Hello everyone,

This is my first post here, but I have been reading many posts for a while in anticipation of getting my first diesel truck. I just acquired it, a 06 mega cab with very very low mileage. The truck came factory loaded with just about every option and is truly in pristine condition.

The purpose for it is travel. Now that I do not have to work for a while I intend to tour every spot North of the Mexican border. I plan on starting around March next year and work my way North, hoping to get to Alaska in early August, pend the month then head South again for whatever is left. I have no particular plans other than enjoying the beauty of our land in the company of my wife.

The idea is to hit the road and see how it feels, stay where we like for as long as we like. To this extent, the important aspect of the truck is to be reliable, very reliable. I do not plan on towing anything. Although I wi;ll carry basic camping gear, the main intent is to stay in nice places with running water. I have already spent a lot of my life "roughing it."

I am having a custom made 100 gal tank installed in the bed, but other than that I do not know the weak links if any of the truck. What areas need beefing up or replacing so that break downs will not be a concern? Ultimately the truck will carry a CB and shortwave radio and a satellite phone. Also sat radio, navigation and possibly a sat tv antenna.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

Hello, and welcome to the DTR!

Congrats on your new truck, and good choice on the 06 MegaCab

If you plan on keeping the truck stock...normal maintenance items are all you are ever going to have to worry about.

Sounds like a very neat trip you are embarking on

 

I did all that trip and a whole lot more with a 16,000 pound fiver on the back and never missed a lick. Treat it right and it will do likewise to you. I think I would at least have a pick up camper or pop up behind me. We had some company in our fiver with us a couple nights in Alaska - - the bears tore their tent to pieces. Likewise in another campground after the bears tore out the side of a pop-up. Another couple slept on the floor of their pop up with out opening it at night.

Question: - - why spend the money for a custom tank when you can buy the RDS from Northern tool for so much less money? And, you will know exactly what you are getting. They also have a very neat and simple install kit that makes it a breeze. I sure love mine.

And, welcome to the forum.

Bob

 

Thanks for the welcome the advice.
The tank that I mentioned is made by a friend and it is more than just a tank. All welded aluminum diamond plate, on top it has boxes for the twin Odyssey batteries and a 3000W inverter. It will use the Transfer Flow monitoring and transfer module. It will also have a custom long filler tube so it can be filled from the back just opening the cap. I forgot, the truck has an ARE cap on it and I did not want to have to crawl inside to fill.

I was not planing to spend night in the wilderness, more like day trips out to it, then return to hotels. As I said, I love seeing it just not sleeping in it, not to mention that my wife would, well never mind what she would do if a bear would wake her in the middle of the night.

 

I might spend the money to get some better fuel filtration.

 

To be honest to you the reason I buy Dodge Cummins trucks is the lack of worries.

I tow commercially, the truck below is my 5th one, and ALL of them have gone well beyond the 250,000 miles with no problems.

I am SO MUCH confident of these trucks I don't hesitate to just jump in and drive it off. I barely check oil level (never needed to add any anyway), and never had to do any major repair unless obviously clear.

To the point I bought a '97 at a Salvage Auction in Seattle, flew over there, added diesel, and drove it home 1800 miles to Minnesota.

These are BY FAR the best, no worries, cheap running, easy manteinance, dependable, and reliable trucks I've ever had.

 

Thanks.
Any particular suggestion and where to mount?

 

Just splice a filter head in your fuel line mount it to the side of the frame. Pick your filter and you're done. I'm sure at the very least there are dozens of installs with pics here on the board. Racor, Fleetguard, maybe a cat setup. Glacier diesel performance has a 2 micron setup, as do a ton of other vendors I'd bet.

Type in some of those names and see what you like. I like to keep an eye on fuel pressure too. Extra filtration really can't hurt unless it is creating too much of a restriction for your lift pump to get through.

I'm not saying more filtration is needed (I do believe in it though), but I would bet that the guy who put extra filtration on has less problems with injectors and bad fuel than the guy who doesn't.
my .02

 

Weak areas in the 06 megas really are the A/Cs. Find that at full blast it just doesn't cool, and there have been issues with the blend doors breaking. Also the seats are paper thin. You'll find many suggestions on here how to add more padding to the seat.