GatorDoc’s 3rd gen Cummins Dodge

[Gatordoc]

EDIT: Pics can be found HERE

2003 Dodge 2500 Quad Cab, Short bed
Cummins Powered, Standard Output
47RE Automatic Transmission
NP271 (I think???) Floor shift, part time transfer case
4.10 Geared axles
10.5 AAM rear Axle w/torsen limited slip

I bought this truck in the fall of 2008 with 55k on the clock, it now has ~115 and is still basically bone stock. The mileage is getting to the point where I know the axles, transmission, and a few other things are about due for some preventative maintenance so I am planning to upgrade a few things while I'm in there.

I recently purchased my first brand-new vehicle, a 2011 Triumph Tiger 800, which I will be commuting on unless circumstances require the truck for some reason so I am planning to work on things in increments, a couple days or a weekend at a time, rather than try to do everything at once.

I am going to lay it all out here on the thread, hopefully you guys will chime in with suggestions and/or constructive criticism on my plans. It's essentially brainstorming at this point, so please feel free comment away.

The first stage is going to be pretty much straight PMCS, as follows:

Rear axle service
- Brakes
brake pads
shoes
turn or replace rotors
- Replace axle seals
- Check wheel bearings
- New, High capacity diff cover (Suggestions???)
- Fresh synthetic gear oil

Front axle service
- Brakes -DONE
brake pads -DONE
turn or replace rotors -DONE
- Replace axle seals -DONE
- Replace Knuckle universals (HD replacement???) -DONE
- Replace upper/lower ball joints (HD replacement???)
- Fresh synthetic gear oil -DONE
- Inspect/Replace tie rod ends (08+ upgrade, if budget allows)
- Adjustable Thuren track bar
- Alignment
- Traction aid if budget allows (Suggestions???)

Transmission Service
- Replace leaking front seal
- Drain/replace fluid
- Replace filter
- Deep sump pan (Suggestions???)
- Shift kit (Suggestions???)

Engine Service
- Replace leaking valve cover gasket
- Adjust valve clearance
- Test, clean, balance injectors (North County San Diego shop suggestions?)
- Replace accessory belt
- Replace exhaust (turbo back)

Stage two will focus on improving performance on/off road for general exploring. I am not looking to build a specialized, off-road beast, just something capable of getting my wife and I and a munchkin or two away from civilization for a few days and back safely.

Performance
- FASS/airdog/whoever fuel pump w/canister filters.
- That's it, the engine and transmission will remail BONE STOCK for reliability.
- Turbo back exhaust
- Air Filer/snorkel upgrade


Tires
The truck needs tires - right now, right now. Fortunately the 3rd gen Dodges have huge wheel openings and will fit 37s on stock rims with little/no rubbing. What flavor, that's the question… I know I want an aggressive tire, but it needs to have decent wear characteristics and be able to support pulling a 5-6k travel trailer for local (200-300 mile max) trips until I am able to (convince the wife to let me) sell it and get into a flip-pac (stage three).

I have always had good luck with BFGs in the past and the stock rugged trails have held up impressively well for the abuse I've given them. I have also heard very good things about Nittos, but don't have personal experience. Suggestions???

Suspension
I want to lift the truck as little as possible, 2-3 inches, while improving on/off road performance. This jives well with Thuren/Lorenz/Carli products, so that shouldn't be too difficult. When it comes time to buy I will have to call around and see what they recommend, but I've heard nothing but good things about all of these companies so I don't think I can go wrong with any of them. For my needs likely I will stick with just springs, shocks, and sway bar links. The rear will get mini-packs or maybe reworked packs with airbags for adjustability/leveling. I am tentatively planning on entry level re-buildable shocks, but not sure what brand yet. Buy once, cry once, right?

Protection
ARB front winch bumper – it's the most economical bull bar I have been able to find for the Dodge trucks at $1500 +/-, I like how it looks, and ARB has a fantastic reputation. It's also not GIGANTIC like many of the ranch-style HD truck bumpers.

Sliders/steps and skids will have to be custom made, hopefully by myself as I have access to a metal shop and experienced welders through work. I'll look into the MOPAR Power Wagon skids, but I have a feeling those will be difficult to find and I have honestly been unimpressed with the photos I've seen, other than the unobtainium sliders.

Misc
Bedlined rockers – this is a must as I will eventually end up back in Michigan and I want to keep the cancer at bay as long as possible. I'll do this myself, I was a professional industrial painter before I joined the Corps so I know all about proper prep. I will also be going over the undercarriage with some type of rust inhibitor, POR15 or similar, before moving back to the rust belt.

