Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) The perfect towing Machine

[Braydon.l6]

I'm looking at building an affordable but also the perfect towing rig. I have a 2001.5 dodge ram 2500 HO. It has an upgraded South Bend dual disk clutch, rebuilt NV5600 transmission, 4" straight through exhaust, stock HX35 turbo, AFE cold air intake, Edge Juice with Attitude, Pyro, boost and fuel pressure gauges on the pillar and the FASS platinum fuel system. I was Looking into upgrading the turbo, intercooler and injectors. I would love some help from someone with experience and knowledge of heavy towing that could give some great insight.

 

[BDaugherty]

Add a muffler and exhaust brake. Call it a day.

 

[KBurgoyne]

depends on how much you need to tow and where; weight, elevation and such. Also depends on whether its going to be a designated tow rig, or a daily driver as well. The "have your cake and eat it too" turbos are much more expensive setups. Did you have a budget in mind.
Welcome by the way.

 

[SnoKing]

We use to say "It's a slippery slope!" Chris

 

[NIsaacs]

depends on how much you need to tow and where; weight, elevation and such.

I agree with KB, A good tow rig is not just about power. I wouldn't call a 2500 a perfect tow rig no mater what you do to it, however they can be quite capable. Keep it mind tire size, axle ratio, spring capacity and hitch quality. The more power you make the shorter the life of your rear tires, drive train and fuel mileage. An exhaust brake is #1 on the list with air bags next, a good brake controler, rear sway bar and no front end lift kits. A 2wheel low shift kit is also great, if you tow heavy and get off highway in soft ground, 1st gear is not low enough to start a load. The genuine Bosch RV275 injectors are a good power upgrade. Enjoy your project, towing is/can be fun.

Nick

 

[Ram4Sam]

Add a muffler and exhaust brake. Call it a day.

This is an excellent piece of advise (except maybe the muffler part).........Been there, done that.

Sam

 

[SnoKing]

OK, assuming that this truck has the Camper option(rear overloads), rear sway bar and optional LT265/75R16E(stay with stock diameter tires), the rear springs will handle anything up to the rear tire limit. It already has a Dana 80 rear diff. What Ratio??? 3.54 are ok with the 6 speed with it's shorter OD ratio, but 4:10 will pull over a house. 4:10 and 6 speed will be busy on the freeway.

***I would not do anything to the motor right now.*** Work on these things first.

***Install Rancho 9000 adjustable rear shocks. Good shocks on front.***
***Put on a a steering box brace.***
***Crank in more caster.***
***Install a Pacbrake***
Britebox the head lights or install the Sport headlights.
Put on tow mirror if it does not have them.
***Put synthetic gear oil in the diffs. I run 75/140 Amsoil in rear and 75/90 in the from.***
Bob-V two low kit or the Posi-Lok manual cable conversion for the CAD. I like the way I plumbed my Bob-V kit better than the original configuration. Search that here!
Install the track bar mount kit and 3rd gen track bar on the front axle if at stock height. Towing heavy will level it!!! Raise trucks and towing do not mix well and create compromises.
***Get rid of the breather bottle if it is still there and extend the breather hose down below the rad. Clean the rad if it is oiled and dirty from the breather.***

***Find an used Maxbrake controller. People are upgrading to new trucks and keeping them until they decide if they like the IBC. Expect to pay retail(350) or a little more to pry one loose. This is the best thing you can do regarding stopping a load!!! I should have done it years ago with Brake Smart!!! Maybe JLandry will sell his MaxBrake??***

***Make sure the throttle cable is not one that was to long and does not give full power.*** I first heard about this years ago here and then found that cruise control had more power on hills while towing my 5th wheel than the foot pedal. When I dyno'd my number were a little low because of this. Lift the pedal by hand, if it comes up more that a inch or so it most likely has the issue. Fishing split weights on the end of the cable at the top of the pedal can be used to take up the slack. A small tie wrap works for a quick test.


Quote Originally Posted by BDaugherty View Post
Add a muffler and exhaust brake.

I second a muffler or anything else to get rid of drone if it has it. I have a 4" SS Magnaflow Muffler and a small 4" resonator. Both are straight threw designs.

