Idaho Guy

From my research already, I see that there has been a TON of posts on this subject. But I'll ask again...

We just returned from our first real outing with our "new" truck - a 3-day camping trip pulling our relatively light 19-foot Nash travel trailer (about 4500lbs). I was actually a bit disappointed at the power (or lack thereof) pulling hills. Our trip took us over about a 4-mile stretch of 7% incline/decline and the Dodge had a real hard time maintaining even 55mpg (more like 50mph). I figured that sucker would scream up the hill at whatever speed my right foot wanted to go. I know the 285's with 3.55's aren't helping matters but I sure like the looks of those tires and don't want to give them up.

My truck is totally stock. Now, before I get a butt-chewing, I *KNOW* I need gauges - I just haven't gottem them yet. I *WILL* get them, so let's get beyond that. I don't want to go too overboard on the mod's cuz I have the #53 block in my truck and don't want to tempt the "leaking coolant" gods anymore that necessary. I also have a stock Auto tranny that I'm hoping will hold up to whatever added power I add to the engine. I'm ok with an upgraded valve body or something like that to increase line pressure. I just don't want to have to drop $2000 on a new tranny anytime soon.

Here's what I'm thinking:
- 4" exhaust system (keep the cat or not?)
- some kind of intake improvement (K&N, Scotty, etc.)
(...before I go any further, am I likely to see any great improvement with JUST the above 2 mod's?)
- injectors (not sure which ones yet)
- maybe (BIG maybe!) an Edge box or equivilent (again, some hesitation because of the stock Auto tranny and the #53)

Am I on the right track? Can anyone offer any specific advice? Any constructive input welcome and invited!

cumminsdriver635

Well, i dont know a lot about 24 valves, but im thinking if your worried about how much $ you spend, then skip the exhaust, and just pull the cat, and muffler of of yours. A filter will help some, but nothing great. I would put on some gauges with the money i was going to use for the exhaust, and then buy either a set of injectors, or a box. Both would be nice, but may be rough on the tranny. I would suggest getting gauges, a filter, and a mild box like what you stated. You will be surprised at the difference just a box will make. Also, were you pulling with overdrive on, or off? Was the motor revving high, but you just werent going that fast? If i were you i would install a mystery switch(torque converter lock-up switch), and lock it up on the hills, and it will at least put ALL the power of your motor to the ground then, instead of revving to high heaven, and not going much of anywhere. I have one on my 94, and i love it. Here is a link on how to install one. Link: https://secure.tstproducts.com/acatalog/

Good luck

Eric

thumper 549

some rv inj. and the right size housing on you turbo will do a lot for you and you will not be out a 1000.00$$ even. I gaurntee you will fel and see the results!!

Idaho Guy

I'm not so much limited on money I spend - I just have to chip away at it a little at a time. Until I win the lottery, I can't just drop $3000k+ on upgrades.

I was pulling the hill with overdrive 'off'. On the flats where it wasn't wanting to search for gears, I would put in in OD. I've been told not to, but it seemed perfectly content to do it. Plenty of grunt and it just powered right along. So I figured what the heck. When approaching any kind of hill, however, I would disable the OD.

I'm curious about this manual lockup switch. I've never heard of such a thing but I do think it would do me some good. While driving up the hill, it would kick out of the lockup condition but it did feel like there was actually less power going to the ground - just like you described. I've heard that the Auto's are built with a torque convertor that slips a LOT intentionally in order to survive all of the torque that the Cummins generates. I need to do some research on this switch - thanks for the suggestion.

As for the cat/muffler removal, is this something a local muffler shop would do? I don't have a welder and I'm not very good with one anyway. I thought it was against federal law to remove a cat from a vehicle (not that I've let those pesky federal laws stop me before...just curious). I also don't want my rig to sound like a Mack truck. I know some guys really enjoy that sorta thing - and that's fine, to each his own I always say. It's just not my thing. I wanna truck with plenty of power but I want to be able to hear myself think while I'm driving.

