12V Cummins Must-Have Upgrades

I'm Corey Willis with PPI and you're hearing the gasps from the diesel cooker. I'm Adam Battenburg from the diesel world. Hi, this is Dan, owner of Danziger Presentation. I'm Kristin Roth from beat diesel. I'm Brayden Police and you're listening. to the diesel podcast what's happening in diesel nation we're excited to

have

you with us today on the diesel podcast today's episode will be about the Cummins 12 valve engine and specifically on the second generation trucks we've had a lot of questions from people that just picked them up or are thinking about getting a second generation 12 valve as to what are some

must

-

have

upgrades

that they need to do or maintenance items that things are going to have to address depending on the mileage or how they're going to use the truck, maybe it's going to be a daily driver, they're going to use it to tow a trailer or, you know, they're going to go further and turn it into a street truck or a race truck and joining us today is Garrett, he's the founder and owner of pure diesel power and he will answer these questions and he is one of the 12 who pull trucks and pure diesel power has played a vital role in the diesel industry for a long time, so today we will be chatting with him asking him these questions and also more about power pure diesel as to what they do and you know the trucks they work on and the type of questions they get from a lot of diesel owners if they have known under the truck for a long time. time or is it just one that they caught, okay, let's go on the podcast with Garrett and talk about the second generation Cummins 12 valve platform Garrett, welcome to the diesel podcast.

I'm excited to chat with you today, it's been a long time coming and we were able to connect and there's a ton of second generation 12f questions I have for you so we're excited to have you on the show today. Yes, thank you, how nice to invite me. We've had a lot of new listeners. Well, this year and even last year, you know, and many times our first time diesel owners and most diesel enthusiasts have heard of pure diesel power and probably met them at different shows and events that they know over the years. I wanted to start.

By having you explain a little bit about your company, what you do, where you're located and look, what's your bread and butter, it seems like there's some power, so I basically started it in 2006, basically with a foreigner. apartment and I was, you know, pretty active on the diesel thing, he knows a little bit of an enthusiast from my early years and I basically grew from there, we had a couple of different locations and eventually we moved to one, you know, it was an old construction supply store. like my nards or Home Depot and we have a 28,000 square foot facility now the showroom is big, we have a lot of space for, you know, walk-in customers, I have about 8,000 square feet in the shop, pretty good team here We've grown a lot over the years, the bread and butter I guess would be if we do a lot of parts sales around the world, stock a lot of different random things that you know together and then do some drop shipping stuff as well. most of the business is just selling parts and shipping all over the world but we do this amount of shop work mainly repairs and some performance and one of the things I think is pure diesel power and the website and stuff .

People always tell me if they're looking for a stock part you guys probably have it, whether you know a Cummins gasket or just tons of different things like skins that repair that maintenance side, if you want an OEM part where I want aftermarket, you guys have a ton of that and that's why when I was thinking, you know what kind of second generation questions? What type of guest can I have in a sedan? That's why it appeared in my head. They know it immediately. It's in... keeping those trucks running which, like I said, with a lot of new diesel owners, it's these trucks or you know, putting themselves in the hands of a whole new generation of diesel owners and I wanted to ask you, you know?

The second generation stuff and specifically the 12 valve stuff is that's what started you off as far as being an enthusiast was that yeah something you know is your first truck or you got into it a little bit later with the stock one. As far as owning a diesel and on the performance side, where did you start well? In fact, I was a little wrong when I was younger. I had a '73 Ford and I broke down and bought a '98 12 from Texas and Yeah, I pretty much took it out shortly after that and it pretty much all went downhill from there, you know, what started out as 250 horsepower, it got slightly modified when I put it up.

I bought and you know, when I got out of the sport as far as pulling trucks. They were about 1300 horses, thanks yes, they are fun trucks. I've never had one, which I talked about before on my podcast, that's probably something I want someday and no, I don't know if. it's the simplicity or the reliability or just that body style that I was a kid when you know they came out and it was so different from the GM counterfeiter at the time and they've always had that kind of soft spot in my heart and you know I wanted I wanted ask yourself, but basically you just go through some questions that would be on different listeners and when they look at a 12th maybe they find one, they just bring it home, what are some things?

