Anticipating 5.9 rebuild, possible upgrades

[Crotchety Codger]

This is my first day on the forum, and I've read the Gen 3 FAQ, little else. I have an '03 2500 Quad Cab with 8' bed, 4WD, 400k plus miles, used for several years delivering 'hot shot' loads (under 26000 lbs.) with a 25' gooseneck trailer. Truck is mostly stock. I added a PACBRAKE exhaust brake and rear air bags shortly after I bought the truck. Other than having to replace the throttle position sensor in a truck stop parking lot, I haven't had to work on the truck much myself. Now I drive a big rig, so the truck goes about 50 miles a week back and forth to work. I have a couple of known problems with the pickup.

1. I had a right front bearing fail under load, spent a few days in a Moab, UT, motel while repairs were made. Now (and I don't know if the problem is related to that damage, because I'd never used 4WD before that incident) I hear a loud 'popping' noise anytime I use 4WD and turn the wheels (left or right, forward or reverse) - sounds like it's coming from the right front corner, but my ears are almost 70 years old, so it may be closer to the middle of the front. I had a local dealer look at it, spent about $1500 on repairs that didn't repair the problem (one new axle, replaced all u-joints and rebuilt the cardan joint). I needed the truck and didn't need 4WD at the time, so I let it go for the moment. I came back from the next trip thinking I had a rear differential failing - went back to the dealer and was told it was the transmission - waited five weeks for the new transmission - the mechanic tasked to install it drove the truck into his bay and told the service manager it was the rear differential, not the transmission - differential over-nighted and installed - failed 500 miles down the road, replaced by a different dealer - haven't been back to a dealer since. Still wondering what might be wrong with the 4WD ... As part of the repairs, I'm considering installing manual locking hubs to allow things to 'freewheel' in 2WD. I'm wondering if any of you have done the hub upgrade/downgrade and have an opinion about the various brands available.

2. The 5.9 still runs nicely, but it is beginning to leak oil somewhere up front, and I am planning to have an experienced diesel shop either rebuild the engine in the truck or start with a stock crate engine. (Opinions?) In the future, I'll be using the truck to carry a fairly large camper (age makes tent camping a little less fun), so I'm considering a few upgrades, mostly to increase air volume - Banks intercooler and 'monster' air intake along with the RAM air intake system (I'm looking for an appropriate snorkel rather than the Banks under the bumper air scoop - I like the back country and, if I can sell enough books or finagle a movie deal for one of them, I'd like to build one of the small sailing cutters I've been drawing and redrawing for 30 years, so I may take the truck wading on occasion). I figure I should run remote vents to both differentials - from the engine compartment? Any advice regarding getting the 6-speed transmission wet? In general, what suggestions would you folks make for me to consider as appropriate upgrades (or to avoid) during the engine rebuild/swap.

3. I'm also planning some long term 'upgrades' (some cosmetic, some for strength); one is to change from the 31 inch Toyo tires I've used since I began driving the truck to Super Swamper TrXus Mud Terrains (which have a reputation for being 'magic' on ice - the Toyos are less than ideal in the winter). The smallest 17" TrXus is the 33", and I'll need either to add two-inch 'leveling blocks' to the front or those along with longer rear springs and new shocks at all four corners. (I could level the rear of the truck with the air bags, but with the camper, the new rear springs seem to be the better choice.

Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated, but I'm on the road five or six days a week, so it may be a few days before I get a chance to read or respond. Thanks in advance ...

 

[cerberusiam]

1. With those miles the most likely popping in 4x4 is the chain in the t-slipping. Given they put in new wheel bearings, new front axle joints and new from drive shaft joints t-case is next. About 300 k and you need to start looking a t-case rebuild. There are a couple free spin front hubs setups, SpynTec and DynaTrac, both seems to be about equal with only personal preferences separating them.

