My money maker - Page 2

Area67- I got the idea from a wrecker supply catalog I was looking through, some of the chains or harnesses they sell come in plastic pails to keep them organized so I immediately went to my plastic recycling bin and stole the idea! I love being organized and i hated how my chains and boomers were always a piled up mess getting tangled together! The bright chain is 3/8" x 16' and it barely fits in the jug.

submarine, I do have a little cooler/warmer that plugs into cigarette lighter outlet, I don't use it much because it takes forever for it to get to the temperature you want and it doesn't run long with the engine off (it has low voltage shutdown to keep from draining truck battery). I do too much stop and go for it to work well for me but isn't bad for road trips.

Thanks mechanic, the plant that builds these engines is located here in town, my father has worked there since '97 as well. All of the engines that were in Dodge trucks were made for Dodge and not for anyone else to the best of my knowledge. There's always been a lot of rumors about Cummins/Dodge/Ford/International relations. What I have heard from Cummins employees directly is that Cummins originally tried to sell this engine to Ford, but cancelled the deal when Ford insisted they stamp Ford on the valve cover shroud and not use the Cummins name anywhere on it. Cummins said no way. Dodge name is allowed on the shroud but only as long as it also says Cummins. Dodge however happens to be very proud to use Cummins engines and has never tried to mask that fact and the relationship has been good. The contracts between them keep getting renewed everytime. There was talk of Dodge switching to a Mercedes diesel when the whole Daimler merger happened, but obviously they figured out that would be the end of their truck sales... Had Dodge not used Cummins back in late 1988, Dodge would probably not be selling trucks today. They were struggling hard in those days as Chevy had the junk Detroit 6.2 diesel and Ford had the International 6.9 diesel. Dodge didn't have a diesel engine yet and had lost their around or over 1/2 century contract with the military due to this fact and frankly their civilian truck sales weren't that hot either. When they came out with the Cummins equipped model it was a last resort attempt to revive the company and it worked! The Cummins was well ahead of the Detroit and International light duty engines, with big rig durability and a factory equipped turbo model. They also came out with the intercooled Dodge Cummins diesel truck in 1991, which Ford did not intercool the Powerstroke until 1999 and Chevy did not intercool their diesel trucks until the inception of the Isuzu built Duramax diesels in I beleive 2000 or 2001/2002. All the while the Dodge Cummins trucks were gaining a reputation for durability and economy and reliability the others couldn't touch! The Duramax is catching up fast. Ford still struggles with their diesel offerings which is sort of a shame because i think they have a real solid truck.



Anyway enough truck politics, back on topic!

I am in the process of building a Mercedes 4 cylinder diesel w/automatic trans and a divorced Nissan transfer case into scout 44 Dana's front and rear. A tasty 51 Willy's wagon houses these goodies. I am not a heavy hauler any more but it should be good for medium loads (3-4000 lbs). My plan is to stretch my mileage and lower fuel costs by going 50% veggie oil, the old Mercedes diesels can handle it w/o damage. I have to drive 100 miles to get anywhere and that kills the bottom line. Isuzu builds a fine diesel..

My grandpa used to carry chains like that. He'd have them in the back of his truck, all lined up like that. My dad does it now and if I ever get any big chains like that, that's what I'll do. It's a good idea and cheap too! Nice setup by the way. I might have to steal some of that fab work for my own projects some day...

I run Numerous waste oil in warmer months, vegetable oil, motor oil, moderate amounts of transmission fluid, etc.

Forward- feel free to use any ideas and ask questions about anything!

I cant believe that thing only gets 12 mpg.My 94 gets 15 city or towing 19-21 hwy at 70-75mph

Holy freaking moley! I'm in awe here! My jaw is literally on the floor!

Originally Posted by Focker

I cant believe that thing only gets 12 mpg.My 94 gets 15 city or towing 19-21 hwy at 70-75mph

You probably don't have 4.10 gears or a big turbo either. This thing makes loads of power just not the best on fuel. But 12 mpg for towing I can live with especially with this much power on tap

Personally I wouldn't mount the lights under the bumper like you did. Too easy to get damaged. I would personally bolt them to the frame rails on the bed up top. or go to harbor freight. They have a magnetic spot light you could put right up top on the cab.

Or even do like I did. I came across a 500 watt spot light from a house. I bolted it to the bed rail, then ran it right to the inverter.

