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What did you do TO your RAM today?

Serviced my 3500 after a nice 5 week holiday we clocked the km’s like crazy. This truck eats the bitumen and dirt roads like candy.
I do however have a concern, we were operating 4 out of the 5 weeks in the Outback and ambient temp was 42-45 degrees Celsius and the engine oil temp was constantly 102-103 degrees Celsius, is there a mod or upgrade to fix this?
 
T143 said:
Serviced my 3500 after a nice 5 week holiday we clocked the km’s like crazy. This truck eats the bitumen and dirt roads like candy.
I do however have a concern, we were operating 4 out of the 5 weeks in the Outback and ambient temp was 42-45 degrees Celsius and the engine oil temp was constantly 102-103 degrees Celsius, is there a mod or upgrade to fix this?
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The Cummins doesn’t have an oil temperature sensor, so those numbers are “made up” by the computer. It’s basically guessing at what they might be based on other things. That said, those temperatures are fine. As long as it’s staying under 250 F (121 C) it’s not a problem. The official max oil temperature from Cummins is 280 F (137 C).
 
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jsalbre said:
The Cummins doesn’t have an oil temperature sensor, so those numbers are “made up” by the computer. It’s basically guessing at what they might be based on other things. That said, those temperatures are fine. As long as it’s staying under 250 F (121 C) it’s not a problem. The official max oil temperature sensor from Cummins is 280 F (137 C).
Click to expand...

Exactly, fake oil temp and pressure on the Cummins.

I guess the silver lining is that these motors don’t have oil related failures (as long as you run the correct oil).

5w-40 is still the best oil for these engines, IMO.
 
Ok so not to worry then, its very interesting how they then decide to make the oil pressure go up and down while changing gears and changing engine rpm.
Yes only using CK4 5W40
Thanx guys
I hope the engine coolant temp is for real?
 
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T143 said:
Ok so not to worry then, its very interesting how they then decide to make the oil pressure go up and down while changing gears and changing engine rpm.
Click to expand...

The reason oil pressure is fake is because this engine has such a wild oil pressure swing in a small rpm band. 15 at idle to 60 at 1800 rpm. It would move the needle so much and so fast that people thought something was wrong and would bring their trucks in for warranty appointments when nothing was wrong. So they first dampened the needle movement, but eventually there was a flash around 2001 that made the needle fake and then the pressure transducer was swapped for a pressure switch.

What I find interesting is that the 3.6L in my wife’s gladiator appears to have a real oil pressure gauge and the pressure will rapidly increase when load increases even if rpms don’t change which is definitely a more wild swing that my CTD. So if the JT has a real oil pressure and oil temp gauge why can’t my CTD that I work much harder.

T143 said:
I hope the engine coolant temp is for real?
Click to expand...

Yes, that’s a real gauge.
 
AH64ID said:
The reason oil pressure is fake is because this engine has such a wild oil pressure swing in a small rpm band. 15 at idle to 60 at 1800 rpm. It would move the needle so much and so fast that people thought something was wrong and would bring their trucks in for warranty appointments when nothing was wrong. So they first dampened the needle movement, but eventually there was a flash around 2001 that made the needle fake and then the pressure transducer was swapped for a pressure switch.

What I find interesting is that the 3.6L in my wife’s gladiator appears to have a real oil pressure gauge and the pressure will rapidly increase when load increases even if rpms don’t change which is definitely a more wild swing that my CTD. So if the JT has a real oil pressure and oil temp gauge why can’t my CTD that I work much harder.



Yes, that’s a real gauge.
Click to expand...
At one point in the past they tried to use "non-accurate" gauges in some Jeep models and nearly had a revolt. Jeep apparently decided that their customers won't stand for fake gauges.
 
Did the front and rear differentials at 40K. Amsoil and lots of fun learning about which axles I have and what their capacities are. Wish I would've thought far enough ahead to purchase a pump vs. using the containers the Amsoil came in.

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Added a set of vanity lights and homelink garage opener from a 22 ram 2500 to my 2024 2500 tradesman. Waiting on the driver side harness from infotainment.com to get power. Not sure how I'm going to feed power to the passenger side. Can anyone give some insight?
 

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Well, I'm late (as usual!) but this past Sunday (Before the Arctic Blast visited), I removed the MOPAR Tri-Fold soft tonneau and installed a Tyger V2 (low profile) Soft Tonneau cover (from Amazon) and also installed four Bull Ring Tie Downs in the stake pockets of my bed. I had to use their saw bit and router bit to open up the stake pocket holes, but that was very simple after watching a couple YouTube vids from Bull Ring that showed the depths to set the tools to- it worked great! I will note that the MOPAR Tri-fold tonneau is HEAVY if you were wondering!

I had a Tyger V2 on my '16 1500 Big Horn that I liked. For my '15 2500 Limited, I used a Truxedo X15 model (matte finish, low profile) because the Rambox selection of tonneaus is limited...I was leaning toward another X15, but for a third of the price, the Tyger works for me!

Yes, I know: the thread is worthless without pics:

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All in all, I'm satisfied, and one note: DO NOT go to "Realtruck.com" to get the Bull Ring "saw" and "router bit"....they want $20 MORE per item than the price I paid on the 'Zon...just ridiculous! (Really, BullRing should include them in a package for Ram owners, but...$9.99 is much better than $29.99 EACH!)

I will also say that I recall my '16 Ram 1500 (5'7" box) Tyger cover having a flap that covered the tailgate when it was closed, where this version (6'4" bed) doesn't...not sure if I'm mis-remembering, or if Tyger changed the design since 2018. Looking at pics of the old truck/tonneau vs. this one, it seems the "flap" is more pronounced on the old version of the tonneau...but the bed-length difference may be a factor.

Otherwise, in the vein of staying CURRENT...today all I did was drive it to/from work and to/from my CVMA Chapter meeting!
 
After hitting a deer 2 weeks after taking delivery of my new Ram, I finally got her back after more than six months. On the good side, any damaged panels were replaced, not repaired, and the paint match is perfect.

So, because of that early damage which will show on record, (and the resale hit that results) I decided I’m likely keeping this one long-term. At least that’s how I decided to justify going a little crazy vs what I had originally planned for mods.

Thankful one of my sons braved a frigid day and helped me install a Smart Cap EvoA. Really solid cap. Also installed their tool box behind driver’s side hatch:
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IMG_6395.jpegTried to get a decent pic of the encroachment of the tool box into the bed. (It’s exactly 12” wide at the bottom). Next up, Carli Backcountry 3.25 lift, with progressive rears and long-travel airbags, 17” wheels and 37s. (Much of that is in the boxes you see in the bed).
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