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Dodge Cummins Questions 94-98?

toyotajeep

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2020
Member Number
1309
Messages
282
Loc
Oregon
So....I have been driving 89 Dodge Cummins trucks more or less daily since about 2008. First one was a manual 4x4, 3.54's. Beat to death. Drove it for over 10 years. Probably could have repaired it a bit and kept on driving it. A couple of years ago I bought a completely virginal 1989 with the same specs. 80K on it when I bought it and It is basically a car for me. It has a canopy and it is 100% stock. Like to keep it that way.

I also have a 2000 Dually 4x4 extra cab. Three different hitches, Banks kit, good AC, tight post and it drives and rides great. Pretty clean. Way too much truck for me to cut firewood and pull a 7K load once a month for a few miles. I have been getting light duty scratches on it from trees etc. Nice truck but wrong for what I am doing.

Looking at a 94-98 regular cab 4x4, willing to do auto but prefer 5-speed. From what I gather, having never owned one, that they are really really easy get modest power gains from. I am looking to put some 33's on it, tow 7K once in awhile and haul some dirt bikes etc. Nothing huge. Probably see 10-12K a year.

From what I understand, the following are true:

Interior is OK, but dash sucks.

Front ends wear out or at least you need to watch for wear pretty often.

Tranny's are ok if you don't turn everything up. But a definite weak spot.

Any other concerns with them? I really would like to stick to Cummins.

Known areas to look at when checking one over? I really don't want to do a transmission in one, but other work is fine.
 
Can’t get sheet metal parts for them anymore (cab corners, doors, etc)
LMC has bedsides that are actually decent quality, but last I checked, they didn’t carry much else.

Cab corners and bottoms of the doors rust
 
maveric said:
Can’t get sheet metal parts for them anymore (cab corners, doors, etc)
LMC has bedsides that are actually decent quality, but last I checked, they didn’t carry much else.

Cab corners and bottoms of the doors rust
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Ok that helps. I do live in rural central Oregon. These things are laying around all over the place. Like everywhere. Most are 1/2 ton etc. but they are pretty common. I will look over the doors. and cab corners.

I must be pretty old because a 94 seems pretty new. Hard to believe it is a 30 year old truck.
 
Making power with the 12 valve is literally hammer and chisel simple. Spend some money on fuel and air and you can really wake them up.

Alot of guys here will flame me for this, but the NV4500 is bombproof if you drive it right.

The front end in those trucks suck a dick, and drive like shit. If I was going to DD one I would look at fabricating a radius arm front end without the disconnecting passenger side axle shaft. Engineer a decent panhard bar. 05+ Super Duty as a template.
 
I understand that the 7100 pump is caveman simple to turn up. Really easy. So easy that you can smoke the auto by looking at it.

My 2000 dually drives nice but is stock and my buddy maintained it pretty well before me. I have heard that they are known for front end issues. I would really rather not mess with a custom suspension on a daily. Have other projects for that stuff.

The thought of getting rougher 1st has occurred to me. I know those trucks pretty well and they are anvil simple.
 
if the dually is too big for you why not just make it a single wheel? You already know the history of the truck.

The other part of getting sheet metal from a vendor for a 94-98 is that if you don’t pick it up yourself there is a high probability that it will get damaged during shipping. The sheet metal it’s self is fairly reasonable but good shipping will cost an arm and leg.
 
The problem with 2nd gen's is they are a pile of shit truck around a damn good engine. Everyone knows this though.

Don't turn them up with the auto unless you wanna work on the trans. Ball joints, tre's, steering box, panhard bar, all being fresh with stock size tires should net you at least 50-100k of decent driving miles.

The dash is the biggest frustration in my opinion. Seems so simple but you have to sit there and look at it all the time and it just eats away at me. There are reasons guys are paying $1000+ for good dashes on ebay.

Like mentioned, NV4500 is the way to go. Pretty stout and easy to work on. I wouldn't touch a 2nd gen again unless it had a 5/6 speed.

We had a 96 12valve auto and a 2001 7.3 auto on the farm and the 12 valve had 4 transmissions, 4 front end rebuilds, complete cab rust job fix. etc all by 300,000 miles. The ford has only had cab corners, 2 front end rebuilds, and 1 transmission with way harder miles and more towing.
 
BigBurt said:
if the dually is too big for you why not just make it a single wheel? You already know the history of the truck.

