Kickin My A** Why?

I have a 1998.5 Dodge Ram 3500 DRW 24v. Mine is All stock exept Straight Pipe. My friend has a 1997 Dodge Ram 3500 DRW 12v. which is bone stock. Both are HD 5 speeds and for some reason or another he is kickin my A** and dont know why. I have years of drag racing experience and he doesnt. He really cant shift for S**t. Why is this what is wrong.

 

Two things that come to mind,

You have crappy 4.10's and he has 3.54's.

He's lieing and his pump is turned up or a different plate. Does he smoke at all?

 

Yes he smokes alot and that is because his dad put puts around town in it and when he gets in it blows a weeks worth of soot. And both trucks have a DANA 80 with 3.55's. Mine never smokes and when it does its white.

 

Where both taking off in granny at around 2 grand, Going for a quick shift to second and about halfway through second gear he is gone. but if i double clutch it like a mother F***er I can keep up half way through third gear and then he's gone, and he doesnt double up.

 

Just how certain are you that your buddy's truck is bone stock? Are 100% sure the cam plate hasn't been messed with? Is the tamper proof screw on the AFC housing still intact? If it is not, it is a safe bet that a cam plate alteration has been done. I would be very suspect of a bone stock 12v huffing much black at anytime....IMO, red flags should be going up quickly if you see that!! LOL The 215 hp P-pumps respond extremely well to cam plate mods and have the ability to make a ton of power without anything else visible being done to them.

And when does your 24v puff white smoke? That isn't good sign as that represents very cold or late combustion since that typically means there is some raw fuel vapourizing in the manifold. This can most certainly represent a power loss.

 

rotfl rotfl He is lieing to you. It's a 4 stroke truck, not a two stroke. Thats good...rotfl "I'm just blowing out the soot that my dad got built up in a 4 stroke turbo charged engine"...

I'll give your buddy the benifet of the doubt, maybe he bought the truck used and the PO never mentioned that he made plate modifications? If the truck smokes much at ALL, it's modified or something is working improperly(not in this case since it's running good).

You've probably got VP44 problems my friend, whats your fuel pressure at idle at the pump?

 

Actually His dad is 68 Years old I am good friends with his dad and he absolutely does NOT belive in racing or high performance mods. He bought the truck Brand new in Late 1996 It now has 51,000 Miles on it and the only mods he has done is the regular maintnance, he put leather seats in it, Put those ugly ass aluminum side step skirts that you see on the older fords, and a diamond plate tool box. Also they have been having problems with fuel his fuel heater has gone out and the fuel is geling up on him and he still beats me. Mine has 198,000 miles on it the computer was reflashed in 1999 because of the recall on it. It puffs white smoke for just a split second when I first stomp on it. Mine is also running 16.34 in the quarter mile. His has never been to the track. This truck has been baby'ed from the very day it was bought. His dad never goes over 55 in his truck.

 

Hmm......time to check for codes......there should not be any white smoke......I would be willing to bet that there could be a timing issue with the VP44.....a DTC check could confirm this. Stock to stock, he shouldn't be beating you and the presence of white smoke makes me wonder if your truck is down on power. Check for DTC's!!!

I'm still curious as to why his "bone stock" 97 is puffing a noticable amount of black.....I really don't buy into the "built up soot in the exhaust" excuse.

 

Well i dont know but his isnt bellowing black smoke its just a normal amount of smoke but the big issue at hand is not his truck im more worried about mine and what the hell is wrong with it.

 

Turn your ignition switch on and off three times, on the third time leave it on and look at your odometer screen to see if it shows any codes. Don't start the truck, just flip the key to on, then back to off. Leave it on the third time and it should start showing any codes.

 

It doesn't matter how hard pop drives the truck, or how light. It's a fuel injected turbo charged 4 stroke diesel engine, it doesn't load up. Especially when junior is out racing it when he drives it.

 

what can I say but 12v ROCK!

 

Power is power, regardless if it's fed with a VP44 or P7100. No STOCK 12v truck should be able to outrun a stock 24v truck. One thing the VP44 engines have a slightly higher torque peak, which I think helps acceleration some.

 

His 98.5 won't display codes by cycling the key........only 2000 and up trucks have the DTC display in the odometer. If he doesn't have a code reader and doesn't want to have it scanned, most large auto parts stores will check for DTC's for free.

 

I'm not so sure about that.....I have seen a few 215 hp bone stock 12v's pull harder than stock 215 hp 24v's......though, the 215 hp 12v's were 5 spds and the 215 hp 24v's were autos - the difference in tranny's could have something to do with it but the bottom line is that I have seen bone stock 215 hp 12v's perform somewhat better than bone stock 215 hp 24v's but we are likely splitting hairs here, regardless.

 

rotfl

 

Amen brotherwaytogo .

 

stevencf8587. Check the little stuff on your truck like lift pump performance, Fuel filter condition, Valve adjustment, Air filter. Hows the condition of your clutch? Tire size?

 

No seriously. Every 12v I've seen isn't any quicker in acceleration than a 24v truck. In fact, I found that the two bone stock 12v's I rode in were doggy dogs. IIRC, the 24v does have a slightly higher peak, as the common rail is slightly higher than a VP model.

 

Well sure 94/95 autos were only 160hp/400tq and for the most part I'm just stirrin' the s**t:stir: