'95 Cummins

[corbin.black]

Going to make a build thread of my truck as I like to keep track of what happens to my vehicles and reference the thread if I need to.

On sunday, I picked up a 1995 Dodge Cummins 3500 C&C with an aluminum flat bed. The truck was ordered from the factory by my late grandfather back in 1994 and he has been the only owner since he picked it up in Dec of '94. My grandfather was a pipeline welder his whole life and built the bed himself. The truck just rolled 231,000 miles today. I need to go through the engine to see exactly what has been done to it, but I know it has marine injectors and a different fuel plate. It has been regeared to 4.10 and is set up for 5th wheel, gooseneck and tandem trailers. Speaking of trailers, the truck also came with an 18 foot flat bed trailer so I can haul my jeeps around. Im sure not everyone is going to like the paint job.. The green is a factory Jeep color and matches my dad's LJ. I know that these trucks are known to fall apart around the engine but this one drives great and I don't foresee and issues any time soon. The transmission and transfercase were serviced and rebuild about 40K ago (they did not need rebuild but all worn parts were replaced anyways) and the stock transfercase was upgraded to an HD version as well. It has a bypass to enable 2low. Last week it had a gear vendors overdrive installed. It also has a PAC brake installed but is currently not working.. I will look into it shortly. Has rear air bags to help when towing. On the bed, I have a 2001 Miller bobcat generator welder, oxy-acetylene torch, an air compressor, extra fuel tank and several tool boxes (which still have all of the tools my grandfather used.)
Im sure I am missing a few things and I will update this post when I remember them. I know that a majority of the people on this board are somewhat dodge haters but thats ok, Its my truck and I like it :greg:

All comments and feedback are appreciated.

This is me with the truck and trailer on Sunday. I drove the grand cherokee to colorado to pick up the truck and hauled the jeep back home on the new to me trailer.

The truck pulled great.. other that the trailer lights going out(still looking into it) and the right side tail lights not working. The tail lights were just re-wired so I will have to trace down the issue.

A few random shots

 

[bryson]

I like it! That bed full of goodies is rad, and would be SO useful to have!

 

[ricsrx]

That is a sweet set up!

 

[Bart]

Nice truck and you can't beat the history.

 

[Tonkaman]

All the haters will love finding you at the trailhead when they are broken down and need a fix

 

[corbin.black]

I like it! That bed full of goodies is rad, and would be SO useful to have!

That is a sweet set up!

Nice truck and you can't beat the history.

Thanks guys! Yeah, the history of the truck means a lot to me and I'm proud to be driving it around

All the haters will love finding you at the trailhead when they are broken down and need a fix

My thoughts exactly! I will have about anything they need and more. Plus I have the air compressor so I'm sure people will ask to come air back up before hitting the road back home.

 

[hoosier]

Good looking truck, can't beat a cummins

 

[Gravy]

Awesome truck

 

[corbin.black]

Good looking truck, can't beat a cummins

Thank you. I have to agree with you. I grew up riding around in my grandfathers 1997 12v extended cab and loved it! My dad now owns the truck, we love them!

Awesome truck

Thanks!

 

[corbin.black]

So it looks like I have a few projects to do on the truck. First of all I need to get it ready for a safety inspection so I can get it licensed and registered. On my way home from colorado, my right side tail lights, right side marker lights, and the 3 center lights all stopped working. The brake lights and turn signals still work but at night when I turn on my headlights, the right side of the truck doesn't light up like it should. These lights were recently re-wired because we took the bed off of the truck to paint the cab (about 3 months ago) and all of the light were working last week. Im sure it will be a simple fix. also, I currently have no reverse lights (my dad was in the process of wiring them but got sick and went to the hospital so I told him I could finish it up)
also, my gear vendors overdrive is not kicking on like it should. I was told it should be working but it isnt. I would sure be nice to have overdrive for the highway because this truck has really low gearing. right now 61 mph is about 2k rpm's. Also, I noticed this morning that the truck is leaking what looked to be oil but I wasn't sure because it was dark. I will have to crawl under the truck and see what is going on.

I will hopefully have some time tonight and take some pictures of how the bed is set up. I'd like to make a few changed but for now I probably won't mess with it too much since I have no aluminum welding experience.

 

[skippy]

So it looks like I have a few projects to do on the truck. First of all I need to get it ready for a safety inspection so I can get it licensed and registered. On my way home from colorado, my right side tail lights, right side marker lights, and the 3 center lights all stopped working. The brake lights and turn signals still work but at night when I turn on my headlights, the right side of the truck doesn't light up like it should. These lights were recently re-wired because we took the bed off of the truck to paint the cab (about 3 months ago) and all of the light were working last week. Im sure it will be a simple fix. also, I currently have no reverse lights (my dad was in the process of wiring them but got sick and went to the hospital so I told him I could finish it up)
also, my gear vendors overdrive is not kicking on like it should. I was told it should be working but it isnt. I would sure be nice to have overdrive for the highway because this truck has really low gearing. right now 61 mph is about 2k rpm's. Also, I noticed this morning that the truck is leaking what looked to be oil but I wasn't sure because it was dark. I will have to crawl under the truck and see what is going on.