2. Your choice on rebuild or a Cummins reman long block. Check prices and warranty to decide what you would like to deal with. As far as air upgrades, a cold air mod to the stock air box will get you to 500 HP with no differences to high dollar items. The 3rd gen CAC and intake is about as efficient as it gets for the normal range of usage you would see up to 400 HP or a little better. All the Banks stuff is bling, you don't need it. Do NOT taking it wading or you will never have a good nights sleep in the back country again. You EVER get water up as far as the trans sell or trade the truck as fast you can get to a lot running. These trucks do NOT like water submersion. You can plow thru a lot is quick trips but if they ever get in deep enough the water goes over the frame for any length of time you are just asking for trouble. NONE of the harness connection are water tight, they may be water resistant to splash but not in any way shape for form meant for submersion. In order to do what you want that would ever require a snorkel you many hours of harness and electrical system work to harden it against moisture intrusion. Your truck is not built to be feet wet, it is dry land yacht.

3. The ONLY god thing about the SS TrXus tries may be on ice, they are worth much else on these trucks. To soft and too light a tire for these heavy diesels. Wear terrible, noisy beyond belief, and just not that great a tires for roading. Toyo MT's or Cooper SST's are a much better choice in what you want for a MT tire and ice usage. Both are great on about any surface. Unless your existing springs are sagged badly a 33" tire on the correct back spaced rim will work just fine. You only need to consider springs\lefts when you go to 35x12.5 tire. You can get away with a 11.5x35 tire with the correct rim design but at that point with a heavy camper you need to re-gear. A 33" tire is the best compromise with the 3.73 gears.

 

[Crotchety Codger]

1. With those miles the most likely popping in 4x4 is the chain in the t-slipping. Given they put in new wheel bearings, new front axle joints and new from drive shaft joints t-case is next. About 300 k and you need to start looking a t-case rebuild. There are a couple free spin front hubs setups, SpynTec and DynaTrac, both seems to be about equal with only personal preferences separating them.

2. Your choice on rebuild or a Cummins reman long block. Check prices and warranty to decide what you would like to deal with. As far as air upgrades, a cold air mod to the stock air box will get you to 500 HP with no differences to high dollar items. The 3rd gen CAC and intake is about as efficient as it gets for the normal range of usage you would see up to 400 HP or a little better. All the Banks stuff is bling, you don't need it. Do NOT taking it wading or you will never have a good nights sleep in the back country again. You EVER get water up as far as the trans sell or trade the truck as fast you can get to a lot running. These trucks do NOT like water submersion. You can plow thru a lot is quick trips but if they ever get in deep enough the water goes over the frame for any length of time you are just asking for trouble. NONE of the harness connection are water tight, they may be water resistant to splash but not in any way shape for form meant for submersion. In order to do what you want that would ever require a snorkel you many hours of harness and electrical system work to harden it against moisture intrusion. Your truck is not built to be feet wet, it is dry land yacht.

3. The ONLY god thing about the SS TrXus tries may be on ice, they are worth much else on these trucks. To soft and too light a tire for these heavy diesels. Wear terrible, noisy beyond belief, and just not that great a tires for roading. Toyo MT's or Cooper SST's are a much better choice in what you want for a MT tire and ice usage. Both are great on about any surface. Unless your existing springs are sagged badly a 33" tire on the correct back spaced rim will work just fine. You only need to consider springs\lefts when you go to 35x12.5 tire. You can get away with a 11.5x35 tire with the correct rim design but at that point with a heavy camper you need to re-gear. A 33" tire is the best compromise with the 3.73 gears.

Thanks for the information. Re Tires: I've never run the TrXus, so I was working on hearsay or ad hype. I've run two sets of Toyos under heavy loads and never had a failure, so maybe I'll just stay with them (maybe in 33"). Sand bags over the rear axle have kept me on the road for several winters when I wasn't pulling the trailers (haven't had to chain up, even with the trailer loaded). Re Wading: Other than backing down a ramp to load or unload a boat with 30 inches of draft, mud puddles are about all I have plans to deal with (no river crossings), so an extending trailer tongue and careful selection of launching sites might keep me safely dry. Re Transfer case and manual locking hubs: I'll ask around for a reputable recommendation for someone to check out/rebuild the transfer case and compare the SpynTec and DynaTrac sets with the ones available from Ram Man. And thanks for the advice on the cold air mod to the stock air intake (I'm a once-was, would-be World Champion single seat racer - good thing my crew chief was an engineer - I'm just a parts changer;^).

