October 2012 GTG
 

Hi guys. I'm going to offer up my place if ya'll want to have a DTR 8 get together for Oct. 6th. Jana will be out of town and Jared has an all day band contest. Soo....if anybody wants to go to Denton for the races, pulls and dyno, perhaps we can get together and make a day of it and come back to McKinney for some eats.[guitar][coffee] What say you????

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Im game (Now im down the road now!), but don't know about going to the races for me at least. I dont want to get too bowdy bowdy before i have to get up at 4:30 the next morn.....[dummy]

I'd like to maybe dyno again, but I don't plan to race. Maybe we can go early and come back early. If there is no interest, that's fine. I'm just making my place available to come back as a group and hang out if anybody is interested.

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Well it looks like there is no interest in a GTG this weekend. Im surprized there are not some comments at least, one way or the other. DTR 8 has definately died and gone to Heaven.

We used to get together almost monthly, now we can't even get together 'ANNUALLY'![duhhh]
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I'm out for this weekend. We're heading down to Giddings on Friday night.


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I knew you had a conflict Justin....no problemo. In the past we would have had several responses of yes or no and perhaps discussion for another date, mingled in with other things going on in our lives. But now, it's just crickets chirping.:cool:

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Well i hate that I just saw this. It looks like all the boards are dead lately. Was just over on the 1st gen site and it's slow.

Just for the sake of keeping some semblance of life in the #8 forum, here what I've had going on.

I had posted earlier about the issues I had at the end of July that seemed like they were VP44 related. The shop didn't find anything after test driving it over the course of a week and we didn't want to just throw parts at it, so I brought it home and it didn't give me any more dead pedal issues. It never did seem to run quite right in that one time it would throw massive clouds of smoke if I thought about putting my foot on the pedal and other times it would be completely clean with my foot buried in it. I drove it for a month and a half without any more issues, till I went to Giddings in the middle of September. Once I got about an hour from home, it started up with the dead pedal again. This time it wasn't just a quick on/off, it lasted a couple of seconds each time. Nothing like passing a semi on a 2 lane and getting dead pedal right as you get to his front bumper. It probably happened 15-20 times over the course of the trip. But still not a single code was thrown.

Decided to bite the bullet and just go with the new VP since the APPS was checking out fine. I went back to the HO VP since I don't have any plans to put a wire tap box back on her. Let me say, it's a changed truck now. There was a lot of power missing previously that I didn't realize and now I can see firsthand proof of the claims about the Mach injectors running clean. I'm getting roughly the same amount of smoke that I would get with my worn out set of DD2s that were rated 60hp less than the M4s. And it's really easy to drive it clean in town again.

So I guess now it's time to divert focus back to working on the front end. I've already replaced the full steering linkage with new greasable parts. Probably going to put some 1" spacers on the front coils to raise the height slightly so I can get my axle back under center. Even with my adjustable 3rd gen track bar completely shortened, I'm still slightly off center to the passenger side. Has anyone done the steering box adjustments (overcenter and preload) with any success? Or is 250K about what can be expected from a steering box?

Diesel was a whopping $.80 a gallon higher than regular gas at the truck stops in Anna yesterday!

Between Prosper and Celina, the diesel price varies by about $.40-.50. Prosper has 2 stations with $4.19 and $4.09. You go five miles up the road to Brookshires in Celina and it was $3.70.

I've noticed that up and down I-35 on the way to Giddings, I haven't seen any truck stop recently selling for less than $4.00, even though I routinely buy it locally for less.

$3.879 was the cheapest I've found at Racetrac around here.

October 1 was 1 yr for the dodge
29,843 mi
2231 gallons
$8562 in fuel

Thank God for fuel card.... Dang things are expensive.

9.56mpg - 15.30 mpg
9.56 was entirely at 21860 gross...

I thought this was interesting:

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/Lea...TE_NUS_DPG&f=W

HI guys!

Well it's sad for me to report but I sold the Dodge in September... I'll get another one some day. I got a very fair amount and sold it to a real good guy that has good pans for her and will take care of her.

Brian, it looks like you keep a pretty good log of your fuel, I do the same in the VW, every fill up I write down miles, cost per gallon, mileage and where I got the fuel. Had the car since the end of February and it has 19.5K miles already! I love that car!

we are currently in process of buying a decent chunk of Red Dirt just north of Abilene to settle down on in the future. if/when the deal goes thru all y'all are welcome to come out for a GTG.

Hi guys, glad to see some response on our board. :)

My truck has undergone a few minor changes that make a dramatic difference in the "look". I have gone back to stock polished 3rd gen wheels, 285/75/17 "E" rated 3970lb per tire Nitto Duragrapplers, removed the 2nd gen sport badging and replaced with chrome "c" badging, replaced the grill with the stock chrome grill, replaced the headlights with chrome light (instead of the faded black ones) and replaced the lightbulbs with Sylvania silverstars, and replaced the tailpipe with a chrome turndown.

