My money maker

This is a thread for me to show off what my hard work has earned me.... This rig has been fine tuned all year long to make it productive for me.

Truck:
96 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins turbo diesel 4x4 5 speed manual, (power/economy/reliability) many power modifications/upgrades we don't need to go into.....
19.5" wheels and tires upgrade- heavier payload capacity, safer, and much less cost per mile than with 16" tires. These are commercial grade tires and have a reputation for lasting 3x longer than 16's on a light duty truck like this, and the price is mostly comparable with 16" tires.
Power tow mirrors- necessary for towing a trailer especially with a dually, the stock mirrors I couldn't see the trailer all i could see was the truck fenders since they were up against the doors.
Aftermarket headlights & added factory fog lights for better night time vision
Rear flood lights on 3 way switch- off/on/on when in reverse
Reese Pilot digital trailer brake controller
1000 Watt inverter under hood
400 Watt inverter inside (laptop, cordless tool chargers)
Laptop mount
Kenwood double din CD/DVD/Navigation/iPhone/ etc. head unit
Leer 100XL fiberglass cap
2 gauge power wire to the rear with HD power plug- can plug winch directly into truck or can use to charge/assist trailer winch batteries.



Trailer:
22' 7,000 lb. gravity tilt deck, brakes on both axles, LED taillights
10,000 lb. Smittybilt electric winch on a receiver mount, remove a pin and unplug it and can be mounted to back of truck in 1 minute.
2 truck batteries to run winch (can be plugged into truck)
Assortment of chains, load binders, ratchet straps, tow straps, wrecker J hook set, snatchblock, and a mini hoist I built just today for lifting cars up for easy access to catalytic converter.
Portable tire changer can be quickly mounted to the rear of the trailer

Other tools in bed of truck (long list):
Toolboxes of hand tools, air tools, etc.
1/2" drive cordless impact wrench
cordless ultra compact sawzall
cordless 3/8" drill driver
1500 watt generator
Small air compressor
Portable air tank
Drain pan (sometimes the yard wants fluids removed before they accept a piece of equipment)
Floor jack & jack stands
50' of air hose
100' extension cord
10' extension cord
Spare fluids for the truck
Portable tire changer
Wooden blocks used for chocking tires, "bunking" a large heavy item (stablizing it)
Safety cones
Flood light
Digital scales (for purchasing non-ferrous)
Jumper cables
Roll of paper towels, hand cleaner
Another tow strap
Reflective safety vest
Rain poncho
Fuel can
Chainsaw (hey sometimes I need one to get to stuff lol)
Fire extinguisher
Probably more stuff I'm forgetting. The mini hoist on the trailer attaches with one pin to a receiver type hitch under the winch and can be stored in the bed of the truck when not in use.

If it all seems like overkill, it probably is, but I'll tell you what these are all things I wish I had with me at one point or another in my line of work (mainly junk cars). This setup allows me to be as prepared as possible and deal with almost any circumstance I may find myself in. I get calls for recovery work, roadside assistance (jumps/flats/broken down), private towing jobs, picking up junk cars, the occasional unwanted piece of farm equipment etc.
I have family a couple hours away from where I live and sometimes when visiting them I will pickup some work over there, or sometimes I pickup a vehicle close to the yard I sell to, and bringing it back here for processing is way out of the way. With this setup I can manage about anything on the go which saves money or makes more money at the end of the day, however you want to look at it.

I guess I am bragging a little but also I thought maybe it would be helpful as a model for others to get ideas from. Not everyone needs a setup like this but it WORKS REALLY WELL FOR ME! Yes there's still plenty of things I'd do different if money was no object but I work on a budget. I do all my own install and repair work as well as custom fabrication (and I'm very creative), if not for that then I'd have an S10 with a 12' utility trailer LOL





Laptop mount swings out of way of shifter or for passenger use:



Portable file box- a must have to keep documents organized (lots of paperwork for scrapping autos):

Only so many pictures allowed per post so here is the rest, in one of these pictures you can see part of my big engine hoist, it's a bit large, will lift one end of a vehicle no problem, powered by a 20 ton air over hydraulic bottle jack, this unit comes in handy a lot...





And another toy, lifts small cars or one end of a bigger vehicle, pallets and crates, etc.:

Pretty sweet setup!

That L frame/pulley in front of winch. Did you add that? I know last time you talked about your trailer you wanted to modify it since it was pulling up on the cars instead of pulling it straight/tight. Were you able to figure out something there?

Idaho, the mini hoist attaches with one pin to a receiver hitch on the trailer. It's to lift a car up using the winch primarily to gain access to catalytic converters. I just built the hoist attachment today.

The winch only pulls slightly upward on a car once the car is loaded and the deck is tilted back level. It still pulls mostly forward so it's not a problem on junk cars and hasn't been a problem on nicer cars either really because at that point you can push the car forward by hand if needed.

It's -13°C outside this morning my 96 Dodge with Cummins turbo diesel started up with out being plugged in, try that with a Ford or GM

very nice Big Blue. (btw, I'm a pepper, too.)

Thanks everyone! Gotta love my Dodge and not just because of the Cummins although that's the best part about it I have had them all and prefer the Dodge overall.

George, I made the laptop mount using random parts from plumbing department of lowes and a piece of plexiglass and some Velcro to secure the computer. It and the inverter are screwed to the floor with self tapping screws. I like to hard wire accessories instead of having a sloppy clutter of wires and cigarette outlet plugs. So everything is wired direct with a fuse. Certain accessories are on relays (like the lights) and automatically turn off when key is off so they don't drain the truck batteries.

Dee, what's a pepper? I think I missed something here.

Originally Posted by Bigblue12v

Dee, what's a pepper? I think I missed something here.

Me too.


My brother had a '95 Dodge Cummins. Over 300k on the clock and it kept on. Was a good truck.

My other brother has a '94 Ford crew with a 7.3. It's constantly broken down.

I like Dodge and some years of the Ford. It's my understanding Ford built them with Cummins, but not in the US. In my opin they lost a lot of business there.

lol I think Dee is referring to the Dr. Pepper in your cup holder. And very nice rig! I hope to have one that nice one day.

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 setup. Hope I can get a trailer like that soon. Is that laptop table mounted with copper pipe?