 

[cerberusiam]

If you are expecting carry a heavy camper I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims, especially on an SRW truck. 17" rims are limited to 3190 rating on the tires per DOT regs, most tire manufacturers are not build the tires to exceed and cannot label them as such so it is a crap shoot if they will take more. Not impressed with the experiences so far. An 18" or 20" rim gives you much better ratings on tires with some caveats. If you are offroading with lots of rocks the 20" rims will leave rims and potential rim damage real close to the problem unless you go big, 35" plus which requires gears. Best trade off is 18" which gives you the ability to get a tall enough sidewall and good weight rating, 3600 lbs or better.

 

[Tuesdak]

Where are your located as TDR members can point you to reputable shops. As the truck was used hot-shot IMO these can be some of the easiest miles on an engine: up to temp and few dry starts. Other than an oil leak what reasons do you think the engine needs a rebuild? Point of fact many of us love the Cummins and put up with the Dodge wrapper because some of these engines do 1 million miles or more. Loose an injector or valve seat and they don't.

Some of the best advice I came across for my build: Put a cam in it, Ball Bearing turbo, Smarty with custom tune, BBI injectors. A build can cost $7500 - $10,000.00+. Watch the power rating of your clutch as it is a "fuse" in the system for higher power levels. I chose a power level that my clutch can handle.

My 2003 is a heavy truck, you are heavier with 4WD, and this limits the camper weight to around 1 ton for SRW. DRW is more, but, some of the monster campers will overload them as well. That is door sticker minus the weight of the truck. It doesn't matter what the truck can do if you drop 19.5" tires on it... Overloaded is just that and has legal problems like your insurance company walking away for this reason alone. If in doubt ask your attorney. (Many of the sites explaining how to overload your truck for a camper by using the rating of the tires are now gone.) I will say that RV dealers are in it for the commission and do not care how overloaded your truck is. They were perfectly willing to sell me a 2 ton camper that would overload every single rating on my truck including the tires. After rebuilding my truck and looking at the long 6 month plus wait time for 19.5" wheels from Rickson Wheel Manufacturing I decided to a 5th wheel as a lighter soft side camper would not meet my needs. It is helpful to find the "real" weights of new truck campers here to see how plausible what you want out of a camper is within the weight budget: https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/truck-campers-buyers-guide/

 

[jgillott]

Going to be following this thread from a distance. There's nothing I like better than a good build thread.

As the owner of 2 3rd gen 5.9's, one pretty much used up and another starting to show its age, I'm interested in seeing what someone else is doing to keep an older truck going strong.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Assuming it is the Ho 305HP engine, it has pressed-in valve seats. Especially if egt's got hot sometimes, check carefully to be sure none are coming loose.

 

[jjdiesel]

If you are expecting carry a heavy camper I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims, especially on an SRW truck. 17" rims are limited to 3190 rating on the tires per DOT regs, most tire manufacturers are not build the tires to exceed and cannot label them as such so it is a crap shoot if they will take more. Not impressed with the experiences so far. An 18" or 20" rim gives you much better ratings on tires with some caveats. If you are offroading with lots of rocks the 20" rims will leave rims and potential rim damage real close to the problem unless you go big, 35" plus which requires gears. Best trade off is 18" which gives you the ability to get a tall enough sidewall and good weight rating, 3600 lbs or better.

This reply needs some clarification. " I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims,".... then later, "An 18" or 20" rim gives you much better ratings on tires with some caveats" ???

 

[Crotchety Codger]

If you are expecting carry a heavy camper I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims, especially on an SRW truck. 17" rims are limited to 3190 rating on the tires per DOT regs, most tire manufacturers are not build the tires to exceed and cannot label them as such so it is a crap shoot if they will take more. Not impressed with the experiences so far. An 18" or 20" rim gives you much better ratings on tires with some caveats. If you are offroading with lots of rocks the 20" rims will leave rims and potential rim damage real close to the problem unless you go big, 35" plus which requires gears. Best trade off is 18" which gives you the ability to get a tall enough sidewall and good weight rating, 3600 lbs or better.

Thanks for the information. I probably won't be 'offroading' in the truest sense, but my wife loves back country and forest service dirt roads, so rocks are pretty much a way of life.

 

[cerberusiam]

This reply needs some clarification. " I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims,".... then later, "An 18" or 20" rim gives you much better ratings on tires with some caveats" ???

What clarification are you looking for?

