general maintenance questions

mike456 · Oct 20, 2015

changing oil tomorrow, while its on the lift id like to grease, does anyone know how many points i should be looking for? are there any located in the rear of the truck?

i did see a needle point zerk needed for ujoints of front drive shaft, anything required for rear drive shaft?

i have the factory rear air suspension option, is there any maintenance required?

is there anything besides a tire rotation i should do?

got about 11,000 on the truck

got a '15 ram 2500 cummins

loveracing1988 · Oct 20, 2015

Oil change, tire rotation, and grease the one fitting on the front driveshaft. You could also lube the door hinges but that is about it.

SouthTexan · Oct 20, 2015

11,000 miles is too soon to change the oil unless you are idling or towing heavy a lot. It should be changed at 15,000 along with the fuel filters.

Fuel filters are pricey, and don't got to a Ram dealer to get then or you will be paying out the nose. Go to a Cummins dealer or a heavy/medium duty truck dealership (not Ram) to get the secondary fuel filter that is on the engine. Ask for Fleetguard part number FS53000. Fleetguard(or Cummins filtration) is owned by Cummins and is the one who makes the same filter that Mopar relabels and sells to you for $80+. They also make the OE oil filter which is part number LF16035. The primary fuel filter mounted under the bed is made by Wix and and is not offered through Fleetguard. It can be purchased at NAPA a lot less than you can buy it at the dealer as well.

The only zerk fitting that needs to be greased is the transfer case drive shaft and outer tie rod ends and that is every 7,500 miles. You should have gotten a diesel supplement with your owner's manual explaining this.

If not, then it can be found below and the maintenance schedule is at the end.

2015 RAM 1500/2500/3500/4500/5500 Diesel Supplement

SilverSurfer15 · Oct 21, 2015

to be fair, the guidance is do NOT exceed 15k miles under ANY circumstances. There's surely no harm in changing it at 10k. The only thing that really matters is that you use good oil.

As far as grease, id bet that 90% of people never grease ANYTHING lol. So you are ahead of the curve there. But the manual does say front driveshaft and tie rods at this time.

The rear air suspension should be fine. About the only maintenance required on air suspension (in general) is emptying water from the air tank. (assuming that even applies to this scenario). And even that is a minimal concern. I don't know much about this option.

Not sure about these trucks, someone can chime in, but a lot of times if you rotate the tires it screws up the TPMS. Does anyone know if you have to reflash it when you move the tires around?

Ratket · Oct 21, 2015

rotating the tires will not do anything to the tmps, and no you do not have to re flash anything when u do it either, If a manufactures tmps gets goofy when tires get rotated, They have got some serious issues

Hootbro · Oct 21, 2015

SilverSurfer15 said:
........
Not sure about these trucks, someone can chime in, but a lot of times if you rotate the tires it screws up the TPMS. Does anyone know if you have to reflash it when you move the tires around?

When you rotate them it may take a few minutes driving for the system to pick up the new senors position after the rotation.

loveracing1988 · Oct 21, 2015

Ratket said:
rotating the tires will not do anything to the tmps, and no you do not have to re flash anything when u do it either, If a manufactures tmps gets goofy when tires get rotated, They have got some serious issues

The problems were mainly with the first generation of tpms. More than half the time you needed to relearn the sensors after a rotation, also if a tire went flat you had to do a relearn.

SouthTexan · Oct 21, 2015

SilverSurfer15 said:
to be fair, the guidance is do NOT exceed 15k miles under ANY circumstances. There's surely no harm in changing it at 10k. The only thing that really matters is that you use good oil.

True, it will not hurt his engine changing the oil at 10k but it will hurt his pocket book due to unnecessary expenses. Now that the SCR system is on these trucks and the EGR is not causing excessive regens due to fuel dilution n the old 10k interval is not required.

