. 120k miles. But engine hours showed 47-mph average. Means that guy never got off highways except for diesel and cigarettes. Owned by a service company. $500 in repairs past that point and now at 13+ years and 212k mikes. Average mph still above 40.

Average mph another point of comparison in re economy. Per tank. Travel speed is one thing, but average mph really tells the story.

[skyking]

That little tidbit alone could save somebody thousands of dollars. Look at the hours, the miles, and do the math. When it indicates a lot of idling time, run don't walk away.

[slowmover]

Over 27-mph is the key. Under that, walk away. Too much extended idling and short trips (under 45-miles).

This 10,000-hr engine is expected to be 350,000-miles at 35-mph. B50 lifespan where half or more need to be rebuilt.

In the same era ratings for Ford and GM were 215k and 225k, respectively. Indicative of light duty pickups. A Cummins is a medium duty truck engine that wound up in a light duty vehicle.

The manual transmissions are the same duty rating.

[skyking]

servicing those transmissions is key, as is overfilling. I started out with this new reman with the latest recommendation, 50w synthetic gear oil. It proved to be too thick for proper operation of the low gear synchros. I dumped and inspected the plug and oil, and refilled with Dodge's spec ATF +4. Took the top off and poured in 6.
4 will fill them to the fill plug.
This leaves two shafts high and dry, waiting for sling oil to get up there. Not an ideal situation. The added oil also improves cooling.

[Hersbird]

Well I found my truck finally. It is a 2004 Quad cab, long bed 4x4 with the Cummins and 6 speed. 275k on it but with a 7 day powertrain warranty to ensure everything is proper. I won't actually get it in Missoula until probably Monday at the earliest. I'm getting it for $11,800+ about $700 in fees and shipping and giving my dealer friend $500 for all his trouble so $13,000 total. I actually don't even know if it is the 04 or 04 1/2 yet but don't care that much. I also don't know things like what modifications it has except it isn't lifted or running big tires. It does look like it has an exhaust brake so I'm hoping that also means an upgraded lift pump at the minimum. I don't know the hours or anything else really but overall it is much cleaner and cheaper then anything else I have found on a lot or on Craigslist.
I can't wait!

[skyking]

congrats