fireguy9993

Im a newbie here, so please forgive my ignorance. I just bought the truck in my sig about 2 weeks ago. The problem is that when accelerating from a slow speed, it has some power, but certainly wont win any races. The boost guage goes up to about 25 and stays there until top gear. Once I hit top gear at about 50 or so it feels like its been kicked by a mule. I have to be very careful with it after about 50 because of the power. Is this normal?

I like to baby my vehicles and dont get into it much. However, I've had a few instances where I needed power so I got into it.

TxDiesel007

Seems to me the plate is a different one than what i run, or the timing is off

The timing is supposed to be a gradual loss in the lower end and it is supposed to help you better off in the top end.... I too drive a 1996 truck and it used to have the full on power pack but it never did what you said that yours does, and i had a boost gauge that only goes to 30 PSI and even with the banks plate, (see my profile for a pic) it actually would peg it out. My timing was not messed with as I can recall, nor do i have any records from the PO of my truck to say so. I would say no your condition is not normal.

I currently run a 100 plate which is a very aggresive plate and it runs like a scalded dog when i want it to, but its always a gradual increase.... timing is still stock for another 36 hours


Oh yes, welcome to DTR!

I dont think your Lift pump was turned up, im most certain it is your injector pump.....

Rick

Rick

fireguy9993

Thanks for the welcome. It is a little intimidating when you post a newbie question that just might be that you have never driven one before and dont know how it runs. I'm new to Cummins and the Dodge, but have had experience with many Powerstrokes (ambulances) and an old DT 360.

Yeah, you're right, it was just a typo (LP instead of IP).

Sorry, didnt clarify that. The boost climbs up to about 25 or so gradually when I get on it. Around town it will go between 2 and 10 with normal driving. Stomp on it and it boosts up to about 25 or 30 and stays there. Once it hits top gear it instantly has twice (S.W.A.G. guess there) the power. It runs well, just not nearly with the power I get once I get into top gear.

TxDiesel007

I was new here too a little over a year ago

Im on here every day so there are no such things as stupid questions, I have no experience with an auto trans, so i cannot testify towards your sudden double of power feel. But with my manual trans, it would drive similar to what you say with the boost staying there at those ranges 25-30, BUT with my manual at top gear all i feel is the truck pulling harder and the pyro slowly rising. My guess is it pulls harder than 35 PSI, but i cannot decipher just how much......

Just for my info? what is SWAG guess?

Rick

mr T

start thinking about investing into a tight and solid torque converter...ur basically driving "through" the TC until lock-up where u put it all to the ground...for the meanwhile get urself a governor spring kit....i dunno whats in the banks kit but i assume those arent

enjoy

TxDiesel007

Banks Kit as i recall

with my truck came with the old school logos, the gauges, the frog eye pod, the plate, the stinger exhaust, the 14cm housing, and thats all that I can think of, im not certain if it came with a twin ram or not....

There is NO GSK with the Banks Kit, nor is there anything for the transmission, and some of the newer model banks kits came with the twin ram, which is basically for looks more than anything else....

Rick

fireguy9993

What would the GSK (governor spring kit) do? Mine basically stops at about 2800rpms. I have researched people installing these to get the RPMs up, but didnt know these would work for limiting power.
Torque converter = Big $, right?

Basically, be easy on it or I will damage the transmission?

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I am about 99% sure that this is the truck that I have now. When I compared the two listings they were identical:
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...lukes+link+kit

TxDiesel007

Here you go.. read up, learn adn enjoy

THIS is just to get a little more power out of your ram. You can do serveral things, i see you are getting gauges, and you have an air intake on the way. which is good. Now this is an into to the main power source of the ram, Your P7100 Pump, and what you can tweak on it for more power. You can also time it, but thats advanced, well at least for me... use this as an intro more than anything.. I tried my best to explain it.... here goes... and

I meant to say post.... sorry.....

Here is an intro the link to the pic might not work, but u can see it as banks plate in my gallery.....

to get more power out of your truck the first and foremost investment is a good set of gauges. These are a must anytime that you are adding more fuel to your mix.

A governers spring kit, Reffered to as a GSK is a wonderful investment that widens your normally narrow powerband from the 12 valve engine and allows you to fuel hard to at least 3200 RPMS or so, before it starts to defuel, this is all dependant on your governer arm adjustment and your plate positioning. A Torque, or fuel plate should come next. NO one really follows the plate guide anymore and the most popular plates nowadays are 100 (PM northslope for wicked work! ) and a zero plate. Piers Diesel Research and Hot Rod Diesels have them for the same price, The fuel plate... here is my explanation....

