Bought a New Ram - No Thinking Required

Ted DuPuis said:
I agree that at 10 speeds we're basically at the maximum usable for the moment. However personally I already find that we're at the "worse driving experience", which started once you got past 6 speeds. I actually thought the CVT driving experience was better, but the durability of CVTs was a real problem.
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I dunno, the racket those CVT's make when under heavy acceleration annoys me. At least with individual gears the noise varies through the RPM band, with CVTs it just hold the same screaming engine until you get to speed, lol. I'd imagine we're also at the maximum on transmission speeds just due to the likelihood of EVs coming into the market which may (over the next 2 decades) make the market for ICEs w/8/10-speed transmissions much smaller where the returns for R&D on a newer transmission with more gears becomes less fruitful.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I dunno, the racket those CVT's make when under heavy acceleration annoys me. At least with individual gears the noise varies through the RPM band, with CVTs it just hold the same screaming engine until you get to speed, lol. I'd imagine we're also at the maximum on transmission speeds just due to the likelihood of EVs coming into the market which may (over the next 2 decades) make the market for ICEs w/8/10-speed transmissions much smaller where the returns for R&D on a newer transmission with more gears becomes less fruitful.
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The CVTs I drove I found were pleasant. The engine droning at a constant speed annoyed me until I realized it's just like a constant speed prop, then I liked it fine.

I agree that EVs and hybrids continuing onto the scene will ultimately likely eliminate the ever-continuing increase. The model of a hybrid that uses an ICE strictly as a generator and then electric motors at all wheels is very possible. We'll see.

For me as a fan of the internal combustion engine this is a sad thing and turns vehicles into an appliance, but I also realize I"m in the minority there. Even my kids, who do have an interest and are raised around it, I don't see as being likely to feel as passionate about this as me (or even close). But they're a ways away.
 
I went ahead and ordered my next set of tires for the Ram. These could've probably made it to 40k miles if I had rotated them, but I didn't. With winter coming up anyway, I want to have good tires given that sometimes I'm towing the trailer in the snow (with a load on it).

I'm going with General tires that are basically a clone of the BFG All-Terrain T/A tires have been popular for many years. I ran them on my Range Rover 15ish years ago and I liked them a lot:

https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/general-grabber-atx/p/43675

So they should be a nice upgrade and hopefully help with the off-road traction (which I need a fair amount of around the house).
 
Got the new tires installed yesterday - they showed up a lot faster than I'd initially expected!

First impressions: The things are quiet, no louder than the OEM Firestones they replace. Looks like BFG All-Terrain T/A KO tires (which cost $90 more... each... plus General was running a $100 rebate on a set of 4 tires through the end of the month).

They look good as well. No off-roading done (and keep in mind my off-roading is basically subject to my property) so can't evaluate there.

The one negative? They seem to pick up rocks easier and then throw them at the truck at random going down the road. I may need to get mud flaps.

74428682_961296996243_438099304280752128_n.jpg
 
Yep. They'll pick up rocks and also sling mud on your hood if you try hard enough. I'm running GY Wrangler Duratracs on the Jeep right now and I was able to successfully throw mud on the hood last night coming out of the woods after scouting a hunting spot. I had BFG MT KM2s when I lived in Iowa but since we don't have snow down here in Jawjuh, it seemed like a waste to go with MTs. Might try out the BFG AT K/O next time around - was looking at them several times in the past. Interested to see how the Generals run for you this winter.
 
CJones said:
Yep. They'll pick up rocks and also sling mud on your hood if you try hard enough. I'm running GY Wrangler Duratracs on the Jeep right now and I was able to successfully throw mud on the hood last night coming out of the woods after scouting a hunting spot. I had BFG MT KM2s when I lived in Iowa but since we don't have snow down here in Jawjuh, it seemed like a waste to go with MTs. Might try out the BFG AT K/O next time around - was looking at them several times in the past. Interested to see how the Generals run for you this winter.
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Winter here is more of an idea than something that really happens. Last year we got something around 6" of snow... and that was for the entire winter. It may have actually been less than that. Realistically the bigger concern we have here is ice, which is much more prevalent. So we'll see how these tires do on that.
 
Those clone tires look nice but just a tiny bit less aggressive than the BFG KO2s.

The set of BFG KO2s still holds the record for highest mileage I got out of a tire on the Yukon. Over 70,000 when I tossed in the towel.

My tire place convinced me to try out the Goodyears. I won’t be doing that again. They’re “fine” is basically all I can say nice about them. For as much softer as they are than the KO2s, they still make the same amount of highway noise. I’ll put up with noise for 70,000 miles, but not 45 which is what these are looking like they’ll make it to.