Stage three is long term plans to gradually convert the truck into an essentially self contained backwoods camper. This is a very flexible wish list so please feel free to comment; I prefer to learn from OTHER people's mistakes rather than make them myself, if I can help it.

AT Flip-Pac – I would prefer to have this purchased and installed before I leave the south west, but my budget and other factors will dictate if this actually happens or not. I like these for the same reason everyone else on this board does; it's a simple, sleek design that is relatively light weight and extremely flexible.

Fiberglass utility/service bed OR flat bed with permanently attached tool boxes – in my head this is the perfect accompaniment for a flip pac or slide in camper, though I have been known to be wrong once or twice in the past. Thoughts?

Fresh water – 10-20 gallon capacity, located where the spare tire currently lives? Shore hookups installed in outside of truck body

House battery(ies) with solar, charge controller, and shore hookups

Fridge/freezer

Cassette toilet

Water heater w/outside shower enclosure (gotta keep the wife happy)

Awning w/enclosure walls for shower / changing room / extra sleeping for guests/kids

That's basically it, in a nut shell. I will be posting photos and updating this thread as I get things done over the next few months, provided can keep myself from getting distracted by the new bike. :bike_rider:

Cheers! :beer::beer:

 

[poriggity]

I will say this.. I own a similar truck. Mines an 04.5 HO CTD. I love the truck. The current set of tires, Firestone Destination AT's 315/70/17 in load range E are perfect for me. Will allow me to carry the weight of a hard sided slide in camper, yet work well on the trails I've hit. My truck is basically bone stock with some aftermarket gauges and a straight pipe. It will go wherever I want to go, for the most part, and has tons of room, and gets great fuel mileage. I think you are on the right track with the PM plans you have for the truck. I love fullsize trucks getting out into the wilderness, and would love to see pics of your current setup. Here's a few of mine from my last outing:

My primitive Truck bed tent:

A fun little flex spot, but my limo made it through with no issues, and little flex:

Pinstripes, what pinstripes?

Good luck with the truck, and it sounds like you are on the right track!
Scott

 

[03humpalot]

Gatordoc,
im driving an 06 and am in the same boat for a lot of your listed PMCS/Mods and usage requirements with the exception of towing (I dont tow much).

Tires-i recently switched from a set of Cooper discoveror stt 285-r70-17's (Great all around tire and i got 42k miles out of them with about 25% of the tread left) to the Nitto terragrapplers in the same size. I have about 1500 miles on the new meats and so far all is right with the world.

Ball joints, i just replaced mine about 2k miles ago as my stock ball joints were COMPLETELY shot with XRF upper and lowers. The carli's get great reviews but are super expensive.

Im looking at the Mag Hytek diff cover for my rig as a lot of Dodge owners run them and i havent heard anything bad as of yet. Will probably do the same for the tranny pan.

Im gonna need new brakes/rotors here soon as well and am open for suggestions. Brakes were fine until my ex-girlfriend drove my rig for a few months and pretty much destroyed them.

2 upgrades im going to have done here ASAP are the BD diesel steering box stabalizer and a fuel filter upgrade for longer injector/engine life.

Hope that helps a bit, keep us posted on the sliders/skid plate search as i will eventually need that as well.

 

[Halligan]

I'm slowly building my 2010 Ram 2500 into a expo rig. For the suspension I went with Carli's starter system and added their adjustable trackbar and steering stabilizer. The handling characteristics are much improved with the carli setup. As a former Dodge/Cummins owner with some experience in the diesel arena your fuel filtration ideas are good. I'm not sure why you want to bypass your stock oil filter though. Just run a good filter like the Fleetgurd Stratapore with a good quality oil and that Cummins will be happy for many miles to come. When my ball joints crap out I will be installing Carli joints. As for tires your description of what you want out of a tire leads me to suggest Toyo MT's. They're aggresive and wear good for what they are, which is a mud tire.

Good luck with the build and I will be watching this thread.

 

[Gatordoc]

I will say this.. I own a similar truck. Mines an 04.5 HO CTD. I love the truck. The current set of tires, Firestone Destination AT's 315/70/17 in load range E are perfect for me. Will allow me to carry the weight of a hard sided slide in camper, yet work well on the trails I've hit. My truck is basically bone stock with some aftermarket gauges and a straight pipe. It will go wherever I want to go, for the most part, and has tons of room, and gets great fuel mileage. I think you are on the right track with the PM plans you have for the truck. I love fullsize trucks getting out into the wilderness, and would love to see pics of your current setup.

