Just picked up a new Ram 2020 2500 Diesel! (Yes, of course its 4x4!)

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EnigmaMan

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2022
Posts
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Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Ram Year
2020
Engine
6.7 Diesel
Hey everybody, new to the forum here and have not had a Diesel truck since my 2006 Duramax (Pre-DEF) and been living the gas life for a while.
Now that I am back to rollin coal and enjoying my new cummins, wanted to see if there was a TL;DR on maintenance. I know there are different views just like with everything else, but is there a sticky on maintenance or vendors that support the board to buy stuff from?

With my Duramax I had to change out a number of things and stay on top of it (trans spin on filter, fuel filter, oil changes etc etc).

What are some of the things I should watch out for or stay on top of with the cummins?
Trans Spin on filter?
DEF Fluid - (heard of expired DEF Fluid??) any specific brand / location to purchase?
Oil type / filter? (Shell T6 - Which is super hard to find here in FL for some reason and sells out quick!)
Air Filter type?

Thanks for any insight!
 

KKBB

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Apr 4, 2021
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Location
Oakland Ia
Ram Year
2019
Engine
6.4
Genos garage sells all kinds of maintenance stuff for the cummins. Check them out...they are great people!!!
 

nukegm

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Nov 26, 2015
Posts
214
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Ram Year
2016
Engine
6.4 hemi
congrats on the new ride. i second the genos garage suggestion above. most diesel oil, esp t6 is impossible to find here in colorado. ive looked at multiple wal marts, auto parts stores, home d, etc. even amazon is out. i use amsoil oil filters or fleetguard stratapore. the mopar oil filter is slightly less quality regarding the filtering material. you can look up on youtube to " decode " the DEF fluid. good luck with the new truck. :) cheers!
 
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EnigmaMan

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Joined
Jan 28, 2022
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Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Ram Year
2020
Engine
6.7 Diesel
Awesome thanks for the great info! I'll check out the DEF fluid video. Yeah the only other option is to buy a 55 gallon drum from Sams club as you can order it haha, but not sure how many times I could use the oil before it went bad / water got in it etc haha.

Are there any Transmission spin on filters or is it just oil and fuel filters?
 

mtnrider

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
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Location
Georgia
Ram Year
2016
Engine
6.7 Cummins
OEM filters all the way around (oil and especially fuel).
Any oil that meets the spec works just fine, I prefer T6 but I can't even buy a box of rice crispies for my kids right now so like many things T6 is hard to find, supply is picking back up though.
15k oil and filter changes

DEF is DEF just buy what ever you can find that is cheap. "Supposedly" DEF goes bad in heat but I've never had an issue nor seen a single confirmed case that can be linked to that. I wouldn't store it for 5-10 years (just use common sense)

Drive and enjoy it. Don't fall into the "Diesel paranoia" as I like to call it.


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Joined
May 11, 2022
Posts
61
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12
Location
Santarosa, CA
Ram Year
2022
Engine
Cummins 6.7
congrats on the new ride. i second the genos garage suggestion above. most diesel oil, esp t6 is impossible to find here in colorado. ive looked at multiple wal marts, auto parts stores, home d, etc. even amazon is out. i use amsoil oil filters or fleetguard stratapore. the mopar oil filter is slightly less quality regarding the filtering material. you can look up on youtube to " decode " the DEF fluid. good luck with the new truck. :) cheers!
I recently used the 2.5 gal of Blue Def fluid you buy at the auto stores. I'm also researching high performance parts available. I also have a 2022 cummins and I haven't noticed anything unusual since using the fluid. If that helps any?
 

2020PW

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Nov 6, 2021
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668
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Location
East coast
Ram Year
2020
Engine
6.4
Buy a refractometer for def fluid. It’s the only way to tell it’s still good to use.

Start buying tires now. The extra weight of the Cummins eats the tires.
 

WEEZY1

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2022
Posts
5
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2
Location
Texas
Ram Year
2020
Engine
6.7 cummins
Hey everybody, new to the forum here and have not had a Diesel truck since my 2006 Duramax (Pre-DEF) and been living the gas life for a while.
Now that I am back to rollin coal and enjoying my new cummins, wanted to see if there was a TL;DR on maintenance. I know there are different views just like with everything else, but is there a sticky on maintenance or vendors that support the board to buy stuff from?

With my Duramax I had to change out a number of things and stay on top of it (trans spin on filter, fuel filter, oil changes etc etc).

What are some of the things I should watch out for or stay on top of with the cummins?
Trans Spin on filter?
DEF Fluid - (heard of expired DEF Fluid??) any specific brand / location to purchase?
Oil type / filter? (Shell T6 - Which is super hard to find here in FL for some reason and sells out quick!)
Air Filter type?

Thanks for any insight!
Better watch your dpf , especially if you don’t put a lot of miles on it. When regen light comes on keep driving it at highway speed till regen complete or you’ll end up in shop with dpf filter full needing replacement. It’s a design flaw that forces you to put extra miles and use extra fuel to satisfy eliminating diesel particulate! Not to mention choking out the power and mileage you’d be getting without it on your truck.
 
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