TAS05CTD610

That's a tough one. While I could tell you "yup, getting 22 day in, day out" that's not true. I would have to say on the highway, empty I normally average between 17-20. I know that's not very specific, but I have a 4x4, auto trans, 3.73 gears, quad cab, long bed, ect. I drive at 75mph pretty much always, And really head wind, is the biggest issue. I have gotten 20.9mpg once, and I think I had a hell of a tail wind coming back from me.

Towing I'm around 13-15mpg, depending on the weight of the trailer. I have not gone over 10,000lbs, so again, trailer is in the middle size weight range. I again tow this at 75mph. I also deal with a lot of hills, small mountains (not like out west) so again lots of things to factor in (drag from the trailer, hills) ect. A guy in Texas may do a lot better due to the flatness.

I run the TST on 3/2 (75hp, 120lbs of torque) and I love it. I can only imagin clicking up to like 6/6, or something, but I have said NO to myself till I get a TON more mods (which I also said no to)

I have the muffler as mentioned, a cold air intake, and the chip, not much else as far as mods. Tire PSI is at 68psi (again for towing) and I only have 36,000 miles on my truck. It's used to tow the trailer, that's it.

I hope this helps. The biggest issue I have seen with millage (and in my opinion order is)

Good millage rules
1. Right foot (everybody will say no) yes right foot has big impact
2. Tire PSI, want to ride like a caddy, well 20psi will do that, more psi, more millage (to a point, don't put 100psi in there)
3. Chips, and other "efficient" devices can help (muffler, intake) ect, but again not a power adder, more for efficiency.

Chips can also hurt, most that get the power, use it a lot more. A lot of threads will start off "I clouded out an intersection, with 10 lanes" and then write 10 pages of why there truck won't get better millage like others

So take it with a grain of salt. Just like Banks stuff, nobody ever said it was junk, just over priced. They do have some nice stuff, but it does seem to be 2x to 3x the price of other good items. Now with the new emissions and all, who knows, maybe banks will be better for the rules and regs?

Good luck with your search. There is a ton of stuff. TST also makes plug and play items, and all that.

I like mine because if something happens I can take the chip out. Downloaders you can too, but say something happens with the batt's, electrical, you can't do it till it's at the shop (then your going to hear denied)

hope it helps some.

johnnyboy_10138

Yeah, It helps out a lot. I know the right foot is the main offender. I drive a 98 Ford with a gas v8 and I did a raod trip with it, 21 mpg one way staying at 65 and 18 on the way back doing 75.

I will have to look into the TST chips. I havent heard too much about them.

I dont think i would want to run 100 lbft of torque until i did a build up on the trans. I have a couple of friends with chebys and fords that are constantly slipping do to their chips.

I will probably run with the tire pressure pretty high. I currently have a 85 jeep and even with the 33s at 25 psi I can feel every pebble in the road due to the solid leaf springs.

I am still look for more opinions. I will do some more research on my own and post back here with my shopping list to have yall look over it. Thanks for the help.

mmurray

Hey Johnnyboy... I have the Banks Big Hoss Bundle... http://bankspower.com/products/show/39/6

I don't know what it goes for now, but when I bought it in the Summer of '06 it was $3,300... took the better part of the day to install, but my bronther and I did it in his driveway without any problems.

I have the PDA and it's a nice feature. The few times that I have had any codes the PDA throws a warning and tells you what it is (for example: I was towing a trailer through the blue ridge mountains and on the inclines when ever the 48RE would down shift, the PDA would detect a trans slip. For the rest of the trip I just took my time and take it easy up-hill... Without it, I may have tore my trans up... It's handy!)

Everyone can say what they want about Banks and the price, but I say you get what you pay for... Pricey? maybe... but it is a good product! and I have talked to service and they are nice and very helpful. Like with the trans on that trip, I called service while I was on the road and discussed what was going on and my temps and what I could change in my driving habit to prevent messing up my transmission... again very helpful guys. (of course remedy one was buying a banks torque converter! LOL... but they were not pushy, they only recomended it if this was going to be a regular trip not just a week long vacation as it was)

Banks big keys are More air in and More air out.. then add fuel. I personally like that philosophy.
Now as for MPG? With stock tires I was getting 18MPG pre and 20MPG post... (overhead was reading 20MPG pre and 22.5MPG post) I have since put on a leveling kit and 35" Toyo MT's... I am now getting 18.6 MPG hand calc and showing 20.5 MPG on the over head...