Alignment good, rotated, all that Jazz. Literally YMMV.
 
If I wasn't thinking I'd buy a Dodge too!

I will never own another Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep after I had a Jeep Cherokee in the shop 9 times with valve issues before it hit 30,000 miles and the transmission exploded at 28,000 miles. The district manager for D-C-J told me to and I quote "**** off and just deal with it," when I mentioned the issues and the dealership couldn't/wouldn't do anything about a replacement (lemon law) without his approval.
 
You're a bit late, Ed. I've owned the truck for over 2 years and 34,000 miles now.

Someone pee in your Cheerios more than normal this morning?
 
EdFred said:
If I wasn't thinking I'd buy a Dodge too!

I will never own another Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep after I had a Jeep Cherokee in the shop 9 times with valve issues before it hit 30,000 miles and the transmission exploded at 28,000 miles. The district manager for D-C-J told me to and I quote "**** off and just deal with it," when I mentioned the issues and the dealership couldn't/wouldn't do anything about a replacement (lemon law) without his approval.
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Hate to read that.

I had a Cherokee that was a real hoss. Just excellent.
 
EdFred said:
If I wasn't thinking I'd buy a Dodge too!

I will never own another Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep after I had a Jeep Cherokee in the shop 9 times with valve issues before it hit 30,000 miles and the transmission exploded at 28,000 miles. The district manager for D-C-J told me to and I quote "**** off and just deal with it," when I mentioned the issues and the dealership couldn't/wouldn't do anything about a replacement (lemon law) without his approval.
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What model year was it? There was a time when Chrysler tranny's were pretty crappy, and the ones they had the most trouble with were the A604 automatics. We went through two of them in the older model (2006) Town and Country minivans. It was notorious for shuddering and slipping, granted this was many years ago and I don't believe the A604 is still around.

The modern Chrysler 8 and 9 speed automatics are built by ZF, which is the same transmission supplier to BMW. They're very rugged and reliable, and can handle high horsepower and torque loads. Supposedly, they'll do 150k miles without any direct service, which seems like quite the stretch. I think one of the biggest issues with the older Dodge powertrain, is the fact that the engines themselves were tough cookies and powerful too, but the transmissions just wouldn't cut the mustard for the power output provided by the engine itself. The latter model stuff seems a lot better.
 
1996. It's not that it had issues. I get that it happens. It was the response from the DM that will have be never buy from them again. If they made it right I'd probably still have their products in my garage. Manual tranny. After they "fixed" it the 4WD wouldn't engage.
 
EdFred said:
1996. It's not that it had issues. I get that it happens. It was the response from the DM that will have be never buy from them again. If they made it right I'd probably still have their products in my garage. Manual tranny. After they "fixed" it the 4WD wouldn't engage.
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Can’t say I blame you, that’d honk me off too.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Got the new tires installed yesterday - they showed up a lot faster than I'd initially expected!

First impressions: The things are quiet, no louder than the OEM Firestones they replace. Looks like BFG All-Terrain T/A KO tires (which cost $90 more... each... plus General was running a $100 rebate on a set of 4 tires through the end of the month).

They look good as well. No off-roading done (and keep in mind my off-roading is basically subject to my property) so can't evaluate there.

The one negative? They seem to pick up rocks easier and then throw them at the truck at random going down the road. I may need to get mud flaps.

74428682_961296996243_438099304280752128_n.jpg
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wow, that's a steal! I got the KO2's put on about a year ago and they've been good tires but were more aggressive than I was expecting. I think I lost 1 mpg over the super streamlined highway tires. In retrospect, I wish I would have found a middle ground instead of going so aggressive. I'm glad the General's are quiet.
 
MIFlyer said:
wow, that's a steal! I got the KO2's put on about a year ago and they've been good tires but were more aggressive than I was expecting. I think I lost 1 mpg over the super streamlined highway tires. In retrospect, I wish I would have found a middle ground instead of going so aggressive. I'm glad the General's are quiet.
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Yeah, I felt like the pricing was very good and so it's worth trying. Mileage will probably go down, I'll see, but I really don't care about mileage too much. How long they'll last? We'll see.

For me, it made sense to go more aggressive given my use of the truck on my property.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Yeah, I felt like the pricing was very good and so it's worth trying. Mileage will probably go down, I'll see, but I really don't care about mileage too much. How long they'll last? We'll see.

