New Guy, New Truck Ordering gauges..what else should I monitor towing heavy?

[CSappington]

Hey TDR. New guy here! Just bought my first CTD this week. I have 3 powerstrokes but wanted to try a dodge for my new tow rig.



So Im ordering gauges for it and looking for advice. I tow daily and heavy. My airride 9 horse trailer weighs 10K empty and then load it up and you can guess its heavy. The truck runs nationwide so it gets a work out!



Pyro, Boost, Trans, Fuel pressure for sure. Wondering what other gauge you CTD owners recommend to watch when pulling heavy... Oil temp? Water temp? Rear end? Any other gauge im forgetting... . It appears the oil pressure gauge on the dash works right as apposed to the ford dummy gauges that read normal with the key on.



I have a 5" exhaust, AFE, on the way and maybe a smarty and cool hose



Looking forward to hearing from the experienced. Thanks



For reference:

The new truck



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The heavy trailer



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[JApol]

Nice looking truck.

Don't let the oil pressure gauge fool you. Its about as good as a $3 bill. It just has a 6 psi switch so the computer knows when to turn on the gauge.

You seem to be on track as the gauges go. Oil press gauge might also be good.

Which fuel pressure? Inlet into the CP3 or rail pressure?



The Cumins should give you many trouble free trips around the country.

 

[CSappington]

Thanks, For FP I was thinking pre CP3 pressure, good to know if your filter is getting clogged or fuel might be gelling up etc. Im not worried about cp3 pressure as its staying mild and reliable



So its up to oil pressure, oil temp, water temp, rear end.



I think rear end temp is the first to be booted, I have it on my 02 ford dually and it never got to warm. Dont think I need it this time...



Thanks

 

[Cummins724]

You shouldn't need any others, but I love that truck..... looks great. The Smarty is a must have..... you are on the right track.

 

[MRosinski]

I'd look into a exhaust brake too

 

[CSappington]

I'd look into a exhaust brake too

Good idea. What brand? Mike, what local dealer do you use?

 

[MRosinski]

When it was my dads, I towed a few times with it and it had the banks brake on it, worked ok, but then I towed with a buddys 06' 48re/jacobs combo and it seemed to brake alot better. The banks on the 04' froze up about a year ago. Banks said its out of warranty and we needed to buy a new one. So no brake on it now, but if I were to get another one it'd be a jacobs. I like champion in barrington(right on RTE. 14), we bought 4 trucks from them. I know the manager Don, good honest guy. Oh yea, there not determined to void warranties like most dealers, they replaced a cp3 on my old 05' with the hot juice in. They also did many u-joints on the 04' @ last minuite with the tst in too. It's a dont hide/tell, they wont ask deal How many miles do you have on the 02' now???

 

[CSappington]

Good deal, I should go there today. I live right at Lake cook and RT62-Algonquin, so its not to far. I need a block heater cord! Is the Jacobs OEM brake only available through dodge? The 02 Ford has 330K or so.

 

[MRosinski]

If they dont have it in stock, got to freightliner on rte. 12 and hicks rd. in palatine. I got one there with a chrome mounting bezel and a springloaded flap, keeps the crap off the plug and sure looks nice

 

[MRosinski]

Oh yea, not sure about the brake, havent really looked into it that much.

 

[RobertP]

one other thing you may consider is to upgrade yor entire systems fluids with a top of the line oil like amsoil, that would ensure your trucks parts are all well protected for years to come. regular fluid is not near as reliable and will end up costing you more. hope this helps

 

[Cummins724]

Good idea. What brand? Mike, what local dealer do you use?

It is a must have for a truck that tows... . love mine! The best brake available for these trucks is the Pac Brake. I have the Jacobs & so does my brother..... my other brother has a Pac Brake & you can really feel the difference in holding power. The dealer will install a Jacobs, but I don't know if they install Pac Brakes.

 

[DerekW]

Mopar sells a exhaust brake I don't know how good it is. it might be worthwhile. I saw a either pac or jacobs brake on a 3rd gen truck in the magazine. they added this goofy thing to the auto trans shifter, which I wasn't fond of. I personally like the looks of the stock vehicle interior or the looks of a race car interior (all out function only) but nothing between. gauges do look good in the pillars and the overhead if installed nicely and use good looking gauges like Banks Dynafact or dakota digital. I personally like something that matches the stock stoff so it doesn't stand out. just my personal opinion.



If you are pulling heavy I would suggest snow performance stage 3 water meth injection with 8 gallon reservoir. to keep EGTS in check.



I would really reccomend either a transfer flow or a glacier diesel power vent kit in the way of hold extra fuel. I see your not new to diesels but I would like to remind you that I highly reccomend you planning your trips to incorporate stopping at biodiesel fuel stations and running bio diesel. you will see an increase in economy and power.



If you travel across country alot i reccomend you doing a search and reviewing peoples thoughts of the big 19. 5's or 22's for you truck. The added safety factor while towing and traveling across county is great. plus you save money in the long run on this setup buying alot less tires.



I run the banks technicooler with high ram intake with AFE stage 2 and straight pipe I also had the quadzilla boost fooler. I got 22 mpg the tank before last. My stock MPg was 14 so this is a considerable increase. Also you cannot rely on the overhead trip compueter to tell you how much MPG your getting its not accurate I calculate at fill up.



Hope that helps get you on the right foot.

 

[pwr2tow]

If you want a power upgrade and guages try an Edge Juice/attitude. I can get a web address as to where to buy a brand new one for less than the smarty. The edge Juice/attitude does everything the smarty can and a whole lot more plus guages.

ON EDIT: opps, I see yours is a 07. Don't know if Edge has one out for the 07's yet.

 

[qzilla]

I am not certain exactly what you are looking for as far as style of gauges like analog or digital but, you might consider looking at this:



http://www.quadzillapower.com/products/commander.html



This will work all by itself without any power adders. The main advantage in your instance would be that you can get most or all of the parameters you want in one location. If you go analog you will need gauges on the pillar and somewhere else like the steering column or something to get that many gauges. Then if you put more than 1 on the pillar you loose the handle. The solution listed above has a pillar mount that allows you to keep you handle while getting everything you are asking for. You can watch 1,2,3 or 4 at a time but monitor all of them. If you are watching a single parameter like EGT and your transmission hits your set warning then the screen will automatically flip over and show you the warning and the value until the warning diappears. If there is more than 1 warning which would be odd, it will toggle so you can see them all and know you are in serious trouble.



With the setup above you can watch EGT, Boost, Trans, Coolant, Rail Pressure and Low Fuel Pressure.



If you start adding up thos same gauge in analog this comes out to be considerably more economical as well.



It would be perfect for your needs and you should definately look into it.

 

[JMarketos]

Allow me to vote the rear end temp back on the list...

I installed bunch of gauges on mine and added the rear end

temp gauge, figuring it was overkill. (I installed a mag hytec

rear cover, with gauge probe in the spot they provide).

Towing a relatively light trailer (6K - 7K), the rear end

runs at 180 - 200F, which got my attention.

(this is on flat land, extended highway cruising, summer temps 90F+)

I've been told this is normal, but still I like to have it on a gauge.