Duallydog

The first diesel my family ever owned, besides a Mack my dad owned when he was like 17 years old +- a year(seriously a Mack truck), was a 91 Dodge Single cab D250 5spd with a cowboy camper on it, 260,000 miles in 2002. The truck we had before that which we kept untill we replaced it with a 97(will be discussed a little later) was an 84 Chevy 4door 4 on the floor 4.10 454. The single cab part was the only thing that was not a leap forward. That truck was awsome, it would run 70mph and still get twice the mileage as the 454 with the same gears in the rear. Towing it would get 14.5(after replacement bumper) to 15.5mpg with 2 to 3 horses loaded(that are well fed). I never got out and drove it on the highway with out a trailer hooked on. We got it two weeks after I got my drivers permit and just short of six months later I had put 8,000 miles on it, 200 of those miles without a gooseneck on and still runnin strong. It did not even have the charge air cooler, and it would still run on. The mechanic that had always worked on it said that the 91s ran better than the 89-90 and 92-93s, and that truck ran the best of the 91s he had seen.
There were only 7 things that could have been done on that truck to make it be the ultimate truck for what we were doing.
1. Replace the shocks. (I got used to the ruff ride)
2. Cruise control. (Ankle got tired after 4 hours straight)
3. Club cab or a Camper with a back seat. (Gets uncomfortable for the 3rd person in the middle)
4. New paint. (What was the deal about that time with white paint pealing?)
5. Bend the Shifter. (I swear you have to punch the glove box for 5th.)
6. Gauges. (Tach at least)
7. New sound system. (The original sound system took more time to play a CD though the cassete player)
It still is a good truck, sold it at 298,000 after replacing the seals for the injector pump and the brake system. My horse shoer bought it and has over 310,000 miles on it and finally had to replace one set of tires on it that had been on that truck since the day we bought it. Even with how hard it was to keep the back wheels from spinning by you. The truck that replaced it is my 04 with the 305 H.O., it will out run it and definietly has more power and comfort, but that 91 runs better in my opinion.
Our next truck (Dad's) was a 97 12V auto club cab and 3.53-5? rear end. I cussed that auto up and down whenever I was towing, mainly the mileage, it would get 12-13.5 with the same load as the 91, but it had club cab and cruise, it was our usual traveling truck. Empty it ran great though, one day it got 22 mpg after running 70mph+ and we almost wet ourselves .
But all good things must come to an end the 97 was in a wreck and totaled, the cab had one tire scrubb on it, but from there back it was done.
Now both of us are running 24V's wishing they got the same mileage as our old 12s did. But that is comparing apples to oranges since both trucks are duallys and the trailer I am towing now you could hide the old trailer behind it.

G1625S

Cool story! No plans to let my old 12v go, that's for sure...and it's got 300k.....100k ago! I finally took my MAP gas torch to the shift-lever and bent it to my liking---much better! As it turns out, shift levers are hollow---it just started to kink before I took the heat away. It woulda broke about halfway down, leaving me with a Honda-length shifter, hehe.

Duallydog

Sounds like a cheap way for a short shift kit.

Duallydog

I forgot to mention that the 91 started the fastest of any truck or car I have ever been around. Even the 97 did not start as fast, turn the key on the 91 and you could not get off the starter fast enough. Were all of the first gen. CTDs that fast starting? When did they start to take longer, after the addition of the charge-air cooler?

wannadiesel

Mine fires instantly. A 1st gen without any air leaks will start by just bumping the key. The only time I've ever heard my truck crank was when I put in injectors and had to bleed the lines to get it started.

The reason for that has to do with how the VE pump operates at cranking speed. There is a little leaf spring in the governor lever. Below 400 RPM or so, it shoves the governor lever to the "full fuel" position. That's why 1st gens put out a little (or not so little ) puff of smoke on startup. Once the governor comes up to idle speed, it mashes the starting spring flat and normal operation resumes. The P-pumps on the later 12 valves don't have this feature, and require you to give them a little fuel for a quick start. The 24 valve motors are a whole 'nother issue. There the computer has to figure out where the cam is before it will start injecting fuel.

Duallydog

When did they switch? 94 with the body?

wannadiesel

Yes. A lot of changes in '94 - the p-pump, the wastegated turbo, the NV4500, locking torque converter on the auto to name a few.

Duallydog

What was the previous 5spd?

Duallydog

What was the previous 5spd? I am not sure about having a reverse on a straight line from a gear. (mistaken 6spd sometimes?)

Underpsi

The previous 5spd were getrags