Hello all, Thank you in advance for your help in answering my inquiry.

I drive a 2000 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 5.9L Cummins and an aftermarket "beefed up (according to the manufacturer)" Auto trans from Jasper. Recently, we replaced the APPS and with the truck running well again, we're interested in towing with it. We are looking to tow at about the max tow rating, but we'd like to do it in a manner which will be easy on the whole truck. To do this, we are installing Autometer Gauges (to establish a baseline) with Boost, Trans Temp, and EGT, before eventually upgrading the turbo, the intake and airbox, the exhaust and installing a superchip.

My question is this: For occasional heavy towing (and no racing), what would be the recommended upgrades in each of the aforementioned categories? We are pretty sold on the Superchips 3855 tuner, but the Intake (K&N, AFE, etc.), Turbo (Aurora 4000, BD Super B Single, etc.), and Exhaust (Magnaflow 4", MBRP 5", etc) are still up in the air. Also, if there is anything I am missing that I need to take care of with or before these modifications, please feel free to add.

Maybe you've been through this stage in your tinkering and have good ideas or ways you'd have done it differently, anything will help. Thank you very much.

Thanks a ton,
Jared.

 

Superchips is a waste of money. I don't think a bigger turbo (very laggy) will help much with stock injectors. Go with some 90-100 hp injectors and hybrid hx35/40 turbo. You should have a fuel psi gauge. An after market fuel pump (fass, airdog, raptor) relocated to the frame rail and new lines and free flow fittings from fuel pump to injection pump.

To be easy on the truck keep it stock and just get gauges and upgrade the fuel system.

 

Look at the Edge Juice with Attitude. It'll give you all the gauges you need, alerts, defueling to protect your engine, and an awesome turbo timer. Personally, I think you'd be fine with an aftermarket intake, 4" exhaust, and the Edge. Also make sure you have an aftermarket lift pump. Getting into turbo upgrades gets interesting when towing and I think it would give you more headaches than help you. A 4" turbo back exhaust is good for up to 400HP ish. With just those three things; intake, exhaust, and Edge, you should be plenty good to go for up to the max truck rating and have about 325-350HP. Keep in mind that the max truck tow rating is not all that high compared with the new trucks, but ours will pull easily into the mid teens depending on who you talk to. Max rated is only 14,150Man/12,200Auto. Now if you are pulling a 25K trailer, then that's another story....

 

I'm not sure you'll find anyone on this site that tells you to go with a superchip so you may want to rethink that purchase. In reality all you need to tow is a better fuel pump(fass or airdog) but you can do other things to increase your speed and fuel mileage. In addition to the fuel pump I'd go with the Edge Juice with Attitude, 4" exhaust and modify the stock air box.

 

Exhaust MBRP all the way would not even think of any other brand of exhaust in my honest opinion I also have a superchip and love it, the dyno prooved I am getting everything out of the superchip.

 

Go with a stage 2 afe intake with the dry filter, your turbo will love it, and so will you.

 

Definately don't wast your money on a "superchimp"
1. gauges - egt, fuel pressure, boost, tranny temp
2. fuel pump upgrade of some kind - FASS, Glacier, holley,etc
3. exhaust - 4" min
4. intake - AFE, BHAF, etc
5. injectors - Mach 1.6, RV275
6. electronics - Smarty, Quadzilla,Edge
7.Tranny valve body upgrade
8. turbo upgrade

 

Jared, you'll probably notice that lots of the guys are recommending an aftermarket lift pump like the FASS, Airdog, etc. It's important to note that this recommendation is not for performance reasons, but for reliability. The stock lift pump is marginal at best and could take out the injection pump at any time along with it when it dies.

I think it's great that you're taking a "whole truck" approach, and not just focusing on power upgrades. Since the other guys have covered the power upgrades, I'll limit my recommendations to those which are non-engine related.