Scott

Thanks for the comments, it definitely looks like you are enjoying yours. I haven't done much off-roading with mine as of yet, mostly DD duties. I recently got rid of my old beater/project, a 1st Gen 4runner, in favor of the extra room for the family in the Dodge. I'll post up some pics of the truck over the weekend, hopefully.

Gatordoc,
I'm driving an 06 and am in the same boat for a lot of your listed PMCS/Mods and usage requirements with the exception of towing (I dont tow much).

Tires-i recently switched from a set of Cooper discoveror stt 285-r70-17's (Great all around tire and i got 42k miles out of them with about 25% of the tread left) to the Nitto terragrapplers in the same size. I have about 1500 miles on the new meats and so far all is right with the world.

Ball joints, i just replaced mine about 2k miles ago as my stock ball joints were COMPLETELY shot with XRF upper and lowers. The carli's get great reviews but are super expensive.

Im looking at the Mag Hytek diff cover for my rig as a lot of Dodge owners run them and i havent heard anything bad as of yet. Will probably do the same for the tranny pan.

Im gonna need new brakes/rotors here soon as well and am open for suggestions. Brakes were fine until my ex-girlfriend drove my rig for a few months and pretty much destroyed them.

2 upgrades im going to have done here ASAP are the BD diesel steering box stabalizer and a fuel filter upgrade for longer injector/engine life.

Hope that helps a bit, keep us posted on the sliders/skid plate search as i will eventually need that as well.

My towing is limited to moving around the travel trailer; the wife and I decided to make a go at full timing until I get out of the Corps, probably some time next year. Should help me save some cash and saves me the hassle of renting, leasing, etc... though keeping most of our stuff in a storage unit is kind of a pain. You don't realize how much stuff you accumulate and don't really need until you live without it for a while.

I know for sure I need to replace the balljoints, but I balk at spending the coin on the Carli ones since I don't really need THAT much beef. Where did you get the XRF units?

I will probably do the Mag Hytek pan and diff cover, but I was hoping that someone might have an alternative that is better/cheaper. I'd like to get a beefier diff cover for the rear axle, but parts are pretty rare for the 10.5 AAM.

I have actually been really impressed with the brakes on this thing, they have held up really well considering I'm pushing 8000 lbs pretty frequently. I got all OEM replacement pads through the Dodge dealer back home because they offer a wicked military discount, hopefully my rotors will be able to be turned so I won't have to replace them.

I've heard that the steering box brace/stabilizer is a good thing to have, but it's not at the top of my list for the moment. After I get everything sorted and have the tires on so I can see how she feels with 37"s I may change my tune, however.

Semper Fi!

I'm slowly building my 2010 Ram 2500 into a expo rig. For the suspension I went with Carli's starter system and added their adjustable trackbar and steering stabilizer. The handling characteristics are much improved with the carli setup. As a former Dodge/Cummins owner with some experience in the diesel arena your fuel filtration ideas are good. I'm not sure why you want to bypass your stock oil filter though. Just run a good filter like the Fleetgurd Stratapore with a good quality oil and that Cummins will be happy for many miles to come. When my ball joints crap out I will be installing Carli joints. As for tires your description of what you want out of a tire leads me to suggest Toyo MT's. They're aggresive and wear good for what they are, which is a mud tire.

Good luck with the build and I will be watching this thread.

The bypass oil filter I am referring to is one of these:

It takes a small percentage of the oil and filters it at a much finer level while allowing the full flow filter to maintain the required flow/pressure for lubrication and cooling. The bypass filter pulls out much finer particles since it's not required to flow as much volume. It's probably overkill, but I work on Cummins engines for a living and have seen what bad oil can do to an engine.

I'll look at the Toyos as well; It's probably going to be August before I get new shoes so I have some time to do more research.

Thanks for the feedback, fellas. I'll definitely update the thread as I go, but it's going to be pretty slow at first so be patient.

 

[Regcabguy]

I'm running Thuren's coils with his camper- valved Kings and his trackbar. Lorenz minipacks have been in the back for 4.5 yrs now. Along with the addition of a Hellwig swaybar,the truck barely notices the 2000# wet popup(except at the pump).

