Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Turned over 5K, performed my first oil change , and rotated the tires on my Ram last night. Thought I'd post a few observations/comments from my first wrenching session on the new rig.
1. Weight: That $&%* thing is heavy! I don't remember the specs on my old floor jack, I think it's a Walker 3 ton. Anyway, I could tell a huge difference in the effort required to raise the front end of this truck compared to my old '72 3/4 ton Ford gasser.
2. Brakes: The calipers on the 2001. 5's are huge - both front and rears are floating, twin piston types with massive vented discs all the way around. Good lookin hardware, not as good as the 4 piston fixed calipers on my old 4 x 4 toyota though. I'm a little concerned about the routing of the brake lines for the front calipers - looks like they could get snagged pretty easily off-road.
3. Steering: This was the first time I've spent any real time rolling around under the truck checking things out, I don't have any steering problems, but looking at the length, geometry, etc. of the steering components, I'm sure it's just a matter of time... not very impressive design wise.
4. Hydraulic clutch: I was shocked when I saw this mickey mouse, Chevy Cavalier type setup; plastic master cylinder, plastic slave cylinder and line, no way to blead, at least no easy way. Looks like if anything goes wrong, you're expected to trash the whole thing. I guess as cheesy as it looks, it must give reasonably good service, havn't seen any posts here on the boards reporting failures.
5. Oil change: Yep, that filter was tight as he%%, I was able to remove it using just a conventional filter wrench - had to put every one of my 180 lbs behind it though.
Given that this was my first oil change, I was very meticulous; I let the oil drain the whole time I was rotating tires and looking around, I know I got every drop out. I then extracted 1 qt. of Rotella T from one of my jugs (very carefully - bet I was accurate to within a few cc's), I then prefilled one of my Geno's stratopore filters, installed it, and poured in the rest of the oil. I also checked my blow-by bottle & found just a few drops. After starting the truck and checking for leaks, I called it a night. When I checked my oil level the next morning (in the shop on level floor), it was barely into the "safe" range. The manual states that the save band encompases (sp?) 2 quarts, if this is right, putting in the full 3 gallons would put me more toward the middle of the band and I wouldn't have to screw with holding back one quart. Has anyone else experienced this? I imagine that my dipstick and dipstick tube are on the high/low end of the specs giving me a slightly false low reading - I didn't spill a drop, and I know put in exactly 11 qts. The truck came from the factory filled to the middle of the band, so I know Cummins or Dodge put in ~12 qts.
Drain Plug: I got a Geno's plug (drain hose type, it's a nice looking piece, I had thought that an aftermarket plug would be a necessity on this vehicle, that's why I got the Geno's part prior to doing my first change. For anyone who hasn't done their first change yet, it turns out you really don't need an aftermarket type plug as much as you might think, if you loosen the factory plug a couple of turns, you get a good volume of oil squirting out in a shower type pattern all around the plug. There's plenty of threads on the plug, so you don't have to try to loosen it till it's hanging by a thread, just loosen a few turns. By the time I had installed my filter and rotated the tires (~30 - 45 mins) the oil was almost all drained and not a single drop spilled on the floor. I put in my Geno's plug anyway... guess it would help if you're in a hurry.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to share these observations and see what you more seasoned Cummins owners had to say.
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2001. 5 Flame Red 2500 4x4 Quad SLT SB ETH/DEE 3. 54LS 241HD
1. Weight: That $&%* thing is heavy! I don't remember the specs on my old floor jack, I think it's a Walker 3 ton. Anyway, I could tell a huge difference in the effort required to raise the front end of this truck compared to my old '72 3/4 ton Ford gasser.
2. Brakes: The calipers on the 2001. 5's are huge - both front and rears are floating, twin piston types with massive vented discs all the way around. Good lookin hardware, not as good as the 4 piston fixed calipers on my old 4 x 4 toyota though. I'm a little concerned about the routing of the brake lines for the front calipers - looks like they could get snagged pretty easily off-road.
3. Steering: This was the first time I've spent any real time rolling around under the truck checking things out, I don't have any steering problems, but looking at the length, geometry, etc. of the steering components, I'm sure it's just a matter of time... not very impressive design wise.
4. Hydraulic clutch: I was shocked when I saw this mickey mouse, Chevy Cavalier type setup; plastic master cylinder, plastic slave cylinder and line, no way to blead, at least no easy way. Looks like if anything goes wrong, you're expected to trash the whole thing. I guess as cheesy as it looks, it must give reasonably good service, havn't seen any posts here on the boards reporting failures.
5. Oil change: Yep, that filter was tight as he%%, I was able to remove it using just a conventional filter wrench - had to put every one of my 180 lbs behind it though.
Given that this was my first oil change, I was very meticulous; I let the oil drain the whole time I was rotating tires and looking around, I know I got every drop out. I then extracted 1 qt. of Rotella T from one of my jugs (very carefully - bet I was accurate to within a few cc's), I then prefilled one of my Geno's stratopore filters, installed it, and poured in the rest of the oil. I also checked my blow-by bottle & found just a few drops. After starting the truck and checking for leaks, I called it a night. When I checked my oil level the next morning (in the shop on level floor), it was barely into the "safe" range. The manual states that the save band encompases (sp?) 2 quarts, if this is right, putting in the full 3 gallons would put me more toward the middle of the band and I wouldn't have to screw with holding back one quart. Has anyone else experienced this? I imagine that my dipstick and dipstick tube are on the high/low end of the specs giving me a slightly false low reading - I didn't spill a drop, and I know put in exactly 11 qts. The truck came from the factory filled to the middle of the band, so I know Cummins or Dodge put in ~12 qts.
Drain Plug: I got a Geno's plug (drain hose type, it's a nice looking piece, I had thought that an aftermarket plug would be a necessity on this vehicle, that's why I got the Geno's part prior to doing my first change. For anyone who hasn't done their first change yet, it turns out you really don't need an aftermarket type plug as much as you might think, if you loosen the factory plug a couple of turns, you get a good volume of oil squirting out in a shower type pattern all around the plug. There's plenty of threads on the plug, so you don't have to try to loosen it till it's hanging by a thread, just loosen a few turns. By the time I had installed my filter and rotated the tires (~30 - 45 mins) the oil was almost all drained and not a single drop spilled on the floor. I put in my Geno's plug anyway... guess it would help if you're in a hurry.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to share these observations and see what you more seasoned Cummins owners had to say.
------------------
2001. 5 Flame Red 2500 4x4 Quad SLT SB ETH/DEE 3. 54LS 241HD