The other part of getting sheet metal from a vendor for a 94-98 is that if you don’t pick it up yourself there is a high probability that it will get damaged during shipping. The sheet metal it’s self is fairly reasonable but good shipping will cost an arm and leg.
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The thought has occurred to me for sure.
 
KB6Chris said:
The problem with 2nd gen's is they are a pile of shit truck around a damn good engine. Everyone knows this though.

Don't turn them up with the auto unless you wanna work on the trans. Ball joints, tre's, steering box, panhard bar, all being fresh with stock size tires should net you at least 50-100k of decent driving miles.

The dash is the biggest frustration in my opinion. Seems so simple but you have to sit there and look at it all the time and it just eats away at me. There are reasons guys are paying $1000+ for good dashes on ebay.

Like mentioned, NV4500 is the way to go. Pretty stout and easy to work on. I wouldn't touch a 2nd gen again unless it had a 5/6 speed.

We had a 96 12valve auto and a 2001 7.3 auto on the farm and the 12 valve had 4 transmissions, 4 front end rebuilds, complete cab rust job fix. etc all by 300,000 miles. The ford has only had cab corners, 2 front end rebuilds, and 1 transmission with way harder miles and more towing.
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Wow. Sounds like the Dodge fell apart on you. Geez. I did own a 99 Ford 7.3 crewcab that I sold to buy my 2000 Cummins. I liked the truck alot but it needed help and my buddy needed it more than I did.
 
shortbus4x4 said:
Auto transmission is the weak point behind a P pump Cummins. Try for a NV4500. And add pyro and boost guage before turning up the pump.
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One truck I am looking at has a new tranny (250 miles on it) and the truck is stock. I have no desire to get into the billet convertor etc. scene. Just not interested in all that.
 
toyotajeep said:
One truck I am looking at has a new tranny (250 miles on it) and the truck is stock. I have no desire to get into the billet convertor etc. scene. Just not interested in all that.
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Even stock engines weren't too nice on those auto trans. Make sure you do a trans service and adjust front and rear bands.
 
RusM said:
How much you want to spend? My old man wants to sell his 07 5.9 MegaCab soon...:smokin:
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Not that much! Sounds like a nice truck but I am actually trying to get not quite as nice of a truck as I already own. Does not make sense, but when hauling a bit of scrap, weaving through dense forest for firewood etc. I would like something I don't feel sick about if I do scratch it a bit.
 
shortbus4x4 said:
Even stock engines weren't too nice on those auto trans. Make sure you do a trans service and adjust front and rear bands.
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OK TY. My 89 is dead stock, down to exhaust and air filter. I towed my Bronco on a car trailer 200 miles last weekend, including up a pass. It was a smidge low on power, but not bad at all. I'd rather go slower, than work on the thing. I can, but I would prefer not to.
 
Johnny Longrifle said:
The front end in those trucks suck a dick, and drive like shit. If I was going to DD one I would look at fabricating a radius arm front end without the disconnecting passenger side axle shaft. Engineer a decent panhard bar. 05+ Super Duty as a template.
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When i had my 98 unicorn, one of the best mods was the ball joint out conversion to early 90's OBS Ford with real bearings, and make the vacuum disconnect solid. Never had any problems once those were done.
 
The best thing you can do on those 2nd gens for front end is a Redhead box and steering brace. I've installed quite a few and customers couldn't believe how it handled afterwards. Of course make sure your track bar, ball joints, steering linkages, etc are all good. And don't use cheap suspension parts in the front-end of a Dodge Cummins, they just don't last.
 
Wheelin66bronco said:
When i had my 98 unicorn, one of the best mods was the ball joint out conversion to early 90's OBS Ford with real bearings, and make the vacuum disconnect solid. Never had any problems once those were done.
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I could do that. Seems like it would simplify things quite a bit.
 
MuntCuffin said:
Be aware of the kdp on the 12 valves. Fixable, even more so by today's standards where cp4's are consumables and 15k repairs are routine, but parts are likely getting hard to come by if it does go and blasts a hole through the timing cover.
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truth. I have done a couple.
 
Whatever you do don’t buy a 94 with an auto. It’s a one year only tail shaft and transfer case. On second thought, don’t buy one with an auto, period.

Grandpa bought a 94 in about 2000 with 50k miles on it. Looked bone stock. Had everything Banks offered for that engine bolted to it. He hardly ever gave it more than 10% throttle or got over 45mph. He rebuilt the transmission once before he passed in 2013.

My dad inherited the truck with about 80k miles on it. Rebuilt the the front end. Drove it harder, then had to rebuild the trans. He took it on a 10k mile “tour of America” vacation after he retired in 2018.

