eightball

I'm a brand new member, but have viewed this forum for some time as I have been looking for a TV to replace my tired, light-weight one. I'm looking forward to learning a lot about my new truck, and getting advice on products for it.

.................................

I checked out the Nissan Titan crew cab, and I tried a Duramax Silverado crew cab, .......

Well, I got the old Dodge 3/4 ton SLT, Crew Cab, with Automatic, Posi-traction, Infineon 6-CD stereo, 8' bed, big old Michelin white letter tires, Alloy wheels, and

325 Horsepower, and 610 Foot Pounds of Cummin's 6 cylinder, diesel torque!

I was surprised how much quieter this 2005 Cummins is compared to my neighbor's 2001 Cummins. It still has a nice growl, and does sound like good though. When you put the pedal down at any speed, you do hear that beautiful sound, and you can hear that nice big turbo-charger whistle as it spools-up.

The power is something else, and the mileage I'm getting as registered on the computer is phenomenal.

Yes, this oil burner had a $5,500.00 premium over a Hemi, but a major overhaul for my Cummins is estimated at around 350,000 miles.

I'm still getting over the buyer's stress and shock, though my Dodge dealer in Gilroy, Ca. was pretty low pressure.

Now, I'm looking into a nice Line-X spray on bedliner, and then a nice sleek cab-height shell for the bed.

Anyway, I'm still in "la la" land as I look out the front window of my house and see this beauty parked out front.

My wife is more excited about this acquisition than any car we ever bought. She drove the Ram the other day, and had a smile bigger than ever. She wants to do all the vacation driving now. lol

I still have my venerable old 92 Astro that towed my 3,400 gvw, double axle, Jayco, Tent trailer. It will be going on the sales block.

I can't believe it, but I traded in my 2003 Mazda 6S(miss you honey), plus some cash(ouch!) down, to give us some manageable payments.

I was surprised how my wife was willing to give up the Mazda, as it was her car. She has taken over my old 95 Maxima GLS with 137K miles on it and is happy as a lark. She stipulated that I must allow her to drive the 2005 oil burner to work sometimes. lol

I think I'm groom this lady to be my "trucker" babe. lol

Well, that's about all on the Eightball front. I'm still in some sort of shock.....as the truck was bought back on Sunday.

One nice thing in finishing: 2005 is the last year of Chrysler's 7year/70,000 mile Powertrain warranty. I'm glad I didn't wait and buy a 2006, although the newer crew cabs from Dodge were going to be very much larger. I can live with the smallest of the industry's rear crew cab as it will mostly be used for hauling things and not humans. It will adequately handle hauling our grandson.

Oh, it also has the 40-20-40 split front seats, with the middle jump seat serving as a great convertible, storage container/console/armrest. It's a premium cloth interior.

I've got my Alan Jackson CD in the old changer already. Yee Haw! San Jose, California country boy at heart.

texasredrider

Welcome and Congrats!!!!!!! You could NOT have made a better choice! I have about 5000 miles on mine and still grin from ear to ear everytime I see, hear or drive mine. From what I understand, that will never go away! Feel comfort in the fact that you made the best truck decision that could have been made!

Geico266

WOW! Congrats & welcome.

Now wipe that smile off your face!

Lightman

I have 56k on my 04, and still get a stupid giddy feeling every time I get in it and fire it up. You are now permanently infected with Cummins-itus. Congrats and welcome to the club of cummins-enthusiast-****-retentive-diesel freaks! We will soon consume all of your free time and money working on, reading about, and upgrading your truck

eightball

Thanks for the encouraging posts. Yes.....that Cummins sounds is something else! Seems like a much beefier sound than the Duramax I road tested earlier in the month.

The only way I can keep from cruising too fast on the freeway is to force myself to use the cruise control. Actually looking at that mpg computer gives me a big grin too.

I couldn't believe it, but at a steady 55 mph yesterday on a flat stretch of California freeway, it was doing 22 MPG. with only 400 miles on the odometer! I'm running a 3.73 rear end, tow package, and what the option sheet called a 11.50 Axle?

I've heard that these mileage computers might be a little off by 1-1.5 Mpg on the optimistic side. Is that true, or could I actually be getting 22 MPG?

Seems like I'm trying to find reasons to do errands or something just to get in the truck and fire it up.lol

TexasCTD

Congratulations Eightball!!!

You won't regret your purchase. This is my first Dodge and first Diesel. I have had mine just a little over a year and have had no problems. I am continually impressed with it's power everytime I drive it.

When you get a chance, you need to take some pics and post them in your gallery and do a signature for the bottom of your posts. Welcome to DTR!

nirion

It puts a smile on your face to drive it. I was without mine when it went to the bodyshop for a week to repair hail damage and when I got it back I was really happy.

Nick

eightball

Thanks for the welcome.

I have this as a signature at the bottom of my posts:

eightball

You must be out in the Midwest. My oldest son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter live out in Glenwood, IA. He was originally a Californian but married a Iowa girl, and settled out there. He experienced hail damage a few years back. Hail damage is a foreign thing to us Californians. We just don't get those rompin thunderstorms that produce big ice-*****.

t-15 firefighter

Congrats on the new truck. You will love it and it will only get better with time. Welcome to the site also. You will find a lot of good info. here.

Britt

mikmaze

Gilroy....? isn't the garlic festival coming up soon??? good luck with the truck and take a run by the fest with the truck and see how much garlic ya can bring home!

12PACK

No aluminum heads in a Cummins, like the Duramax. Maybe that's it.

Enjoy your Quadcab, me and a few thousand others on DTR, do. How come everybody elses wife loves thier new Cummins, but mine. It isn't only because I got the 6 speed, either.

My computer reads 1-1.5 mpgs high. This has been consistant over the 2700 miles I've put on it.

Congrats on your Cummins!

TAS05CTD610

Yup that smile won't ever go away. 13,000 on the clock and only 7 months old (lot of driving up to Maine) Everytime that turbo screams it's like music to my ears. When I see that black smoke billow out both of my tail pipes, it's such a warm fuzzy feeling, I just get the hibby Jeabby's. Yes the only draw back is your face and other people may wonder why you smile all the time (well at least untill you have to fill it up with the price of Diesel these days )

eightball

Tomorrow morning 9am Pacific Time I'm getting a Line-X, Spray-on liner.

Also the Gilroy Garlic festival was a couple weeks ago.

My new rig didn't smell like garlic from sitting down there at the Gilroy Dodge dealer. It was a swap vehicle from Marysville, Ca. Dodge. It must have not sat in the Gilroy dealership long enough to marinate in that nice Garlic-ee air down there. lol

By the way, the build date of my rig is 12-04. Does that mean it sat at a dealer a long time, or does Chrysler build a whole, big bunch early in the model cycle and gradually ship them as they are purchased by various dealers?

One other note: The records on the truck show no recalls for it, even though it was built in 12-04.