heavyg

Im curiouse if there is a certain way to tow with the CTD. When I had a gasser and I hit a hill I would just hammer down and rev the engine up. I do not like doing this with my CTD. It sounds like its gonna blow. I can keep my RPMs at about 2000 and take just about any hill at 45mph. I hear people on here saying the pull hills at 65. No way my truck will do this. I have posted before my truck seems a little dogish. Its completely stock except the open air intake and straight pipe.

My buddy just bought a 2003 24v and man that thing gets up and goes. I am very dissapointed in my truck right now. Any suggestions would be greately appreciated.

Glen

Smokee

heavyg:
I don't know what your truck is, but my 12v will pull any hill, with my 29' trailer, as fast as I want it to.

If your truck is doggy, you might check the fuel plate. If the plate is a little cocked, the truck won't pull well.

While you are in there, shove the plate ahead a bit and you will ;D

[Edited by Moderator.
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1320

45 mph and 2000 pm? From the picture it looks like a 94 /97 4x4? Nice wheels? Did you buyem? If so where?

I m guessing its an auto? That might account for 45 mph and 2000 rpm....could it be slipping...? Otherwise a complete tune, it would have to be sick to be doing what you state.

I ve got 98 12 v quad, dually 4x4 and it will accelerate up any hill to as fast as you wanna go.....I ve only pulled 7500 pounds or so.....nothing big....but it will pull 65 to 90 pretty nice or mantain any speed ......in fifth.

2000 should be in the 65 mph area.....esspecially with those tires....

1dslram

My 12V will pull hills with my 12,000 32' 5er with out a problem, I keep my RPM's up and don't shift into fourth untill 65MPH all I can say is what hill. You engine needs a little help and you are in the right place to get it. If you know what you want the truck to do, you can get help to get your truck to that HP level. Look at the signatures and watch the threads for advice and ask questions or PM a fellow member that has a set-up simular to what you want.<br>Good Luck<br>Bruce

Bill1374

Glen.<br> The 12 valve likes to run in the 2100 to 2200 range and will sit there all day long. And return good mileage to boot. If you have a 95, don't forget you are starting at 160 horse and spotting the new truck many ponies. <br> You don't say how much weight you are pulling but if you're heavy, then you're getting about what I would expect to see.<br> My combined weight approaches the 18k mark, pulled just OK in stock form but really livened up with the TST fuel plate. I tried a 5 plate but got too much heat in mountain towing. Swapped for an 8 plate set 50 thou forward and I'm very happy with the results.<br> Your first addon however, should be a set of guages as even stock will throw high EGTs. Then the fuel plate with the BHAF filter will give you a decent setup.<br> Good luck and happy towing.<br><br>Bill

heavyg

Yes my truck is a 1997 4x4 auto. I bought the tires and wheels about 4 months ago from a local offroad shop here in town. My trailer isnt all that big or heavy. It is a 1987 28ft alpha toy house. I am guessing loaded down it is in the 7500lb range. I sure hope my transmisson isnt sliping cause I just had it rebuilt and a shift kit put in it.<br><br>Thanks for all the info guys, keep it coming<br><br>glen

turbodiesel_ram

Glen,<br><br>What is the grade of the hill you are going up? When I owned my '94 there is a steep hill outside of the county that my 12 valve had a heck of a time with. I had to get a running hard start and once climbing it had to drop the auto tranny down just to hope to get a boost. I usually climbed it at about 40 mph and that was with a loaded hay trailer. Nothing was wrong with the truck, just a steep hill.<br><br>Yes and remember your friends '03 has a huge hp and a better torque rating than your '97.<br>

heavyg

If I remember correctley the grade is 7% Its been a while since Ive been through there and the last time I did I did not take notice of the grade %. I am taking the truck into a place here in town called Diesel Power and they are going to give it the once over and see if they can find anything. Im going to slowly start the bombing process (not much spare $$..lol). Has anyone seen or heard of a new type of gauges that are digital?<br><br>Glen

1320

BTW, what gears are your truck? With those tall tires I m hoping 4.10's? I have 3.54's with 235 tires , 4 th gear is around 60 at 2500.......5th is 69-71 @ 2000 I think.


What kind of wheels are they?

I ve run the digital gauges before, in a turbo buick (brand national) and I took them out when I ran it out of gas and the fp still read 50 psi....As far as I know they worked ok...but I wanted better accuracy......I ran it low on gas....because I had some 116 in the trunk.....but the 50 psi sorta ****** me off since fp is sorta critical in Gn''s.

I still have alot of em....if your interested....

transtemp, oil press, fp, water temp etc.

heavyg

I have 3.55s in the truck :-( I had checked into getting lower gears but the cost was outrageous. The wheels are made by Eagle. Not high dollar but they are nice. The gauges I am looking for are the exaughst temp and turbo boost.<br><br>Thanks<br><br>Glen

dma251

I can't really answer your towing question other tyhen to say that I recently made the switch to diesel from a gas Ram, and I've got mine set up pretty sweet, but they just don't feel the same. I remember my 95 2500 Ram with the 5.9 Magnum (340ish ft/lbs) as feeling MUCH faster and powerful. My CDT should be around 750 ft/lbs and feels like it weighs about 10 tons... But it would probably pull house up the hill... I think it's just the feel of the way diesels build power.<br><br>I can help you with the gauge question, though.<br><br>The one's you are probably thinking of are the X-Gauges by BD Engine Brake (bdpower.com) They are for 98.5+, but I've never heard a good reason why you couldn't make them work on a 12v.<br><br>The other brand is SPA Gauges. Don't know much about them, except they are highly over-priced just to have the &quot;cool-factor&quot;. I love my Autometer Phantoms, and they are plenty cool.<br>

heavyg

They are X-gauges and the guy assured me they will work on my 97. He gave me a price of $900 bucks for the guage and the tork (sp) plate (#6) installed.... No idea if this is a good price but they have done me right on a couple situations and ALOT of people in town use them. I am not mechanically inclined so the idea of me doing the work myself is laughable

P Kennedy

Heavy G the 3.54 gears are not such a bad deal for pulling as it allows the truck to pull hard in direct (3rd Gear) or 2nd. The Cummins is governed at 26-2700RPM but like the other guys stated may need a bit of tune up,valve set, fuel plate and timing adjusted. In commercial applications this engine runs at the governed RPM all day. Chances are more likely to blow up a gasser at peak rpm pulling than the Cummins. PK

heavyg

I will be getting the gauges and fuel plate next month (Lord willin and the creek dont rise) ;D

gunracer1

i was a 27k the other day with a terrible windload. i have 3.54 gears and i would still like to switch to 3.08 gears if it was available. i have to watch my pyro but it pulls so much better than any other truck i have owned. i hate driving dodges with 4.10s i feel like i am just making noise. my peak tq is right around 1900 rpm, why would i want to be out of it?<br> get a set of gages and a fuel plate and you will love it. mike