I bought the truck in 19, after his vacation, with 120k on it. At 121k I had to rebuild the transfer case. Then at 125k it got another trans rebuild. Rebuilt the front end wear parts at the same time. I sold it after that. If it had been an extended cab I would have swapped it to a manual and been done with it. But being a single cab, it didn’t fit my needs anyway.

The way I describe that truck is if you had the absolute best hotdog in the entire fucking world, and wrapped it in a soggy molded bun.
 
Being you don’t have rust issues it’s just going to be a 20 year old truck.

I would do gauges at a minimum if you’re going to be messing with the pump at all. Manual or manual valve body is also probably in your future, nv4500s are still semi available and you can pick up parts fairly cheap as long as your willing to look.

I have 8 b series engines and have never had a problem with them it’s always been the wrapper that causes issues. Definitely do the kdp I’ve had two backed out more than halfway when I took them apart. There’s more info than you could read on line about them and they are stupid simple, the most reliable diesel ever put in a pickup in my opinion.
 
MuntCuffin said:
Be aware of the kdp on the 12 valves. Fixable, even more so by today's standards where cp4's are consumables and 15k repairs are routine, but parts are likely getting hard to come by if it does go and blasts a hole through the timing cover.
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timing gear cases are like $100 to your door straight from chinkistan
 
If you get a manual the first thing you should do to it is governor springs. Makes the truck way nicer to drive even at stock power levels when you can use the whole rev range instead of it easing off halfway up each gear. You dont want to rev it higher than the stock redline, but it will now make full power all the way to red line. Which means the turbo picks right up instead of lagging after the shift since you're starting higher in the range.
 
I had an engine that had a broken gear case. But I wonder how prevalent this problem really was, out of the millions of 6BTs they made over the years and never got that "fixed".

I suspect it's the diesel equivalent of "quadrajets leak from the well plugs".
 
Ranchtruck said:
If you get a manual the first thing you should do to it is governor springs. Makes the truck way nicer to drive even at stock power levels when you can use the whole rev range instead of it easing off halfway up each gear. You dont want to rev it higher than the stock redline, but it will now make full power all the way to red line. Which means the turbo picks right up instead of lagging after the shift since you're starting higher in the range.
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Yes, de-fueling occurs way too early.

It's funny how much of a turd these engines were in stock power levels.
 
Mikel said:
I had an engine that had a broken gear case. But I wonder how prevalent this problem really was, out of the millions of 6BTs they made over the years and never got that "fixed".

I suspect it's the diesel equivalent of "quadrajets leak from the well plugs".
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Depends on how it falls, it can break the case or just fall into the oil pan. Guess it could also crack the block/bust the cam if it decides to go that way.

For a 20 dollar gasket and a half hour of your time it’s worth it to fix it properly.
 
Mikel said:
Yes, de-fueling occurs way too early.

It's funny how much of a turd these engines were in stock power levels.
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As much as I like my stocker 89, I have thought about a spring just to make it easier to drive. It is such a grandpa truck that I really like it. My other 89 had a bigger exhaust and I suspect looking back on it a bigger turbo. Ip was stock looking, no evidence of adjustments. IDK but it pulled alot better than the stocker.
 
KYZuk said:
Whatever you do don’t buy a 94 with an auto. It’s a one year only tail shaft and transfer case. On second thought, don’t buy one with an auto, period.

Grandpa bought a 94 in about 2000 with 50k miles on it. Looked bone stock. Had everything Banks offered for that engine bolted to it. He hardly ever gave it more than 10% throttle or got over 45mph. He rebuilt the transmission once before he passed in 2013.

My dad inherited the truck with about 80k miles on it. Rebuilt the the front end. Drove it harder, then had to rebuild the trans. He took it on a 10k mile “tour of America” vacation after he retired in 2018.

I bought the truck in 19, after his vacation, with 120k on it. At 121k I had to rebuild the transfer case. Then at 125k it got another trans rebuild. Rebuilt the front end wear parts at the same time. I sold it after that. If it had been an extended cab I would have swapped it to a manual and been done with it. But being a single cab, it didn’t fit my needs anyway.

The way I describe that truck is if you had the absolute best hotdog in the entire fucking world, and wrapped it in a soggy molded bun.
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Now that is funny. The truck is a 94 with a fresh trans. Some rancher guy is selling it for his aging aunt. Story makes sense due to other factors, but I have no interest in messing with something like you had.
 
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