That is another reason why I decided on the manual transmission in case I decide to tune it down the road.

Been reading up and hands down the Cummins easily surpasses the Duramaxes.

I am actually happy to stick with Dodge because you can actually get to things when you have to replace parts or do maintenance.

 

I remember the days when I could look under the hood, and actually SEE the parts I wanted to work on....... then came the 70's and 80's, and the engine was hidden under a bag of snakes. (and the rubber hose industry was making TONS of money....) Now, instead of rubber hose, we have wiring harnesses.

 

And plastic.

 

Dont go over the top with mods because itll just lead to more problems. Definitely on a high mileage motor. My buddy has a 02 24v 6 speed that had 280k on the motor he paid $10k for.He put water meth $400, quadzilla chip $499, cai $200 and a cfm+ intake $500.He blew a head gasket so he had the head machined and fire ringed $600, head studs $500. Then a month later he blew another head gasket, had a bad one. So we replaced it again and a week later he snapped a wrist pin and spun a main bearing. 160k mile replacement motor $1500.

To sum it up hes 15 grand into a truck thats worth about 8 or 9.

 

To be honest, I probably won't mod it because those cummins generate a lot of power stock.
I need this truck to be dependable and last!

 

The old 5.9 CTD were solid, the new 6.7 Im not sold on, the weekest link in a HD pick up really is the Name dodge, thankfuly the aftermarket has parts to rebuild weak and failing mopar componants.

Sad reality is all HD trucks from my Dodge to a Ford and GM duramax will incure major expenses down the road when the warenty is over.

One Major item to look at with a 3rd gen Dodge solid axle front end is the drag link, the ball joint inside will dry out ( constant need of greae ) and when it goes, pop gos your stearing control.

 

I think I am going to try and stick with a 2nd gen.
The good thing of replacing Dodge with Dodge, Is I know what to look for replacing my drag link and track bar 3 years ago.
Another good thing is Dodges sit high off the ground so I want to see the look on the sales person face when I go back to my car and return with my creeper to look over the whole chassis.
Could provide to be a valuable bargaining chip when negotiating price!

 

Dodge is pretty week in the front steering, suspenssion area, as evidant with my right drag link falling off. I can't say brand A is going to be better, but rust assured my rebuilt 06 2500 is built better than the oem crap on the new Dodge HD trucks.

 

I had just gotten a new set of tires, brakes, ball joints, and an alignment on my old '91 S10 Blazer, going to work one day and all of a sudden the SUV rides into the opposite lane (lucky it was a back road, no oncoming traffic) I pull into work, get out see the passenger side wheel caved in, the upper A arm broke....

Damn rust.....

 

My buddy has a bad *** cummins.. 12 valve 5 sppeed. Runs about 55 60 pounds