RE: Rear end sagging to much
Some people seem to have trouble with "do the best with what you have". Is he overloaded? Maybe. Was it the question? No. If he is, is it dangerous? Not as dangerous as if he drove his F250 empty and unoloaded the wrong way down a city street - everything's relative. At least he had the common sense to ask for advice, and even read the forums.
OP - good luck and congrats on graduating!
RE: rv transport?
There's a guy on the Reno/Tahoe craigslist under "RVs" that advertises - I called him for a quote a while back. He's actually in Sacrament, it's a 916 area code. He quoted me $1650 for a 25' FW from Yuba City to Cheyenne, about 1200 miles. Hopefully yours would be less - it it's a 5th wheel can you rent a truck (big truck, not pickup) and haul it yourself? A daycab should be cheaper than hiring out-
RE: Cummins 5.9 or 6.7?
17.6 and 21 mpg is pretty impressive, regardless of motor. I honestly don't think the MPG difference will be as bad as most make it out to be. Of course, I went from an 8.1 gas to the cummins so anything over single digits seems great to me!
RE: Cummins 5.9 or 6.7?
My wife and I just faced the same decision - you can see what we chose. We were looking at the same payment for a used 5.9 vs a new 6.7, one year less on the used at the same interest rate. We went new because
1) the new was only $5K more
2) we had no way of knowing if a used truck had been chipped / abused
3) new = full warranty, if we bought used, we'd have to add in the cost of an extended warranty ($1500 - $2K)
4) 6-spd vs 4-spd auto tranny
5) Exhaust brake rocks!
Our thinking is that all vehicles depreciate; we buy for a purpose, not an investment. Therefore, we'd rather put our $ into more truck , and less "other" like the extended warranty, any upgrades/repairs that come up on a used one, etc.
So far we have about 2K miles on it, over half of it towing really heavy (23-24K CGVWR) from CA to WY including over several mountains. We really love it; nicest truck we've owned. I'm sure that either way you'll be happy - and good luck!
RE: Engine light on the Dodge 6.7
"No! a Diesel truck was never intended to be a daily driver commuter vehicle. people need to understand that. it`s forums like these that have people telling you to get a diesel to tow your 5000lb TT 4 times a year that make the diesels look bad.
People need to be educated on what a diesel is necessary for. i`m sure everyone would have told me I need a diesel to tow my TT. but I know better and bought what is needed not what is recomended by someone I`ve never met"
OK I'm glad that everyone knows best why I buy a truck. Please consider that a) it's legal to buy it and b) the loan's in my name; I guess I should be able to decide what tool (gas or diesel) best suits the variety of applications for which I need it.
We chose a diesel because it works best for us. That includes a large percentage of time commuting 10 miles to work; but it also included a 1200-mile trip at about 24K GCVWR. Guess I should have pulled that 16K trailer up the Rockies with a Tundra? As mentioned, some of us can't afford to buy a diesel and only drive it when there's a trailer around. I guess I could make sure to take my trailer every day to work to keep my turbo clean? Most farmers I know have diesels. They use them because sometimes they're needing to haul feed, cattle, tractors, equipment, etc. A lot of the time, they simply drive them because it's the family truck and they need groceries. I'm thinking 200# of feed plus the week's Wal-Mary shopping is not a workout for a 350-hp/650 tq engine - maybe they should buy another truck just for errands. Sorry to rant, but saying a $40K vehicle is only for one application is foolish. If it's just for work, why does it come with only a Class IV hitch and no gooseneck from the factory? Why is a tow package an option?
OK all better now - thanks...!
RE: The hunt is on, where to look....
Lovin' the 6.7 so far - the EB is great, and I'd shoot for much lower; the latest I saw was a Big Horn 2500 QC 4X4 for $31 new locally (Wyoming).
RE: Dodge 6.7 Tranny - is this normal?
Thanks - we looked at the manual, but in the 6.7 apparently the engine is derated in HP and TQ due to the clutch (not the tranny itself though), and got a better deal on the auto. If the price was right I would've preferred the stick anyway.
RE: My first diesel! What kind of MPG's can I expect? DPF?
Got about 10 - 11.3 towing 23K gcvwr including crossing the Sierras and Rockies. Managed about 55-60 up both grades without any trouble. I didn't hand calculate though. Appears to be around 13-15 avg city/hwy. Hwy I expect about 18. Only got 1800 miles on it also, and it tows like a beast.