For me, it made sense to go more aggressive given my use of the truck on my property.
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yes, when I bought mine, ski season was coming and the driveway was 250' of wet clay uphill. 4wd in and out of our house.

now that it's pretty concrete, the street tires would be nice, but I'll use these up and then decide
 
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Always liked the Nitto Terra Grapplers myself. Good all-around A/T tire that's fairly quiet on the road but has enough grip to deal with light mud/clay. It's not going to likely be on-par with the KO2s/Generals when put to the extremes, but it also doesn't cost as much, either. I've gotten 50K out of the passenger-rated with some decent tread left, and about 60K out of the LT-rated (Load E) tires. I'd definitely buy another set when the time comes.
 
Nice score! If the road noise didn't bother me 'd get some tires like that.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Always liked the Nitto Terra Grapplers myself. Good all-around A/T tire that's fairly quiet on the road but has enough grip to deal with light mud/clay. It's not going to likely be on-par with the KO2s/Generals when put to the extremes, but it also doesn't cost as much, either. I've gotten 50K out of the passenger-rated with some decent tread left, and about 60K out of the LT-rated (Load E) tires. I'd definitely buy another set when the time comes.
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The Nittos available in my size were Ridge Grappler and Exo Grappler, both of which were more expensive than the Generals. So at this point I'm still cost ahead.

bnt83 said:
Nice score! If the road noise didn't bother me 'd get some tires like that.
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These don't make any discernible noise on my Ram, at least it was equivalent to what was on there before (Firestone all terrains provided by Chrysler)... much to my surprise.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
These don't make any discernible noise on my Ram, at least it was equivalent to what was on there before (Firestone all terrains provided by Chrysler)... much to my surprise.
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This thing has minimal upholstery, door panels are plastic, bottom third of the doors are steel, no headliner but sheet steel etc. There is some sound panels under the seat with carpet ahead of that lol. Dad's '89 Cummins is the opposite but the engine makes up for any additional sound suppression lol.
 
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The EPA seems to have successfully put a significant hindrance on the tuning market.

They've been steadily going through and suing companies to shut down their deleted tuning services over the past few months. I'm now seeing where many of these companies not only won't sell the tunes, but also won't sell any of the other parts that are enabled by deletes - such as the racing intakes, exhausts, etc. eBay looks to still have some, interestingly.

While there are a few players in the market who do the piggyback computer, those weren't very popular. AFE makes an EGR-compliant intake elbow that has seemed to sell extremely poorly (no reviews available), but now they've stopped any sort of sale pricing on it, I suspect assuming it's going to start becoming popular now.

It will be interesting to see what the next year or two have in store. Companies looking to sell diesel performance are going to have to move towards emissions-legal options for that.

I seem to have, at least for the time being, missed the boat on delete tuning for my Ram if I wanted to do that.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
The EPA seems to have successfully put a significant hindrance on the tuning market.

They've been steadily going through and suing companies to shut down their deleted tuning services over the past few months. I'm now seeing where many of these companies not only won't sell the tunes, but also won't sell any of the other parts that are enabled by deletes - such as the racing intakes, exhausts, etc. eBay looks to still have some, interestingly.

While there are a few players in the market who do the piggyback computer, those weren't very popular. AFE makes an EGR-compliant intake elbow that has seemed to sell extremely poorly (no reviews available), but now they've stopped any sort of sale pricing on it, I suspect assuming it's going to start becoming popular now.

It will be interesting to see what the next year or two have in store. Companies looking to sell diesel performance are going to have to move towards emissions-legal options for that.

I seem to have, at least for the time being, missed the boat on delete tuning for my Ram if I wanted to do that.
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Start shopping with Canadian companies. They don’t have the problems with epa there...

I fully deleted my ram in 2017 with parts and tuning I bought from motorops out of Canada.

hopefully that option still exists for you. My ram was a pre def 6.7 Getting rid of the emissions equipment increased my mileage by 10 mpg and extended the oil life by 2000miles. Also ran much cooler on the egt. I set it up to defuel at 200 degrees below the factory limits and was able to increase performance even with the lower egt limits I set.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Start shopping with Canadian companies. They don’t have the problems with epa there...

I fully deleted my ram in 2017 with parts and tuning I bought from motorops out of Canada.

hopefully that option still exists for you. My ram was a pre def 6.7 Getting rid of the emissions equipment increased my mileage by 10 mpg and extended the oil life by 2000miles. Also ran much cooler on the egt. I set it up to defuel at 200 degrees below the factory limits and was able to increase performance even with the lower egt limits I set.
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Interesting, worth considering if I decide to go that route.

No doubt the emissions equipment is harder on the core engine. Most people I've talked to have reported ~4 MPG difference with similar year trucks to mine. If yours was a pre-DEF 6.7 though I think those had it the worst. They seemed to have figured it out better by 2017.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Interesting, worth considering if I decide to go that route.

