Next week, we'll be bringing home a 06 Dodge Ram 2500 CTD. Going to be using it to pull a 32ft, travel trailer. Need to find an original tail gate, which I have already have a line on. Also planning on a cap for the bed. Diesel owners, what can I expect? Problems? Also, heard that if I change oil to 15w40 AMSOIL, I might have a problem. Looking forward to bringing this home. Gonna be a long drive Saturday.... Thanks. Curt Hildebrandt

I always love the debates on oil brand. I really don't think it matters what the name on the bottle says, so long as it meets the certs for your engine. I'm running rotella in mine because it's cheap, and at 3 gallons per oil change, I need cheap/economical.

(I also plan to go 10-12k between oil changes unless I do more towing/hauling.)

mine, I've had for 4 months? 5 months? I've put 7k miles on it so far. also an 06. Mine's a megacab, 4x4. Since I bought it used, it came with a small lift, and 35" tires on 20" rims. I put a smarty Jr tuner on it almost immediately, set it to level 2, which is an additional 70hp. don't want to go to level 3, 100 hp until the trans breaks...and gets beefed up during rebuild.

my lie o meter says I'm getting 20 mpg, but it's more like 17-18 overall. and that's driving like a grandpa, trying VERY hard to keep RPM below 1500. if I drive the way my normal habits dictate, the meter returns 17-18 mpg with a real world of 15-16. not too bad for a 7k lb truck that doesn't see a lot of highway cruising.


only thing I've been told to look out for, is to get GOOD fuel filters (both stock location and add auxiliary) and change them at every oil change to prolong injector life. Injectors are NOT cheap!

I have a bit over 100,000 miles on my 05. Front ends are heavy so I put lifetime balljoints in it early, the u-joints in the front axle failed fairly early as well so I put the best, greasable ones in there and they've been good since.
Torque convertors can fail and the debris goes through the trans. so I had a new TCS convertor put in about 15,000 miles ago and I had a good trans guy freshen up a band and the front clutches at that time as well, it cost around $2k for all that but it should last another 150,000 miles now easy.
Cummins are good and durable but why go cheap on oil changes? I change it and the filters every 5,000 miles.
Air filter is important as well and I don't use aftermarket junk on my truck that will let dirt by, I use a stock type filter and change it often as well.
Engine is stock, sure it can make more power easily but the truck pulls fine as it is with a loaded, enclosed trailer and more power puts more stress on all of the drivetrain.
Truck gets 18-20MPG real world as well, loaded it can be a bit disappointing but that's because it is an automatic and rather than stay at 1500RPM and work up the hills where a diesel likes to work, the automatic kicks down and buzzes up at 1800-2000. It still gets around 12-16 loaded but would do better if you could hold it in a higher gear ( we've got 6%-10% grades here and they can run for 10 miles). Mileage picked up when I went to 285X70 tires but stayed the same when I went up to 315X70's.

Sheldon

Really dig the H2 wheels on the 2500's