I guess i'm an old man now, so my truck is now set up a little more fitting for my age and needs. After pulling my toyhauler to far eastern Kentucky this past summer I realize how much easier it should be towing with these new tires vs. those "D" rated 35'' muds.

I can't believe how much easier my truck is to steer and it is so quiet.

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It does look different now. I think the factory additions makes it look good.

I like the turn down.... And yes smaller tires do amazing things for towing.

Kick myself for not getting 4.10s at times, safe bet my truck won't be seeing a 35 any time in the near future.


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Thanks guys. Hope to get together with ya'll soon.

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Anyone heard anything about some local events in the near future? Doing some work to the truck and want to get it on the rollers

I haven't heard of anything, but I'd be interested on making a run as well to see where I sit right now with my current setup.

I've considered just going to HPP in Lewisville to use their dyno. If anyone else is interested, we could work out a date and see if they would give us a rate.


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Crobtex was talking about trying to get something together here when it warms up in a few months the other day. We went up and ate lunch with RJ the other day....

Oh yeah.....I'm back in the game:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAVt-zSCMAAnj4m.jpg:large

Charlie's version of warm might have us in July/August with the 100+ temps. [laugh]

Nice looking truck! And that's a sweet parking brake.

Yeah.....well...it came with a catch:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAVvedgCIAEjpSh.jpg:large

I did pick it up cheap. And looks like I'll be able to get out without putting too much more into it. It's got a Bank$ exhaust, intake and 6 Gun tuner...(will be selling the tuner and looking at some EFI Live) and a billet Suncoast tranny. Issue was the flex plate let go and allowed the torque converter to snap off one of the dogs on the Fnt pump drive. Repair torque converter, freshen up the clutches, o-rings, seals and bearings; put a new pan and billet flex plate....should be golden!

The deal had the disclaimer

**SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Sounds good. I exploded my injection pump so I'm waiting in that and some new injectors. Let ya know when I'm back together.

That is a good looking truck. Not a big fan of white but that's looks clean.

Congrats on the new ride Dan! Very nice!!:)

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Thanks Robert...told myself I would never have a 3rd gen.....but this too good to pass up....

I love the sound of the earlier Cummins engines. But having never owned an earlier one, I can't say I have been disappointed with mine. It's been a great truck so far at 181,000 miles and climbing. I've put a little money into it. But I plan on running on for a long time.

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Well, I'm finally caught up on the projects that I have had on the work bench for a while.

I got my upgraded wheel cylinders into my back drums. And learned an important lesson about double-checking to make sure your springs are attached at the right points. [nonono]

I also did the 3rd gen brake upgrade on the front discs. Between the two brake upgrades, it stops like a whole new truck.

And I managed to swap out my front coils for a new set with a heavier weight rating. That put about 1.5" of height back into my front end. Enough to get my axle back to center and removed that feeling of bottoming out when I hit a rough patch in the road. I still have about a 2" difference front to back (same as stock), but the front end feels much better now.

Now it's time to start stocking up on new projects...

Finally up and running again so ready to have some fun. Got a new "performance" pump from II and some 5x.014 injectors. Truck seems to run good and definitely has more bottom end and throttle response.

Hey I used to know some guys from the NTX DTR club...

Chirp chirp chirp

Someone call the exterminator, the crickets are back...

Anyone going to TMR on March 9th?

Hi guys!

Just chiming in, on Friday I added a 2008 Ram QC LB 4x4 to the stable. work has slowed down for me and my company truck was no longer available. So I picked up another CTD.

Hope to see you guys around, Also a few months ago we bought a house and some property just north of Abilene and you guys are always welcome if your out this way!

Couldn't stay away huh

Late notice but i just found this. I'm gonna hit it up Saturday for sure and maybe Friday. http://www.runnadm.com/

Well, nobody missed much. Races rained out, only a handful of trucks pulled and the dyno was expensive, $75.00 for three pulls and they weren't even keeping track of everyone's numbers. My new fuel system hadn't arrived yet so i didn't dyno. Maybe I'll get a chance in April at Ennis

Truck update:

Well tranny is rebuilt and its on the road. But only to find out the steering leaves a lot to be desired. So got a DSS enroute and will need to replace the Fnt end components. Ball joints are fresh so that's a worry off my mind.

As far as the tranny goes. AWESOME! We pulled it down up in MO and found it had lots of little upgrades here and there. Not a bad unit at all. But working with a builder we found some other things that needed to be upgraded. We upgraded the OD to 6 clutches, the direct drive we replaced the thin fibers and steels with thicker ones while maintaining the upgraded 6 count. Replaced the 2nd gear servo with a multi ringed billet one. And talked to a local torque converter rebuilder that happened to have a Sun Coast triple disc done up with a few little upgraded tricks done to it. Installed the BD Billet flex plate and new rear main. Put the AFE double deep pan on and filled with fluid.....and man is it a fluid hog!

I can only compare it to trying to hold back a thoroughbred before a race. It feels direct and shifts are firm and pronounced. Not harsh at all. I'm very pleased! Now to ditch this 6 Gun and get some EFI Live in it!