hi all. new to site. diesel owner about a couple of years.(96 dodge 3500). i was curious if its possible to roll off (bump start) my truck? if not why?

 

if you mean push start then yea i have done it lots of times.

 

Yep it is perfectly possible. Keep in mind that your shutdown solenoid needs to be pulled up so you either need to bump the starter and turn the key back to the on position or manually tie it up with a zip tie or something. If you batteries are totally dead, you can roll start the truck but you will have to tie up the shutdown solenoid.

As you probably know, the higher the gear you can do it in, the better. I have been able to do it in 3rd just fine if in a place with good traction. Any higher of a gear and you need to be going pretty fast.

 

batteries were dead this summer, tried to roll over big hill 4 times, engine turning fast, and it never hit a lick. took jumper cables and jumped it off of tractor and it started right up.

 

It fired right up because you energized the shut down solenoid and pulled it up. Prior to that you did not have enough juice to pull it up or hold it up. It is spring loaded so it will not stay up without some voltage.