98-02 Cummins questions

path1 wrote:
Lift pump problems. Not a big deal but upgrade to FASS system when it goes out. And yes when I was looking prior to getting our 01 with auto there was something about manuals that when re-building people were putting a tack weld on some threaded shaft to prevent something from unscrewing. Might have more luck finding answers at http://www.turbodieselregister.com/ if no answers show up here.

I would also rather have the six spreed, but they are costly to rebuild.
The only real issue with the 01 is weak lift pump which will take out the VP44 injection pump. The cure is simple install a FASS or Air Dog lift pump that can put out 15 to 20 psi to the injection pump. This is a $300 to $600 investment. I run a FASS DDRP-02 which is a better than stock pump and get 15 psi. I put a small chip, DS Power Puck and have no issues moving an 11K 5er in the hills of western Oregon. Mine currently has just over 260,000 miles, and is still a great towing machine. I also installed a Pacbrake exhaust brake, now no issues getting up the hills, and no issues slowing down on the down hill side.

Dad's shooting for 400K, I expect at least 500K, currently 10K oil changes, and use about a qt. in that 10K.

4x4ord wrote:
We had a '99. It was a fairly trouble free truck that got superb fuel economy, but it was extremely noisy, smelly and rough riding. I, personally, would much rather have a little newer big block gasser than a stinky, noisy, smelly rough riding old diesel.

Yeah, the newer 6.2 SuperDuty would be sweet.

The old 99 V10 is pretty rough riding. Its probably not worth enough to trade it. LOL. Who knows what we will do. 9-10 mpg is pretty rough for empty driving.

Thanks!

We had a '99. It was a fairly trouble free truck that got superb fuel economy, but it was extremely noisy, smelly and rough riding. I, personally, would much rather have a little newer big block gasser than a stinky, noisy, smelly rough riding old diesel.

I've owned both the five speed and the six speed manual Cummins in Dodge pickups.

Six speed is the winner. The five speed in my 2001 was always one gear short of where it needed to be (and this was in the 2-3-4th gear ranges).

The six speed in my 2006 was perfect. Then I got tired of rowing and traded it off for an automatic.

Lift pump problems. Not a big deal but upgrade to FASS system when it goes out. And yes when I was looking prior to getting our 01 with auto there was something about manuals that when re-building people were putting a tack weld on some threaded shaft to prevent something from unscrewing. Might have more luck finding answers at http://www.turbodieselregister.com/ if no answers show up here.