I always like to tell people to get a oil analysis if they are in doubt of when to change their oil. It will give you factual data of how good your oil still is instead listening to someone who is going off 50 year old information because that's the way his father did it and his father before him. I also tell them to not be surprised if an oil analysis tells you that you can go a lot longer between oil change intervalso than what your grand pappy recommends. If people herethink a 15k interval is too long, then they would probably flip over the 35k regular duty service interval for the Cummins 15L ISX found in the big truck, and that is with constant towing on the highway. We only do a 15k interval with constant idling and low load scenerios.

mike456 · Oct 21, 2015

SouthTexan thanks for the link!

did my first oil change at 3,000(dealer claims to have used synthetic)
second at 6,500(my shop mobil1)
third today 11,500(my shop mobil1)

Idle 303 hours
Drive 489 hours
Total 792 hours

does anyone think my idle time is high compared to total hours?

i took an oil sample today, will send to blackstone tomorrow

I heard the fuel filters are expensive, looks like they are both water separators too

i've dealt with cummins/fleetguard before, have 3 cummins motors in heavy equipment, usually cross all filters at napa

SouthTexan · Oct 21, 2015

mike456 said:
SouthTexan thanks for the link!

did my first oil change at 3,000(dealer claims to have used synthetic)
second at 6,500(my shop mobil1)
third today 11,500(my shop mobil1)

Idle 303 hours
Drive 489 hours
Total 792 hours

does anyone think my idle time is high compared to total hours?

i took an oil sample today, will send to blackstone tomorrow

I heard the fuel filters are expensive, looks like they are both water separators too

i've dealt with cummins/fleetguard before, have 3 cummins motors in heavy equipment, usually cross all filters at napa

Yeah, those idle hours are really excessive.

Mine are...
Idle 50 hours
Drive 349 hours
Total 399 hours
Total miles: 15,749

If you are idling that much then I would recommend using the high idle feature so you don't clog up your EGR cooler.

mike456 · Oct 21, 2015

what is the high idle feature?

what do you think about oil change intervals considering idle time? should i disregard mileage and use hours to base oil changes like i do with my equipment?

SouthTexan · Oct 21, 2015

mike456 said:
what is the high idle feature?

what do you think about oil change intervals considering idle time? should i disregard mileage and use hours to base oil changes like i do with my equipment?

The high idle feature is for those that need to idle for extended periods and allows you to increase your idle rpms while you are idling so that you will not clog up your EGR cooler and allows your DPF to properly burn off. How to set it is on page 228 of that diesel supplement I posted earlier.

At Cummins, we had a rule of thumb that for every hour that was spent idling was equivalent to 25-30 miles of drive time. My recommendation to you would be between 300-400 engine hours. Do you know the hours from your last oil change? If so, then I would see what Blackstone tells you and base your engine hour change interval on that. If not, then remember your hours now, change the oil at another 300 hours, send the oil sample in, and then let that determine if you can go longer or not based on the analysis they give you. More than likely you can go at least every 350 hours.

mike456 · Oct 27, 2015

does anyone have a pic of the zerk on the drive shaft that i stick the needle point in to grease?

Ratket · Oct 27, 2015

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-0_0020sc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hXCo7wWpX8s

you don't need the " syringe" needle, it will work but so will the one that is the size of a pen. It is a little dimple. as u squeeze in the grease, you will see the u joints expand.. it doesn't take much.

Hootbro · Oct 27, 2015

Ratket said:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-0_0020sc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hXCo7wWpX8s

you don't need the " syringe" needle, it will work but so will the one that is the size of a pen. It is a little dimple. as u squeeze in the grease, you will see the u joints expand.. it doesn't take much.

Is this front drive shaft grease fitting on both ends?

mike456 · Oct 27, 2015

what shaft is that, tranny to transfer case? or transfer case to front/rear?

loveracing1988 · Oct 27, 2015

mike456 said:
what shaft is that, tranny to transfer case? or transfer case to front/rear?

From the transfer case to the front axle. The fitting is in the transfer case end.

avolnek · Oct 28, 2015

mike456 said:
what shaft is that, tranny to transfer case? or transfer case to front/rear?

Seems to me the easiest way for me to find it each time is to more or less lay the back of my head on the axle housing while looking into the knuckles openings. Finding it the first time is the hard one, once located it's not a problem.

Also, once I found it I used a paint marker to mark where it was!

cc rider · Oct 28, 2015

Id rather just pay the dealer instead of laying on the cold ground here. What are they going to charge....... probably $10 or $15? Is it every oil change . I know there is a sticker inside the engine compartment. Just dont remember

avolnek · Oct 28, 2015

cc rider said:
Id rather just pay the dealer instead of laying on the cold ground here. What are they going to charge....... probably $10 or $15? Is it every oil change . I know there is a sticker inside the engine compartment. Just dont remember

where in the holy hell are you getting oil changes for $10 or $15!?

My dad did his at the dealer with both fuel filters it was $300... (obviously going to be higher with fuel filters i know...)

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