I Gave In. Bought A Big Horn Edition 2500 Dodge

[eightballsidepocket]

I checked out the Nissan Titan crew cab, and I tried a Duramax Silverado crew cab, .......

Well, I got the old Dodge 3/4 ton SLT, Crew Cab, with Automatic, Posi-traction, Infineon 6-CD stereo, 8' bed, big old Michelin white letter tires, Alloy wheels, and

325 Horsepower, and 610 Foot Pounds of Cummin's 6 cylinder, diesel torque!

I was surprised how much quieter this 2005 Cummins is compared to my neighbor's 2001 Cummins. It still has a nice growl, and does sound like good though. When you put the pedal down at any speed, you do hear that beautiful sound, and you can hear that nice big turbo-charger whistle as it spools-up.

The power is something else, and the mileage I'm getting as registered on the computer is phenomenal.

Yes, this oil burner had a $5,500.00 premium over a Hemi, but a major overhaul for my Cummins is estimated at around 350,000 miles.

I'm still getting over the buyer's stress and shock, though my Dodge dealer in Gilroy, Ca. was pretty low pressure.

Now, I'm looking into a nice Line-X spray on bedliner, and then a nice sleek cab-height shell for the bed.

Anyway, I'm still in "la la" land as I look out the front window of my house and see this beauty parked out front.

My wife is more excited about this acquisition than any car we ever bought. She drove the Ram the other day, and had a smile bigger than ever. She wants to do all the vacation driving now. lol

I still have my venerable old 92 Astro that towed my 3,400 gvw, double axle, Jayco, Tent trailer. It will be going on the sales block.

I can't believe it, but I traded in my 2003 Mazda 6S(miss you honey), plus some cash(ouch!) down, to give us some manageable payments.

I was surprised how my wife was willing to give up the Mazda, as it was her car. She has taken over my old 95 Maxima GLS with 137K miles on it and is happy as a lark. She stipulated that I must allow her to drive the 2005 oil burner to work sometimes. lol

I think I'm groom this lady to be my "trucker" babe. lol

Well, that's about all on the Eightball front. I'm still in some sort of shock.....as the truck was bought back on Sunday.

One nice thing in finishing: 2005 is the last year of Chrysler's 7year/70,000 mile Powertrain warranty. I'm glad I didn't wait and buy a 2006, although the newer crew cabs from Dodge were going to be very much larger. I can live with the smallest of the industry's rear crew cab as it will mostly be used for hauling things and not humans. It will adequately handle hauling our grandson.

Oh, it also has the 40-20-40 split front seats, with the middle jump seat serving as a great convertible, storage container/console/armrest. It's a premium cloth interior.

I've got my Alan Jackson CD in the old changer already.  Yee Haw! San Jose, California country boy at heart.  

[giant_mtb]

Sweet buy!!!  I love it when diesel trucks drive by me...I love the sound as well as the turbo.  :o  B)  

[eightballsidepocket]

Yeah, I like the sound myself.  

I'm getting some great fuel mileage too.(18-22 mpg!)

The exhaust doesn't even have a diesel smell anymore......in fact there's no black smoke at all.  I understand there's a catylitic on them.  The exhaust system pipe is humongous..........4".  

The new Cummins engines are very quiet now too.  My neighbor has a 2001 Cummins and it really makes a racket compared to mine.  Actually if you mash the accellerator it puts out a nice growl..........but the in-cabin sound when cruising isn't to bad.

It's funny, but I'm constantly thinking of excuses to go on an errand and drive it.

[280Z Turbo]

What do you need a heavy duty diesel truck for?

[Catman]

What do you need a heavy duty diesel truck for?

Here we go.......... :mellow:  

[280Z Turbo]

I was just asking! I wasn't doing THAT!

I should have phrased it differently.

[Fire It Up]

Mmmm....
Pics?

[BMWDave]

Wow, those are some gargantuan torque numbers :o  

[giant_mtb]

Yeah, I like the sound myself.  

I'm getting some great fuel mileage too.(18-22 mpg!)

The exhaust doesn't even have a diesel smell anymore......in fact there's no black smoke at all.  I understand there's a catylitic on them.  The exhaust system pipe is humongous..........4".  

The new Cummins engines are very quiet now too.  My neighbor has a 2001 Cummins and it really makes a racket compared to mine.  Actually if you mash the accellerator it puts out a nice growl..........but the in-cabin sound when cruising isn't to bad.

It's funny, but I'm constantly thinking of excuses to go on an errand and drive it.

That's deffinitely understandable!      

[Fire It Up]

Wow, those are some gargantuan torque numbers :o

mmmm diesel!  

Oh, and whats reaally "gargantuan" is the output of big rig engines. Its like:  :blink:  :o  

[Tom]

I was following your thread on C/D.  I'm glad you got the truck you want, and didn't compromise with a gasser.  That mileage is excellent btw!

