My bone stock (long ago) '02 2500 would get pretty hot if I let the RPM's drop too low in a hard pull. Just keep the RPM's up and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

I think sometimes we miss the question in the post and also what we are told. ST if you are stock spend a couple of bucks on getting more air in and out. Better air filter and lose the muffler. (under 100.00) and won't affect the warranty.You say you don't have the budget for the gages no problem IMHO. You do however need to follow the rules. Tow only within the factory recommendation. Follow all the guideline in the owners manual follow all recommendations about cooling down ( also in owners manual) you are not going to smoke your motor following the recommendation without having a warranty issue. Dodge would not put these on the road and provide a 100.000 mile warranty if it was imperative to have a 80.00 egt and transmission gage even they are not that stupid. also if I were watching my $$ I think you are more wise to spend those dollars on upgrading the tranny with a valve body and maybe a torque converter before I put the gages in call the guys at DTT I think they will give you some good info there.
with that said though your first BOMB needs to be the gages before you add any timing injectors or fueling. As mentioned here and throughout this site, gages are a very useful tool in establishing baseline performance and then as an ongoing monitoring system. But do enjoy now and don't worry about hurting your truck with the proper amount of common sense applied. Just my .02

 

Everything I have read says that leaving it stock means no gauges are necessary. I have made an educated decision to remain bone stock on this beast. That means no air filter, muffler or gauge changes. Two of the major reasons I chose the CTD in the first place was its towing prowess (read POWER) and the warranty. I choose to not jeopardize the latter by altering the former in any way.

It's possible. When the EGT probe is installed pre-turbo, metal filings can be left over that theoretically COULD cause damage downstream (i.e. turbo). I'm not saying they would, but DC could easily say the filings caused damage and then it's up to you to prove they didn't - not a good position to be in. Change the intake and they can argue you let too much dirt in. I can't think of how they could argue about a muffler change causing issues, but I don't put anything past them.

I'm not averse to modding a truck (see sig. on PSD) and certainly wouldn't criticize anyone else who chooses to do so. I just don't want to become my own warranty station. I have enough battles to fight. I choose not to battle with DC over warranty coverage on my $45k truck.

Neil