Dodge 6.7 Tranny - is this normal?
We just finished a 1200-mile trip from CA to WY. Used our new (350 miles starting the trip) Dodge 6.7 diesel with the 6-speed auto. We were towing heavy (really heavy), around 23K + GCVWR; the GN trailer was about 14-15K loaded, the truck was loaded too. For the weight police - yes I know I was overloaded, I hit the scales and was over truck GVW, over GCVWR, but only slightly over RAWR / tire ratings due to how the trailer was loaded. But I sure could have used the overloads that are on the 3500 trucks:) Sometimes you just have to make do with what you have and it got us here. I could almost hear the truck breathe a sigh of relief when I unhooked the trailer and it went back up off the bump stops...
From the cummins forums I read, the best way to break in the engine is to give it a few hundred miles to seat the rear end, then load it up and go... Which is exactly what we did. Hit the first mountains (Donner Pass) at 435 miles on the odo. Then the Rockies, coming out of Salt Lake City.
My question is this - whenever the trans would downshift, it would drop two gears (from abo-ut 1800 RPMs up to ~3K, and then the rpms would slowly drop down to around 23-2400. It was definitely like the torqe converter was unlocked and hunting until it found the higher gear (lower rpms). I have a slight smell of burnt fluid on the tip of the dipstick, but the fluid itself is still clear red with no burnt smell. I can't imagine that it's normal to drop two gears, and use the torque converter to back down until it locks in while under heavy loads? I thought the Tow/Haul was for more solid up/downshifts and minimal TC unlock? Please let me know if any of you have had similar issues before I take it to the dealership. And oh yes - LOVE the exhaust brake! And she's broken in now, and running much stronger after just that 1500 miles. Thanks for any responses.
RE: Mount Prodidgy Brake Controller - 2006 Dodge 2500 CTD
Placed mine yesterday, in the middle console is a recess just to the right of where the right knee sits. That has a slot in the bottom where it meets the floor hump that you can slide the wires into, and I just drilled into the bottom of the top edge of the recess and hung it there (sorry so confusing, I can't show you a pic).
RE: Pulling in the Mountains
A couple suggestions:
1. As mentioned a Tru-Cool 4590 or similar stacked plate cooler will help
2. Change fluid before you go. I used all Red Line synthetic, but it took 22 quarts or so for the first change so was a little pricey. There are drains on the torque converter too I believe for the 4R100.
3. Agree 100% - get a gauge. It takes about $25 and 15 minutes, and is worth it. I bought a $15 oil or water temp gauge, worked just fine. There's already a plug on the trans for it, just unscrew the plug, screw in the sender, and run the wires to the gauge. I got fancy and wired mine to the dash lights so it dimed at night, but no need to go that far. And I got all this info from the dieselstop.com. GOod luck!
RE: Great Dodge buying experience (a bit long)
Hey - good for him if he can do that. Someday maybe we'll be in the same situation - but for now I'm just happy that we're able to get out of our old gas rig and into a new one; we're willing to pay the penalty from the trade-in, heck it's just another excuse to eat in a couple more nights a month!
RE: Great Dodge buying experience (a bit long)
Best thing I did for research is to use a calculator. On Vehix.com, there's an auto calculator that lets you see every part of the deal; interest, down, trade, fees, etc. You can enter it all, then print and take it in with you. Or if the dealer changes numbers, ask to use the internet and run it right there - I bought once by putting it all in, showing the screen, and saying "there's the offer" - rules out the shell game with trades, financing, etc.
Great Dodge buying experience (a bit long)
Just to encourage anyone still on the fence about buying now-
Per our previous posts we had found an 07 Ram 3500 new, but the dealer changed his mind at the last minute and lowered the offer on the trade. Just for grins I called a couple local dealers to ask about 08 prices. Let me preface by saying my wife and I are not good car shoppers. We get a little fiesty and don't care for games at all. We're happy to pay a fair price, but expect fair dealing back. Our first brand new car buying involved 7 salesmen at one dealer over the course of 6 hours - one even got so mad he threw his papers on the floor and stormed out. We got a deal, but will never go back there!
