• 4.10 gears. although this truck will pull anything i could ever want to pull with it, the 4.10 gears arent very streetable. driving in the city im in 5th gear to travel 35 mph, and driving on the highway in 6th gear im taching 2500 rpm just to run the speed limit. perhaps this engine was designed to handle this just fine, but im not. i just dont much care for turning my diesels over 2000 rpm, and have to resolve this (besides...running straight pipe stacks gets way too loud over 2000 rpm!). i am considering adding a gear vendors over-drive unit, but have not seen one in years. where is the best place to find one, and what can i expect to pay? i would like to have the overall ratio similar to my green '01.5 with the 3.54 gears (it has an automatic, though). i have also considered having the overall drive ratio comparable to a 3.73 gear, but im unsure of the existing ratio on my 6 speed manual. your feedback on this would be appreciated. just last month i bought THIS '01.5 3500 that is also the 6 speed HO cummins. im not certain of its gearing but its very streetable. another option i suppose is that i could just swap front/rear complete axle assemblies and have the 4.10s on the flatbed truck. this isnt my preferred option but it is an option. i just really dont like the 4.10 gears on the highway, even with the 6 speed tranny.
• the front drive is non-operable. when i engage the shifter i dont appear to get any response at all from the front drive. i get no dash lights, and the drive definately does not engage (turned short on pavement with no resistance at all). nothing appears to be out of place, so im hoping somebody can give me a good starting point. im a dumb-ass, and never even thought to check the front drive before buying the truck. i still would have bought it (the interior is just perfect and the outside isnt too bad either!) but i would have negotiated a little harder on price.
• the injectors may need to be changed. for now injector cleaner seems to have helped, but im at least preparing myself to have to change them. how difficult is this on the 24 valve cummins 5.9? my local dealership today said they need to be "flushed", at a cost of $125 but does the dealership do anything more than run the same type of cleaner through them?
• passenger side front axle is leaking oil pretty bad. this is something i cannot put off fixing. how big of a job is it to change this seal? dealer wants $325 out the door.
• the truck came with an exhaust brake, but i do not know what type it is. the red handle mounted on the shifter (shown above) is for the exhaust brake. when you pull the exhaust brake it engages, even if you are trying to accelerate. on my automatic i can turn the exhaust brake on and it automatically engages only when i disengage the throttle, but thats not how this one works. i would prefer to not have to turn it on and off by hand every time i want to engage it. im not opposed to removing it and replacing it with another type if i have to. recommendations? im running a banks exhaust brake on SMOKE-DOG but smoke-dog has an automatic with the automatic controller.
• radio has controls on the steering wheel. is there a way to make these controls work with an aftermarket stereo?
• the a/c works great, but it only blows out of the defroster. is there a common failure point on these?

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Originally posted by Bunk

The clutch peddle isn't even worn out yet.

Ken

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