It may not be alot, but you will see fuel economy increases with the Banks system.

Hope this helps and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

xtoyz17

I can't knock the banks stuff. It's quality gear. I personally would not have spent as much as the parts on my truck cost, I would have gone a different route. That being said, I'm glad I have the parts. I never saw the high egt's that some people saw when I had an Edge J/A, and I contribute that to a free flowing exhaust, quality intake, increased cooling capacity, and the intake elbow.

Do you have the banks ram air intake? I do, and like it a lot. My only concern is that it's an oiled type media, and have read a lot of negative stuff about oiled filters. Gonna be sending a sample to blackstone soon, and crossing my fingers!

Shawn

johnnyboy_10138

Thanks murray. Do you know if big hoss bundle or the other bundles with have the same as the lower kits have, such as the stinger system?
I might go with the big hoss over the stinger, because i havent talked to anyone who has had the stinger.

How are the power gains with the big hoss bundle? Does the PDA display things like EGT or boost pressure? and do you trust it if it does?

I will have to agree with the customer service. I inquired into some info and the next day i got a call from Alex. We talked and he agreed to send me catalog, it got here in less than 48 hours.

johnnyboy_10138

How much "good stuff" does a intercooler do? I assume it drops EGTs?

Also I to xtoy? I dont know about the banks oil type filter, but i have run oil type filters in my honda and in my jeep, that i fourwheel often, and have never have had problems,

xtoyz17

Cooler air going into the engine means cooler air coming out. Usually flow a little better too so it's not so much of a restriction, which means more airflow to the engine.

I thought oil filters were good, and then did a little more reading. Seems as though they don't trap as much as typical filters do.

Shawn

johnnyboy_10138

Thank you. That is what i was thinking

mmurray

I have to agree... I think the biggest asset to the Banks system is the larger, higher flowing intercooler. The straight through exhaust helps too, but as mentioned before you can get that from anywhere. FYI, the banks exhaust has a lifetime warranty ( I don't know about others.)

Power gains are noticable enough for me... like you said, I'm not looking to drag race or do compitition pulls with my truck and for those who do... I agree Banks is not the route to go for that type of set up! Back to the Banks... On speed loader I have produced 42lbs of boost max at around 1350 degree EGT's... I can tell you on power level 1 and towing my camper it's slow off the start (comparatively) on level 5 is what I usually tow on it gets up and goes... you would hardly think you had a trailer behind you.

Non-Towing... I get the best fuel mileage on level 3... I ran 2 tanks through on each level to see which one was best. I run level 5 when towing... and level 6 and the speed loader level is just for the occasional playing. SL and level 6 will put you in the back of the seat.. there is alot of power being made and you'll run through tires before you know it!

The PDA is accurate... It is getting it's reading straight from the trucks computers... you can monitor EGT, Boost, Eng temp, Trans temp (those are the 4 I monitor) and many more... There are alot of other features with the PDA, like reading and clearing engine codes, changing the amount of fuel before and during shifts etc... I leave most of theat alone as the guys at Banks know more about that than I do and the set those there for a reason! good enough for me.

I still have the oiled air filter, but I would like to go to an un-oil just to make service easier without any downtime while waiting on the filter to dry from cleaning and then re-oiling. I also do not have Ram air yet... I got a big dent in my hood from some road debrise and I am looking to put a SRT-10 style hood with functional air scoop, but as you all know they are expensive and the cost of fuel put a damper on it at first now the economic slow down has hit now... so the fun stuff will just have to wait a little longer.

johnnyboy_10138

For those of you with the banks. Does banks sell the kit with the Palm as an option? or do you have to buy it completely separate? Also do you have to run the Palm to change power settings?

Also where did you buy it? I got quoted $2400 shipped, the guy on the phone made it sound like it came with the Palm, but i am not sure. Are there better places to buy it online? I dont buy anything from the shops around where i live because they mark up the parts a whole lot.