 

[Crotchety Codger]

JDoremire

I live north of Spokane, WA, a few miles southwest of Deer Park. I haven't had any problems with the engine in particular, oil usage was up a little at the end of the stint of doing 'hot shots,' but I haven't added any since the last oil change (I've been using Mobil 1 synthetic - inherited from the previous owner - so I've apparently been using the wrong type of oil from what I've been reading on this forum). The engine is leaking (or appears to be leaking) oil somewhere near the front upper right side. I figured it was probably a gasket or seal and an indication of aging (haven't found the actual source - just oil on the front corner), and I've only put about 9000 miles on the truck in the past two years - drive it about 25 miles to work on Sunday or Monday and 25 miles home on Friday or Saturday. I hadn't realized that a million miles might be the life expectancy. (Don't know why not--the Kenworth I drove had almost a million when traded for the Freightliner I drive now, which is past 400k.)

We've been looking at a used Arctic Fox 990 (dry weight just over 3000 pounds - according to new camper specs, the Fox Value Package adds 600 pounds - wet weight and 'fully loaded' 2018 for a travel magazine article was 5185 pounds, which is more than the 4781 pounds the Arctic Fox brochure lists. Guess I should look at the specs for my truck (note: I did, with the M6 transmission, looks to be 1800 pound bed payload - even with the rear air bags and leaf springs, that's a long way from 5185) - I was staying under 26,000 loaded with a 25-foot gooseneck, but I haven't ever put anything heavy in the pickup bed (unless you count a motorcycle engine I picked up in New York for my partner, maybe 200-300 pounds - two of us picked it up out of the back of a van and set it in the pickup;^) From the specs I looked up, I might have trouble finding much more than a camper shell that would be under the design limits.

 

[Crotchety Codger]

JDoremire

Thanks for the advice on valve seats. Assuming the M6 only came with the HO 305HP, that should be what I have.

 

[Crotchety Codger]

jgillott

Could be a long distance follow ... I'm still gathering information, and I missed three months of work to kick cancer, so, unless I sell a lot of books with my latest ad campaign, I'm going to be driving more miles and spending less money. Of course, I may have saved some for the moment, if the Cummins rebuild is premature.

 

[jjdiesel]

What clarification are you looking for?

Read it. You completely contradict yourself. Maybe you meant to say: I would NOT advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims?? Otherwise, it makes no sense...just saying.

 

[cerberusiam]

Read it. You completely contradict yourself. Maybe you meant to say: I would NOT advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims?? Otherwise, it makes no sense...just saying.

Pretty clear concepts; advise upgrading tires and wheels from the stock 17"; 18 or 20 inch rim provide higher ratings on available tires.

Even taken out of context each statement still makes perfect sense. Maybe re-reading and paying attention to context and punctuation will clarify????

 

[Crotchety Codger]

Pretty clear concepts; advise upgrading tires and wheels from the stock 17"; 18 or 20 inch rim provide higher ratings on available tires.

Even taken out of context each statement still makes perfect sense. Maybe re-reading and paying attention to context and punctuation will clarify????

Made perfect sense to me the first time I read it, and you even explained the 'caveats.'

 

[jjdiesel]

Pretty clear concepts; advise upgrading tires and wheels from the stock 17"; 18 or 20 inch rim provide higher ratings on available tires.

Even taken out of context each statement still makes perfect sense. Maybe re-reading and paying attention to context and punctuation will clarify????

There,...you just did it again. Your original post says: "I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade TO the stock 17" rims...." Evidently you meant to say "FROM" the stock 17" rims...big difference. I think you're the one that needs to re-read and pay attention to punctuation, especially as moderator. Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight here. I simply asked for a clarification on the post, it's clearly contradictory but, it happens..no biggie. Just clarify and move on. We're all on the same team
here. I might add, I do appreciate many of your posts on this forum.

 

[NIsaacs]

If you are expecting carry a heavy camper I would advise a tire and wheel upgrade to the stock 17" rims, especially on an SRW truck.

I am thinking, maybe due to the first work day, after daylight savings time, you didn't get up early enough to get your coffee fix

Nick

 

[cerberusiam]

Made perfect sense to me the first time I read it, and you even explained the 'caveats.'

Mission accomplished.

 

[jjdiesel]

I am thinking, maybe due to the first work day, after daylight savings time, you didn't get up early enough to get your coffee fix

Nick

Mission accomplished.