[Secret Chimp]

Are you hitting 18 in the city, or is 18-22 your highway/above 45 average?

[eightballsidepocket]

Are you hitting 18 in the city, or is 18-22 your highway/above 45 average?

Actually I hooked up my 3,600 lbs. trailer for the first time to the Dodge today, and drove it on the freeway for a test.  I set the Cruise Control right on 60 mph, and reset the mpg computer.  It was reading a constant 18.4 -18.5 mpg on flat pavement.  I think that city has been 16-17 + mpg.  I hear that the diesel mileage will only get better.

For the earlier question about why a diesel or such a large truck.......well, it is a bit of over-kill for my current trailer weight, but I'm planning for a future trailer that weighs more, and would like the idea of a power plant that doesn't need a tear-down/rebuild for upwards of 300k-500k miles. Of course the mileage numbers are great, and do exceed the gassers.

[280Z Turbo]

Are you hitting 18 in the city, or is 18-22 your highway/above 45 average?

Actually I hooked up my 3,600 lbs. trailer for the first time to the Dodge today, and drove it on the freeway for a test.  I set the Cruise Control right on 60 mph, and reset the mpg computer.  It was reading a constant 18.4 -18.5 mpg on flat pavement.  I think that city has been 16-17 + mpg.  I hear that the diesel mileage will only get better.

For the earlier question about why a diesel or such a large truck.......well, it is a bit of over-kill for my current trailer weight, but I'm planning for a future trailer that weighs more, and would like the idea of a power plant that doesn't need a tear-down/rebuild for upwards of 300k-500k miles. Of course the mileage numbers are great, and do exceed the gassers.

Sounds good to me. The last thing you want when pulling a trailer is a weak powertrain.

Plus, those mpg numbers are comparable or perhaps even better than a regular gasoline half-ton.

[eightballsidepocket]

Are you hitting 18 in the city, or is 18-22 your highway/above 45 average?

Actually I hooked up my 3,600 lbs. trailer for the first time to the Dodge today, and drove it on the freeway for a test.  I set the Cruise Control right on 60 mph, and reset the mpg computer.  It was reading a constant 18.4 -18.5 mpg on flat pavement.  I think that city has been 16-17 + mpg.  I hear that the diesel mileage will only get better.

For the earlier question about why a diesel or such a large truck.......well, it is a bit of over-kill for my current trailer weight, but I'm planning for a future trailer that weighs more, and would like the idea of a power plant that doesn't need a tear-down/rebuild for upwards of 300k-500k miles. Of course the mileage numbers are great, and do exceed the gassers.

Sounds good to me. The last thing you want when pulling a trailer is a weak powertrain.

Plus, those mpg numbers are comparable or perhaps even better than a regular gasoline half-ton.

I see that pretty Z-car as your Avatar.

I bought a spankin new 1974 Datsun 260-Z (Persimmon Red outside, and black interior)as my first new car when I was in my early 20's.  It had the two Hitachi/SU Down Draft Carbs.  It was rated at 152 H.P. Stock, but suffered from lean-surge as most cars did at that time.  In fact Catylitic converters showed up on the 1975/Calif. Cars., and they were called 280-Z's.  

I drove it down to a place called Geraghty's Marine, down in Glendale, Calif. when it only had a few thousand miles on it and had the car Dyno-Tuned.  Geraghty's was featured in Motor Trend magazine back in those days.  Each MT issue would take a car of 70's vintage, and do a Dyno-tune, which involved reversing what the auto manufacturer's did to pass emissions in those days.  They leaned the heck out of the fuel mixture, but lean surge was terrible, and also early valve destruction was a problem ad the lean mixtures were torturous on them(high temps.).

Anyway a Dyno-tune, basically involved fine-tuning the ignition/fuel/timing system of the engine to burn cleaner, rather than just leaning out the mixture to lower NOX emissions.  In the case of my 260Z, they replaced the spark plugs with colder Autolites, replaced the stiff advance springs in the distributor with less stiff ones to allow earlier engine timing advance, and they changed the engine timing too, and made a special timing mark on the block by the timing wheel for future reference when doing a tune-up.

Well, driving down from San Jose, Ca. on I-5 to Glendale is basically a Southern route to Southern California.  My mileage on the way down was about 22-23 mpg. with a niceprevailing Northerly wind as a tail-wind.  After the Dyno-tune in Glendale, my drive back to San Jose, due North up I-5 was basically bucking or heading right into the prevailing Northerly wind of the San Juaquin Valley.  When I got back home, my mileage had gone up to 27 mpg.!  Now the big test came when I had to smog the car.  If it failed, then I would have to put back the hot plugs, distributor advance springs, and change the timing too.  Well, surprise, surprise;  the smog test came out cleaner than a production tuned 260Z right from the factory with a leaned out gas guzzling set-up.

