I'm very new to diesel trucks, picked up a bone stock 99 3500 with 168K miles fall of last year. It was originally a Texas truck, very clean, and it appears to have been well maintained. It was originally used to pull a 5th wheel, I believe horse transport. I bought it to pull a 24' enclosed car trailer (7000 lbs), hoping for decent mileage and performance. It pulls fine with no trailer and gets about 18-19 mpg if I feather the pedal, but with the trailer hooked up it just doesn't seem to be able to get out of it's own way and got 10 mpg towing from Chicago to Florida. I could really use some help with which mods I should do first, please recommend specific items which will help me keeping in mind I primarily use the truck for towing long distances (fuel economy).
My guess is I will need gauges, fuel system upgrade, and maybe even a box of some sort. I need to get this thing ready to haul so specific recommendations/links would be greatly appreciated.

 

4 inch exhaust. gauges. Air filter. Thats where I started with mine and it seemed to give me about 3 mpg all together.

 

An easy answer would be to run the Adrenaline or Adrenaline Pulse and don't tap the pump wire.

This would give you 65hp/200 ft lbs of torque, egt de-fueling if needed, full set of gauges, Turbo Timer, High Idle since you are up north, Warm Up Protection, and a mileage setting for when you do not need more power and just want fuel mileage. I would say a jump of a couple mpg should be easy to get going this route.

From there a 4" exhaust and intake are great additions. You may or may not need transmission modifications because I am not sure what transmission you have.

 

Great advice from Qzilla. That would be almost ideal.

You don't mention if your truck is an auto trans or a manual trans-- that really affects what to do to optimize towing performance. Auto transmissions that tow can benefit greatly from an upgraded torque converter and valve body.

I'd also recommend so other things to improve a truck that has almost 186K on it.

1) Synthetic fluids in the driveline-- axle(s), transfer case (if equipped), and such. The Mopar ATF +4 is pretty much a synthetic fluid, so an improved fluid might be hard to find. I use Redline in the differentials with good results.

2) Replace the injectors with some RV injectors. The current injectors may be a bit "tired" and worn if run on low-grade fuel. The new RV injectors will restore like-new (or better) mpg and increase power by about 35hp. Many report mpg improvements with these modestly priced ($300) injectors. Best of all, these RV injectors don't require any other changes to run-- they are essentially interchangeable for stock injectors as far as clutch holding, transmission life, etc.

3)A turbo upgrade is a huge expense and it's honestly something you probably don't need. Your existing turbo can support almost 350hp with acceptable EGT, and 350hp will tow your trailer like it's not even there.

4) GUAGES FIRST! Before you add any power, you must install at least a pyrometer. I'd also recommend a fuel pressure guage since the fuel deliver system on your truck (like mine) is a known "weak sister."

Feel free to send me a PM if you have more questions-- welcome to DTR!

 

Thank you all very much for the quick replies. This truck has an automatic trans, didn't even consider it could be a weak link. Because the truck doesn't seem to pull I assumed it was a motor issue, just doesn't seem to go up in rpm, but it does downshift going up hills when loaded. I will start reading up on necessary tranny mods.

I am in the market for a pillar mount gauge set, am I better off with the boost, egt, and fuel gauge set or should I substitute one of those with a trans temp? What is the preferred vendor/manufacturer for this stuff?

I am not ready for a turbo upgrade, if the bug hits me in the future I might do it. If I can make 350hp with the stock turbo and not hurt mileage too much that's probably what I would want to do. Right now my immediate need is better towing driveability without sacrificing mileage. I can afford to put in between $1000-1500 in upgrades before my next haul in June, anything more than that will have to wait for Christmas.

I was considering a fuel/timing box and if I do I would like one that can give me better mileage now but also be able to add more power later on if I do a turbo upgrade.

What is the benefit of the Adrenaline and tapping the pump wire, and what additional changes would that require?

I have read much about the LP going out and taking the IP with it so I'm worried I may not have adequate fuel pressure right now. What is the best fuel system fix for me? Is it as simple as replacing the stock pump, moving it near the tank, or is there a kit that does it all? How much fuel system upgrade do I need to support 350 hp? How much fuel system would I need for a turbo upgrade? Is there a system I could put in now that will can take care of both needs?

Does it matter what brand of RV injectors? Giving me a link or brand or distributor name would help me out, I don't know who makes what and if they are any good.

I've kept up with oil changes, I will work on fluids this weekend. The truck is a 2WD dually, so I guess all I have to do is the diffo and trans.

As far as 4" exhaust, is there someone who makes a good quality kit or should I just take it to a muffler shop and have pipes bent to fit?


The truck is 100% stock except for the K&N air filter, gauges are first on the list, then fuel system? What order do you recommend I make upgrades in?

 

What is your budget? A Quad Adrenaline is a great box but a bit spendy. Your exhaust will support the same (or more) than the turbo so save a few bucks there. If you want noise and slightly lower egts have the muffler lopped off by a local muffler shop for a few bucks. Then put on "a" box that adds timing and fuel for about a 60-70hp kick in the pants (due to the Adrenaline hitting the market a lot of Van Aaken boxes and Edge EZ boxes are able to be had cheap on the used market). Might be just enough to get you over the hump. If that doesn't feel like enough, do a search for RV275 injectors (I think you can even purchase them on this site). About a 3 hour install for a first timer but there are good instructions around on the web.

 

Now this is just my opinion, so take it as being worth the price paid...

