I have searched through some threads and haven't found any info on whether to put some headers on or not. I have a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9, and I haven't done any mods yet, but I'm trying to gather some info first. I want more power on the road because it seems to lack it. I thought about doing the cai first. I then was going to do the exhaust with Headers and not sure yet on type, but a definite upgrade with a cat back system. I inquired from a muff shop and they said that there wasn't a need for the headers. So are headers a good idea or ?. I would like to do a better cam as soon as I get a better understanding on what effects it will have on a stock motor with 107,000 miles.

The truck is mainly a daily driver on the highway, and I take it camping in the summer.
I usually have to give it a lot of petal for it to shift into the next gear to maintain speed or to gain speed going up inclines. It raps out to 3-3.5 rpms and hold it until I let off on reach the top of the incline. This incline isn't a steep one, it's just a gradual one for about a mile or so. Is this normal or bad for the tranny?

 

Fill out your signature with your truck info when you get a moment.

The CAI won't help any with power output, stock air cleaner is very good.
You won't notice any difference with short headers, some say long headers will benefit a built motor.
The catback is a good start, may see a tiny improvement climbing hills.

That's pretty typical performance handling on the hills for our trucks even with the 5.9 gasser. It's normal for it to jump up to a high rpm when climbing a slight incline. The motor just don't have the power at 1500rpm and the gear difference between 3rd and overdrive is a big jump.
I tend to hit the overdrive off button when climbing hills before it jumps down to 3rd. Just don't let it do that if you are towing or hauling, stay out of overdrive permanently in that case.

 

Mine is still pretty much stock, but, it needs to be a pretty significant hill for it to downshift now. The behavior is quite a bit different after the plenum fix, and new timing chain and gears. Pulls hills with no issues.

Cat back won't make any difference on a stock truck. (but, it will sound better. ) Long tubes will most certainly compliment any future mods you do. May or may not notice a difference with Just the headers.

 

Yea, I was thinking long headers w/cat back because of the future mods. I want to put a cam in w/ roller lifters, possibly a rv cam. I'm wanting more power and still need to read up on the right cam. Will putting a cam in affect anything negatively? while changing that out I most likely will change out the timing chain too.

 

You already have roller lifters. Whether anything else needs to happen depends on what cam you select. Most of them will want, at the very least, new springs..... depending on far from stock you go, you may need custom tuning to make it run right.

 

My 02 5.9 Dakota had edelbrock shorty headers and a flow-pro muffler. It sounded good, but performance gains were negligible.

Want it to sound better? Do a muffler, or cat back if you're looking for bolt-on. Is your cat clogging up? Are your O2 sensors old? Those both can rob power. The intake is one area where you can make some changes, from shortening the runner length of the stock manifold to swapping it out for one of the air-gap setups. If the plenum gasket is leaking, that's not helping you either.

Cam, higher ratio rockers, aftermarket heads, etc...

I didn't like the headers because the bolts kept backing out. The guy I sold it to didn't keep on top of them and the gaskets blew out, and then the head gasket popped. When I pulled his heads off, 6 of the 8 cylinders had cracks in the heads between the valves. Instead of welding, grinding, and machining the stock heads, I got him a set of aftermarket iron heads that apparently out-flow edelbrock aluminum heads and they were cheaper than doing the repairs to the stock heads.

I highly recommend you go over to hughesengines.com and start reading, and maybe contact them to discuss a cost effective and realistic plan for your upgrades.

Even though my 12 valve makes way more power than either of my 5.9 v8s ever did, I do love the mopar gassers and eventually I'd like another one to build.