21' LTD CTD Personal Dream Rig

[AEV_CUMMINS]

Love your truck man.

As far as aux lighting goes, I would recommend doing another kit from CJC, the fog light swap (link). You could piece it together yourself, not sure how much you'd save. The fog lights can still be put into the AEV bumper and still work with the turn signal (which you can disable via alfaobd if you don't like it).

That way you can get the light down low now, while you wait on the bumper. Then when you get the lightbar you'll have a different color option, while still keeping all the lights down load. Ditch lights would be good but it's mostly good for trail and slow speed stuff, so I'd prob do those last if it were me.

I hear the sport lights are the bees knees but they aren't rated for on road use, the SAE are good, but I hear mixed reviews if they are worth the cash. YMMV.

Thank you for your insight, I am wanting to keep the factory fog lights as I would not get the SAE lights and thus would not want them to activate during turn signal and then I would lose those for alot of driving time. My idea of the A-pillar kit is to have them light up a huge amount of the peripheral and then combined with the lightbar going onto the AEV bumper will make it like day time (well atleast thats the thought). I think they would also help in the short term in the pitch black tighter FSR's I run down as well while waiting for the lightbar to.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

Got the Retrax tonneau and Yakima Outpost HD rack installed today! Only got pictures of the rack so far, tonneau pictures coming soon. I love both so much, far exceeded my expectations. I have the MaxTrax mount already mounted but still awaiting my Maxtrax to show up as well as my Rotopax 4 gallon for the empty side cross rails.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

Just heard that tracking for my AEV bumper shows that it will be at the shop soon! I am booked in for January 11th for install. Thought I would have West Coast Off-Roaders tackle the install as it is far from their first time and I want them to install my Banks Monster-Ram intake elbow and Baja Designs A-pillar XL80 pro lights and 30'' BD OnX lightbar in the bumper at the same time (lights may have to wait as they do not have a firm delivery window yet). Super stoked nonetheless as you can tell from my profile picture that this is how I have imagined my truck to look like back in March when I first placed the factory order. I just cannot pick my jaw up off the floor from a AEV bumper on a limited night edition of any color but especially a black with night edition. I will be posting many pics after install. Stay tuned!

 

[flan]

Just heard that tracking for my AEV bumper shows that it will be at the shop soon! I am booked in for January 11th for install. Thought I would have West Coast Off-Roaders tackle the install as it is far from their first time and I want them to install my Banks Monster-Ram intake elbow and Baja Designs A-pillar XL80 pro lights and 30'' BD OnX lightbar in the bumper at the same time (lights may have to wait as they do not have a firm delivery window yet). Super stoked nonetheless as you can tell from my profile picture that this is how I have imagined my truck to look like back in March when I first placed the factory order. I just cannot pick my jaw up off the floor from a AEV bumper on a limited night edition of any color but especially a black with night edition. I will be posting many pics after install. Stay tuned!

I ordered my rear bumper and it was at my house in 4 days. I ordered the front mid November and haven’t heard boo. Hopefully mine is on a pallet next to yours!

 

[CforHD]

For my own edification; for those that delete, what is your plan in the event of in-warranty repairs?

Fix it out-of-pocket? Bolt parts back on and restore tune to stock? Can dealers detect a tune even if returned to stock?

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

For my own edification; for those that delete, what is your plan in the event of in-warranty repairs?

Fix it out-of-pocket? Bolt parts back on and restore tune to stock? Can dealers detect a tune even if returned to stock?

The question of “in warranty repairs”? Makes me wonder what you imagine going wrong. If it is something I didn’t mess with like a speaker, camera or sensor.. it would still be covered. But things like if I blew a head gasket, fried my transmission or had a fuel line leak from my Fleece fuel pump. I would either use the manufacturer warranty from the aftermarket company that made the part, or I would simply upgrade and find the root cause of the problem if caused by something within tuning or what not. To sum it up, I removed the biggest and most warrantied items off of the truck by doing the delete and also upgraded components while keeping the power level and temperatures very happy. If some random engine codes and such ever come up then I can easily diagnose myself from within the tuner and even send datalogs to the tuning expert who would help me understand or clear any codes long before stepping foot in a dealer with a parts ordering minimum wage snot monkey.
I trust the big Cummins girl and enjoy the peace of mind being a 21’ gives me without the stupid cp4. I also religiously maintain my truck and let her warm up and cool down, change fluids frequently and I plan on keeping her healthy for a long time and so far am so pleased with its performance and flawless service it has given thus far.
Yes a long winded response but I feel it is so misunderstood and people jump on the bandwagon of whatever the media and influencers/main stream shops are preaching when in reality, a ton of the conversations switched to anti deletes because they still need to stay in business and yes they do a good job at it but if it weren’t illegal or not governed so heavily, do you honestly think all the aftermarket’s like Banks would have ever stopped making the delete parts? Think about it and how even up to a couple years ago the same people saying DO NOT and NEVER delete are the same ones that had a catalogue of delete and performance parts.
I am so happy with the fuel economy and performance gains, the reliability and peace of mind knowing that my truck does not have anything in its way of a very long service life of parts with fail percentages far past my comfortable liking. It is an old school engine and it absolutely purrs now that I have it in its true basic form that if it were up to me, everyone would have the chance to experience the difference.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

