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magnum 5.9 needs wake up.

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Swifty

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New to forum first post so here we go. I have a 99 ram 4x4 extended cab, 5.9 120000 miles, 3.55 gears. It is all stock, only thing replaced is cat, plugs and wires. The problem is it is kind of a dog. It has poor throttle response, shifts down a lot, struggles pulling, poor mileage 10-12mpg. I was wondering about some good modifications to get more power and maybe improve mileage. I don't put a lot of miles on a year 5-6k and mainly use it to haul and pull. I thought of a different truck but this is paid for and is in good shape for year and miles. I recently had transfer case rebuilt.

My parents recently bought a new camper and gave me their 26' wilderness bumper pull. This thing is well built and HEAVY. I know my truck will really struggle with this because it struggles with out 17' sea ray boat. My dad said i can use his 06 1500hd to pull it but that really hurts my pride. So any recommendations would be appreciated. Maybe cam change, throttle body, efi. I'm like everybody, most bang for my buck without breaking the bank. Even if I use my dads truck i would like to improve all around performance, not just pulling. Thanks
 
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There a few things you can do . I've got my lifted Sport up to about 16 mpg with a few mods and enough torque to pull a house down . But before you go adding anything or changing anything you mentioned that your Ram keeps down shifting a lot and struggles pulling . I have to ask , how's your transmission ? Is it shifting properly ? Is it slipping at all ? Are you getting all the power to the ground ? How's the fluid look ?
 
The transmission is about ready for a service but i do not notice it slipping. The power issue has been as long as I owned it, which has been about 50k miles.
 
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I had a 95 like that . It seem to run really well with the exception of a little rich but never seem to have the power it should have and the mileage was around 9 mpg . Then I changed out the PCM with one from a buddies truck and it was like a whole new truck . After that I added a cat back and a short ram air intake and I was up to about 15 mpg with 33's . I now have my Sport that gets about 16 mpg with 35" mudders and a 5" lift . So far I've had the PCM reflashed , aftermarket performance cat , Magnaflow duel exhaust and a long horn air intake . I also added a hotter coil for a little better spark . I've got a set of headers for it to but I just haven't gotten around to putting them on yet . But that should up my mileage and power even more . My goal is to get as close to 20 mpg as possible while adding as much power and torque as I can get . Another thing that I did that you could do to yours (sense you tow with it ) is the next time you do your trany service is change out the pressure solenoids with HP one's . There a lot better then the factory ones and are ment for HP & towing applications . While I think of it and this may sound like a stupid question but you are shutting off the overdrive around town and while towing aren't you ?
 
I do drive around with the overdrive off.Only use overdrive on interstate when not pulling. I did notice it does hills and pushing a wind way better with overdrive off. It seems like it waits way to long to shift out of overdrive and is lugging engine more than is needed. Alot of times I will manually turn off overdrive to keep the rpm's up. Is this a transmission or computer problem?
 
That's kinda hard for me to say sense I'm not there in your truck feeling what it's doing or not doing . But from what everything your telling me , If it were me I'd try and swap out the pressure solenoids in the tranny with a pair of HP ones first . Just because that's cheaper then doing anything with your computer . And then take it from there . At the very least were you plan on towing with it , it will help with that as well as prolong the life of your tranny .
 
Ever consider an engine swap to a Hemi? You can get complete take out engines/trans with all the electronics fairly inexpensively. Sounds drastic, but it's not a difficult swap.
 
A Hemi would be nice but there's nothing wrong with a 5.9 mag motor . If you do it right you can get more then enough power while gaining better MPG . Like I said with my Sport . So far I'm up to about 16 MPG with more then enough torque . The only problem I have at the moment is trying not to spin my 35" mudders . lol
 
Never intimated there was anything wrong with a 5.9 Mag engine. That's not why I asked the question.

The fact is a new Hemi "take out" engine, can give you nearly 400hp, AND 20mpg. RWHP for the 5.9 Mag is 175(+/-) or approximately 100 rwhp less than the 5.7L Hemi.

A friend did that swap on his to his 2000 Ram, He swapped in a 5.7L Hemi, and trans, with it's electronics package, that he purchased on line (but locally). He did the swap 2 years ago, with a fairly new Hemi (I believe it came from a 2010 or 2011 donor truck) and hasn't looked back, since. Once he had the engine it took 3 of us nearly 4 working days (part time) from drive in to drive out. Total cost was about $4500.00 and that includes 3600 for the engine/trans pkg. (hunting around pays off. I've seen newer hemi take out for as much a $8K. He also purchased the fuel tank with it.

Result, more HP, more torque, and better fuel economy. It's a win/win (if you can afford it). He uses his truck as a daily driver, and a tow vehicle for his utility trailer, and his drag racing 70 Duster.
 
The Hemi swap is a nice swap Frankie . I even considered it with the other Ram I had . But the key words are , "If you can afford it" and "if" you have the help , the tools , and the place to do it . Plus the down time if the truck is also a daily driver . Most guy's have to do a little bit at a time with what they got and with so little miles he's got on his Ram then why pull it now ? And your 100 % right on the hunting pays off when your considering anything like that .
 
The hemi swap would be great but it is more money and work than I am comfortable doing. I just feel there is more in the 5.9 than I am seeing and would like to see it perform like I feel it should. Cash is kinda tight right now, building a 70' 360 for my 72' Dart, but when I get the cash I will have the trans serviced and look into some other upgrades, will talk to a couple shops and see what they recommend. Still curious what is the best engine mod that gives the most bang for your buck?
 
I'm considering the swap for an 86 Dodge B150 full size passenger van, with the 127" Wheel base. I have a lead on a "built" 5.7L Hemi with thrans from a truck. Owner claims 430HP 390Tq. with documentation to prove it. He's asking more than I'm willint to pay, but said he's willingto negotiate a little.
Owner claims less than 36K miles on it before the build, and only dyno hours on it since the build. never been installed in a vehicle since being built. According to the owner, the build was done at a machine shop in the atlanta area, and the documentation goes with the engine. I have a "B" body Dana axle with 3.90's (w/disc brake conversion already done) that I want to use, but, I'm pretty sure the drive shaft would need to be shortened about 1 3/4" - 2". Need final measurements when all pieces are fitted.

I'm looking forward to this build, so I hope I can work this deal....

The last time I actually built a muscle van was back in the mid 70's when I purchased a new, 1976 Dodge B200 cargo van, with the optional 440/727 combo, with a 9 3/4 rear Sure grip rear.
In 1976 there were no catalitic converters on vehicles over 6000 lbs GVW (the reason I purchased a 3/4 ton van with the factory 6100 lbs GVW package) also, in NJ (at the time) there was no MV Inspection on these vehicles. Essentially, I could make just about any mechanical mods I wanted to and still be street legal.

The 1976 (choked down 440 was removed, and I installed a 1969 440 That I removed from a wrecked GTX. Essentially stock except for a cam, headers, an Eddy Street Master manifold, and an electronic ignition stolen from the 1976 440.

The engine started out at 365HP, and best guess with all things considered is after the minor mods the output at teh tail shaft was about 390hp, but gobs of torque.

I'm looking forward to doing another van project, because it's different, especially in todays "minivan mentality".
 
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