Trip Report

[jlynn]

We just returned from a trip from Great Falls, MT to Nampa, ID pulling a 33 ft. travel trailer. Our combined vehicle weight is around 13,500lbs. We went down I-15 to I-84 & I-86 to Nampa. This route crosses the Continental Divide three times in Montana with the highest pass being Monida, at the Montana/Idaho border, elev. 6823. On the return trip we went up the western side of Idaho from Boise to McCall, Grangeville, Kooskia, along US 12 to Missoula and MT 200 to Great Falls. I don't know what the highest elevation was on this leg, but the most difficult grade was White Bird Hill at 4245 ft. I was in second gear at 45 mph on this grade. The trip from Kooskia to Lolo Pass along the Lochsa River is quite beautiful. The Clearwater National Forest has several campgrounds closed along this route. The personnel at the Powell Ranger Station told us it was due to lack of funding, but that is a matter for me and my congressmen! We averaged 12 mpg at 65 mph, in overdrive, on the whole trip, with which I was well pleased. (I used to get about 8mpg with my 86 Suburban and not go anywhere near 65 mph). I take it out of overdrive when I start up a hill or the speed starts to drop off.

All in all, I personally do not feel the need for more power. I change my oil (Rotella) and filter every 3000 miles and do the other maintenance as recommended by the service manual. By the way, I feel that the service manual is one of the better purchases I have ever made. It is quite detailed and easy to follow.

This afternoon I went and visited Rocky Mountain Truck Service here in Great Falls. I was all set to buy a Stratopore filter. The technician was quite informative. He told me that the Stratopore was designed for extended oil changes with synthetic oil. So, he saved me a couple of bucks there. He also informed me that they see a number of engines which are gunked up due to the use of K&N air filters. It seems they don't filter out the fine particulate (he saved me about $60 there!). Now before you leap all over me, I have no ax to grind with K&N and I am just passing along some info from a Cummins service guy.

I thought this might be of interest to somebody, so there it is. I hope you are all as happy with your Rams as I am!

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

jlynn, sounds like you had a great trip! Idaho and Montana are great states to visit. I just returned from a road trip, starting here in E. Washington I headed to Boise, on down to Twin Falls Id and then straight south through the length of eastern Nevada & on to LA. That was a very interesting and rather scenic drive. I enjoyed the open, quiet country with very little traffic. We blasted along at a steady 75-80 with a 1800lb flatbed trailer. We bucked a strong headwind between Boise almost all the way to LA so MPG was only 16. 7. But on the way home I turned in 18. 5 driving hard through hilly country then the last tank was the best at 19. 4 pulling the trailer at 75 (no headwind this time!). Pushing it hard EGTs ran at 700-800 for long stretches at a time. After driving hard for so long the engine seemed to run better, may be part of the reason MPGs improved. I think with all the town driving I do, a good hard highway run blows out carbon that accumulates or something.



In regards to your oil filter I would only go with the Stratapore, no matter what oil you use. It is considerably better than the standard filter (I'm assuming that's what the Cummins man sold you). I run only the Stratapore and get very good oil analysis results. I think it would be hard to find a better filter, and best of all, Cummins profits from Fleetguard filter sales and I think its a great way to help support my favorite engine company.



The air filter issue has been beat to death, but a great alternative to the K&N is the Amsoil filter which I run. My seat of the pants meter tells me my truck runs better with it due to lower flow resistance than the stock filter, plus I feel it filters better. My K&N let too much dust through.



Vaughn