Bought a tow rig

[nblehm]

2005 2500 5.9 cummins auto. 250k miles but has a recent transmission replacement. In good shape for the year, interior is decent. Has rust in the rear fenders that I need to fix.

I have spent years on here saying I dont need a diesel and will never own one again, but here I am My excuse was we got a new puppy that is going to be big and my kid and dog wont fit in the cab of a J10. This was cheaper than most gas trucks.


Has a 3" rough country lift the guy I bought it from just put on. He owned it for 2 years and only put 2500 miles on it. Had a camper in the bed.


My plans. I am going to take the rough country lift off, probably replace the front with thuren extra soft front coils and fox or bilstein shocks. Take the block out of the rear, and replace the rear rough country shocks. Fix the rust in the bed. New wheels and tires. Add a muffler since its straight piped after the cat. Looking at pop up tent style bed toppers. Kind of a overlanding/tow rig type deal.



Only thing I have done for it was to make my dog a platform under the back seats.

[MBood82]

Nice rig!

[Dennis]

Dig the dog platform!

[Cobound]

[6DoF]

:evilgrin:

soooo, way up there in the super thin air ... some compounds would really bring back some of the pep *cough* i mean fuel economy

[xj_man_646]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

:evilgrin:

soooo, way up there in the super thin air ... some compounds would really bring back some of the pep *cough* i mean fuel economy

I didn't notice much of a change with our 5.9 until we made the Pikes Peak climb. Not that you're wrong, but I'm guessing that is a path Nate doesn't want to go down

Sweet truck! Mildly surprised you went this route, as you said. But you're still in the realm of diesel reliability, so that is nice.

[nblehm]

The owner of the company I work for has the same truck 05 but a long bed. He just put compounds on his and he has 100hp injectors. Truck runs great. Egts are never a problem. He also has built tranny

He also had a 2023 6.7 dually and he said it feels like it has more power still than his modded 05 until it detunes because of egts.



Not really looking to mod this. Just sort a few things I don’t like and use it as a comfy tow rig/camping vehicle.

[6DoF]

compounds are like the savior for towing in the steep to keep egt's down. same boost and you'll have WAY lower egt at speed and load going up. it just kills me how much the stupid kits cost. you could build your own kit complete with 2 new turbos for what these places charge for just a piping kit!! as if the diesel prices weren't already inflated by idiots, now the parts have damn near the corvette tax on them.

[6DoF]

OH! muffler, that's what i thought about yesterday

1) a second turbot is a great muffler!

2) the FTE muffler/resonator is as good as the internet says. they are super easy to package, decent price, and make a huge difference. even thought the small tube spiral seams weird, it's amazing

the FTE is like 50% of the exhaust on the '55, with the tip right at the cab. you still can't hear the exhaust over the turbo and engine noises

[Hoofmann]

Heck yeah man! Nice pickup truuu!

Pre-emissions diesels are what I’ve been looking at lately.

[nblehm]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

OH! muffler, that's what i thought about yesterday

1) a second turbot is a great muffler!

2) the FTE muffler/resonator is as good as the internet says. they are super easy to package, decent price, and make a huge difference. even thought the small tube spiral seams weird, it's amazing

the FTE is like 50% of the exhaust on the '55, with the tip right at the cab. you still can't hear the exhaust over the turbo and engine noises

Solid point on the second turbo

For being straight piped it actually isnt too bad now. But I am getting old and would rather not hear it

Originally Posted by Hoofmann

Heck yeah man! Nice pickup truuu!

Pre-emissions diesels are what I’ve been looking at lately.

I wont own a emissions era diesel. When I did work on them, that is all I would fix. Hard to find decent diesels that old without a ton of miles or high price tag. I compromised on the high miles part

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by nblehm

I compromised on the high miles part

meh, i don't even know if I'd call it compromise as long as the body n frame are clean.

[nblehm]

Damn you Matt, curiosity got the best of me and I started looking at compound kits

[6DoF]

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by nblehm

Damn you Matt, curiosity got the best of me and I started looking at compound kits

it's more work, and you have enough ... but it's WAY cheaper to fab your own. like 60% off to fab your own.

careful if you start to watch some of the power driven diesel youtube, you'll get addicted.

your big turbo:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-260050

manifold turbo:
https://powerdrivendiesel.com/produc...-turbocharger/
or different housing outlet:
https://powerdrivendiesel.com/produc...r-stock-550hp/

i got flanges from these guys:
https://azcncmanufacturing.com/colle...-dodge-cummins

Stainless bends, turbo drains, silicone couplers, and most v-band adapters are fine from amazon, and AN fittings / hose.

[xj_man_646]

What about a DIY kit that uses the stock turbo? .

Something tells me Nate won't need a small turbo capable of 600 HP t meet his goals

[6DoF]

those are basically upgraded stock turbo's ... generally faster spool and/or wider map.

i wasn't sure if the 3rd gen pre-emissions had an electronic variable vane ... if boost referenced waste gate, then 110% agree he should just use the factory manifold turbo!

a lot of the kits flip the manifold and put the atmospheric on the bottom, i'd actually leave the factory where it is and add one up high again. the only shop really doing that is ATS, i really like their layout.

[xj_man_646]

I thought the 2005 model year was still a fixed geometry turbo, but to be honest I can't recall if they made that change before the 6.7 or not.

I didn't think a turbo that spooled faster and made more power than stock was even possible. Interesting.

[6DoF]

going from a cast wheel to billet you can get quite a bit lighter and less restriction with better blade geometry ... then increasing the housing ratio you can take some of that speed back in exchange for further restriction reduction.

because racecar!

[nblehm]

Yeah I would use the stock turbo and something like a s475 with a 1.10 housing. Really not to bad of an upgrade if you buy the turbo and build the pipes.

You can get add a turbo kits that keep the stock turbo.