Hard Decisions...

Well, guys... Learning more and more about the Cummins swap I've been considering.

Bottom line looks like $10,000 spent with no warranty. A new 12V with warranty would be $12,000 before labor. Still "only" 215hp and I think around 500 ft-lbs. Less than my IDI.

Used would be, probably, $10k with zero warranty, miles on the clock, and no idea of what the engine's been through. Not sure I want to take that risk.

SO... I'm considering a few options and would be interested in folks' advice.

My biggest concern is going into debt for what I feel is a truck that is cheap. ALL of the new trucks have, what I feel, is weak sheetmetal and aren't going to last nearly as long as what you and I are driving today. As a matter of fact, the Cummins rep I spoke to today said he trades every five years because the new trucks aren't designed to last.

If I weren't bothered by durability concerns (and replacement part expense concerns) on the new trucks, then the best thing, while I'm not really needing my truck to pull anything, would be to put it up for sale. No doubt it'll last me for several more years, but I'm wanting more power for pulling our horses.

One other thing that I'd consider would be up-powering the IDI and facing a rebuild of it later OR going ahead and repowering with an older Cumapart. As I've said, THAT does not appear to be the best option.

Final option is to buy a '97 or early '98 Dodge.

I'm already up against EGT limits on long hills pulling about 6500 pounds of car and trailer. Power pulling the horse trailer is fair, but still inadequate for my likes. Not sure what mods would make the truck perform better... reluctant to go that route but it might be the best option vs buying a fall apart truck that is intended to be replaced in five years.

Thoughts?

Mike

Bummer Mike.................

Gotta do like what Goat Boy did and suffer with Dodges quality if you want pulling power or do like I did and buy a PSD. Actually its the best move I ever made the PSD makes me

The PSD has more power I'am not a power junky so I doubt I will be chipping or trying to boost the power it will walk all over the IDI.

I know you like your old truck but is it really worth investing that much money into it ?

Go try find a older Dodge Dually with Cummins power and see if you like it I really feel you will be better off.

Mike-
From my end of the business, warranties aren't worth the paper they are printed on. If you haven't figured out by now, the mfg. will use any excuse to invalidate your warranty. Need proof? Just take a look at the woes the 6.0 guys are going through. Personally, I refuse to allow a warranty to tie my hands. I've been getting the yes/no/maybe on chopping and stretching a frame on a F550 with SC and 19K gvw. Depending on the dealer, I will either get the frame portion of the warranty voided to the entire truck warranty voided. Heck, on my '99 F450 service truck, they warrantied the intake hose from the airbox to the turbo but refused to warranty the turbo that got shelled from the dirt a failed intake hose allowed into the engine. Total cost? $1800 out of pocket. I have a lawyer on it now and that is more $$$.
Sooner or later you are going to have to take a dump or get off the pot. whichever decision you choose, stick with it and follow through.

Mike I've seen alot of guys throw good money after bad trying to make big HP and trq numbers with the IDI's only to end up trading the truck for either a PSD or Dodge. The IDI's are good dependable engines, but HP and trq monsters they are not. I'm not a big fan of Dodges, I had a Dakota before I bought my IDI and it was one of the worst trucks I ever had. The sheet metal was very thin (I dented the tail gate just by closing it ). My truck does what I ask of it very well, but if YOU need more power I'd be looking at a used low mileage 94-97 PSD. Those truck with minor mods make some nice numbers. JMHO Russ

Keep the IDI and go after some upgrades. Get a Gear Vendors under it and if it doesn't work out for you, you can move it to your next truck.

Mike,

If you're signature is up to date, and you really are at the limit with your egt's why not think about an intercooler upgrade. Most of the intercooler upgrades are pretty intrusive, but if you PM Towcat he did a kit from Hypermax that was designed for our rigs. Can't remember what he paid for it but he talks about it in the thread "let's talk intercoolers". You'd be able to turn your fuel screw up more, and may get another gear on those hills. It's designed for the Hypermax turbos, but I wouldn't think it would take much modification to get it to work with a Banks kit.