For my own edification; for those that delete, what is your plan in the event of in-warranty repairs?

Fix it out-of-pocket? Bolt parts back on and restore tune to stock? Can dealers detect a tune even if returned to stock?

And yes, dealer scan software can find flashes that have been done and recorded in the ECU. People would be shocked to know how much information vehicles store.

 

[MtnRider]

For my own edification; for those that delete, what is your plan in the event of in-warranty repairs?

Fix it out-of-pocket? Bolt parts back on and restore tune to stock? Can dealers detect a tune even if returned to stock?

Like mentioned, you delete and the repairs are on you (for engine/powertrain). And they can tell even if you try to put it back to stock. Now they may not look if it's a small $ item but you come in with a dead transmission and you can be sure they will scan the ECM for traces.


.

 

[CforHD]

The question of “in warranty repairs”? Makes me wonder what you imagine going wrong. If it is something I didn’t mess with like a speaker, camera or sensor.. it would still be covered. But things like if I blew a head gasket, fried my transmission or had a fuel line leak from my Fleece fuel pump. I would either use the manufacturer warranty from the aftermarket company that made the part, or I would simply upgrade and find the root cause of the problem if caused by something within tuning or what not. To sum it up, I removed the biggest and most warrantied items off of the truck by doing the delete and also upgraded components while keeping the power level and temperatures very happy. If some random engine codes and such ever come up then I can easily diagnose myself from within the tuner and even send datalogs to the tuning expert who would help me understand or clear any codes long before stepping foot in a dealer with a parts ordering minimum wage snot monkey.
I trust the big Cummins girl and enjoy the peace of mind being a 21’ gives me without the stupid cp4. I also religiously maintain my truck and let her warm up and cool down, change fluids frequently and I plan on keeping her healthy for a long time and so far am so pleased with its performance and flawless service it has given thus far.
Yes a long winded response but I feel it is so misunderstood and people jump on the bandwagon of whatever the media and influencers/main stream shops are preaching when in reality, a ton of the conversations switched to anti deletes because they still need to stay in business and yes they do a good job at it but if it weren’t illegal or not governed so heavily, do you honestly think all the aftermarket’s like Banks would have ever stopped making the delete parts? Think about it and how even up to a couple years ago the same people saying DO NOT and NEVER delete are the same ones that had a catalogue of delete and performance parts.
I am so happy with the fuel economy and performance gains, the reliability and peace of mind knowing that my truck does not have anything in its way of a very long service life of parts with fail percentages far past my comfortable liking. It is an old school engine and it absolutely purrs now that I have it in its true basic form that if it were up to me, everyone would have the chance to experience the difference.

Thanks for the detailed response. As you said, there's a lot of misinformation afoot on this topic. I was under the impression that any powertrain or related component (ie. water pump, alternator, etc.) would be voided. That said, replacing a <$1,000 part on your own dime is probably made up for by the delete.

I was a 100% on board with it until I watched a few YouTube videos of folks now saying not to. You make some great points around these same YouTubers/Shops being all for it before the EPA crack down and have since changed their tune (pun intended).

I guess at the end of the day the only potential gamble is that you may be that rare customer who has a defective Cummins engine that fails early.

 

[CforHD]

And yes, dealer scan software can find flashes that have been done and recorded in the ECU. People would be shocked to know how much information vehicles store.

Ah, well then I guess there'd be no reason to save the parts to bolt back on in the event of a warranty repair.

 

[UglyViking]

Thanks for the detailed response. As you said, there's a lot of misinformation afoot on this topic. I was under the impression that any powertrain or related component (ie. water pump, alternator, etc.) would be voided. That said, replacing a <$1,000 part on your own dime is probably made up for by the delete.

