I have committed to buying a 97 Dodge ext. cab long box 4x4 Laramie SLT with the Cummins/auto. The truck is from CA and is in great shape - and seems to have been well taken care of. It has only been in MN for a year - and it was treated with Ziebart undercoating when it was brought here. The current owner purchased in 10k miles ago and installed a system to be able to run WVO including a tank, heated lines, solenoids and all the necessary switches, etc to make it work. It also has Firestone airbags installed along with the on-board compressor and guage. There is a 5th wheel plate in the bed and a trailer brake controller. It has 120k miles and I have agreed to pay $9800 for it. Does this sound like a fair deal?

Is there anything I need to watch for or check before sealing the deal on this? I have never owned a diesel so I really don't know what to look for. I checked the oil level (good), tranny fluid smelled fresh and not burnt and there didn't apprear to be any leaks or anything. After reading this forum I will check for cracks around the timing cover - but is there any other way to determine if the KDP has been remedied? The truck is stock with exception of a K&N filter and the WVO system.

I have a pop up slide in camper now that only weighs around 1200 pounds. I would like a bigger one - but don't know how much weight I can haul safely (and legally) with this truck. In addition to the camper I willl also be towing a 16 foot car trailer with my Jeep TJ on it weighing around 6000 pounds. I did this last summer with a 98 GMC k1500 (yes - a half ton truck!) that had airbags and it actually worked fairly well. I assume this truck is more than capable of doing it with a larger camper?

What is the towing capacity of this truck?

Anyone have any experience running WVO in their rig? Any tips/suggestions or resources for info on this?

Thanks for you help!

Yeah the auto trannys are weak I would stay away from it unless your planing for a upgrade other than that the trucks are great. I am a Ford fan and I even like the 5.9 Cummins cheap to build and one heck of a power house once built. For the rest of your questions you might want to try www.towrig.com they have a good Dodge crowed over there.

Its a 12v cummings right? Sound like a steal. Ask the owner how offen the tranny fuild was changed. If they towed alot it needs to be changed every 25,000 miles. Ask how long the k&n filter been on it. Hopefully not long. Pull it as fast as you can. There bad for the turbo. Thats not bad for 97 with 120,000 on it.

You didnt say if its a 3/4 or 1ton.

The current owner has only owned it 10k miles and the K&N filter was on it when he got it. He changed all fluids to synthetic when he bought it. So the K&N isn't good for this truck?

The K&N lets too much dirt in.

tdr1.com... pay $35 to subscribe and it's well worth it.

Oh - and it is a 3/4 ton.

Any idea what the cargo and towing capacity is for this truck? (I haven't picked it up yet and I can't seem to find it online?)

GVW is 8800. I have the same truck except a 5 spd, and mine is ~6500-6600 empty, with very little fuel and no one/thing in the cab. Not sure on the tow rating.

Pete

dieseltruckresource.com is free, and just as good as tdr

a K&N filter is what has hurt my engine......

gvwr 8,800 empty weight is probably in the 6800-6900 lb range

max trailer weight 3.54 gears 10,000
max trailer weight 4.10 gears 11,900

max tongue weight 900 lbs

max gcwr 3.54 gears 16,000
max gcwr 4.10 gears 18,000

a K&N filter is what has hurt my engine......What is the best air filter for the Cummins 5.9L 12valve?

Any stock one a parts store offers. I like wix filters.

it's called a BHAF......but is sold by several companies. the price ranges from 40 bucks at cummins to 85 elsewhere. it is basically a big rig air filter, and fits where the stock airbox sits.

it is roughly 12" diameter and 18" long round filter. if you go this route, spend the 30 bucks for an outerwears prefilter to keep the water off of it (it's a paper filter).

go to dieseltruckresource.com, and search BHAF, and it will show you pics


some say the filter I am talking about only flows 700 or so cfm, but on a flow bench, mine flowed over 700 cfm (flow bench limit) at a much lower pressure drop, which means it probably flows in the 900-1000 cfm range.

I only have to change mine about once every 1.5 yrs., so the cost isn't that bad.

this filter definitely outflows the stock airbox, and it also lets you hear the turbo a bit more.