cumminsdriver635

Well, then you dont want a straight pipe.lol Mine is pretty darn loud, and sounds just like a rig if you ask me. My dad doesent like that sound either. I would suggest maybe just removing the cattaleyic converter, and it should help performance/egt's some, and give you more of a deeper, throatier sound, but not be as loud as a true straight pipe. Or you could also buy an aftermarket muffler. Yes, taking off the cat is supposed to be illegal, and im not sure if you could get the shop to take it off or not, but if you cut it out yourself, and asked them to weld a pipe in its place, im sure they would do it. They did it on my uncles truck. All you need is a hacksaw, and about 10 minutes to get it out from under there. You would also know what it would sound like traight piped if you drove it over there like that since the exhaust wouldnt be going through the muffler then. The TC lockup switch makes the tranny lock-up just like a manual does when you let out on the clutch in any gear, but 1st. If you forget to unlock it, it will be just like forgetting to hit in on the clutch in a manual truck. Once in 4th gear, and locked up with the switch, it will never come out of lockup in 4th until you flip it off. Also, if you turn off your overdive coming down the hill, and use the switch, it acts as engine braking like a 5spd would. You can really tell how much power your tranny is soaking up when you crank on it, and the switch is in the lock-up position, because it comes on, and pulls a LOT harder when its locked up in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Let us know how you come out.

Eric

J BODY

My opinion here, but what I've learned in the last year driving my 01 is that you pretty much have to disregard the speedo and pay more attention to the rpms when pulling grades. My race trailer weighs approx 8K and in OD I usually pull around 70mph to keep it at a happy 1900 rpm. When I come up on a grade and the rpms start to fall off I generally have to slow down a bit and then turn off the OD and let it pull where it's happy (2100-2400 rpm). On the add ons I put an EZ edge on mine and absolutely love it....and yes...I feel your 285 tires are hurting you. I would love to have the 285 look, but doing the math it would lug my 3.55 combo too much for my liking.

BigBlue

Remove the muffler and get a straight through replacement muffler. You don't have a catalytic converter on your truck. The "cat" looking thing under your truck is a resonator and it only helps to reduce the noise level. Get an Edge EZ with a Scotty 2 air intake. This combo won't stress your tranny and it will really improve your pickup. I also suggest getting a fuel pressure gauge for your truck as well. You want to maintain at least 8 psi of fuel pressure at full throttle. Anything below that is bad.

BarryG

I am running an AFE, 4inch ex, edge ez and rv 275 inj with an auto and I can say that I do not have an egt problem or a speed problem pulling my trailer through the mountains here ( though it is a bit lighter than yours 4k) and 7% for miles is not uncommon. It can go as fast , actually faster than I am willing to take it with the trailer. The intake and exhaust probably wont help the speed much if at all but will help reduce egts. Above post about rpms verses speed is right on. I turn off my od when the rpms start to drag down below where I like them. The 285's are hurting you a bit but nothing that a little increased power and paying attention to the rpms cant fix. My tranny with 110k on it is still holding up all right but I do not race around and do drive with the trans in mind. That being said many members report problems with their trans with those mods and I will fix my trans up right the second it starts to show signs of issues but so far so good.

J BODY

Uhhhhh any power upgrade is going to stress the drivetrain more. I've already had to replace a torque convertor and I've only had the truck a little over a year. I'm hoping the last owner, who pulled a 10K+ fiver inflicted the damage before I got it. Time will tell before I have to step up to an aftermarket unit .

turbo thom

You say the truck is bone stock but you expect it to pull 4500 lbs up a 7 degree grade at over 60 mph. What did you think you were buying? My old truck tows 15K up a 6 degree grade at 55 and I'm happy as can be. I'm at 305 HP and I watch the gauges very closely. But the funniest part is the tires. The rear end is 3:55 and the tires are lowering that a good bit, but you won't get rid of the tires because you like the looks of them. I would say no matter what power level you are going to you will not like the results. You are going to build way to much heat and strain on the drivetrain.
I've found if you want to tow then setup the truck for that scenario. If you want to set up high off the ground and look cool then that's what you got. Just don't be upset when the cool look does not tow well. You can tow with the tall setup, but the strain on the truck is not worth it.

..Preston..

Idaho Guy

I'm not saying that I expect my bone stock truck to pull 4500lbs up a 7% grade at 60mph. My bone stock truck won't do it - I've learned that. I did expect more out of it. That's why I'm asking what other folks with trucks similar to mine would recommend.