...............I belonged to the local Bay Area Z club back then and we all brought are cars to a Datsun dealership that had just recently installed a dynamometer.  Each member got to have his or her's car put on it and get the H.P./Torque numbers.  When my car was rolled onto the Dyno, many of the member chuckled thinking this stock 260Z would be equal or down on H.P. to the earlier 240Z's that had been Dyno'ed.  When the throttled up my car on the rollers, the two Datsun technicians looked each other as they scanned the H.P./Torqe read-outs.  they both raised their eye-brows, as though, "what goes here".  My 260Z was matching the Early(70-71) 240Z  power outputs, back when emissions equipment weren't bringing the power down.  One of the techs came over to me and whispered to me, "Have you done something to this car?"  I told them about the dyno-tune, and they just shook there heads in unbelief.  The only car that matched/exceeded my power output was a guy who had replaced his factory carbs with 3- Webber Cars.; a very expensive addition, and gone to a radical camshaft.    

The problem with those cars back then, was that when they were leaned out and set-up this way, they could run very inefficiently, and start to pollute, and you couldn't tell any difference in performance.  With the Dyno-tune, I was told that when it started to feel like it needed another tune-up, it was probably not burning as clean.  So the philosophy of making the engine just work more efficiently was actually the better way.  Detroit, Europe, and Asia had to have set-up that passed emissions for several thousands of miles of driving regardless of the engine efficiency.  It was a bad time for car engines........especially in Calif.

Well, my old Cummins Turbo Diesel doesn't have to have the "every-other-year" Calif. smog test.  Thats a relief.

[Submariner]

Mmmmmmm.  I love diesels, and Cummins makes some great ones.  

Congrats on the ride.  

[BMWDave]

Mmmmmmm.  I love diesels, and Cummins makes some great ones.  

Congrats on the ride.

I believe Cummins diesels are made by Isuzu.

[BMWDave]

Mmmmmmm.  I love diesels, and Cummins makes some great ones. 

Congrats on the ride.

I believe Cummins diesels are made by Isuzu.

Never mind, Isuzu makes the Duramax.

[eightballsidepocket]

Mmmmmmm.? I love diesels, and Cummins makes some great ones.?

Congrats on the ride.

I believe Cummins diesels are made by Isuzu.

Never mind, Isuzu makes the Duramax.

Right about the Duramax - Isuzu

Ford's Power Stroke diesel is made by International.....or Navistar or Navstar...(spelling?)

.......and Cummins is as American as apple pie.lol

[BMWDave]

Mmmmmmm.? I love diesels, and Cummins makes some great ones.?

Congrats on the ride.

I believe Cummins diesels are made by Isuzu.

Never mind, Isuzu makes the Duramax.

Right about the Duramax - Isuzu

Ford's Power Stroke diesel is made by International.....or Navistar or Navstar...(spelling?)

.......and Cummins is as American as apple pie.lol

I believe its navistar.

[giant_mtb]

Mmmmmmm.  I love diesels, and Cummins makes some great ones. 

Congrats on the ride.

I believe Cummins diesels are made by Isuzu.

Never mind, Isuzu makes the Duramax.

Right about the Duramax - Isuzu

Ford's Power Stroke diesel is made by International.....or Navistar or Navstar...(spelling?)

.......and Cummins is as American as apple pie.lol

I believe PSD's are made by International, and Navistar is a subsidiary of International.  Or at least to the best of my knowledge.

[TBR]

Are you hitting 18 in the city, or is 18-22 your highway/above 45 average?

Actually I hooked up my 3,600 lbs. trailer for the first time to the Dodge today, and drove it on the freeway for a test.  I set the Cruise Control right on 60 mph, and reset the mpg computer.  It was reading a constant 18.4 -18.5 mpg on flat pavement.  I think that city has been 16-17 + mpg.  I hear that the diesel mileage will only get better.

For the earlier question about why a diesel or such a large truck.......well, it is a bit of over-kill for my current trailer weight, but I'm planning for a future trailer that weighs more, and would like the idea of a power plant that doesn't need a tear-down/rebuild for upwards of 300k-500k miles. Of course the mileage numbers are great, and do exceed the gassers.

Once your warranty runs out you ought to get a chip and then you should be able to get even better gas mileage.

[280Z Turbo]

Eightballsidepocket,

You seem to know Z-cars pretty well. I can't believe you got those flat-top Hitachi carbs to work good! Most people in the Z-car community call them "boat-anchors".

My Z has Bosch L-Jetronic based electonic fuel injection that was introduced in 1975. My engine is from a 1981 280ZX Turbo, thus the name 280Z Turbo.

Enjoy your new diesel rig! :D