I called Magnusson Dodge, an hour away in Auburn CA. They said expect a call back shortly from the salesman. Sure enough, he called about 15 mins. later and asked what we were looking for. I told him a quad cab long bed 4X4, stripped is fine, as long as it fits our price limit ($29K). I said what Carmax had offered for our trade (truck in sig), and that we needed that price. He asked if we would do the deal if they could get that price for us. I said sure, he said let me ask my manager.
OK, I've heard that before... He called back in 15 minutes and said OK we'll do it, he had one that “just came off the truck”. Step One - Get Customer in the Door! Now driving our Chevy an hour away for a trade-in appraisal involves enough gas for us to have stopped at the local steakhouse, so we were plenty skeptical. We were expecting a lowball trade once they had "looked it over" and saw the dents, chipped windshield, etc. - anything to justify a lower trade.
It was a big shiny showroom, where you expect lots of pressure... But it was pretty quiet, no one came over and pestered us. The salesman came over and introduced himself, we gave him the keys, and headed out to look at the truck. As a bonus, it had the 6-spd auto (the 07 had manual – which I guess is detuned to lower HP and TQ in the 6.7 vs the auto), cruise (the only option we really wanted). We went for a test good 15 mile test drive, and as we were headed back to the dealership he said “here comes the high-pressure sales – will this truck work for you?”. We both said yes, went inside, and he went to check with his boss about the trade appraisal. We’re thinking “OK, here we go – get ready for battle”.
He came back in, said OK. We said “OK, what?”. “OK, we’re all set, what day do you want to take delivery. We said “huh?”. Everything was fantastic. We asked about the Dodge $500 military discount, and he took that off too. We made arrangements to take delivery two days later, since we’re moving out of CA we have to take delivery across the state lines or pay CA sales tax, there was no additional delivery charge. As we’re in the finance office, I thought the total seemed a tiny bit higher than I had calculated, but the salesman and I had looked it over and figured it must be the difference in the payoff on our trade. Finance guy looked and said hang on, this looks off. Came back and said the wrong rebate code was in there, he caught it and saved us from overpaying by $500. As we were leaving, I asked if we could get a few gallons of gas since it just had the little from shipping (it really had just come off the truck that morning). They said we’ll fill it, don’t worry. So when we took delivery, we stopped and they let us fill the truck at their station!
This is a little long, but we were so impressed with the experience I wanted to share. This was the easiest, and friendliest, car-buying experience we’ve had; and I highly recommend Magnusson Dodge, in Auburn CA. Our salesman was Jeremy, and was polite, humorous, and very helpful. Now I have to motivate myself to drill holes in the bed of truck with 250 miles on it for the 5th wheel hitch!
RE: Anybody Going Truck Shopping Today (8/30/08)?
Just got back last night with our new Ram 2500 CTD. We just couldn't pass up the offer, despite the hit on the trade it worked out really well - 2008 2500 4X4, CQ LB, manual windows and doors with a vinyl floor (which we love - so much better for dog hair!). Dealership was great, never had such an easy time buying. Rides great, can't wait to put a load on it!
RE: '08 Dodge Turck Deals
If you call that a hook, it worked for us. We are scheduled to take delivery tomorrow of a 2008 QC long bed 4X4 CTD; stripped down version. Price was great, and for the difference we can live with rolling up the windows - we used to do it all the time when I was younger. To each his own, but a new 08 cheaper than a used 05-06? Not much question for us - our first Dodge diesel, and we're looking forward to towing with it.
RE: plan to buy truck out state
We are in the middle of buying a CA truck, and the dealer we went through has been fantastic. No problems so far with out-of-state deliver (scheduled for tomorrow, so fingers crossed!). We called our home state and they faxed a drive-away temp registration, I'll let you know how it goes for delivery but it sounds like a viable option. Though that's a long long way to go to get a truck; as otehrs have said I bet you can get cheaper closer.
RE: To Dodge or not to Dodge?
Well - looks like it may be a moot point, as the dealer has now dropped the offer on the trade too low to make sense. I think maybe we will look at a couple others in the area, just to see what they're offering on the 08s - I already have one offered for just over $30K, with more features. I was hoping they'd be a little more aggressive moving a 2007 quad cab long box manual, that no one's apparently wanted for at least the past year and is taking up space on their small lot. We'll see what they come back with.
Oh, well - it'll save having to install the 5er and gooseneck hitches again at least:)
