tranny swap

From : rick ellsworth

Q: im thinking there is a series of adjustments or add-ons that need to be done together to form a cohesive power upgrade without any harmful effects. absolutely correct... adding power requires modification to several different components. for example tweak injection pump and upgrade injectors to get more flow... need a better lift pump to deliver the extra fuel need a better turbo to build more boost to add to that extra fuel need a better intake/intercooler to cool down the boosted intake charge need a bigger/freer-flowing exhaust to take away the extra heat/exhaust gases. powertrains need to be strengthened to deal with the extra torque. it keeps going. buying a newer truck that comes stock already built to handle 200 extra hp is sounding more attractive all the time. with one exception keeping my truck until the wheels fall off and resigning myself that the truck just doesnt have the grunt everyone says it has. you also have to factor in the tax increase in insurance cost and so on of a newer or new truck. also along with the newer truck come a whole bunch of expensive electronic stuff. you might want to take your truck to a cummins facility and have them put it on the dyno and see what they come up with. you might be down on power due to a real simple cause. i learned some time ago that if you really want to go fast you do it in a car. a truck is a truck is a truck it may be powerful but it is a truck. if i had it to do over again i should have kept my 94 12v. but it always seems to come down to want rather than need. .

Replies:

From : max dodge

miricle of miricles...ok pretty simple fix really. im rather embarrsed while scratching my head. ill get to this and the fix in a moment... local cummins seemed much more in tune than the dodge guys as they didnt know what was wrong what couuld be wrong and not sure where to start. cummins didnt want $95 to throw it on machine as dodge did. it doesnt need a machine. its needs a real mech who knows the engine as it has to be a simple fix just because of the symptons. im not a mech but do repair things and know the difference between something major and something minor. its just a gut feeling and the symptons. cummins said $90 then 50 to hook it to a computer then time to read it and it came out to $240 just to see if there was anything wrong. no thanks. i heard our area virginia beach finally has a diesel place that is about power not big rig repairs. went there this morning. the man who looked at my truck drives the same thing as well as a newer dually and is in the navy as a nuc mach mate. we speak the same language. i told him what i noteced and thought the overflow valve replaced etc... we went for a ride. it wasnt too bad and he liked it for the most part. i said the throttle plate is slid all teh way forward. he didnt like that as the power wasnt there for that simple mod. i asked him if his foot was on the firewall or in a more normal position like his truck. that got his attention. back tot eh garage. throttle has a lottle of play in it. yep. thats why i said im not getting wot. didnt take long from there. i told him dodge had done a recall to replace the throttle cable but it looked different than the new one i had already replaced on it new style. the one they put on wasnt the old style or the new style. its different. he made a quick spacer to take the slack behind the pedal. lo an d behold the truck runs like it did when i forst bought it. im putting the old cable back in. if youre confused the original cable frayed and dodge had a new one out. dealer said no recall even though nhtsa said there was. i bought the new one repalced it myself and called dodge. a friends brother worked for them in their main hq in their quality dept. that helped. the faxed me the paperwork to give to the dealer for the recall and sent me a check to pay for the cable i bought. dealer put the new cable on and gave me my new cable back. sweet! now the embarassment. i never noticed a loss of power or slack in the throttle from that time. i did notice that over a year to two years time power was slipping away. i thought my truck was dying. nope. overflow valve spring broken and now throttle cable bad. its running really sweet now. ive got power! my foot isnt embedded into the firewall trying to get it to move. to be honest with the slack in the cable i didnt notice my foot sinking into the floor before power came on. seemed pretty normal. now my foot barely moves and im honking 60. pretty easy to pass on the freeway now as well as take off from a dead stop. i did feel blessed and that god was allowing me to play a little so i am going to put in 3k gsk kdp fix 3 pod gauge set timing checked and tweaked and a #8 tst plate installed. hes going to do that in 2 weeks hes only free weekends scott not the business. i thought about a #6 plate but looking at tsts site the #8 seems best for tranny life. a #10 isnt recd for some reason. i know ive read online that taking a 10 and then grinding is fun but tst says 10s are n/a. anyways there it is in long form. short form stretched or wrong throttle cable installed by dealer. john .