farmlucki

I'm looking at buying a 2006 dodge quadcab, slt, 5.9, auto, 4x4. Just wondering if this is a good year for dodge and cummins and how the trannys are holding up. this isn't my first diesel. I pull a gooseneck trailer sometimes so if there are up grades to the tranny I can do, not looking to massive amounts of horepower fot the tranny to take on. Also how about airfilters which is better? Anything I should wacth out for??

Thank,
Keith

clutches4life

Keith,

Welcome to DTR!!

All years of the 5.9 Cummins engines are great. I don't think you'll find a single complaint with that year model truck as that is the exact same year and drivetrain combo (despite my clutches4life name, I'm going the auto route this time too) I will be buying when I get back from Afghanistan this June. Being this isn't your first diesel and you are wanting to tow some loads with it, I imagine that you'll be savvy enough to determine whether this diesel has been treated well and not modded out or driven by a young guy (which I happen to be young, and I know how hard we can drive a truck sometimes). You always take a chance when buying a used vehicle, but unless this truck has been abused you should find it to be quite bulletproof.

All that being said, as for tranny upgrades....How much weight do you plan on towing? I know of many people that put a lot of hard towing miles on the stock tranny and as long as you don't plan on running big hp tunes on chips or towing to the max of the truck, I don't see the need to upgrade. Others will probably chime in with better info if you plan on towing real heavy as to what trans upgrades you would best benefit from. My knowledge is more performance oriented and that advice probably wouldn't serve your needs for towing. I do know that some people have trouble with one of the trans solenoids causing a 1-2-1 gear search in the transmission, but this is easy and affordable to do in the event it happens.

Air filters- If you don't plan on putting a big hp tuner on your truck, I don't see why you would need to do an aftermarket intake, but Mopar and some other companies do make high efficiency drop in replacements. I would recommend staying away from any oil-type air filter (I know some may not agree), but reading on here and other forums I hear that people experience nothing but trouble with them causing damage and causing odd readings in their oil samples.

Tuners- There are several aftermarket tuners out there that will help with fuel economy, mild towing power increase, and lower egts. Once again, I'm focused more on performance so I'm not sure who makes the best towing tuners, but someone else may have that.

Exhaust- You didn't mention anything about it, but if you plan on towing a lot, you may consider upgrading to at least a 4" turbo back exhaust to help keep the egts in check. If you're worried about keeping the truck quiet, there are many companies such as MBRP, Banks, etc. that offer a straight through flowing muffler that will keep the exhaust quiet while reaping the benefits of a straight flowing exhaust.

Gauges- You didn't mention this either, but once again I recommend at least getting three gauges for your truck (EGT, BOOST, TRANSMISSION TEMP.) These three will help you keep an eye on the vitals while towing to make to prevent damaging critical components when towing. I recommend this for anyone with a diesel whether you tow, race, or keep it stock. Knowledge is always power in this regard to help you spot a problem before it becomes costly. Everyone has a brand they like, but I am partial to Isspro or Dipricol gauges as they seem to be the most accurate and have many years of experience in the precision instrumentation field. I would give them any extra amount of money over cheaper gauges.

Also, if you have extra money to push around and plan on towing a lot you can consider a propane or water/methanol system to give a little extra power, fuel economy, and lower the egts. According to what you mentioned about towing a gooseneck only "sometimes", I think that you may not want to spend the money, but it's something to consider when towing a lot.

Hope this info helps and keep studying the DTR forums religiously and you can learn a lot from the great knowledge the users have on here and can learn ahead of the curve when choosing aftermarket products. Good luck with the truck if you decide to buy it and I hope you don't get bit as hard by the performance disease as I have. There's no stopping once you start modding.

isb07

an 06 will have a 4'' exaust from the factory, no need to upgrade really.
the stock torque converter is kinda loose, once the converter locks they pull much better. my 48re is holding up well at 36k but i would like to upgrade to a gorend converter and valve body eventually. id look into a 2 micron fuel setup and make sure to check your injector line isolators. the ball joints and u-joints in these are horrible from the factory. i would plan on upgrading to xrf balljoints and greasble u-joints. thats about it i woudn't give my 07 up for anything besides a 2010 2500