Chris

 

[SnoKing]

Dup post, sorry. Chris

 

[SnoKing]

dup post, sorry. Chris

 

[Braydon.l6]

Hey I forgot to mention that I've upgraded the suspension to 1 ton coils in the front, extra leaf spring in the back and Firestone airbags in the back as well. I have recently put in a new rear sway bar and all new Bilstien shocks, front and back. Also spent lots of money upgrading the entire front end. New steering box with Darrin's steering brace, Luke link on the track bar and drag link. New track bar, new drag link, tie rod and ball joints. Most parts are all made by Spicer which I've heard only good things about and have lifetime warranty. I am running 35" tires and the suspension is 3" higher than stock which isn't ideal but it is what it is (looks good!). The rear end is a Dana 80 with 3.54 gear ratio which runs with synthetic oil and conventional in the front. I also installed a Frantz by pass oil filter for extra filtering. By the way i'm religious when it comes to oil.
I tow a 30' travel trailer every summer and am basically looking for more power but staying cool at the same time. I started looking into that exhaust brake and that does sound like a really good idea. I have a trailer brake as well but would always like to have more braking power. I just finished replacing all the wheel bearings, rotors and calipers obviously with new pads as well. Now lots of guys say you don't need to upgrade your inter cooler cause there is no need. I started doing some research and wouldn't anything you can add to make the air flow better and cooler be worth it? Maybe guys are just thinking that its too much money if the stock one works fine. That was another option I was thinking. After reading your guys posts, I went and did some research on upgrading my turbo and possibly injectors. I started looking around and came up with the Borg Warner S300. Now I realize that you can get them customized with different compressor wheel sizes etc. but am not sure on what would be best and if that turbo is the one to get. Any input on turbos with lets say 50 hp injectors? Anything bigger and she'll probably run too hot.
Basically the bottom line is I want to keep this truck forever. It has been my daily driver and tow truck but am now going to build it and only use it for towing my trailer.
Guys, with these trucks, I know how much fun they are. I love driving her everyday. It always puts a smile on my face every time I go through the gears. This is a truck that I want to last forever but I also want to tow up every hill while passing cars. You know what I mean.
Thanks for all the input guys, talk to you soon.

Braydon.

 

[PC12Driver]

I ran a handful of turbos on my '01 HO and ended up coming back to the stock HX35/12 for towing. Bigger turbos will move the powerband up in RPMs. My favorite for bobtailing was the HTT 62/12, but it didn't wake up until about 1,800 RPM. So with a trailer in tow in 6th @ 55mph w/3.54s it was a waiting game or a downshift whenever power was needed (even slight hills). I dropped the injectors back to 275s (from 100hp sticks), un-tapped the Comp, put the stock huffer back on, and the truck became the towing gorilla it once was with safe egts.

There's no real gain in doing much with the turbo unless you're over 350hp (probably more harm than good). And there's not much need in going over 350hp if you're really towing. You'll run out of truck (cooling, geartrain, brakes, etc) before you run out of engine.

 

[KBurgoyne]

There are hundreds of s300's from many different companies that modify the basic units. The standard out of the box borg is 600 bucks, and the modified ones can go over 2000. A standard 60/68/14 borg unit would be a good towing unit. http://www.dfi-performance.com/borg-warner-60-68-t4-177272/ It does come with a t4 housing, but there is an adapter plate to make it work. The super B is another good tow turbo its a 57/65/14. DFI will also sell them as a combo with their injectors for a few hundred bucks less than buying them separately. http://www.dfi-performance.com/98-5-02-combos/

 

[PC12Driver]

I found the Super B to be kinda laggy. Really needs a 12 on the hot side to tighten things up. I never understood the reasoning behind putting the big housing behind that small compressor. Probably to make it pair up to their twin add-on I'd suspect. Otherwise, the level of fueling that would max out a 12 housing would be waaay past a 57 compressor as a single.