I was a 100% on board with it until I watched a few YouTube videos of folks now saying not to. You make some great points around these same YouTubers/Shops being all for it before the EPA crack down and have since changed their tune (pun intended).

I guess at the end of the day the only potential gamble is that you may be that rare customer who has a defective Cummins engine that fails early.

The be frank, the biggest risk in doing a delete is if your local law enforcement agencies decide to start cracking down on them. As of yet I've only seen a single case where an end user has been told to put their emissions equip back on or face the consequences, and to be honest I'm not sure how true the information is since in todays day and age there is so much made up BS going around it's hard to tell.

The things I can tell you is that it's federally illegal, full stop. Many performance shops, tuning shops, parts shops, and guys like the diesel bros have all been heavily fined for selling delete tunes and setup. The big challenge you'll have with deletes is what happens when your favorite tuning shop gets shut down? You pay for another if you need updates or you're stuck. Sadly, they are also getting much harder to find. The only real option in my mind is that you learn how to tune yourself, thats the only real guarantee.

Lastly, and I don't know how much you care about this, but diesels with emissions on do emit a lot less pollution. I'm not going to get into the argument about the pollution emitted from manufacturing def, transporting def, manufacturing the emissions equip, transporting that, mpg, etc. because to be frank no one has hard data on what those emissions are so we are talking at each other at that point. What I do know is that per the data that came out from the VW diesel scandal, an emissions on vehicle is something like 90% or more "cleaner" than without.

Personally, I can see the writing on the wall, with some states even going so far as preventing people from registering older diesel trucks it's only going to become harder to get a deleted truck.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

AEV bumper installed. Rock solid and stunning even before a detail. I am trying to figure out what kind of coating or ceramic if any I can apply to the AEV proprietary ''A-coated'' finish of the bumper.


Going to be installing the Baja Designs 30`` bar underneath of the bullbar once it finally arrives. Also awaiting the full intercooler guard as the shroud alone is not enough protection in my opinion.. should come as standard with the bumper though.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

Finally found, bought and mounted my new Maxtrax onto the Yakima rack that I have been searching so long for. Debated going red instead of black to match the Rotopax on the other side but went with my gut and stuck with my original idea of black. Happy I did, as I like the off-road and utilitarian look of some color but I also appreciate the oem+ look. I used a Python Master lock to have a clean and easy theft deterrent.

Now I am trying to decide between an AutoHome Maggiolina Grand Tour which may protrude a few inches off the back of the tailgate or a Roofnest Condor XL which would fit perfectly on the rack but is just not as high quality.

And yes.... I know how dirty she is and since the move of houses I have busted out the detailing supplies and she is getting a good wash in & out today.

 

[UglyViking]

I had the exact same rack system, and the Falcon XL on my truck about 2-3 weeks before I dumped it. I personally couldn't stand not being able to see anything out the back and just didn't see the value.

That said, the falcon is longer than the bed and stuck out a noticeable amount, and I'd never do that again. I'd make sure that whatever tent setup you get it's no longer than the bed, minus a little space for the window and cab flex. It's just not worth it.

 

[gimmie11s]

Finally found, bought and mounted my new Maxtrax onto the Yakima rack that I have been searching so long for. Debated going red instead of black to match the Rotopax on the other side but went with my gut and stuck with my original idea of black. Happy I did, as I like the off-road and utilitarian look of some color but I also appreciate the oem+ look. I used a Python Master lock to have a clean and easy theft deterrent.

Now I am trying to decide between an AutoHome Maggiolina Grand Tour which may protrude a few inches off the back of the tailgate or a Roofnest Condor XL which would fit perfectly on the rack but is just not as high quality. View attachment 32228View attachment 32227

And yes.... I know how dirty she is and since the move of houses I have busted out the detailing supplies and she is getting a good wash in & out today.

LOVE the truck! But you gotta ditch the "4x4 off road" stickers like... asap!

 

[UglyViking]

LOVE the truck! But you gotta ditch the "4x4 off road" stickers like... asap!

How will people know if his truck is a real truck or one of those city slicker trucks then

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

I had the exact same rack system, and the Falcon XL on my truck about 2-3 weeks before I dumped it. I personally couldn't stand not being able to see anything out the back and just didn't see the value.

That said, the falcon is longer than the bed and stuck out a noticeable amount, and I'd never do that again. I'd make sure that whatever tent setup you get it's no longer than the bed, minus a little space for the window and cab flex. It's just not worth it.