No doubt the emissions equipment is harder on the core engine. Most people I've talked to have reported ~4 MPG difference with similar year trucks to mine. If yours was a pre-DEF 6.7 though I think those had it the worst. They seemed to have figured it out better by 2017.
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The pre def trucks were a hot mess. They fired the #6 injector on the exhaust stroke to regenerate the dpf. It washed down the cylinder walls and caused all kinds of issues. At a 3k mike oil change you drain more than what you put in due to oil dilution and having diesel in the crank case. Also they had to design the system with an intentionally inefficient turbine on the turbo to get the EGR system to work. Part of my emissions delete program was replacing the hot side wheel with a proper match to the factory compressor. It was running drive pressures at just under 3-1 from factory. It dropped to around 1.6-1 after turbine wheel swap and egr delete. The truck ran so much better it was like an engine swap. Better power, economy and durability. I had mine tuned to what would be essentially an factory tune minus the emissions management and compensation for an inefficient turbo. It would never make visible smoke but in third gear turning onto the on ramp of an interstate I could light up all four tires in the back and throttle steer through the turn. That was a one ton 4wd dually megacab. Empty weight was just under 9k. It was a trailer hauling beast. Parking lots were my nemesis. Especially with the typical dodge turn radius that left a lot to be desired.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
The pre def trucks were a hot mess. They fired the #6 injector on the exhaust stroke to regenerate the dpf. It washed down the cylinder walls and caused all kinds of issues. At a 3k mike oil change you drain more than what you put in due to oil dilution and having diesel in the crank case. Also they had to design the system with an intentionally inefficient turbine on the turbo to get the EGR system to work. Part of my emissions delete program was replacing the hot side wheel with a proper match to the factory compressor. It was running drive pressures at just under 3-1 from factory. It dropped to around 1.6-1 after turbine wheel swap and egr delete. The truck ran so much better it was like an engine swap. Better power, economy and durability. I had mine tuned to what would be essentially an factory tune minus the emissions management and compensation for an inefficient turbo. It would never make visible smoke but in third gear turning onto the on ramp of an interstate I could light up all four tires in the back and throttle steer through the turn. That was a one ton 4wd dually megacab. Empty weight was just under 9k. It was a trailer hauling beast. Parking lots were my nemesis. Especially with the typical dodge turn radius that left a lot to be desired.
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I knew those trucks were bad, I didn’t realize how bad. I remember the Cummins engineers coming to visit my engineering school around 2003 complaining about how the upcoming emissions standards were screwing up the engines. They definitely seem to have gotten it figured out better by 2017.

The turbo is definitely better, but they added a throttle butterfly to make the EGR work under certain conditions. I think they now do a fuel squirt on the exhaust stroke on all 6 cylinders rather than just one for the DPF (that’s the biggest source of the fuel economy gains when you do emissions deletes.
 
The whole DPF thing is just stupid when an airliner goes over and negates a few years of doing it to a whole lot of small pickups.

Diesel vehicles have a bad rep that’s mostly undeserved. The airliner straight up is technically a diesel and nobody minds.

VW added to this sentiment by lying essentially. Some might even say that was inevitable trying to sell diesels into North America. But they’re still scum for doing it.

So silly.

Coal burning cars are about to way outnumber the small diesels in North America and are worse for everything.

We do not have, nor are willing to build the nuke plants an all electric vehicle society needs to make it work. We don’t even have any significant number planned.

Population growth will negate any renewables. Can’t build them fast enough and now we start to see the silliness of things like burning massive amounts of worn out wind farm turbine blades in a landfill in Rock Springs WY. That’s some really big trash.

It’s not radioactive waste being buried, so there’s that, but those blades are a sign of things to come in renewables. Trashing blades. Trashing worn out or damaged solar arrays. Stuff like that.

Meanwhile the base load continues to be coal. And society is worried about some tiny percentage of diesel pickup drivers who “roll” the stuff. Ha. Irony.

Be interesting to calculate if EVs are rolling more coal than all of the diesel pickup trucks now, even the ones that don’t “roll”.
 
denverpilot said:
The whole DPF thing is just stupid when an airliner goes over and negates a few years of doing it to a whole lot of small pickups.

Diesel vehicles have a bad rep that’s mostly undeserved. The airliner straight up is technically a diesel and nobody minds.

VW added to this sentiment by lying essentially. Some might even say that was inevitable trying to sell diesels into North America. But they’re still scum for doing it.

So silly.

Coal burning cars are about to way outnumber the small diesels in North America and are worse for everything.

