Ok so i just bought a 2006 ram with the 5.9 cummins, I was gonna go ahead and replace the cold air intake on it with either a banks (with super scoop) or the AFE stage 2 intake...which one would you guy recommend, anybody used both and prefer one over the other? Thank you

 

which one? they are all the same only dfference is price. if you have real deep pockets buy one of each and see if you can tell the difference. not too many people can really give you an opinion on which to use as they are pricey to begin with. most will tell you to use this one or that one, only because they spent big bucks on a filter system which is only marginally better then the oem intake filter. its the "cool" factor, if you want better air flow purchase one of those intake horns(arches) as the oem is definetly restrictive! I have the AFE intake horn and the stage II prograud 7 the intake tube is wide open with no vanes in it like the oem tube. drive alot of dirt roads and have never seen dirt or dust in the tube. also bought a second filter so that I can always have a clean filter on hand.

but, before I installed the cai I did gauges like boost, tranny temp, fuel pressure and pyro. these shold be the first purchase for any diesel truck owner. the guages will tell you if the cai is working or for that fact any other engine mods. check out dieselmanor.com for gauge packages, they 2 and 3 gauge set ups with great install instructions and all the necessary goodies to complete the install.

 

Dont waste your money on an intake horn...they arent worth the money. You can go to 800+ with the stock intake horn, but you shouldnt run very many mods with a stock filter and housing. Yea, on a stock truck you MIGHT get somewhere around 20hp, but if you were to mod it (injectors, aggressive fueling program, etc.) and were to dyno test a stocker and an aftermarket intake, youd probably see a bigger gain.

The thing with the intakes really isnt so much about power, as its about getting air in to help lower EGTs. And Id recommend a dry filter instead of an oiled filter (k&n)

If its between the two (Banks and AFE) go with the AFE. Pretty much all the aftermarket intakes are about the same. I just dont believe in giving ANY money to that pompous @$$ Gale Banks...

Now if your like me, and dont feel like throwing $400 down the drain, I can send you a link to a write up to make your own intake, for ~$150, give or take.

 

send it my way lol

 

I disagree... have the ats arcflow and love it. immediately noticed a good bump in low end torque, after 1.5 years I took it off and went back to stock for mpg testing and lost .5~.75 mpg IIRC (check my mpg thread in the sig for details).


I have the AFE Stage 2 w/proguard 7 filter and love it. both mods change the way the truck runs, low end & top end. the pg7 filter will drop some low end torque (with an open exhaust) but give noticeable gains on the upper end. The ATS arcflow will gain in the low end (more than is lost with the AFE), made passing easier & the at did not want to downshift as much.

 

I agree with Steve same set up but with the AFE blade runner intake arc.

 

i really like the way the banks has a 7" diameter hole in though as opposed to the normal 5.5", any input on this?

 

I have no experience with the Banks, however during my research for an intake I found several posts from Banks users that claimed a loss in power... I read this as a loss in low end torque, there was probably a gain on the upper end which is not what I was after so I went with the ATS. Back then there were only 2 maybe 3 choices, now there are several.

 

I dont have any experience with Banks either. Many of the aftermarket intakes are 4" from the filter to the turbo. I do know that the AFE Stg. 2 is 6" at the filter and gradually necks down to 4" at the turbo...

 

we might be talking about 2 different things... the intake kit = pre turbo, intake mani = post turbo, my references are to the intake mani... I did not know Banks had a CAI kit out there.