Thanks for the input and experience. I never wanted a bed rack and I only got it after seeing the tonneau I got supported it. I especially did not want a rack that was higher than the cab of the truck for many reasons but it seems the only high quality tent's that I am interested in that will fit my family of 3 are just too long to go on the current rack. I measured and the Roofnest Condor XL is massive when open and will give me a couple inches on all sides while closed on top of my current rack which is amazing but I am worried if I will be happy with the Roofnest for being able to get a decent mattress solution inside and store things inside while it is closed which is not a problem with the AutoHome or equivalent. The wife is trying to talk me into getting a small tent trailer that we can fold the tongue in and stow in the garage but I still think I want the roof top tent for at the very least hunting trips without the wife and 1 year old. The decision is very difficult and I think we may just rent a few RV's this summer and see what and if we like any. My main stipulation is not wanting to be stuck at a campground and durability while travelling at the rates of speed I get going down some trails.

In regards to losing my rearview, it would be annoying but it is a sacrifice I am okay with making. I think you really helped me stick with my gut in the fact of not wanting a tent that protrudes off the back of the bed. Although that would be a better tent by far in terms of quality and overall usability, the tent would also be about $2k or more cost. The more I think about it the more I want the ability to spend a night or 2 in the tents and decide if one is worth a big amount more than the other or if I would want to scrap the RTT idea altogether and go with my wife's thinking of the small tent trailer that could be shoved in the garage.

 

[AEV_CUMMINS]

LOVE the truck! But you gotta ditch the "4x4 off road" stickers like... asap!

Yes I need to get those stickers off ASAP. It hurts me every day that it is on there knowing that the longer I wait to take it off, the higher the odds it will leave a discoloration or outline after the tedious removal. I am going to tackle that job within the next week thanks to your extra motivation you just gave me and hey, if there ends up being some crap left behind or some discoloration, it gives me an excuse to bust out the polisher that I have been telling myself I would wait to do until getting some love marks from tight trails.

 

[gimmie11s]

Yes I need to get those stickers off ASAP. It hurts me every day that it is on there knowing that the longer I wait to take it off, the higher the odds it will leave a discoloration or outline after the tedious removal. I am going to tackle that job within the next week thanks to your extra motivation you just gave me and hey, if there ends up being some crap left behind or some discoloration, it gives me an excuse to bust out the polisher that I have been telling myself I would wait to do until getting some love marks from tight trails.

lol... seriously.. truck is unbelievably bad ass and if it was stock.. maybe you could keep them.

But with all the nice mods you've done, they now stick out like a sore thumb!!

Again, nice work... she's a beauty!

 

[UglyViking]

Thanks for the input and experience. I never wanted a bed rack and I only got it after seeing the tonneau I got supported it. I especially did not want a rack that was higher than the cab of the truck for many reasons but it seems the only high quality tent's that I am interested in that will fit my family of 3 are just too long to go on the current rack. I measured and the Roofnest Condor XL is massive when open and will give me a couple inches on all sides while closed on top of my current rack which is amazing but I am worried if I will be happy with the Roofnest for being able to get a decent mattress solution inside and store things inside while it is closed which is not a problem with the AutoHome or equivalent. The wife is trying to talk me into getting a small tent trailer that we can fold the tongue in and stow in the garage but I still think I want the roof top tent for at the very least hunting trips without the wife and 1 year old. The decision is very difficult and I think we may just rent a few RV's this summer and see what and if we like any. My main stipulation is not wanting to be stuck at a campground and durability while travelling at the rates of speed I get going down some trails.

In regards to losing my rearview, it would be annoying but it is a sacrifice I am okay with making. I think you really helped me stick with my gut in the fact of not wanting a tent that protrudes off the back of the bed. Although that would be a better tent by far in terms of quality and overall usability, the tent would also be about $2k or more cost. The more I think about it the more I want the ability to spend a night or 2 in the tents and decide if one is worth a big amount more than the other or if I would want to scrap the RTT idea altogether and go with my wife's thinking of the small tent trailer that could be shoved in the garage.

I hope your experience is better than mine, but I found that the RTT just wasn't worth the hassle, it could have been the model I had that couldn't keep bedding in it, and the mattress left quite a bit to be desired, or perhaps that the setup just wasn't great considering the amount of time you needed to spend setting up the truck, or the cost. Either way, I wish you the best! I'm in the process of setting up my bed to sleep in with the cap on it. Fingers crossed that works well for the amount of time I plan to use it.