I will hopefully have some time tonight and take some pictures of how the bed is set up. I'd like to make a few changed but for now I probably won't mess with it too much since I have no aluminum welding experience.

Its an old cummins its going to leak oil no matter what you do, more than likely its coming from the breather on the front of the timing cover witch tells ya there is blow by.....

 

[corbin.black]

Its an old cummins its going to leak oil no matter what you do, more than likely its coming from the breather on the front of the timing cover witch tells ya there is blow by.....

That is my guess as well. I will take a look tonight to make sure its something like that and not anything worse.

 

[corbin.black]

Here are pictures of how the bed is set up for anyone who is interested.

Right behind the drivers door: An air compressor, long air hose, leads for the welder, a tie-down for a water cooler, and as you can see in the second picture my CB antenna.




Passenger side box is where I keep all of my electrodes and helmet. There is room for more items and I will take pictures with the boxes open later. On the right side of the picture I have an LED side marker and I also have the cutouts to cover up the wheels.. I will have to throw them on to see if I like them or not.



Rear corner boxes extend towards the front of the truck and don't have anything in them at the moment beside a jack and some filters. As you can see in this picture, my oxy-acetylene lines have been routed through the bed and exit on the driver side. I have a long hose reel that I need to make a new base for so it can mount where the 2 bolts on the bed are.




As mentioned before, the truck is set up for 5th wheel, gooseneck and tandem trailers.




The truck came with this vise and I was also able to get another vise to mount to a work table (I currently have it by the oxy/acetylene tanks until i build a better table)



Passenger side boxes. The tall box on the left has drawers and this box carries my torch, safety glasses and several other various items. The larger box is basically just an open box with a small compartment to keep my gauges safe.
Note: driver side box, rear corners, and large passenger box are all keyed the same so I don't have a million keys to carry around.



Here is the tank set-up. Right now the tanks are empty and I also got a spare set of tanks so I can have a torch at home and on the truck. Im not 100% sure what kind of tank my grandfather had set up next to the other two but I do have an additional spot for another tank. (here you can see my spare vise.. i need to move it out of the truck soon because there are quite a few people around with sticky hands.)




Here you can see the base for my hose reel that was once welded to the bed.. I will be building a new one soon to replace it. Also, I need to build a mount for my spare since it isn't even tied down at the moment. The box behind the tire is a shallow toolbox on the top and an auxiliary fuel tank that is not currently hooked up (one of many things to do on my list).



and here is my Miller Bobcat NT. The machine is a 2001 but it was just services and doesn't have very many hours on it. I will have to re-check the hours next time I fire it up.



And here is a front shot of the truck next to a co-worker/local club members ZJ

 

[corbin.black]

Here is a list of things I need/want to do in no particular order.

Purchase a new grill emblem (grill is brand new so it doesn't have one yet)
Fix the side of the grill (the first time I shut the hood, the driver side mounts broke off so it has a gap (I will snap a picture later))
Fill my oxy-acetylene tanks
Re-make the oxy-acetylene hose reel base and get it mounted
Make a spare tire mount or tie-down
Wire up the auxiliary fuel tank (so I can purchase cheaper diesel when im out of town)
Buy a new stinger for the welder
Make the PAC-brake work
Find out why the gear vendors overdrive won't kick on
Throw on the side skirts to see if I like the wheels covered or not
Find a good condition stock shift knob (mine is pretty beat up and cuts into my hand a little)
Add an additional toolbox to the bed so I can be better prepared for jeep fixes/repairs
Find out why my right side running lights aren't working
Upgrade my high beam lights.. they are horrible
Adjust the headlight housings since I have projectors/LED's and don't want to blind anyone
Address some slight surface rust on the frame
Have a screw removed from one of the duals
See if I can get the cruise control to work (right now the button on the steering wheel is jammed down)
Make the fog lights work
Install my CB
Clean the engine bay
Check to see what is leaking oil
Replace the driver side key cylinder (the whole door was replaced and they forgot to change the cylinder while they were at it.)
Clean up the rusty bench vise
Wire up my new reverse lights
Upgrade to a new head unit
Upgrade the speakers
Get a safety inspection
Get it registered
and for the trailer.. fix the jack or buy a new one.

Sounds like I have a lot of work ahead of me but none of these items are going to be too hard to do. Not all of the items are a necessity but I would like them done anyways.

