IdaD wrote:
garyp4951 wrote:
My Good Sam roadside came in handy, and towed the truck and 5er to a campground, and Ram dealer.
The water pump pulley broke, and lost the belt while in heavy one lane construction traffic on hey 45 on our way home from Gulf Shores AL, and I lost steering, and brakes immediately, but was able to get on the gravel shoulder using the trailer brake.
I could have repaired it myself if I was home, but now just sitting in the campground 100 miles from home waiting on word from the dealer.
Same thing happened to my 2015 a few weeks ago and left us high and dry on a sunny (nearly) 100 degree day. The worst part of it was a weekend in a dinky rural Oregon town so the part wasn't available for a few days. We were three hours from home so we had somebody come pick us up and then went back later in the week to pick up the truck and trailer. That was after a night in a local campground trying to figure things out.
Sucks but life goes on. I am stocking the camper with coolant and distilled water, and the truck now has a spare water pump and serpentine belt under the back seat just in case. The good news is that the fix is relatively easy so some roadside wrenching isn't out of the question if help can't be summoned easily.
I've reached the conclusion that water pumps on Cummins trucks are problematic. Certainly not the worst thing in the world from a repair standpoint but not ideal either. I'll probably swap mine out every 2-3 years going forward.
Reading the interweb drivel on a Cummins forum, the newer 4th gens seem to have an issue with early water pump failure.
Pre 2014 I don't believe it was an issue. Avg lifespan 150kmi plus.
Definitely something to consider in the spare parts bin on the newer trucks. Given the frequency it happens on the web, if I had a new ram I'd think hard about swapping it at about 50kmi.
Seems like a bad batch because I believe it's basically the same pump from back to the 12V and 24V engines.
Replaced mine at 140k last year and it was still good.....preventative maintenance.