Having bought and imported a 2002 Q/cab ram into the UK in August 2004,I`ve been driving round smug in the knowledge that I had a big bullet proof Cummins under the bonnet.It was only when looking on the net at these and other forums,it was obvious, even to me that the term bullet proof did not apply to the lift pump.
I spent hours reading forums,deciding on which way to go,so I could give the lift pump an easier life and hopefully prolong its service life.Also at the same time making the truck more reliable.
In the end I decided to fit a Vulcan big line kit and a BD performance auxiliary lift pump.Between fitting the kits I`ve taken fuel pressure readings from the outlet side of the fuel filter,using a industrial 3inch pressure gauge stuck out from underneath the bonnet resting on the windscreen,only a temporary measure whilst fitting the kits.
I`ve taken 3 readings,at idle,60mph on cruise control and WOT at 70mph.All readings were taken on the same stretch of road,on a slight uphill gradient
-----------Stock---------- Vulcan Big Line -------------BD pusher and Vulcan

Idle---------11psi ----------- --13psi -----------------------29psi

60 mph
on cruise-----6psi----------------9psi------------------------28psi

70mph
WOT---------2psi-----------------5psi-----------------------25psi

Conclusions
Stock 2psi at WOT is worrying,if you want higher pressures for little money and little work consider a Vulcan big line kit.If you want to bomb your truck consider BDs pusher kit,just to make sure your VP44 gets the juice.I had to do over eighty mph to get the WOT reading of 25 psi to drop then it only dropped a couple of pounds.Taking it steady and quite a few coffee breaks it took me approx eight hours to fit both kits.

Regards this side of the pond, Van aka Yamroamer

 

Thanks for the info. All the extra attention we give our trucks/engines is less important to other CTD owners but because we like to fool around with ours, we like to think this extra attention will help the engine to last longer.
With summer coming, fuel and injector pump heat is suspected to cause trouble but folks are thinking about a cure.