Posted by John in Utah [166.70.201.2] on Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 11:45:08 :
In Reply to: Newer Dodge Trucks.... posted by Caleb in Kansas [76.7.195.93] on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 22:50:33 :
I bought an 06 2500 in 08 it had 22k miles on it.
5.9 with the automatic,
I now have 82k on it, no issues at all.
i run a smarty jr. programmer in econo mode and boosted the torque setting. this helps me get good milage.
last month I ran up to oregon and back to meet Gary, about 1 thousand miles round trip.
Hand calculated i got just shy of 22 mpg. driving 80 mpg most of the way. if i had slowed down under 70 i expect i would have hit more like 25mpg.
I typically have a trailer loaded to 4-5k lbs hooked up once every week or 2. periodically i am in the 10-15k lbs range if i have to move a tractor or get hay etc.
I still have the factory original ball joints, I am running stock suspension and 285, 70, R17 BFG AT tires which i think has helped the ball joints last. the stock tires are too short and jolt you when you hit a bump, the 285's give you more cushion but larger tires give you too much pressure on the ball joints.
I did have one unit bearing go south on me (that is a bad idea but every one is using them now) I want to do the hub conversion that Jerry did on his.
I have never had any issues with the trans or injectors.
One thing to be aware of with injectors, you have to use quality fuel and you absolutely need to change the fuel filter (which is way easy on these dodge trucks, GM and Ford filters suck! to change). I use the NAPA gold fuel filters, they fit perfect and filter very well.
My brother bought a brand new 06 5.9 auto in 06
drove it for 180k miles with 10k lbs or more on trailers behind him every day. city driving and freeway. btw utah is not flat most of this is climbing mountains.
his only trouble with the auto was a factory failure with the torque converter lock up.
swapped on a new torque converter and got back at it.
he also had issues with the ball joints but i think that was the extra winch bumper weight, leveling kit, 18" rims, and 305 tires.
These are great trucks.
as a side note of the trucks i have dealt with the Fords have been great as well, but the gm duramax trucks have all been a pain and have surprised me how under powered they were.