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First post! with a serious question regarding a 5.9 cummins...

869 KPH

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This is the only part of your post that makes any sense. Everything else is a nonsensical money pit.

Worst thing to do is get wrapped up in a sentimental fantasy project that has no redeeming value other than you wanted to do it.
lol I read this and all I can think is: I'm a nonsensical money pit.
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Medical_Bartender

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This is the only part of your post that makes any sense. Everything else is a nonsensical money pit.

Worst thing to do is get wrapped up in a sentimental fantasy project that has no redeeming value other than you wanted to do it.
Thanks for your opinion but I disagree. A sentimental fantasy project is exactly what I am looking to do within the next 8 years because there likely won't be much left of the body/electronics of the ram to make it drivable on a daily basis.
I've toyed with this idea over the past year or so and finally decided to post up my thoughts on this forum to see what information I could get regarding the best way to go about it.

Money isn't everything to me. Rowing through the gears of the ram is the closest I can get to my dad now, so keeping the heart and soul (engine/tranny/frame) and transforming that sentimental fantasy project into a reality is my goal. The redeeming value is having a badass vehicle that I want while also maintaining the connection I feel to an extent.
 

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Wait until you can find a Gladiator cab in a junkyard, then do the body swap.
 

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Lets pretend you could make it fit.

The secret sauce in a lot of these engine swaps is getting the engine integrated into all the electronics that vehicles come with now.

I have no doubt it could be made to run and drive. But do you want a functional OEM oil temp and pressure gauge? Or do you want to put a series of VDO gauges to your A-Pillar.

Unless you can make that work, you will have a nightmare on your hands.
 
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WXman

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A 2001 Ram HD with the 5.9 Cummins pre-emissions engine and the NV5600 trans is a holy grail pickup truck. DO NOT CHOP IT UP.

I would love to have one but up here every one you find either has 400,000 miles on it or the body is heavily rusted.

My father bought a 2002 Ram 3500 dually with the 5.9 HO/NV5600 combo brand new for a work truck and put 318,000 miles on it, then sold it to another guy who drove it for years until it was wrecked. Never did anything but brakes. They love to eat brakes. Otherwise those trucks last forever.
 
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Medical_Bartender

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Lets pretend you could make it fit.

The secret sauce in a lot of these engine swaps is getting the engine integrated into all the electronics that vehicles come with now.

I have no doubt it could be made to run and drive. But do you want a functional OEM oil temp and pressure gauge? Or do you want to put a series of VDO gauges to your A-Pillar.

Unless you can make that work, you will have a nightmare on your hands.
I expect that would be the more difficult aspect of this swap. If I just do a gladiator body swap onto the ram frame and keep the VP44 then I was thinking to clean up the 5.9, bigger injectors, etc. and add a quadzilla and run the data to an external digital display/iPad for my gauges/engine management. Id like to have a couple analog gauges, but for the most part it would all be custom on a digital readout because I'm almost certain there is 0% chance of getting the factory gladiator dash to be usable.

Second option would be to Ppump the cummins and just have a few necessary analog gauges - still undecided on Ppump vs VP44 though as I've heard anecdotally that Ppumped 24 valves can be finicky, and I'm not sure I want to lose to electronic engine management/fueling of the VP44.
 
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A 2001 Ram HD with the 5.9 Cummins pre-emissions engine and the NV5600 trans is a holy grail pickup truck. DO NOT CHOP IT UP.

I would love to have one but up here every one you find either has 400,000 miles on it or the body is heavily rusted.

My father bought a 2002 Ram 3500 dually with the 5.9 HO/NV5600 combo brand new for a work truck and put 318,000 miles on it, then sold it to another guy who drove it for years until it was wrecked. Never did anything but brakes. They love to eat brakes. Otherwise those trucks last forever.
Thanks for the reply WXman. Agreed, I was blessed to inherit this truck and am aware of the inherent value. Rowing through the gears and hearing the cummins rumble and turbo whistle makes me love driving this thing in addition to the sentimental value.

I don't plan to chop it up anytime soon, and I really want to keep in my life in one form or another (hence this thread). Current plan is to tow my JK to and from PCS sites until I'm out of the Army, then pending the status of the body make a decision on proceeding with a swap.

BTW, I'm glad you got back into a gladiator on your YT channel! Hope the 3.0 treats you well going forward.
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