From a lot of the posts I've read here, I don't consider pulling 4500lbs at 60mph with a modestly BOMB'd truck unreasonable. Yes, I know that my truck isn't going to be the ultimate "pulling machine". But I'm not pulling a 12,000lb+ goose-neck trailer coast-to-coast. If I wanted that, I would have purchased a HO with a 5- or 6-speed from get get-go and gone with 4.10's with 245's. A few guys here are running even larger tires than I have and pulling a modest amount of weight similar to what I'm wanting to do with mine.

J BODY

well so much for the subtle approach.....I had issues with my 01 when I bought it. It was equipped with 4.10 gears. On my first pull I found when going up the steep grades with the od off I had to crawl up the hill at 35 mph unless I wanted the rpm's screaming. On the flats I towed 65 and netted the best mileage. Only prob was that driving the truck empty I was pretty unhappy. On the freeways cruising at 75 was around 2300-2400 rpm's and the mileage was a bit less than what I expected. I had driven quite a few 3.55 equipped trucks and knew that was what I would have to change unless I was to go with a much larger tire than the stock 265s. On the rpm calculator at Randy's ring and pinion showed that I would have to go to at least a 285 if not taller to acheive the rpm range I was looking for. That choice was out since I was not wanting the raise the whole truck and tire heat would be an issue. I went with the gear swap and have been happy, but I think it would be even better with a 245 tire for towing. Empty at 75 I'm now at 2000-2100 and regularly net 18-19 mpg crusing. In the end I think a 3.7 gear would have been the ultimate. I would look into some gauges and an EZ edge at least Neil.

DPG

Idaho Guy:

If I were you, I would invest in an EZ (around $500) and a BHAF (around $40-$50) The Scotty II is more efficient, but the BHAF is much less expensive, and you mentioned a budget. With the tall gears, and the tall tires, what rpm's are you turning at 60 mph in OD? On those long grades, with your setup, I would pull the hills in 3rd gear if I were you. It would put much less stress on your tranny, also.
With my 4:10s and stock tires (215/85/16) I turn a little less than 2000 at 60 mph in OD. I can tow 11,500 pounds up pretty steep hills without downshifting and maintain speed (usually 65 mph @ about 2100 rpms) I have the EZ, BHAF, and mild injectors.
I would think that you would be pretty close to those rpm's in 3rd gear, and that will give you much more pulling power.

FWIW

DeWain

Idaho Guy

So as I understand it (and correct me if I'm way off base here), going to a 4" exhaust (cat or no cat) and installing the BHAF or Scotty II (or whatever) intake isn't necessarily going to gain me any increase in torque/hp - it's going to lower EGT's which will, in turn, allow me to add things such as better injectors and an Edge box that will add more power?

By the way, in response to your question, DeWain I NEVER pull in OD going up or down any kind of an incline. I will let it go into OD on the flats but that's all. With the larger tires I'm running, my speedo is about 10-12% off from my own calculations. But here's my RPMs vs. speed - both indicated and "true":

3rd gear:
60mph "true" = 2250
60mph indicated = 2450

OD:
60mph "true" = 1550
60mph indicated = 1750

Sound 'bout right?

DavidTD

Neal,

I think one of the issues you may be experiencing is when pulling in 3rd, foot to the floor, your truck will unlock the converter. My 98 will do the same thing, and that is one of the reason's I added a lock-up switch. I believe 2000 is when Dodge started 3rd gear lock-up from the factory under full throttle. You may try lifting off just a bit to see if that enables your truck to lock in 3rd on the grade.

My 24v tows very nice with 275's and VA (EZ style box) and has towed very nice for nearly 175k miles. I have 5 speed and 4:10's so that is a bit different, but as said above, RPM is what is needed.

The EZ will add more low end torque than the 275's. The 275's add more upper end power over the EZ. Either one using your head will not immediately kill your tranny. Using both will be pushing it.

Towing areas vary, so don't take this as gospel, but I have never seen 1250 degrees EGT with my truck. I usually see about 1100 and 32 pounds of boost pulling at 23k gross up a 5% grade, at 70 mph. That equates to 2500 rpm for this truck. Stock exhaust minus the muffler. It has a resonator instead of Cat and that is still in place. I use a drop in K&N on the cold side.

Good Luck...