 

[corbin.black]

Small list update
Purchase a new grill emblem (grill is brand new so it doesn't have one yet)
Fix the side of the grill (the first time I shut the hood, the driver side mounts broke off so it has a gap (I will snap a picture later))
Fill my oxy-acetylene tanks
Re-make the oxy-acetylene hose reel base and get it mounted
Make a spare tire mount or tie-down
Wire up the auxiliary fuel tank (so I can purchase cheaper diesel when im out of town) -Done
Buy a new stinger for the welder
Make the PAC-brake work
Find out why the gear vendors overdrive won't kick on -Found out im missing pieces that are now ordered
Throw on the side skirts to see if I like the wheels covered or not -threw one on and kinda like it.. ill throw the other one on.
Find a good condition stock shift knob (mine is pretty beat up and cuts into my hand a little)
Add an additional toolbox to the bed so I can be better prepared for jeep fixes/repairs
Find out why my right side running lights aren't working -Done. Broken wire underneath the bed that is now fixed
Upgrade my high beam lights.. they are horrible
Adjust the headlight housings since I have projectors/LED's and don't want to blind anyone
Address some slight surface rust on the frame
Have a screw removed from one of the duals
See if I can get the cruise control to work (right now the button on the steering wheel is jammed down)
Make the fog lights work -Done, they were already working I guess
Install my CB
Clean the engine bay
Check to see what is leaking oil
Replace the driver side key cylinder (the whole door was replaced and they forgot to change the cylinder while they were at it.)
Clean up the rusty bench vise
Wire up my new reverse lights -Done, 3 wires and it was done
Upgrade to a new head unit
Upgrade the speakers
Get a safety inspection
Get it registered
and for the trailer.. fix the jack or buy a new one.

 

[corbin.black]

Small list update
Purchase a new grill emblem (grill is brand new so it doesn't have one yet)
Fix the side of the grill (the first time I shut the hood, the driver side mounts broke off so it has a gap) - Done
Fill my oxy-acetylene tanks
Re-make the oxy-acetylene hose reel base and get it mounted - Done
Make a spare tire mount or tie-down
Wire up the auxiliary fuel tank (so I can purchase cheaper diesel when im out of town) -Done
Buy a new stinger for the welder - Done
Make the PAC-brake work - Got it partially working.. since it has sat for a few years, it is a little stiff
Find out why the gear vendors overdrive won't kick on -Found out im missing pieces that are now ordered
Throw on the side skirts to see if I like the wheels covered or not -threw one on and kinda like it.. ill throw the other one on.
Find a good condition stock shift knob - Done
Add an additional toolbox to the bed so I can be better prepared for jeep fixes/repairs
Find out why my right side running lights aren't working -Done. Broken wire underneath the bed that is now fixed
Upgrade my high beam lights.. they are horrible
Adjust the headlight housings since I have projectors/LED's and don't want to blind anyone
Address some slight surface rust on the frame
Have a screw removed from one of the duals - Done
See if I can get the cruise control to work (right now the button on the steering wheel is jammed down) - Fixed the button but its still not working
Make the fog lights work -Done, they were already working I guess
Install my CB
Clean the engine bay
Check to see what is leaking - Power steering is going out
Replace the driver side key cylinder (the whole door was replaced and they forgot to change the cylinder while they were at it.) - Done
Clean up the rusty bench vise
Wire up my new reverse lights -Done, 3 wires and it was done
Upgrade to a new head unit - Replaced with a better working (not new) unit.. still wanting to upgrade to something nicer though
Upgrade the speakers - Going to wait on this one.. it has pioneer 6x9's in the door.. it was the head unit making the audio quality bad, not the speakers
Get a safety inspection
Get it registered
and for the trailer.. fix the jack or buy a new one.

 

[corbin.black]

Pictures of the hose reel mount. I decided the first welds with the bobcat welder should be for something on the truck.. so I made a hose reel stand as the first project

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I think you will find more folks on here who like the Cummins than those who don't, and of course most of us are green with envy of that bed setup.

 

[corbin.black]

I think you will find more folks on here who like the Cummins than those who don't, and of course most of us are green with envy of that bed setup.

Yeah, im starting to see that. and thanks, I appreciate that. The truck is starting to come along nicely as I fix all of the little things it needed.

I drove the truck back into Colorado this past weekend to see how my LJ is doing and I was averaging about 20-21 mpg's as long as I kept it at about 1800 RPM's. at 20 mpg's, I have a range of about 1180 miles due to the 59 gallon fuel capacity (35 stock tank and 24 auxiliary tank)

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Yeah, im starting to see that. and thanks, I appreciate that. The truck is starting to come along nicely as I fix all of the little things it needed.

I drove the truck back into Colorado this past weekend to see how my LJ is doing and I was averaging about 20-21 mpg's as long as I kept it at about 1800 RPM's. at 20 mpg's, I have a range of about 1180 miles due to the 59 gallon fuel capacity (35 stock tank and 24 auxiliary tank)

Yeah, the mpg sweet spot for most diesels is 1800-1900 rpm, but with 4.10 gears that's not even modern highway speeds for most of us. In my Chevy diesel with 4.10's, manual trans, and 235/85 tires I try to set the cruise at 70mph as much as possible. Even then I'm lucky to see 16 mpg.