We do not have, nor are willing to build the nuke plants an all electric vehicle society needs to make it work. We don’t even have any significant number planned.

Population growth will negate any renewables. Can’t build them fast enough and now we start to see the silliness of things like burning massive amounts of worn out wind farm turbine blades in a landfill in Rock Springs WY. That’s some really big trash.

It’s not radioactive waste being buried, so there’s that, but those blades are a sign of things to come in renewables. Trashing blades. Trashing worn out or damaged solar arrays. Stuff like that.

Meanwhile the base load continues to be coal. And society is worried about some tiny percentage of diesel pickup drivers who “roll” the stuff. Ha. Irony.

Be interesting to calculate if EVs are rolling more coal than all of the diesel pickup trucks now, even the ones that don’t “roll”.
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As of 2018, 27.5% of U. S. electricity was generated by coal: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3 .The percentage has been declining and will continue to decline, as numerous coal plants are scheduled to close.

Diesel exhaust is nasty stuff: https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/calenviroscreen/indicators/diesel4-02.pdf
 
FormerHangie said:
Diesel exhaust is nasty stuff: https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/calenviroscreen/indicators/diesel4-02.pdf
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This I think is the big thing, and I actually agree. I love the smell of diesel exhaust on a cold morning, but it's not something I want to subject others to. The big thing about diesel vehicles is that those are low, at your level, and directly contributing to the lower air quality around you. Yes, jets burn more fuel, but the seat MPG on airliners is really good, and most of that fuel is over the open nowhere landscape.

That's the big reason why I haven't deleted my truck. I know I'd like it better. I know that it would drive better and get way better mileage. But, I can stand next to my truck's exhaust pipe right now and you don't smell anything, just some water vapor and a slight smell from the urea. That's a lot better for my lungs, my kids' lungs, and a lot less obnoxious when I'm sitting in traffic. So really what I want is for some mods to show up on the market that will address the issues I have with this one, specifically helping more with the throttle response and also increasing the engine noise.

If I got another old semi or some other older diesel vehicle, of course I'd leave it stock without emissions equipment on it. But I'm less inclined to delete this truck, at least for the time being.
 
FormerHangie said:
As of 2018, 27.5% of U. S. electricity was generated by coal: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3 .The percentage has been declining and will continue to decline, as numerous coal plants are scheduled to close.

Diesel exhaust is nasty stuff: https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/calenviroscreen/indicators/diesel4-02.pdf
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All depends on how fast Americans make babies. We shall see. A big peak in renewables because of tax incentives but those will go away and lots of the older wind farms and such will be non-profitable when it comes time to refresh them with new equipment. And way too many coal plants being converted to natural gas which may or may not be a smart strategic idea, but they’re just avoiding coal scrubber fines and such.
 
I bought a new Ram in June. The basic Tradesman, I didn't want all the bells and whistles. All it had extra was a spray in bed-liner and backup camera. Now that winter is coming, I'm looking at getting a remote start added. Anybody here have one to recommend? I'm looking at the FlashLogic brand. It's plug and play and the shop will flash it for my Ram, so I won't have to take it to the dealer.
 
JB1842 said:
I bought a new Ram in June. The basic Tradesman, I didn't want all the bells and whistles. All it had extra was a spray in bed-liner and backup camera. Now that winter is coming, I'm looking at getting a remote start added. Anybody here have one to recommend? I'm looking at the FlashLogic brand. It's plug and play and the shop will flash it for my Ram, so I won't have to take it to the dealer.
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Backup cameras are required by law now for May 2018+ models, not really an “extra” at this point.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Backup cameras are required by law now for May 2018+ models, not really an “extra” at this point.
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Happens when they take all the windows and make them three inches tall for the aerodynamic bubble shape that all new cars are now.

Can’t even tell most of the “crossover” SUVs apart in a parking lot anymore without badging. Ha.

And tiny mirrors. So stupid.
 
denverpilot said:
I tried. German, old, fussy, and turbo V12... and BLACK. Figured that was good for you! Hahahaha.
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Thing for me with vehicles is I want to have some level of variety and I don't like buying useless vehicles unless I have a use for them. We've been a Mercedes household for basically the past 4 years between the E55 and the GL550, so while they make plenty of other good interesting cars that have my attention as "maybe someday" cars, I'm not going to pick one up now.

Actually, our next "thinking about" looks like a hot air balloon.
 
denverpilot said:
We do not have, nor are willing to build the nuke plants an all electric vehicle society needs to make it work. We don’t even have any significant number planned.
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You can thank the ''not in my back yard folks'' for that.
 
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