Hello dodgeforum! My name is Anthony, and I have been working 13 hour or so long days crawling up in attics doing insulation. Right now me and my partner are using my 1974 Ford F-250 Super-Cab which has a built 390ci V8 FE with a mild cam. (I bought this truck because I already have one, and I wanted a Super-Cab, and it doesn't need to be smogged in CA)
Well anyways we cannot afford the gas in my truck, so I was thinking of getting a Dodge Cummins, because we will get much better mileage, and yes I am aware of the high costs of maintaining a Diesel. But our fuel savings will cover any of that. I've had friends who have a Cummins before and they are great trucks. I will be saving my money up for this Cummins for a couple months, and I will sell the F-250 to help fund the purchase. We've had Diesels, but never a Cummins.
How much should I set aside for a budget? About 4-5K?
I would like a mid '90s Dodge Cummins 2500 2WD 5-Speed 5.9 Extended Cab, that would be my dream truck.
What should I look for? Anything I should know about these particular Cummins?
Is the 6-Speed manual better than say the 5-Speed?
How much many miles could I put on this truck, and how often would it have to be serviced? Our jobs require long distance driving, which is one reason I need a Diesel.
Could you get these trucks with dual tanks?
Is the setup I am looking for hard to come by?
What kind of maintenance has to be done, and what does that usually cost?
One of our Diesel had injectors that were spraying too much and causing bad fuel economy. They were very expensive to replace.
What would you guys recommend? Thanks in advance!

 

not really a need for dual tanks...they have 32-36 gallon tanks.

stock tires and 3.54 gearing they will average 20-24MPG.

6-spd is only available in 99.5 and later models.

93 was the last year of the first gen VE pump 12v
94-98 is all 2nd gen p7100 pump 12v
98.5-02 is late 2nd gen vp44 pump 24v
03-07 is 3rd gen 24v common rail
07.5- present is 4th gen 6.7L common rail. (has emissions controls that cause issues and hurt economy)

VE and P7100 are both full mechanical injection.

VP44 is 1/2 mechanical 1/2 electronic. (electronic timing and pump control with mechanical injection)

common rail is 100% computer controlled.


so far the only trucks I've seen in the million mile club are the P7100 12v's and the VP44 24v's

haven't seen any VE or common rails there yet. (doesn't mean there aren't any though)

as for maintenance: change the oil every 15-20k miles if running synthetic, or every 7500 miles running petro based oil.

change the fuel filter whenever fuel pressure starts dropping more than normal.

preventative maintenance would be to have a mechanical fuel pressure gauge, and run TCW-3 (cheap wally world supertech) 2-cycle oil in your fuel at 128:1 mix ratio (1oz per gal)

that's really about it. fix whatever breaks. motors rotating assembly may last forever, but the engine accessories wont. nor will the truck around it.

alternator goes, replace it, ps pump goes, replace it...you get the idea.

gasoline guys seem to think diesels cost a fortune to maintain...they don't. there is less to maintain on them... there are no spark plugs or distributor caps or plug wires to change. a tuneup is change the fuel filter, air filter, and oil...that's about it....

they do hold a lot more oil though... 10 quarts in the pan, 1 in the filter.

12v and 24v injectors are cheap. (like $300 a set for stock injectors.) common rail injectors cost a couple thousand dollars a set. 12v and 24v injectors also very rarely fail. more likely to have a vp44 fail than an injector. vp44's can be kept alive a long time though with proper fuel pressure and lubrication in the fuel...lift pump failures (what pumps fuel from tank to injection pump) is the #1 cause of injection pump failure...so with a FP gauge, you will immediately be able to tell if there is a problem and can shut the truck down to fix it before it takes the injection pump out.



lets see what else...

2nd gen dodges (diesel and gas alike) are known for having weak steering. (particularly the 4x4's, but thankfully there are plenty of aftermarket fixes for it.)

and dodges are known for having junk transmissions...overfill by a quart and it'll last a lot longer.

6-spd and 5-spd are both good transmissions. 6-spd just gives you an extra gear between 3rd and 4th..(its a big rpm jump in the 5spd which makes the 6-spd more ideal for towing heavy loads. both have about the same final drive ratio, 6spd has slightly longer legs than 5spd, but not by much...its .75:1 in 5spd, .73:1 in 6psd.)


as far as your budget...you are way off...most cummins trucks are going to go for 8k+ even with 250k miles on them because that mileage is just breaking the engine in...

avoid low mileage 53 blocks in the 24v's also...if its made it past 200k without cracking, then no worries, but if its got 100k or less, I would worry if its going to crack the block or not one day..

53 block was a known block with a casting flaw. 50% of them had the flaw in it. mine is a 53 block, but I don't think it had the flaw as its over 500hp now and over 230k miles and still no crack in the block.

casting flaw was a thin spot in the block on the passengers side in the water jacket. it was like 5 or 6mm thinner than it should have been making it a weak point. so driving hard or pulling heavy before it was warmed up, sled pulling, or towing heavy in the mountains were usual activities that cracked the block on them.

only other thing I can think of is try to get one with a DANA 80 rear end and not the DANA 70. the 80 is near indestructible. the 70 cant take much more than 400hp without grenading.

 

I have an 03 5 Speed 3.72 rear end.

 

Do the 24-valves hold less oil? Both my 12 valve and my old 6.7 were 12 quart (stock).

But otherwise, what Jigabop said.
As far as 2nd gen trucks go, $4-5k will get you a 2wd auto with some cosmetic issues. $20k will get you an awesome 4x4 manual trans with low miles. How much time do you want to spend looking for the perfect truck? For a reasonably decent 4x4 manual trans, I would expect you're looking at $10-15k.

 

I guess?

owners manual shows 10+1, and the dip stick agrees with it...

any more than 11 quarts after starting till I show pressure and shutting down, would show overfull. 11quarts fills right to the full line.

 

I put in 12 quarts all the time and show right in the middle of the safe mark.

 

Mitchell and Alldata show 12q for all years Cummins. Maybe you've got a weird one.

Mine holds 13.5 quarts with the FS2500 and extra hoses.

 

this site seems to agree with me lol

http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/ram_specs.html

2000 is an odd year.

unique rear brakes not found on any other year of dodge. unique version of the NV5600 6-spd only in production for 1 full year. (99.5-00.5) and only 6-spd cummins with a SOVP44 stock from the factory. all later years were HOVP44.

so yes my truck is an odd ball..

 

Well *****.

According to dodgeram.info, VE trucks are 12q, 1994 trucks had a bad dipstick indicating full at 10q, but actual capacity is 11q for those and the rest of the 12 and 24 valves.

Then again when the 24v came out there was a run of bad dipsticks.
http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1998/09-06-98.htm



But of course, http://www.cumminsdieselspecs.com/24v.html says it's 12q.

 

and it says the bad dipsticks caused an overfill condition. not underfill...