One Way

Johnnyboy,

First of all, don't buy the banks kit. Not because it isn't a good product, but because there are better safer options for the same price out there. The thing that will happen when you start to add power without doing the proper preparations you will end up with more costs down the road, believe me I know. Numero uno, upgrade your fuel filtration, this is no joke, I didn't and at 125K I had to replace all 6 injectors @ $385 a pop, all because of poor fuel filtration. Buy a FASS or Air Dog, they are expensive but they filter way better potentially giving you a lifetime of use out of stock injectors, and they support horsepower gains without risking being stranded after your stock lifter/pusher leaves you stranded which it will eventually, mine did at 125K. Prior to 150k my truck was bone stock, with home made intake and muffler delete, so I saw these failures without mods, and I baby my truck. Second upgrade: gauges, (Dipricol are pretty good) and EGT is all you will need for mild gains. Then instead of a chip or box or programmer, think about injector tips. If your going to spend a lot of money for quality which sounds like you want to, then go with 50HP injector tips, more power, lower EGT's (with exhaust), better mileage, more reliable and will work with future mods. As far as exhaust and intake, any decent free flowing exhaust system for $500 or less is gonna be fine, don't be lured into thinking this is where you should spend a lot of money. Air intake wise you can just dremel a hole into the bottom of the stock box and drop a pipe down for better cold air flow (real cheap and works just fine). Once you start to get over the 50hp gain mark then your gonna need clutch (manual) / transmission upgrades. Over 100hp I think it's time to start thinking about a turbo upgrade, I am really suprised at how many people roll around with 100+ extra HP intake and exhaust, and a waste gate mod or boost fooler, with no turbo upgrade. To me this is a ticking time bomb, when you increase boost pressure with the stock charger you are also increasing drive pressure which puts a tremendous amount of strain on the head. These trucks are expensive, and if you want your investment to last then do it right, don't get caught up in the cheap power craze. Sorry for the rant, just my two cents, wish someone would have told me all this when I first bought my truck, good luck let me know if you have any questions.

OldDodgeOwner

I've got the Banks Stinger Plus kit on my truck. It's a 2000. I don't know what differences there are between it and the 3rd gen's. I bought the truck with it already installed, so I have no idea on the price, but I have been very happy with it. I've never had to worry much about EGT's as it stays pretty cool. Banks customer service has been great. They've helped me out a couple of times even though I wasn't the original purchaser. That being said, if I had to buy it myself, I probably would have went a different route as stated above, you can put your own comparable setup together much cheaper.

johnnyboy_10138

I dont want to go with the cold air intake. The banks, and most other kits i have seen, dont drop the intake below the engine bay area. This will be used as my personal vehicle, but will be my recovery vehicle for my jeep off road. Some of the spots i go to have some water and i dont want to risk that hitting my intake. And from other friends that have the cold air intake, they seem to get dirtier a lot faster than normal airboxes.

Thanks for the great reply. I have a bit of money to throw at the truck when i get it, so I want to do it right. I was planing on the fuel first first anyways. I have read around on here and found that was a good thing to get, especially since up in CT diesels arent popular and there are no quality places to get diesel.

I also want to get an aftermarket intake, because on my friends trucks you can really hear the turbo whine much better with one of them. haha. I know that has nothing to do with power or millage, but i like it none the less.

With the injector tips, is that something I can do myself. I have moderate mechanical knowledge, but have never worked on a diesel before.
So the injectors will increase millage? what kind of gains would i expect to see? Where can i find the +5 HP injector tips? what is a good brand?

Will a straight pipe exhaust be incredibly loud? if not will that hurt any performance or economy? And with the muffler delete, is that just what it says, just replace the muffler with a pipe? Who makes a decent sounding turbo back exhaust kit, that performs well?

Does anyone else have an opinion on going the injector tip route?

Sorry for all the questions. I want to do it right on the first go around. I dont see myself building a 100HP monster, but could see myself building up a couple hundred extra ponies down the road, if i ever have to rebuild the tranny.

C Schomer

Different yrs need different stuff. I replaced my muffler and turbo first and really woke it up and dropped egt a bunch. The Diablo Predator is the best bang for the 03-04.4 SO and HOs. Do the intake last - that's the least cost effective for hp and lowering egt. Watch for the best deals and piece your mods together. For <$2000 ( Predator, boost fooler, muffler, transfer pump and a nearly new used turbo) plus gauges from my previous truck I got 200hp/400tq. Craig

johnnyboy_10138

Also what is a good site to get parts for the truck. What site has given you the best prices, customer support, shipping, etc.

Thanks guys for all the help.