Cat fuel filtration system?

[StevenHodgkins]

Hello, I just purchased my 2nd 04.5 2500 and it has the Cat fuel and water separator filtration system. It also has the factory fuel filter along with the “in tank” lift pump. I’ve had a FASS titanium system on all my trucks prior to this.

My question is: Can the stock “in tank” lift pump handle pushing through all those filters?

After I financially recover from this purchase(and a new house) I would like to install the FASS System. The truck seems to be running great. It’s bone stock and I don’t have any gauges to actually monitor my fuel pressure. My hope is I can wait a few months or until spring to install my gauges and the FASS system.

Any thoughts??

I appreciate any feedback on this!

 

[StevenHodgkins]

Oops! I haven’t updated my truck in the signature!

bone stock 2004.5 4 wheel drive 2500

 

[Ozymandias]

Keep the in-tank pump, but get Fleetgard or Donaldson Filters for your setup, the CAT is subpar today.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

.02 : If you're going to daily drive it I don't see a reason not to move the serviceability outside the tank with a lift pump, If its not a daily driver and causes no issues as is then leave it.

Also depends on what you want to do with it/plans.

 

[StevenHodgkins]

Thanks…I’ll run it for a while knowing it’s not killing the lift pump and I’ll make sure to use those filters.

I drive a lot, I’m not going to boost up the HP but I do like to make improvements that help the reliability of the truck.

I appreciate the advice

 

[Ozymandias]

There is no improvment ditching the in-tank pump.
It is by far the most reliable fuel pump that you can have in our trucks.
We have had members here that made commercially hundreds of thousands of miles with that pump.
But of course the pump manufacturers still advertise their products as the greatest since sliced bread.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

There is no improvement ditching the in-tank pump.
It is by far the most reliable fuel pump that you can have in our trucks.
We have had members here that made commercially hundreds of thousands of miles with that pump.
But of course the pump manufacturers still advertise their products as the greatest since sliced bread.

To be fair everything comes to an end no matter how much you try to extend its useful life, Serviceability and Durability are easy and effective marketing points when it comes to products for these trucks; can't really blame them too much. When something does go wrong and it will, its nice to able to have relatively easy access to components in looking for a solution.

 

[AH64ID]

On my ‘05 I ran 3 filters with the OEM pump and 415rwhp, zero issues.

I ran a 20um Baldwin BF1212 into the Baldwin 5um PF7977 in the OEM housing, and lastly into a 3-4um filter. I started with a Cat 1R-0750 which is a 4um filter, despite what most people selling it claim. Then I switched to a 3um Donaldson P551313 and ended up with either a 3um Donaldon DBF 5814 or Fleetguard FF5814 (both of which are also 3um, but superior media to anything else).

The commonly used Cat f/w seps are also not as efficient as the Fleetguard or Donaldson ones.

If your cat setup uses 1-14” threads, most likely does, then run a Baldwin BF1212 and a Donaldson FF5814 on it, and a Baldwin PF7977 in the OEM canister. It’s the best filtration and the best price too, as the FF5814 is more money than the BDF5814.

I ran them 30K miles or 18months, but they were sequential in ratings, if your filter head holds 2 filters you may not get 30K miles from them. I don’t recall ever having to change them early due to a flow restriction.

To be fair everything comes to an end no matter how much you try to extend its useful life, Serviceability and Durability are easy and effective marketing points when it comes to products for these trucks; can't really blame them too much. When something does go wrong and it will, it’s
nice to able to have relatively easy access to components in looking for a solution.

Reading thru the threads there are more aftermarket external pump issues than OEM in-tank issues.

Keep the intank pump unless you need more flow for above stock power, like more than 150rwhp over stock.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Reading thru the threads there are more aftermarket external pump issues than OEM in-tank issues.

Out of curiosity; who's the OEM mfg. for the later third gen in tank lift pumps?

 

[AH64ID]

Out of curiosity; who's the OEM mfg. for the later third gen in tank lift pumps?

No clue, could even be different ones. They have been in use since 05 and have proved their reliability.

 

[Regcabguy]

Thanks…I’ll run it for a while knowing it’s not killing the lift pump and I’ll make sure to use those filters.

I drive a lot, I’m not going to boost up the HP but I do like to make improvements that help the reliability of the truck.

I appreciate the advice

The stock in pump is the one I rarely read about. The shop I use replaces them infrequently. Most guys replace it with a Carter In tank from Geno's.

 

[StevenHodgkins]

I stepped away for a minute, work…. Thanks for all the information especially the filter numbers. I don’t see a reason to change the in tank pump unless it dies. I’ll see how long she lasts!

 

[Mhennessy]

The 04.5 had the fuel pump on the filter unless your truck was retro'd by a stealership.
Even that little worthless filter pump pushed through two "spin" on filters 6-8psi until it died at 135k.
As long as you have positive fuel PSI then you will not kill your Cp3 (unlike the VP44).

 

[SSage]

Interesting topic, I've thought about going the other way by putting in an in-tank pump retrofit for my 2003. I thought my old Air Dog was on it's last leg. But my noisy Air Dog 165 sounds much better since I reworked the supply hose from the tank.

The old blue hose had almost completely collapsed at the pump, and it was installed with very tight bends. Had it installed by a professional idiot shop in Texas. I used the same style hose and eliminated the 90 degree hose bend with a brass 90 fitting and rerouted the hydraulic "fuel" hose for less bends. That blue hose lasted for a really long time, so I stuck with it and lost the push on fittings, went to regular barb fittings and stainless hose clamps.

I must have gotten a special unicorn Air Dog, still on the original pump motor from 2004. Freshened up the fuel hoses to the Aux tank and its purring again. I run the Donaldson primary and Baldwin water separator filters. Aux tank uses a large low pressure carter pump to put fuel in the filler neck using marine rated rubber fuel hoses. The hydraulic hose Air Dog supplied has a translucent whitish plastic hose inside with a couple layers of protection around it. The stuff worked fine with hose barbs, so far so good.

 

[JReichenbach]

I put your basic FASS pump on my '05 at 110,00 miles about 8-10 years ago, set at 18lbs. Last race of this year, it popped the 10 amp fuse as I was leaving a big airport with my 48ft Gooseneck. Was able to find problem in short order and put a 20 amp in, cause thats what was handy. Fass said to put a 10 back in to see if it does it again, but not feeling that lucky, so i ordered another pump, and will swap out over the off season. It did seem as though the pump got louder after fuse blew, so im wondering now about what SSage mentioned, mine has the blue hose on it, also. My original in-tank pump got to where it was only showing 4lbs of pressure when pulling my smaller trailer up hills, so I decided to upgrade pumps then. Never has an issue til recently. Thanks for insight. Jim

 

[mbellomy]

I've got the same setup on my '03 and have no problems at all. I have a manual fuel pressure gauge on the top of my OEM fuel filter and at idle always read 9+psi. I have not been able to read it at WOT but have not seen any issues over 50,000 miles.

 

[Ozymandias]

Even if it's 1 psi it's enough for the CP3.