 

[JR]

I think that's why all the manufacturers finally jumped over to the variable geometry turbo, quicker bottom end spool yet will support fueling in the upper rpm range as well (to an extent). No lag and more efficient than a turbo with a larger housing. I have an he351ve in the garage but have yet to put together the rest of the punch list I need for it. I wish I could ride in a truck with this set up and a Fleece controller to see how the truck drives, I need my truck too much to have it down for any length of time trying to dial everything in. It needs to be a seamless operation for me to be committed and I just haven't seen it for myself yet.

Braydon, can you elaborate on the 1 ton coils? I believe the coils are the same between the 3/4 ton and 1 ton truck but I've been wrong plenty of times before. I wouldn't mind a heavier spring in the front to offset the 200 pound bumper I've got hanging off the front, then maybe I could drop the front back down to stock height.

 

[jgillott]

If I remember correctly, there were several different spring part #'s for the 2nd gens. One was the standard 2500 spring, one for the 2500 with the plow package, etc. I remember talking about it in a thread years ago with the #'s. I'll try and find it for you if I can.

 

[Braydon.l6]

I swapped out the original coils that were in the truck and installed coils that were quite a bit thicker and had 3" in height difference. I assumed they were the same thickness as the 1 ton coils. They are not the cheap coils that you get with the lift kits either. I bought them off a guy I worked with so I don't have any other information on the those coils. There is a company in the states though that make progressive rate springs. Ill find out more and send it your way.

Thanks for the information on the turbos. I looked up that company Ducky Fuel Injection and it seems like a pretty good deal on turbos/injectors.

 

[KBurgoyne]

I found the Super B to be kinda laggy. Really needs a 12 on the hot side to tighten things up. I never understood the reasoning behind putting the big housing behind that small compressor. Probably to make it pair up to their twin add-on I'd suspect. Otherwise, the level of fueling that would max out a 12 housing would be waaay past a 57 compressor as a single.

yes the super B is a bit laggy with the 14 housing as a daily driver, but for a towing turbo it would be a good unit. The cost of lower EGTs and top end power for towing is low end response.
For a 62/65/12 http://www.cumminsperformanceparts.com/dtech62turbo.html Its basically a phatshaft minus 700 bucks. With a 12cm housing on a towing turbo though it will be hotter. It really depends on how much it will be towed with.

 

[BDaugherty]

In keeping with my original post, I think you are close to an ideal setup. That said, as much as I like the 35s on my truck, they are not part of an ideal towing machine...just too much extra leverage on the brakes and sidewall flex as well. I would not go bigger than RV275 injectors. I made the mistake or adding Jammer 80's to my '01 and all it did was add heat and hurt the mileage when combined with my Edge Juice. The part about modding the crank case vent was right on the money, too. Clean the radiator real well and keep it that way by extending the draft tube or adding one of those fancy catch cans.

 

[NIsaacs]

It looks like you are already well on your way in building a good tow rig. When you said you wanted to haul heavy I was thinking "heavy," your 30' travel trailer is not heavy

Unless you just really want a big turbo, big injectors and an intercooler a set of RV 275's with your Edge Juice will give you very respectable power with your stock turbo and intercooler. My '01 with Edge EZ/RV275's runs 335/850 on the dyno, everything else that makes power is stock. As long as I stay between 1800-2300 rpm, I can bend the floor board and nothing gets hot. Pyro, water temp, transmission and rear axle all stay reasonable. With this power level and if I do a lot of heavy hauling, I can watch my rear tires melt the tread off. This power level is also very dependable, I have 200k with my mods, 230k total.

Nick

 

[Braydon.l6]

Ya I guess the travel trailer isn't that heavy compared to what you can tow now a days. It still gets around 9,000lbs. fully loaded. I also pack the truck full. Have a boat on a roof rack etc.
You know after thinking about everything my truck is probably fine just the way it is (power, EGT's etc.) but im always looking for that extra lift, extra push you know. Ill defiantly do some more research on turbos and injectors. I don't want to make a mistake and make it worse than it is and be down a few more thousand dollars when I could go on a camping trip for that.
Thanks for the help guys.
Just want to say its nice to be able to talk about this stuff instead of trying to explain something to the girl friend who doesn't give two **** about my truck!