On the other end of the spectrum, where do you draw the line. You have to personally figure out how far you are willing to go with your idi. Many guys think nothing of the water/****/propane injection systems out there. While others think this may be going to far for a reliable daily driver that you need to last.

Take it for what it's worth, but I'd talk to a few guys and do some checking on this sight as well as others to see if you can find a combination that is capable of pulling your type of loads at the speeds you want with add-ons that you feel comfortable with. If you truly can't find anyone with a combination that will work, then start looking for a repower or new rig.

There was a guy about a week ago posting a 12V cummins with rebuilt ZF5 and adapter plate for sale for $3k on this sight. He was out of Illinois. That seems like a heck of a price, but you'll still have to modify that 12v to get it to where you are right now with your 7.3.

Paul

6point9diesel said:

ago posting a 12V cummins with rebuilt ZF5 and adapter plate for sale for $3k on this sight. He was out of Illinois. That seems like a heck of a price, but you'll still have to modify that 12v to get it to where you are right now with your 7.3.

Click to expand...

Yeah, loosen 4 bolts and slide the plate.

I appreciate all the thoughts. As Towcat said... gonna have to make a decision one way or the other and go for it. It's tough going from a known quantity to a big payment or a used truck that's an unknown... most of you have been here, too...

towcat said:

Mike-
From my end of the business, warranties aren't worth the paper they are printed on. If you haven't figured out by now, the mfg. will use any excuse to invalidate your warranty. Need proof? Just take a look at the woes the 6.0 guys are going through.

Click to expand...

Yeah got one of them 6.0's and had some warranty work done on it with 34,700 miles and they said the oil was extremly dirty and was overdue for change.....
Hmmmm... 5,000 mile interval oil change. Do the math.
Needless to say after arguing with them over the emission component failure as a possibly cause to dirtier oi and winning the argumentl, I now have an SRO stating " Failure to perform proper maintainance voids factory warranty." :draw
Want to by a 6.0L.....take over they remaining 4 years of payments @ $662.59?

Ron-
make sure you have documented oil changes. On all "newer" trucks with warranties, LOF's get their own invoice with mileage and dates written clearly. That way they can't screw with you. It really sucks that everything you do now a paper trail is required.

towcat said:

Ron-
make sure you have documented oil changes. On all "newer" trucks with warranties, LOF's get their own invoice with mileage and dates written clearly. That way they can't screw with you. It really sucks that everything you do now a paper trail is required.

Click to expand...

Trust me Calvin, I do.
Got a nice Excel sread sheet that some one had made up awhile back and the stealership said thet it would work. Just to make sure that the part numbers are listed along with date and mileage. Which of course it is.

For all of you DIY's following this, be sure to save your receipts for oil filter and oil purchaces. This as well as a spreadsheet program will make your claim of consistent oil changes airtight. Without either one of those items, many warranty claims have been voided by the stealership because of poor recordkeeping by the DIY. Oh yea, DIY=Do It Yourself.....
These days I spend more time on the legal side of the automotive biz than I do working on cars.

All I can tell ya Mike is do what you feel is best.

But if your looking for pulling power - trust me you'll be happy with the 12v. If I want to lug a 31ft 9200lb trailer up the side of a mountain at 70+ mph with the cruise set I will. If I come upon a slower moving truck while doing this - I move to the right and give her a little more pedal (no I'm not over running the pyro while doing it either - yes I'm at that point tickling the edge but I'm not over it)...

As said if you want more just slide the plate to your hearts desire. I'll let ya know that mine has less than $1000 worth of performance upgrades and she will hands down run circles around The Enterprise even with the fire hose system working at full bore (BTW I can say that because I OWNED the E and know how she performs in all situations)... It's like comparing a candle to a flamethrower - they just aren't in the same league...

It's not to say the IDI is a bad engine because it's not - it's just not a powerhouse - it took me a long long time to realize that...

6point9diesel said:

Mike,

There was a guy about a week ago posting a 12V cummins with rebuilt ZF5 and adapter plate for sale for $3k on this sight. He was out of Illinois.
Paul

Click to expand...

he still has it in the market place,deisel dog catcher asked about the chassis