What you've seen is going to be maintenance issues or likely repairs or things that I should look at like we know the transmissions, whether it's manual with a clutch or 47 rh or 47 re, that's probably going to be a problem, but once. We look at the engine, what are some things a new owner should keep in mind and we take a look at the Cummins 12 valve's biggest Achilles heel, it would probably be the killer on Dalton or ADP, I guess if you're ever going to buy. someone's truck used if the owner is okay either way. I would definitely ask the owner if the KDP has been tabbed if he looks at you like a fool and I would probably recommend reading and seeing everything that is involved, basically there is a pin and the and the cover that can be purchased with vibration comes loose with the time and are generally higher miles, but it's more of a question of when it's going to happen, not if it's going to happen.

If you ride it long enough, it will probably fall off. and it causes havoc, falls into the gears, breaks the timing case or you see me in severe cases, you know, the brake cam gears, the crankshaft gear, things like that, so it's better to definitely address that because you know that there is a lot of money to fix if one thing happens so that would be something I would definitely look into and take it apart and give it a tab, it's not that big of a job and both trucks that have that many miles have a steel link front crank, so you can make two birds out of a rock you can replace the crank seal and playing the killer dolphin is something someone could do at home or would it be better to take it to a store or it just depends on how comfortable you know someone might be Working on your own truck I would say if you have decent mechanical skills and know how to read a little it's not that big a job it's just tedious you have to remove the fan and fan shroud some people do it. take that off too, but it's not such a bad job to do at home if you're questioning it.

I mean, I thought on a scale of 1 to 10. I'd probably say it's probably a 4 in terms of difficulty, not bad at all. Likewise, if I think about the rest of the engine, yes, obviously, you know the turbo could be an issue if it's the factory one and if the truck has higher mileage, but outside of that it would be mostly just maintenance or items. wearables like boots and clamps and you know, things like that that you might have to replace, yeah you know colder boots seem to be very common on these things and I don't know if things change over time, but if you take a look to the inside The fenders on the lower intercooler boots tend to and will rub holes in the intercooler boot or rather where a weak spot is located and then explode in that place, so I can leave you on the side of the road, especially if I'm towing a trailer or something, another item I would probably look at if it gets any 12 hour mileage.

You know the performance is the overflow valve, it basically keeps the pressure in the injection pump to keep it at an automatic rate, you know, the original one. it has a spring and those springs weaken and also break so it would be cheap maintenance to keep the performance where it's supposed to be on the fuel side what do you see there as far as fuel from the tank to the urine stroke and then even into the injectors. I see some issues with the factory lift pump. They aren't, but they are much more reliable than you think.

The newer the pumps they put in, like the VP trucks, you know you have a lot of fuel sending unit, the problems you know as far as reading the correct fuel level, but overall the fuel systems really stood out. Some trucks say it's usually 97 to 99, yes obviously the twelve valves only 97. 98 the fuel housing container is more of a cartridge style filter and those fuel housings tend to crack. We offer a billet version that allows you to rotate the filter and we can also integrate the fuel heater and still use the 94 to 96 style fuel filter that has been a very popular upgrade with people on those trucks with the injectors, what do you do there?

I don't see in terms of the injectors, they are quite resistant, you know, it is a completely mechanical injector. few failures are obviously miles, I mean, there's definitely a performance game that can be achieved, you know, by replacing your record, you know, 12,000 miles, but as we've seen trucks here with the wall over that on the original injectors, no It is a weak point. spool, too bad, you know, see, you know the return line, sometimes you get leaks around the mandrel bolts and things like that, but it's not that bad, you know, we sell a lot of contagious and dynamite diesel injectors for these trucks.

