New to the forum here. After looking for six months, I just purchased a 2003 3500 5.9 4X4 quad cab long bed SRW with manual transmission and 130,000 miles. The truck has the non HO motor and showed better than 22 mpg hwy on the way home. I purchased it to mainly pull a 8,000 lb boat that my 06 Tundra has trouble with. After a good cleaning under the hood I plan on changing all the fluids, filters, belt and hoses (including brake fluid, diff. & trans). My expertise on auto's is collision repair on Toyota's and the only other diesel's I own is a Kubota tractor and a Lister Petter engine made in england. This forum is loaded with useful information and appears it will take some time to get to know this Cummins engine. A few things I've found; the "smarty jr" is a good tuner, how to change oil and fuel filter (not sure on preferred brand stuff), Dodge trucks are hard on steering components and ball joints, most have a blower fan thingy issue. The truck I purchased seems to be decent but it does have a few things that need to be addressed, some are; fluid leaking from master cylinder or hyd booster & fluid that looks to be from the floor shifter area on tranny. Everything else looks good, it drives well, transmission is fairly quiet, shifts well & runs well but doesn't have the power of the 06 "Banks" HO I test drove. I'll wait and see how it does with the boat hooked up to it before trying any performance upgrades.
If anyone would like to add to my "list to do" or weigh-in on anything related to this truck I'd like to hear it. Thanks for listening, Jim

 

Welcome to DTR...Jim... you have alot of expereince in the auto industry..The cummins will be very easy for you...

Welcome...