Tires are 285-75-17 Toyo MT's. I've used these in Anza Borrego,Az and Utah and they worked real well. Flat resistance is one of my numero uno concerns and they've done the job so far as well as my prior Toyo AT's.

Control arms are in the future and having seen several sets of Lorenz's adjustables installed,they'll be my pick.

A Smarty's been giving me a bit more power and mileage,but the stock clutch can't take much more. An SBC OFE will replace that weak link.

If you need a reliable,honest shop to install anything Dodge related you're not comfortable doing consider www.ntgracing.com in Santee,Ca south of you. They're well versed in Dodge suspension/performance upgrades. Have fun.

 

[03humpalot]

I got my XRF ball joints from this place. Quick shipping and no issues.

http://www.thetireclub.com/content.wws?fname=DODGE_RAM_KITS.html

Yut!

 

[bfdiesel]

Chiming in on the bypass oil filter. Are you planning on doing extended drains intervals? If you are not don't waste your money I did an experiment with a centrifuge bypass and run amsoil 25k and had no build up in the canister. I also run regular dino oil to about 11k and also had no build up. For me I will just change my oil and filter as scheduled. When I did a cost comparison it was a wash, because even doing extended intervals you still have to sample and change filters at normal intervals (7.5k for dino or 25k for synthetic). my two pennies.


the test vehicle was a 2004 lb7 duramax with bullydog tuner set mostly on performance (setting three of four)

 

[Fish]

One thing with the XRF joints, I've heard tale that the splines ream out the axle to the point where nothing but XRF joints will ever fit there again. Same with Moog.

Dynatrac or McQuay Norris seem to be the preferred.

I had a MagHytek pan on my Ford and liked it. However, the rear pan can interfere with a full sized spare and the front pan can interfere with upgraded steering. Be warned if you want to possibly go that direction.

 

[poriggity]

Considering the XRF joints come with a million mile warranty, is it really a big concern if the XRF joints ream out the axle? How many people keep their vehicles past a million miles?
Scott

One thing with the XRF joints, I've heard tale that the splines ream out the axle to the point where nothing but XRF joints will ever fit there again. Same with Moog.

Dynatrac or McQuay Norris seem to be the preferred.

I had a MagHytek pan on my Ford and liked it. However, the rear pan can interfere with a full sized spare and the front pan can interfere with upgraded steering. Be warned if you want to possibly go that direction.

 

[Fish]

How many people keep their vehicles past a million miles?
Scott

So when the BJ's fail, XRF will replace them. How does that help if the axle is reamed out too much already? Why not get one that doesn't ream out the axle and fits right in the first place?

 

[Jwestpro]

Sorry if this is easily found elsewhere but with all the extra stuff built on these Cummins Trucks, what sort of mpg do you get specifically along the highway, say mph 70-80? I figure 60-70 may yield a little better.

I'm sure many of you travel in the west where there are long distances on highway until you get to the places.

Thanks.

 

[ExpoMike]

Considering the XRF joints come with a million mile warranty, is it really a big concern if the XRF joints ream out the axle? How many people keep their vehicles past a million miles?
Scott

So how is it that the XRF joints are $100 (for 94-99) for a set and the Dynatrac ones are like $600 for a set? Something seems off with the XRF pricing...

 

[Gatordoc]

Sorry if this is easily found elsewhere but with all the extra stuff built on these Cummins Trucks, what sort of mpg do you get specifically along the highway, say mph 70-80? I figure 60-70 may yield a little better.

I'm sure many of you travel in the west where there are long distances on highway until you get to the places.

Thanks.

Mine's still basically stock and I typically get between 17-19 in mixed city commuting and low to mid 20s on the highway. Pulling the travel trailer at the California 55 speed limit I average 15-17. Not bad for an 8000+ lb brick.:smiley_drive:

 

[Gatordoc]

One thing with the XRF joints, I've heard tale that the splines ream out the axle to the point where nothing but XRF joints will ever fit there again. Same with Moog.

Dynatrac or McQuay Norris seem to be the preferred.

I had a MagHytek pan on my Ford and liked it. However, the rear pan can interfere with a full sized spare and the front pan can interfere with upgraded steering. Be warned if you want to possibly go that direction.

I'll have to check TDR and see what I can find about the ball joint issue; last thing I want is to render the axle unservicable through poor choice of parts.

I'll be sticking with the stock diff cover on the front, for the reason you mentioned. Undecided on the rear still, but being that I am going up a size or two on the tires I will probably have to relocate the spare regardless so that shouldn't be an issue.