You know, even if you're just replacing a set of stock injectors, you could do a 5 by 10 or 5 by 11 injector and gain some power and fuel economy, and you know you still have a really roadworthy meat and truck and then I know. what are some of the exhaust brake kits and generally, especially when we modify them, we get to work on the valve train. I wanted to ask you about that in terms of valve springs and what you recommend for updating them and when they need to be updated, Noelle. As for the spring, all stock cylinder heads have a slightly heavier spring on the exhaust side than the intake side.

Very popular operators call it a 60 pound valve spring, which means it is actually not a 60 pound seat with pressures 60 pounds heavier than stock. We sell a lot of those from there, decent spring, but you know, if you want to get high performance, I would definitely recommend a set of springs and contagious diesels or Hamilton sure ones that have better retainers and fasteners that a lot of people like to put on. a 4000 rpm regulator spring kit where they work very well, but the problem is that if you run over 30 for 3500 rpm, it can be a lot, you will have to maintain, you will have a valve posture protector and you will loosen a valve, and That makes for a fun expensive repair, we have some question about what type of spring kit to use and you mentioned that you know the operating RPM is there as to which set to use, is there a rule? or recommendation or certain set of questions they will ask a customer when they call or if they stop by the store as to which set to go well the most common springs are 3000, 4000 and 5000 rpm if you want a truck to add a set of springs of the regulator and basically florid billet all day long and probably won't cause any damage as far as the valve trainer is concerned.

I would definitely go with a 3,000 if you want to go higher than that, you know, I would definitely say the 4000 or 5000 is a good option, but 5000 is definitely more, you know drag and pull sleds and oh, there are a lot of people who they use, but you know they do, they're quite responsive, it can be a little touchy on the throttle, by the thousands. I've seen a lot of guys drive them on the street, but you definitely have to take valve train issues into account if you decide to go with those rpms, so it depends on the type of person, some people you know put a 4000 rpm kitty. with the intention of making valve springs, retainers and retainers later, so it depends on your upgrade path if they plan to leave it mostly stock and you know, save our p.m.

Then I would say keep three thousand. I think as far as modifying the trucks and getting a little more power, it doesn't necessarily look like a race truck, but you know if you're towing a trailer, you want to havea little more. power, what's a sweet spot as far as

upgrades

that you would recommend for someone who drives this truck daily, they want it to last, they don't necessarily want you to know, pull the engine and rebuild it or you don't have any. plan to do, you know, a full billet axle 47 or a year or something like that, what would be a list of upgrades that you tell them to look into, so you're talking like a baby, the 400 to 450 horsepower range, yeah , I see like four, 450, maybe even 500. but just doing that ultimate 12 valve tow setup.

I see that what is the definitive trailer. I'd probably say you know, if you want to say the stock turbo and tow, I probably wouldn't do anything bigger than a 90 horsepower Injector or a lot of people call them 5 by 12, but there's a lot more potential in terms of horsepower if you put it a bigger turbo to a really popular tow turbo.a 6368 turbo, there are some hybrids like 64 64 or 64 67 original turbos, you know the ones they are based on, like the whole set, HX 35 frame, anything above the 500 horsepower, you'll most likely have problems with head gaskets and then anything above that. about 40 and 50 horsepower on the mp40 500 sock like a five speed transmission you're going to have input shaft issues if you go over that and then you know beyond that you know it's about 600 horsepower and the 4500 will just screw up fifth Gearing As for the transmission, you know, the billet input shaft is pretty consistent.

I would definitely recommend anything except 450 to 500 horsepower because they tend to break them, especially if you have a triple disc inverter where you get a lot more power. the ground yeah I think you do too with the extra power it's fun too and especially if you're towing you know you're going to be pulling more weight and you're going to have that power available and it's just better. spend the money on that input shaft and the build or the package that you know someone orders and then not do that and then be stranded on the side of the road and have to be towed and then pull the transmission and not have a rebuild or send it back and that can be expensive and frustrating to drive yes absolutely it can be a bad day it's definitely better to upgrade it before you break it you know especially if it's a daily driver and even though you know a lot of people buy these trucks and You want to drive them daily, you go beyond them and you're not prepared for that kind of power, you'll break parts and you might be without your daily driver for a while.

