[VAC] Dodge truck

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As most of you know, we recently bought a '94 Dodge P/U w/Cummins and
auto trans. It had 110,000 miles on the clock when we pulled out of the
drive on 12/1/00. We put almost exactly 7500 miles on it in just under 2
months, towing a '73 Avion 25' trailer that weighs about 6000# when
ready to roll. There is probably 500# or so in the back of the truck,
including the cap. I'll try to put up some pics soon of the truck and
how we have it equipped, many of you will find it interesting.

Mileage while towing ran about 15MPG. The only time I checked it while
not towing was around home and it got 17MPG, a bit disappointing to me.
Most of our trip was done on Interstates, not back roads.

Power isn't lacking with this thing, even though it's dead stock.
However, the engine likes to be turning nearly 2000RPM for best power.
As I prefer to tow at just over 60 MPH, about 1800 RPM, it won't pull
all the hills in 4th. If I set the cruise at 65mph, it would pull them
better, but I prefer a bit slower pace. I'd usually force a downshift to
3rd if the speed started dropping off, before the truck decided that it
was time. Downshifting would cause the boost guage to go from 8-10 PSI
to nearly 20, the pyro would drop from 1100+ to 1000- and the speed
would climb back to 60. Forcing the downshift by hitting the "OD
Lockout" button causes the torque converter to lock up after the shift,
keeping the trans cooler than if it had downshifted on its own.

I also have a trans temp guage installed, and it would seldom climb to
the bottom of the scale (140 degrees). The only time it got to 160
degrees was when I was manuevering the trailer in tight quarters, going
back and forth on grass. Although it didn't have to work TOO hard, nor
too long, but it was more than if it was on pavement. This wasn't
surprising to me, but is something to remember for you folks that don't
have a trans temp guage. A friend who was in the transmission business
told me how the repair shops loved snowy weather, when people get stuck
and rock their cars to get going. Brought LOTS of business! A
transmission will get very hot, very quickly, when it's working hard and
the TCC isn't locked.

A picture of the guage setup that I have is at
http://www.dieselpage.com/art0119pm.htm; this is on a Ford PowerSmoke,
but it's the same thing.

I still have to rebuild my transmission and am considering a BD Products
converter and other parts. Does anyone have any experience with them?

                                              <<Jim>>