I ended up buying a used 34 ft 5th wheel ( Montana triple Slide out ) and hooking my boat up behind the 5th wheel . My truck had new tires already on it when I bought it. but the truck sat in a shop for 6 years without being driven . Tires looked new .. The front right tire separated and I got the tire replace in Reno . The tire shop looked at rest of the tires on my truck and said they looked ok . I drove the truck from the tire shop directly on the free way when 2 hours later I had the Right Rear tire separate and destroyed the outside corner panel on my truck . This was 7 weeks ago and my truck is still in the auto body shop . My insurance company wanted to total my truck out by saying my trucks worth was way low . What a pain in the ass dealing with the insurance company. The tire shop in Reno warranted the front tire, the tire shop where live didn't. So i got to pay the 500.00 deductible and buy 3 new tires which will run about 1100.00 dollars . Plus i need to buy new tires for the 5th wheel because i bought a used 5th wheel. I went through surgery march and may and been waiting to recover to go traveling . My plan was to go to Wy MT and ID this end of this summer. Now i will leave next spring and plan on traveling and camping out until next winter. I am thinking of doing the snowbird thing too.
That sounds a lot like my 5th wheel story. Had an F-250, 7.3 diesel so the wife and I thought we'd buy a 5th wheel and get into RV'ing. On our 2nd outing I noticed all the tires on the P/U had been scrubbed bald so before we could drive home I had to replace all 4. The 5th wheel tires looked good but we found out that they get old and rot from the inside out. On the way home we had 3 tear apart and had to get emergency roadside assistance. Not cheap. Ended up replacing all 4 and the spare. In one week we bought 9 new tires. As we were waiting for roadside assistance for the 3rd time in one day, we looked at each other and agreed the thrill was gone, and sold the damn thing. PS; Good luck with the Dodge
Not shit talkin or judging, being a mechanic I cannot tell you how much of shit just like what happened to the both of you, I see all too often....
Hi Nice to meet a fellow mechanic. I have been retired for 11 years and haven't been in the loop for 15 years I really haven't had to work on any diesel pick ups much . i had one dodge 1 ton service truck and the only thing i ever did to it was adjust the valves. Rest of my service trucks were larger and had the Cummins C NTC 855 or the old Cummins VT 555 i am a retired Master mechanic .specializing on Cummins diesel engines and Hitachi mining equipment . I worked for Cummins Engine Company for 16 years .( field service ) Mostly on semi's and mining equipment . Pretty much anything with a Cummins diesel . Then owned a logging company and then worked in gold mining for 20 years. Part of that time i was in charge of shovel maintenance/repairs on Hitachi shovels . I have been to the Hitachi factory in Japan 2 times , Its not like i haven't been around the block working on equipment in the snow and mud and below zero below weather . Or blistering heat where your tools got so hot you couldn't hold them . Crawled over missiles in to get the failed reefer unit that needed to keep the missiles propellent bellow 70%F I worked for the largest gold mining company in the world. My 2004 dodge has a piston injector pump . The engine is not a computerized fuel delivery system it is a generation 3 5.9 24 valve . I believe it is the last year the Cummins use a piston pump in a Dodge truck . I haven't ever been around the Cummins 6.7 generation 4 or 5 . Never had the desire to work on anything then heavy equipment and really prefer equipment that doesn't have tires on it . Most of the engine work i have done was in semi's or on the Cummings K models in mining equipment . KTA 19 ,, KTA or KTTA 38 C and the KTTA 50's and the QSK V20 with 8 turbo's were just being introduced . hitachi shovels - Bing video
I hear ya The RV thing can nickel and dime you to death . And its not like living in a house. But I am pretty determined and it might be just me and my doggie. I am single and kind of like it that way . I think if i watch my pocket book i can travel as long as i wish and still maintain my home . Right now I am just sitting on my ass , recovering from a operation that took 5 months for my wounds to close . So i am hell bent to go see and do things while i still can . .
Mining equipment does its swings , for along time it was just Cummins and Detroit in the biggest Haul Pak's . I have owned a couple of Detroit engines , I have ran a the rack on my 8V/92 silver once which means I dont know shit about screaming stinking Detroit engines beside retrofit in a Cummins engine . I have worked on some 3500 series Cat engines an on allot of the biggest Cat mining equipment .. Cat equipment is now most poplar the haul trucks 15 years ago. Cat trucks are gear drive where all the other giant mining equipment haul trucks a diesel electric. Fuck a bouncy 992 or 994 and non stop repairing the chains on the tires and the POS bucket pins and bushing ! I think some mechanic screwed a cat engineers wife , because cat equipment is a whore to work on . Normally heavy equipment isnt so crammed together like in the automotive industry. I worked on a experimental Cummings engine that was intended for M1A tank . Was a VTTA 903 Cummins that produced 1000 HP .but we couldn't meet the army requirements of the engine had last for 250 hours . I have worked on some large MTU engines like around a 75 Liter engine . My body is pretty much screwed to the point its hard for me to hang grow lights little loan start turning wrenches .But fuck me the repair shops now suck . Last thing i want is the Dodge dealership here working on my truck . The service manager charges more then what he quoted me ? And he always misses something . Sorry to hear about the triple bypass . Hang in there brother
Wyoming , Montana , Idaho ,Washington ,Oregon ,and might go through red woods and then arizona and New Mexico for not this winter but next . Most all will be off grid camping out . i have a generator and rather be in the mountains .
I am gonna give you some words of wisdom and you may know this or not depending on where you have traveled before................ if you decided to travel in those areas in the winter.... I highly recommend you look into EMS chains that properly fit your drive tires..... I did a cross country in my diesel (f250 6.0) back in 2015 through the yellow stone area mid January. I bough them as a just in case.... mind you I am from northern Michigan and do not believe in 4x4 to be the save all end all winter need. But when I started hitting the mountains in Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, I actually decided to use the chains where semis had the requirement of chains. I was reluctant to the first pass but after sliding a few times driving with and at the speed of the semis, I quickly changed my mind........... just some food for thought.
Hi I dont plan on traveling with the 5th wheel in snow or freezing weather . Actually i rather not drive the truck to much on icy road with or without the 5th wheel. I owned a for 3/4 ton that when it was empty and on icy snow covered road might of been the worse thing i could of drove . I plan on going south in the winter , doing the snow bird thing . I really dont want buiy chains and hate putting them on .. thats a younger mans sport . I only want to go north in the summer , wanting to go where the weather is nice. Not to hot ,not to cold ..
I too am a Mopar man. Resell prices are cheaper and the parts aren't too bad on price. I still wanna blow up whoever designed the drive train on the 04 durango.
Or the exhaust system. Collapsible exhaust joint rusts right through. Right past the cat, so it's extremely loud. A bitch to get to also.