1) First mod-- get rid of K&N air filter. You don't need it, it filters much worse than stock. So it lets more dirt by and give you more airflow that you don't need. Even a stock filter is better than K&N. My advice would be to slap on a paper BHAF and get near K&N levels of airflow with filtration that's actually better than stock.

2) Second mod-- gauges. Since you have an auto trans, a temp gauge is a good idea. Most pillar mounts only have 3 guage spots, and you have 4 potential gauges: pyro, boost, trans temp, and fuel pressure. There are a couple ways to do this. First, pick which three are most important to monitor (imo, this is pyro, fp, and trans temp in your case) and only mount those. Or, mount the 4th gauge in a different location: you could mount pyro, boost, and trans temp on the pillar, then put your FP guage somewhere else because it doesn't need constant monitoring at eye level.
My personal solution was to use a small 1.5" fuel pressure gauge like those sold by Jeg's and Summit for $20. This just happens to
be the size of the tweeter cutout in a pillar mount, allowing you to use this tweeter hole as a 4th gauge spot if your truck doesn't have the tweeters
as an option.
A final option that is probably best is to use a "dual guage" in one of your pillar mount spots. This way, you can monitor EGT and boost in only one gauge. Something like these:


...or something like this, for a digital option:


Geno's garage is a good place to buy guages and such. Westach is a great brand for dual gauges-- they are cheaper than the digital ones and VERY accurate because they are originally used in aircraft. The SPA technique digital dual gauges are the most accurate money can buy, but also the most expensive. If you elect to stick with single guages, then DiPricol, autometer, and ISSpro are all good options. The DiPricol OPTIX series in particular are wonderfully readable.

Finally on guages-- keep in mind that the human eye sees best at night with colors closer to the red end of the spectrum. Anything lit with blue light will be hard for your eyes to focus on. So, for maximum visibility, choose something with a clear display and RED or amber lighting at night. Green is OK, but not as good as red-- and stay away from blue if at all possible.



3) 3rd-- more power. A used mild "chip" like a Van Aaken is a great investment that will be very inexpensive. The RV injectors are also a great value-- they are ALL made by Bosch. RV injectors are factory original Bosch equipment used in RV versions of the Cummins B series. They flow a little more (more power) and atomize fuel a little better (better mpg).

By limiting your power upgrades to the mild combination of RV injectors and a Van Aaken (or similar) you can delay major transmission upgrades.

4) Since we limited your power to about 300hp at the wheels, your fuel system upgrades can also be mild. You can keep the pump you have-- you just need to upgrade the lines so they aren't as restrictive-- primarily the banjo fittings. Vulcan performance and Glacier Diesel I think both have kits that will do this and then some.

Lots of guys who tow have done the RV injectors with a mild "chip" and had great results at minimal cost. Once you start going bigger on the power, the cost goes up dramatically.

jh

 

I am pretty sure you can buy an Adrenaline cheaper than a used box and a set of gauges. In the end you still gain a Turbo Timer, de-fueling and High Idle with the Adrenaline.

The advantage to tapping the wire with the Adrenaline is that you can have upwards of a 160rwhp gains. You don't want that with a stock auto. I would stick to PL02 which does not require the wire to be tapped. If you wanted to push it a little you could tap and use PL03 or PL04 but, your converter will be on thin ice if you are not nice to it.

If I had your budget, I would do the following and it will make it a great towing machine:


Adrenaline
Exhaust
Fuel Pump (your choice).

That gets you gauges and safety features built in at a price that no one else will be able to match.

You might even have enough left over for the RV275's or put it in a savings fund for a converter/valve body upgrade in the future.

 

If I'm getting this right then I can keep the stock pump if I upgrade the fuel lines and fittings with either one a GDP big line kit
http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/de...dept_id=15-001

or one of the Vulcan performance lines or pusher pump kit?
http://www.vulcanperformance.com/ser...its/Categories

Like I said, I'm new to this so I'm a little confused; are fuel line upgrades good to 300hp? 350hp? Or do I need a better pump for that much power?
If I need a pump who would you recommend?

I can see that the adrenaline/pulse combo is pricey and does save me a little if I don't need to buy and install gauges. Does this combo come with everything I need or do I still have to buy sending units for egt, fuel, trans temp, boost? If they are additional how much will they cost?

If I can't swing the adrenaline combo then I'm most likely going gauges and the Van Aaken or Edge EZ as suggested. Would injectors or a fueling computer give me a better bang for the buck if I had to choose to do one now and the other at a later time?

 

I'm over 350hp with just a line upgrade and my original factory lift pump in its original location on the engine.

A fuel computer is probably a little better bang for the buck, and it's an "enabler" that will help the injectors perform better. I'd do it before injectors.

I can't tell you what the Adrenaline comes with...

 

Well if you go on the lower end than I have a relocation kit from vulcan. Comes with 3/8" lines and relocates the pump to the rear of the truck to make it a pusher pump. Which is less stressfull on the pump. If you want it I will make you a deal just PM me. It is brand new never been used. And as for the adrenaline go for it. GREAT!!!! product and customer service. Well worth it you can use it un-tapped for now and you will get a nice kick for towing and has tons of potential for more power in the future. But you will need to upgrade the tranny this box rips. If you tap the pump. Ask around and get a few opinions but it was the first thing everybody reccomended to me to get before I did anything to my truck. Those pumps are just proned to fail.