1. Exhaust brake. You'll also need a switch to lock up your torque converter when the brake engages since you have an auto.
2. Improved rear brakes. This is an easy one that just involves changing out the stock wheel cylinders (1 1/16" bores) with larger ones from a mid-90's GM 1 ton dually (1 3/16" bore). There are many threads on doing this, so you might want to do some searches.
3. Improved front brakes. This involves going with 17" rims and tires which will give you the clearance you need to run the larger rotors from a 3rd gen truck.
4. Good trailer brake controller. Most of the controllers are inertia based and poor quality. Get one that relies on hydraulic pressure from your truck's brake system like a MaxBrake.
5. Pull the radiator and clean it. If you haven't rerouted your crankcase breather tube, then it's been spewing oily residue all over the radiator and front of the engine. The only way to clean the radiator really well is to pull it. Use it as an opportunity to change out your coolant and radiator hoses if they haven't been done in awhile. Also reroute the crankcase breather tube while your at it (usually by lengthening it into a frame rail).
6. 19.5" rims and tires. These are more of a nice-to-have than a must-have. For $2,000 to $2,500 you can get real truck tires in load range F, G, or H and significantly raise your safety margin where your tires are concerned. If you blow out a tire hauling a heavy load at highway speed, very bad things happen.

You'll notice that the majority of my recommendations are braking related. It's not really that tough to get a heavy load moving, but it can sometimes be *really* tough to get it stopped. The exhaust brake is one of the best mods I've ever done to my truck, and the first time you have to haul a heavy load down a twisty hill, you'll be very thankful you got it.

Good luck,
Mike

 

X2 on the exhaust brake. Best money I've spent on hauling trailers. Second best thing is a good trailer brake controler.

 

Gauges, make sure you have fuel pressure reading. if your pulling make sure you have quality towing help, like said brakes. trailer brake. there are many types of fuel pumps to pick. do it once and forget about it. air in air out. there are alot of companies that have good exhaust. pending your climate and where your driving you may want to go with a better material for corrosion. there are alot of intakes to choose from. BHAF60-70$ to high dollar full kits 400ish. besides looks and sound changes. you may be happy with doing a bhaf exchange. need to ask how much you want to spend right now. and really put in to it. and what you want in return. some people that do alot of towing you can also look at putting different pans on your trans, diff etc. for your fluid life etc, nothing against super chips or ones like it. if your going to have a box on the truck save up and get one that does more for your that you can have more control over. Edge/Attitude for example. A smarty you may like also. but again these are more $ it all depends on what you want to spend and expectations you have or would like to get close to.

 

Yea, the braking is the other critical component of towing...sorry forgot that one as most of us probably do.

 

Here is my 2 cents about brake controllers. Get a good one. I had a 2000 with the Maxbrake and when I traded the truck, the Maxbrake came with me. Its that good. Expensive, but to have truly proportional brakes and not having the rely on inertia (does NOT work well on ice, ask me how I know) is amazing. I never knew electric brakes could be as smooth and linear as hydraulic.

 

Here's another vote for the Edge Juice w/ attitude monitor. For your year model the lift pump is a weak link and can take out your Injection pump easily. The Edge gives you a fuel pressure gauge between the pumps that costs 300 by itself. I've had an edge on all 6 CTD's that I've owned and have never had an issue.
Air box and exhaust are a must. Be careful with an injector upgrade. improving over stock is a big help, but overfueling can lead to increased EGT's.

 

Putting on 17" wheels and tires lets you do an incredibly easy brake upgrade. Do a search on "big brake upgrade" and then do it! Braking difference is night and day. You can do the fronts easily, but since you have rear drums, the rears will have to stay small. Doesn't matter, you will be amazed on the braking difference. So, to recap: Aftermarket air intake, 4" turbo back exhaust, bigger front brakes, Edge Juice w/Attitude for gauges and features (plus big power), good brake controller....

 

Injectors, 4" exhaust and Edge juice w/attitude. I have the EZ and it works fine but if I had to do it again I'd go with the Juice. A good break controler is a must. My set-up is good and I tow heavy (goosneck horse trailer and 3 fat horses).