Although it is a sweet set up. Nice truck. But I would look into ya mpg. Comign 10-15 years exp as a mech, something is wrong. Unless ya have chip it should be getting 15 and better. Especially with the turbo, which would make it more fuel efficient. Not less.

Take a look one day. Is it puffing a lot of black smoke when shifting or idling or stamping the gas hard? If it is, thats unburnt fuel, and ya definately have a problem. Like bad injectors leaking or something. Or its chipped and your not aware of it.

Originally Posted by ozzy214

Personally I wouldn't mount the lights under the bumper like you did. Too easy to get damaged. I would personally bolt them to the frame rails on the bed up top. or go to harbor freight. They have a magnetic spot light you could put right up top on the cab.

Or even do like I did. I came across a 500 watt spot light from a house. I bolted it to the bed rail, then ran it right to the inverter.

Although it is a sweet set up. Nice truck. But I would look into ya mpg. Comign 10-15 years exp as a mech, something is wrong. Unless ya have chip it should be getting 15 and better. Especially with the turbo, which would make it more fuel efficient. Not less.

Take a look one day. Is it puffing a lot of black smoke when shifting or idling or stamping the gas hard? If it is, thats unburnt fuel, and ya definately have a problem. Like bad injectors leaking or something. Or its chipped and your not aware of it.

The lights are fine under the bumper, I never back into anything (bumper was bent when i got the truck), and I cant put them on the bed rail as the cap is on there.

And I know my way around Cummins diesels pretty well, been working on them a few years and doing performance mods just as long. I'm not a huge expert but I know more than most of the people that own or drive them. Don't take this the wrong way I don't want to come off as a jerk but it's hard to take any of your advice on my truck when you know little to nothing about my truck/engine. You can't put a chip on a mechanically injected truck which mine is (as are all Dodge diesels through 1998). The turbo is quite a bit larger than stock, therefore it doesn't do much of anything to help bottom end (which is where the truck usually operates). I have a lot of extra fuel going to it, yes it smokes on demand. It will black out a highway if I want it to. That's the key: If i want it to. It doesn't belch smoke all the time during normal driving. It's tame until I get on it hard then it's wide open throttle, tons of smoke and the turbo comes alive. The injectors are bigger than stock, I recently put them in. I am really familiar with my truck, I've done a ton of work on it (and dozens of others identical to it) and if it was chipped I'd know it, even though a chip wouldn't do a darn thing for it LOL... I didn't set it up for fuel mileage I set it up for power. I don't complain about the fuel mileage. The low gearing makes it use more fuel than most and that's ok, it'll pull a house up a 35* incline in overdrive at 45 mph.

I appreciate you wanting to help but it's not applicable advice and I am not looking to change the setup or I would already. Again it's all for power not fuel mileage. To me 12 mpg is fine for lugging 12,000 lbs around (truck and empty trailer, usually 16-18k loaded, fuel mileage does not drop when loaded). I'm quite content with what I get out of the deal.

Ok my bad didnt realize that it was the pre ecm era. Still it shouldn't be puffing. Two different animals. But my buddy has a 7.3 ford diesel. It doesn't smoke and gets around 18-19 mpg. Even witha bigger on turbo on it.

So something is wrong. Since you put in bigger injectors, then maybe turn back the injector pump a bit. Not sure been a long time since I did diesels, but whether ya want to hear or not...something is wrong. A diesel blowing smoke does not help make more power. Its just show off and personal y from experience, dot hates it. Its a good reason to ull you off.

I would take it to a good cummins diesel and have it fixed right. Dont take this the wrong way, but anybody can bolt on bigger turbo, bigger injectors, etc, But to tune it and make it work right is a totaly nother animal.

I really urge you to take it to a diesel tech and have it looked at.

Here is another fine example. Used to drive truck...big truck. I had a full gross of 80 grand. Was runnign a volvo with detroit. 425 and slightly cranked higher by ecm. I was pulling 100+ down the mass pike without even a issue. Was getting 8 mpg out of it. No smoke or nothing. And she was still climbing. I didnt even know I was doing a 100+ till DOT pulled me over and, well, they were not quite happy.

But after I explained I was used to company trucks where the governor kicked in at 65 and I always kept my foot to the floor to let the ecm do the work, they let me go with a night off..lol.

