DING DING DING!!!!!

100% agreed. Most of the older dodge trucks I see that are still on the road are almost exclusively diesels and are driven by older guys that are not out to prove anything (though one guy did race me once for no apearent reason). The rest got thrashed and are long gone. Now before some one says there are more fords out there on the road that any other truck of comparable age, consider how many more were sold to begin with.

Fords and chevys were more likely to be used as family vehicles because the extra cabs were larger and more comfortable for the kids in the back. Family pickups are more likely to live a longer life. The dodge trucks before 1994 were popular for fleet an municipal duty, but not much else so there just weren't as many sold back then so there are even fewer out there now. Campbell river does still operate at least one 12V cummins dodge and it seems to be holding up well. There are also some older 6.5 chevys and 7.3 IDI fords. No 6.9s from what I can tell

If I ever sell any of my trucks they will leave my hand in better shape than I received them. They serve me well so I return the favor. I don't believe in use and throw away.

 

I couldn't have put it better myself!

On the racing thing: I've been riding with people who thought they won a race but it was obvious that the "other guy" didn't know there was a race so he didn't show-up. I always thought you had to have at least two participants to have a race.

 

Street racing is a line I do not cross, especially when loaded.

I had two guys that wanted to race that day. Earlier that day some guy with grey hair in a pony tail in an old WV rabbit and his lady in the passenger seat would NOT let me pass. I was about to overtake him on a 4 lane highway when we both had to stop for a red light. I was already in the fast lane and started ramping up the power as I normally do when the light turns green. He decides to gun it and pulls ahead. Fine, I let him go and don't change my foot, then he backs off and I catch up again after pressing the resume button on the cruise control, so he guns it again! he was mad too!! looked ready to rip the wheel off his own car.

Finally he figures he made his point and settles down to his earlier speed and I finally pass him.


Later closer to home the same situation happens again. I was positioned to pass a slower vehicle when we both catch a red light. Light turns green and this other old guy is out to prove something again. Wouldn't mind so much except this time he can't hold his own lane driving that cummins 12V. He pulls ahead easily but veers to the shoulder and then back toward my lane after he gets ahead of me.

All I wanted was to get home safely after a long day on the road and these dingbats are out to put a young buck in his place. Did they really expect me to race them even towing a 20' trailer? I'll tell you I was glad when I finally got home that day.....

 

I don't like to lose and I don't know what the other guy has under the hood. A Duramax will absolutely blow the doors off of either of my diesels. I accept that, I didn't buy a diesel to race it, I bought them for reliability and longevity and as far as I'm concerned the Duramax, and to a MUCH lesser extent Powerstroke and 24V Cumminshas neither to MY satisfaction.
If the guy looking for a diesel that thinks it's a gasser and wants all the creature comforts and ride quality likes his truck...hey it's kind of a free country.
He probably trades his truck in every 3-5 years. And doesn't work on it himself. I've had my Cummins for 11 1/2 years and my IDI probably has a lifetime contract. Since I've owned them the only person that works on them besides me is doing an alighnment.
I might lose the "race" but I win financially.

 

OK? And he has an '02...

I just know that when I was looking at trucks and was looking at Dodges, the guys on the cummins boards told me the lift pump on the 24V's was a pretty big problem area. And yes it was the "old" body style.

 

Sorry, I read it as 2004 at first.

I would hardly call the lift pump problem to be a huge problem. The only reason people usually go to forums is with a problem. Hence why it seems like tons of 6.0s are just dropping dead, tons of 6.4 DPF issues, when its really just a minority.

 

Uh...again, the guys on the cummins board TOLD ME the lift pump was a problem area.

Because I went in and asked what common problem areas were, since I was looking at the trucks.

 

I think the only problem with the lift pump was it was messing up and would let metal shavings get into the injection pump. The lift pump I changed on one of the cummins had some metal shavings from the pump failing and not long after the vp44 pump failed. If People think its a big issue, Why not go buy a new lift pump and put it on before it craters. Much cheaper than a IP. I think they updated the one form stock for that reason so changing is probably some insurance that it will prevent this problem in the future.

 

The mechanic that finally fixed the 2003 24V no start because of bad injectors problem was talking with the owner.
He also has a 2000 that has right at 80,000 on it right now.

The mechanic told him he better change the lift pump soon, or he would be changing the lift pump and injection pump.

That tells me there is a problem with the lift pump.

From what he was saying, 100,000 miles is pushing it hard for the lift pump.

 

The Bosch P7100 ('94-'98 Cummins) can have problems to if the lift pump goes bad or wears-out/weakens.
When that happens the IP has to do the lifting, pressurising and distributing. It was not designed to pull fuel from the tank. It is arguably the best IP ever put in a pick-up (stock) and even it needs a correctly functioning lift pump.
It does such a good job of covering up for the lift pump that the owner doesn't know it's been working so hard until it gives up.
A lot of guys put a flow meter/gauge in the line to see when the lift pump is going bad.
It's one of the few weak spots in the P7100 equiped Cummins.
I don't know ANYTHING about the '98.5-up pumps so I can't speak to that.

 

My friend has a 2003 Dodge 3/4 with a manual trans. He has 35" tires, a tuner on it, and some other upgrades. His truck always has a Gem Top workmaster canopy with about 1000 lbs of tools in the bed. He is a mobile mechanic, and he puts plenty of miles on the truck.

He tells me he consistently gets about 16 mpg, which is a little better than I get with with my 1994 IDI turbo with 4.11 gears. I expect to get closer to 18 when i finish rebuilding the 3.55LS axel I picked up from the junk yard last week.

 

i forgot to tell ya my cummins has a afe cold air intake a full 4" exhaust and the edge attitude with the monitor and mine doesnt have the over head deal i calculated it out by miles divided by gallons i filled up leaving grand junction and drove to vegas which was 610 miles once we got to vegas and drove around a bit and when i filled up i put 26.42 gallons in it( at a price tag of about 150!! ) but it came out to around a little over 23 mph and with the lift pump problem i new it was a problem before i bought so when i did the next day i ordered the fass fuel pump and got rid of the factory lift pump and the fass has a life time warranty before putting it on my fuel pressure was at 11-13psi at idling and it would drop all the way to 4 when you mashed the trottle now after putting the fass pump on there all day long either with a load on or idling or ull throtttle is stays right at 33-34psi and it starts and runs way better than i thought they also claim to get 8% better fuel milage but i havent had a chance to take her out on a full tank and see yet i just installed it the other night! but i do miss my idi still she was a good truck and easy as pie to work on but i think ill get used to working on this cummins

 

o ya it only has 3.73 gears and 265/75R16 tires on it swo that helps with the fuel mileage also!

 

and in my idi on the interstate at 65 with the windows down i could berely pull 20mpg with a tail wind

 

It makes a difference what direction you are going. I have seen up to 24.9 MPG with my truck at ~72 MPH with wind that seemed to be calm. But I do not claim that to be my highway average.

There is always a wind or breeze on the highway I drive even if its not noticable, its still there. Without fail, I always get better mileage going north than going south because thats were the preveiling winds tend to go. Typically 1-3 MPG difference.

23MPG is a good number and it won't go down by much from there, but still, average over several fuel ups under the same conditions to get the real picture of your fuel economy. If possible fill at the same pump.

If you do that, then we will be impressed.