OBSCENE POWER!
Installing a TST PowerMax CR Computer and PDR Twin Turbo Kit on a '03 Dodge Ram Diesel.
By Lance Clifford

I did a ton of research on turbos. I called countless companies, read many articles, and visited many bulletin boards on the web, including our own tow rig forum. All of this research brought me to one company - Piers Diesel Research in Surrey, BC Canada. I called them up, and talked to Harry. I told him I wanted to keep my TST box, and have a reliable truck. He told me that if I want true reliability and the most useable power, the only real option was twin turbos.

Harry claimed that their twin turbo kit was designed to handle the power of the TST chip, and still maintain low EGT (exhaust gas temperature) temperatures. He said that twin turbos are excellent for towing, since they have the ability to move massive amounts of air efficiently without heat buildup. After a little bit of thought, I decided to go with the kit. Because the kit for the 3rd generation Dodges is relatively new, I decided I wanted Piers to do the install. Since this would require taking the truck all the way to B.C. Canada, I wasn't sure what to do since I didn't have a turbo for the truck. When the owner of PDR, Piers Harry, called and offered to send me a stock turbo to use so I could make the journey up there, I was blown away!

Once Shaffer's received the stock turbo from Piers, it was installed, and the truck was fired up. The truck had zero oil pressure and was immediately shut back off. Upon re inspection, it was discovered that the small bolts that hold the oil pump to the block were broke off, and the oil pump was spun, effectively blocking the oil port, and starving the motor of oil.

With this revelation, I made a call to Cummins, and asked what would be the first component to fail if this motor were to loose oil pressure. Sure enough, I was told the turbo would most likely be the first to fail. It seems that my TST box did in fact NOT cause the turbo failure after all.

The oil pump was repaired, and the truck was back on the road. I drove it for two days, and while climbing a mountain grade, the motor developed a rod knock. It seems the oil starvation damage affected the lower end as well. I'm sure some of you are asking "didn't you notice the oil pressure gauge drop?" No, I did not notice it. The factory oil pressure gauge is a "dummy gauge" of sorts, and shouldn not be relied on. When SOR was doing their testing, they read zero pressure on a manual gauge while the factory gauge showed pressure. Who knows at this point if the gauge actually dropped when the original problem came about, or not. The truck was returned to Shaffer's Offroad, where the lower end was completely rebuilt. At this point the motor was pretty much all new and ready for some serious power.

Mt. Shasta

I decided to make a family trip out of our Canadian adventure. I packed up the wife and kid and headed North. The trip was beautiful, although it was somewhat of a process to make it through the Canadian border, since being rookie border crossers, we did not bring birth certificates or passports. After we convinced the Canadian officers we weren't smuggling our daughter across the border, we were on our way to PDR.

Part Three - The Teardown