Its so hard to let this truck slip by since its in such great shape for the price. I remember when I had my old 5.9 I used to to average 13 mpg with it and that was a 4x4, sumbitch!

 

Hard body nissan

 

Hah! From the subject line I thought you were getting 3.9mpg!

Made me feel good about the 13mpg I get in my 1998 5.9L V8.

 

^ What he said!

Anyway, no way is that V6 truck going to get you much better mileage. Heck, if you are that desperate for fuel savings find a 2.5L S-10. Even at that you will be lucky to get 23 mpgs with a stick and no AC. I can understand wanting to save wear on the Cummins truck though.

 

Let me tell you something man its like everyday that think gets a little more clunky underneath...I just rebuilt the front end about 20k miles ago and things are just wearing out and wearing out and I dont drive it hard or on rough roads...really I just need to park it for awhile and I wanna do all the mods ive been waiting to do, fix all the fluid leaks and my main reason for another vehicle purchase is because I want to get all the body work done and paint it but that will take time since I have to do it on the side. I ended up getting the 2wd dakota, 85k miles, 5 spd, just painted, its in great shape and its a nice truck

 

great shape besides one thing, got that engine rattle 3.9s have, either the water pump or the timing chain im gonna be going through a lot of things this weekend with it after work so I can work on it over the course of a few days after hours at work (im a mechanics apprentice). How invovled of a job is that timing chain repair for someone mechanically inclined like I said im a mechanics helper but ive never done a tc, ive helped do whole motor jobs, pulled transmissions and things like that and a lot of front end and basic motor wokr but nothing like that. pretty straightforward of a job?

 

if you want better mileage out of your cummins, put some injectors in it and crank up the timing screw on the p7100 a bit...

 

Ya, the weight of the Cummins plays hell on the front suspension. Something I'm not looking forward to if I ever get one.

As for the timing chain, if you work in a shop and can access the tools it shouldn't be too bad. I've helped do them a couple of times.

 

If you want a dodge truck with great fuel economy, get a 2.5 dakota. Dad has a '98 club cab dakota with a 2.5 5spd w/3.92's (2wd is the only option with a 2.5) and he get 28 mpg. He even has fun driving it! Has a K&N cold air intake and no cat, sounds like a riceburner haha

 

WEll im happy with what I have and I have my own tools, so hoping the repair wont be too bad, I love to learn so it should be excitin. and to the member who said get injectors and crank the screw, there is no timing screw on a p7100. My truck has both injectors (5x.011) and the AFC has been adjusted (fuel plate and AFC foot shaved)