Does the Banks ram cold air intake really help

ScottG wrote:
Every vehicle made has a "cold air intake" so don't let that be a selling point. If you really need to increase flow a bit because of extra fueling then just install a stock 4" thick Wix filter.

Also, nothing will make your 2500 a 3500.

On late model Dodge RAMs (prior to 2013), the only difference in a 2500 and a 3500 is the rear springs, the badge and $600 on the window sticker. Not sure about 2013 and later. Believe the new 3500 may have a beefed up frame to accomplish their monsterous towing capability.

I would NOT do the straight pipe. There are aftermarket exhaust that do as good of job letting it exhaust and sound good. A straight pipe will drive you nuts running down the road with a load. I have a MBRP exhaust on my 05 and really like it and has no droan.

Gee-buzz guys!!

Straight piping means to do cat delete...still run muffler! Then buy the Smarty Jr. safest programmer on the market and designed specifically for the Cummins.

Throw on a good MBRP exhaust. Go to genosgarage.com and buy a Mopar of Fleetguard stock air filter. Air in and air out is the key. $400 intake will not help enough to be worth it at all.

Give that a try and see how it goes. As soon as you start adding bigger injectors/power tuners you will need to do other things like beef up the trans at around 5K.

Every vehicle made has a "cold air intake" so don't let that be a selling point. If you really need to increase flow a bit because of extra fueling then just install a stock 4" thick Wix filter.

Also, nothing will make your 2500 a 3500.

Is something wrong with the stock intake? I can't imagine...

I would NOT do the straight pipe. There are aftermarket exhaust that do as good of job letting it exhaust and sound good. A straight pipe will drive you nuts running down the road with a load. I have a MBRP exhaust on my 05 and really like it and has no droan.

Unless you are going to do the scoop that goes down to the air dam under the front bumper then a good quality filter will be all you'll need to feed the air unless you are planning some major mods to the motor and then a better flowing inner cooler would be my first pick before a cold air intake. The stock intake heater on our trucks are more of a restriction than the air box.

Does it help nope! Dodge and Cummins guys did a great job with the OEM air intake, pulls cold air from the front of the truck through the inner fender and into the air box. But if you add supporting mods to your truck a bigger air box/inlet/filter can be used. Supporting mods would include: bigger injector nozzles, larger or twin turbo setups, programmer, straight through exhaust, beefed up tranny...list goes on and on....been there done that my 2005 had plenty of mods, at 517hp and 1200ftlb torque and got great fuel mileage, I did it not to get the fuel mileage but for some extra hp and cause I had nothing else to spend money on at the time!

If you want to help that Cummins do the straight through exhaust, safest mod of any.

I saw about a 150 degree drop in EGT's in my 2006 by switching from the stock setup to an aftermarket cold air intake.

my thought would be, will it provide cleaner air to the big guy hammering away under the hood.
if not, then no way, the 4" thick mopar air filter does a good job and provides the diesel engine clean air.

when I bought my truck used at 42K miles it had a K&N air filter in the air box.
I took it out, was going to clean, reoil, then I ran my hand back up into the air duct to the engine, my hand came out with a white powder type material on my hand.

I wiped all the white powder out of the air tube and boxed up the K&N air filter.
bought a mopar 4" air filter for my 2005 dodge diesel truck and never looked back.

my mpg may have gone down 1 mpg, but clean air, no powder, is worth it to me.

In reality, no. It will be successful at lightening your wallet. Without major engine modifications, you will not see any measurable difference and will never save enough in fuel consumption to pay for it.