A couple of weeks and not many people can do it very easily with 12 queries that you guys get there, either on the phone or in the workshop, what are most people looking to do with them? Are they doing this daily driver towing setup? It's more of a drag truck or race truck type project and that's what they want, that's the platform. I'd say a good majority would be just people who want a more fun, you know, more fun street truck. Now there are still people looking. great power, but it's easily declining over the years, you know people are moving to newer platforms, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the 12 hour platform, it's just the variable timing and all that is much better for generating energy, so you know the people.

Sort of moving to that platform, but I would say the majority is you know someone has a truck and you know a farm truck and all that and they want to split the trailer a lot better and you know you can set them up so they're ready. on the starter motor, both Ford horses are feasible. I would definitely recommend turning on the exhaust temp so you can look at that this week, make sure the power is safe and then you know as the intercooler goes, it's potentially even if there are no holes with the fender. you know you probably want to replace them just because the originals aren't as good as far as more power and more boost as far as suspension is concerned, it's like most other generations of Dodge that we're getting into, we know that at some point.

Point, we are going to have to improve the steering components and in different parts of the suspension, yes, the steering is a mysterious elf, it is quite poor, the main problem will be the track bar, the track bar has a type end ball joint at the end. from it and on the frame side we sell a lot of track bar upgrade kits that basically allow you to upgrade to a 3rd generation style track bar and that way you just have bushings on both ends and the headset itself. Which means you know you're getting decent quality and you know the same quality parts on higher end steering parts work pretty well, but the track bar is the most important thing to watch out for, it can cause a deadly wobble. , especially there is also a problem with the arm that goes from the Tippmann arm to the side of the steering shaft, the pitman arm shaft or the stick that holds the pitman arm actually loads laterally when you drive, so they offer a steering box mount or DSS, there are several different connotations for but basically it puts a mount on the pitman arm so the lateral loading also keeps your steering feel much better, it helps eliminate a lot of yaw and then you also know you don't eliminate rollover .

The arm or seal comes out of the steering box, you don't remove the seals, that helps the steering box a lot. You know a lot of these trucks have higher miles so we replace a lot of them a red head box will say. or the Bergesen box that will really help with overall handling and, you know, tighten up the steering. One of the things we were talking about before the podcast when we were talking about your company and the things that you do there was the staff and the people that you have there, whether someone calls or stops by the shop to drop off their truck, and I wanted to ask you about that in terms of how to build the team that you have when someone contacts you, how do you find those who help you? specialists in different ranges of trucks, if someone comes in and says, "Hey, my trucks have a problem," how can they contact you or the service department and know with the space that you have all the products that you have in stock ?

I'm sure you're aware that it's also a logistical challenge, something you guys stay on top of very well, but I wanted to ask you about the people that make up a pure diesel powerhouse, so we have a shipping department. let that do all the work ships and drive you know ship you know receive we also have a technology department we have three strong technicians you know one a gentleman is more of a Chevy guy another is more of a Dodge guy and then one is more of a box type of tailor, he has all the knowledge of the three under his belt, currently we have a service department with a service writer and a mechanic and we also have a customer service department, as there are some guys and girls from that department, If they call, we have a phone menu where they can speak to the customer service technician or our service department.

I was thinking about that, when people listen to them on the podcast when they can't want to. to talk to Garrett they'll actually get back to you it's pretty difficult I spent a lot of my day helping with the shop diagnosis I said you know and I'm just in the day to day you know decisions and you know Advertising things like that so It's quite difficult to contact me. A lot of people also access our Facebook page in the Purities app, so I monitor and help them as needed, but it's hard to contact me, but I mean it's definitely out of the equation.