Torque plates.... ok this is a torque plate right here... https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...=500&page=1

More commonly reffered to as fuel plates, they come in different numbers to explain how "aggressive" (for lack of a better term at the moment) that they are 10, 8, 6, 5, 0, and 100, zero being a flatt plate that bombards the pump with fuel, and a 100 being a ten plate curve with no top end defueling, much like the zero.. The one you see there is my banks plate, screwy yes, i know, i dont get it myself. that plate goes in the P7100 injector pump, It goes under what is called the AFC housing, which has a little starwheel on it, the starwheel can be accessed with the removal of the hex dealy using the the right hex head size plug, and u loosen it for more smoke, and better lower end, and tighten it for the inverse. Use a good screwdriver.... furthermore... You will see four screws there where the starwheel is, two that are flatt, one that is possibly a breakoff screw that can be a real PITA to remove, take a hammer and good screwdriver and bang the tar outta it, it will come off, if that fails, left hand drill bit... Looking down the driver side, the top left hand is the breakaway, and the top right is a regular screw as well, the bottom two are 8mm bolts and you need to get around to one that is in the back of the AFC housing that holds that fuel shutdown solenoid in place...

Install time, for a newbie, well it will take you about a couple of hours at most. If you read my literal "dissertation" of a post hehehehehehe. it tells u the procedure on how to do it. Your only real problem might be that break off screw, especially if your truck is stock, However, nothing a good strong screwdriver and some persuasion cannot take care of.

The other tricky bolt is the one (if you look down from the drivers side) behind the Fuel shutdown soleniod (electronic hooked up deal that bolts in front of the injector pump, easily removed with in my case an 8mm (and most should be too) socket and pull out the two bolts. when you undo those ull notice that there is one in the back that is holding the housing, you can just loosen the one in the rear using a deep 8 mm socket and just move teh shutdown soleniod out of the way, (downward) and then you can get to the plate..

When you are in there its simple adjustment, u just remove the stock plate and put the other plate in place of that one. NOTICE you have some play here. If you dont have gauges, dont set it full forward, If you do have gauges set it forward for a 30 or so rwhp increase!

Now put it back together and you are done. Installation is simply the reverse of removing it.PS having a magnetic tip screwdriver REALLY HELPS...

Which one is right for you.. id say the ten if you are not gonna be that aggressive with it, but the 100 is downright WICKED!! that be the one to go with, the zero is just too much at the low end for me but for dynos and racin, its awesome!.. The zero, PM Northslope AWESOME AWESOME WORK, and ull be helpin out a fellow DTR member, and the zero plate you can grind yourself, well you can do either or, but PM northslope do a search for plate grinding, started by gunracer1.. good instructions..

Either ways, you are going to need a clutch or tranny work if its an auto.....if you are going to play hard, in most cases if you just want a modest power gain, just get a 10 plate, set it a lil bit forward, and a GSK will wake up your truck. In the stock position its easily drivable and fun as well.

Waste gate, if i was good with pictures id put one up for you, but im sure you know what the wastegate looks like, that head looking deal, it is usually hooked to a rubber or similar airline, you want a little more boost? You can get a longer hose or pinch it up, There is a thread, i dont member where tho, where it shows someone improperly blocking the wastgate with a screw.... Well that aint good.. Anyways

Also make sure you get the KDP done on that truck as well... Not hard to do, look in my previous posts, KDP Report Using TST kit, or somethin similar to that......

PS this is cut and paste of other posts, sorry if its redundant....

Best of luck and hope that this helps..

Tx

fireguy9993

Lots of good info...thank you.

With the kick that I get once the TC locks, I think she is plenty fast (for now ). Sounds to me like I just need to get the auto tranny beefed up. Has anyone done this? What kind of price does it run normally?

MikeR

Your tranny is the problem. Like in the factory-poor fluid coupling mode, the converter is loosing too much power, and then once the lockup clutch in the converter hits, you're getting more power down to the ground. The stock automatic sucks.

I wouldn't bother spending $1100 for just the new converter, when your 10yr old truck with 200k miles is really going to need a complete trans done. As it is if you get 100k out of a stocker you got your money's worth. Better save up some $$.

MikeR

Oh, a proper diesel trans built up by a shop that specializes in diesel tranny's...realistically about $5k installed.

And no, the local Joe blow's $500 tranny rebuilds or the cheap chain Aamco's never-ever hold up to any diesel performance.

Willy91

I would also suggest saving money for a new tranny. Give Dave Goerend a call. He will set you up wright and not cost you an arm and a leg either. Plus his converters carry a lifetime warrenty.

NMCTD

I'll second what mike said. A friend of mine has a 97 auto he bought with a fuel plate and boost elbow installed in it, and the truck ran great, had ok power around town, but once it was up to freeway speeds and the converter "locked up" LOOK OUT CUS HERE WE GO!!! Then 2 months later the tranny took a crap. A good way to tell how efficient your torque converter is is by how much the RPM's drop when it goes into "lock up" When Lock up happens the converter delivers 100% power to the tranny. That being said if you see a big drop in RPM once it locks and then have a bunch more power, that difference in power before vs after "lock up" is how much power you are losing because of a weak converter. Now if you have a well built tranny and a real efficient converter the you won't see as drastic drop in RPM and increase in power because your converter won't be losing all that power before lock up.

Does that make any sense???

I hear good things about Dave Goerend, but I have no expierience with him, another company I have delt with and I here alot of good things about it DTT here is they're link http://www.dieseltrans.com

Hope this helps

fireguy9993

Thanks all. I'll have to look at how much my RPMs drop, but it is a difference you can hear. Looks like it is time to start rolling pennies

wannadiesel

Fireguy, check your PM's please.