So again if ya smoking something is wrong. Injector wrong size for turbo...something. Beyond my area of expertise, but I bet my left nut, that you get rid of the black smoke...you will still pull good...and get 15-16 mpg no issue.

Hell I had also a triaxle I drove that was a cat 525 that would do 9-10 mpg pulling 22 tons at 75 mph. See my point now...lol.

Nice trailer rig Bigblue, that't kind of how I visualized it as you described it on another thread. Are you saying that the pulley mounted on the L frame is only used to lift the car on the trailer so as to be able to remove the cat, gas tank etc.? Neat idea and saves having to offload the car is this right?

Also you referred to the occasional unwanted farm equiment. I am assuming you mean unwanted by the owner right. Most farm equipment usually has pretty good weight so I assume you take it at every opportunity. Do you often the winch for farm equipment and other miscellaneous items. Looks like there could be alot of different uses with that winch.

Very instructive and helpful.

Originally Posted by metaljacket

Nice trailer rig Bigblue, that't kind of how I visualized it as you described it on another thread. Are you saying that the pulley mounted on the L frame is only used to lift the car on the trailer so as to be able to remove the cat, gas tank etc.? Neat idea and saves having to offload the car is this right?

Also you referred to the occasional unwanted farm equiment. I am assuming you mean unwanted by the owner right. Most farm equipment usually has pretty good weight so I assume you take it at every opportunity. Do you often the winch for farm equipment and other miscellaneous items. Looks like there could be alot of different uses with that winch.

Very instructive and helpful.

Correct on the little hoist, It pins to the trailer in about 5 seconds and removes just as quick, I store it in the bed of the truck when not in use. And yes I use it to get catalytic converters or anything else on the bottom side. I don't have to pull gas tanks. This hoist lets the winch do the work so I don't have to get a jack out, try to position it carefully and attempt to lift the car with the jack. Sometimes it can be a guessing game with cars if where you've positioned the jack will be safe and whether or not it will lift the car high enough from that position, also sometimes the car will want to wiggle or lean the jack over which will cause a damaged jack and game over. This hoist is better all around- it weighs less than my floor jack, and I hook the winch directly to the wrecker hooks which are already secured to the front control arms of the car. This is strong, safe, stable and guaranteed to lift the car plenty high enough the first time. It's faster easier and safer than using a floor jack. I didn't previously offload a car to strip it, always do them on the trailer.
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Unwanted farm equipment- yes unwanted by the owner and yes I take it every opportunity I get! I use the winch for everything!!!! I could write a book on all the different things I've used my winch for that you'd never thought of... Usually in conversation if someone is telling me about something that won't budge or is not feasible, I tell them I have 10,000 reasons why I can make it happen (10k lb winch). LOL That is probably the heart and soul of this whole setup. Without it, this is just a decent truck and trailer, it wouldn't make me that much money.

Originally Posted by KZBell

Always nice when you have a truck long enough and have done enough work on it to know it inside and out to the point that any little strange noise or movement, and you pretty much where it's coming from and what might be the culprit. I wouldn't let some supposed expert touch that beast with a ten foot pole.

Amen! Believe me I know a lot of good mechanics and if I turn down a job I will refer them, but I'm pretty much the only person I'm comfortable with touching my stuff. There's nothing wrong with my truck or engine and I'm not gonna PAY someone else to go on a witch hunt to figure out why i'm not getting 20 mpg. I don't expect any better out of this truck. It's been like this since it was bone stock when I got it and when I put bigger turbo bigger injectors more timing and turn the pump up, I don't expect it will get any better LOL I'm not stupid and I know my truck and engine extremely well.

Yea the old Detroit 6.2 and 6.5's like you have need all the help they can get... The Bosch P7100 pump like mine has is pretty much the best you can get right out of the box, and has the most potential of all injection pumps, these are in high demand for competition diesels (sled pulling, drag racing, etc.). In stock form they are still very potent if you know what to do to them.

That's basically my dream truck bro, very awesome. I have two cummins trucks myself but neither one is exactly what I want lol. One's a 91 reg cab 4x4 the other is 95 reg cab 2wd. Maybe I should sell both and buy one like yours!

Same deal with trailers too, I have two of those and neither is as awesome as your tilt deck! That's what I'm on the lookout for now.