I will talk to clients from time to time and I definitely love talking to my people. You know, that's what makes this a great occupation and it's a great industry to be in. I think one of the things will be. It's as difficult or challenging for a company and a shop as an enthusiast that someone will have or someone who owns a truck, that will be their interest and there are so many different, obviously, generational, you know, engines and different model changes, and then different brands and you never know who's going to call or you know or you stop by the shop, it could be that you know ninety-four and twelve valve that you know he wants to build a tow truck or it could be that you know lb7 Duramax that the guy just wants to be able to tow a little better or it could be a 2015 truck, and I think that's definitely something that you guys are known for the service that you have and it's extremely advisable to be able to put together, you know, a team of people that can handle any type of inquiry or any type of construction or any type of maintenance that someone will need, whether they call you or stop by the shop, we definitely take pride in it and you know someone has a tough question that's kind of on their head. -scratcher we do our best to do, you know, research and host, if possible, you know, talk to the staff.

We have a lot of different people under the roof that have a lot of different experiences with different vehicles. Sometimes we can say: Hello, you know. Leave me your name and number and let me do some research on this. We will give you a chance. We do a lot of diagnostics over the phone. You know, it's something I took away from us and was able to do. The other thing is you know we try to have top notch customer service. If you order something, we try to get you information within a day, whether you know there are delays with the item or we're an honest item, but we have this item that we could potentially ship instead, you know, based on your approval , so yeah, it's definitely a business, but like I said, I would do it for my clients and I said I really enjoy it, I have things that I've really been challenging the last three or four months logistically with shipping and sourcing products and all that kind of stuff with the pandemic and everything that's been going on, yeah, we've seen a lot of shortages.

You've seen a lot of shipping delays. You know certain product lines. You know it's more than six weeks away or just one MTA. people are frustrated because they've been stuck at home or, you know, out of work, so we know people see me as more nervous, so sometimes you're dealing with a slightly more agitated client if something goes wrong, but as much as possible Back to Cova, you know Cova is difficult in terms of handcuffing, we have a lot of people working from home, you know they have health concerns with the situation, so things are a little more difficult, you know it is not. it's much harder to work with everyone, not under the same roof, you can't just go talk to someone, you have to call them and the city is far from their desk, so you know they may be playing their game of phone tag, but oh and all you know, sales have been very good.

I don't know if people are just fixing their trucks, they're constantly working on them if they're stuck at home, but don't you know, there are no complaints, we're just doing our best to take care of them. of the volume with the personnel changes currently there were a lot of changes just like you mentioned in the way that people do business or the way that we can do business, we just went from, you know, being able to call, we received our follow-up that afternoon . maybe that's created the next morning and everything that we're all used to and then it just changed, all of a sudden, you know, I've ordered things, not about truck parts or anything, but they're stuck in this UPS. like in the traffic loop for a week or two and there's nothing you can do, but it's been a huge change and I think the way you guys have handled it and still take care of customers during something incredibly unprecedented like this. it's amazing and you know when it's done people will remember I remember how they retired now you guys helped them yeah I definitely appreciate that we're doing our best with the tools we have so it's definitely been that way.

It's a challenge, but I appreciate the contribution we're making to try to keep everyone happy to get everyone in and so people can build their trucks or Fixer trucks. It was great to catch up with you and answer some questions. Our listeners had about twelve Cummins trucks and like I said, they've always had a sweet spot in my heart and listening to the answers she gave me, it's like I know what to expect if I get one and they don't like it. be undaunted so we can achieve it you know what I want so we appreciate your time like I said we know you're busy and just chat with us and catch up tell us about pure diesel power and what they do yeah.

Absolutely thanks again for having me. I really appreciate it and everything is going well and the world will get back to normal here at some point, don't forget diesel fans if you have any questions about your 12 valve truck or any other truck or truck you are in. Wisconsin and is close to pure diesel power, it needs some maintenance. Want to ditch your truck, just go to pure diesel power. Don't worry, you canCheck out all the products they offer. If you have questions, you can call and chat. one of the crew members and they will be more than happy to help you until next time, keep the shiny side up.