[sourdo]

Whew! There is a jug of DEF in there too somewhere.

3-1 gallon jugs of Valvoline Premium Blue EXT 5w-40 $125.97
NAPA Platinum Oil Filter $31.99
Both Fuel Filters (Mopar from the dealer) $170.95 (WTF?) Now that I know what they look like, I'll buy online next time.

Total $328.91 (And I do the work!)

This will be the last time I change oil and filters in Alaska. The dealer fuel filters were a bit of a shock, along with the oil. All the maintenance is done on the Ram, she is ready to rumble. Rotated the tires today too, and they did some recall flash, good to go. But it is pricey up here sometimes.

We are about 3/4,s done on the house selling. Now it's a hurry up and wait for the bank to pay me.

It is a fine day for changing oil, 80 F right now. Damn that front fuel filter is a bit fussy, but I got through it Ok. I had to go read up on where the hell it was. I bought one of those "T" handle oil filter plug deals too, much much easier, and much less of a mess.

But I love this truck, it's worth every penny to me, for the reliability and power.

One last comment, when I'm up on the ramps, I need a 6 foot step ladder to even look into the engine bay. It is quite a job to change all the filters and oils in this rig at one time. Sure isn't like the old Chevy 350 small block. You could work on those with a basic Craftsman tool set.

I only mildly smell of the stench of diesel. Cold beer helps.

 

[keiths487vs]

that topside stuff hurts, i have thought about a topside creeper, but dang they are pricey 😥

 

[terb]

Whew! There is a jug of DEF in there too somewhere.

3-1 gallon jugs of Valvoline Premium Blue EXT 5w-40 $125.97
NAPA Platinum Oil Filter $31.99
Both Fuel Filters (Mopar from the dealer) $170.95 (WTF?) Now that I know what they look like, I'll buy online next time.

Total $328.91 (And I do the work!)

This will be the last time I change oil and filters in Alaska. The dealer fuel filters were a bit of a shock, along with the oil. All the maintenance is done on the Ram, she is ready to rumble. Rotated the tires today too, and they did some recall flash, good to go. But it is pricey up here sometimes.

We are about 3/4,s done on the house selling. Now it's a hurry up and wait for the bank to pay me.

It is a fine day for changing oil, 80 F right now. Damn that front fuel filter is a bit fussy, but I got through it Ok. I had to go read up on where the hell it was. I bought one of those "T" handle oil filter plug deals too, much much easier, and much less of a mess.

But I love this truck, it's worth every penny to me, for the reliability and power.

One last comment, when I'm up on the ramps, I need a 6 foot step ladder to even look into the engine bay. It is quite a job to change all the filters and oils in this rig at one time. Sure isn't like the old Chevy 350 small block. You could work on those with a basic Craftsman tool set.

I only mildly smell of the stench of diesel. Cold beer helps.

Whats a (one of those "T" handle oil filter plug deals)?

 

[Crash68]

NAPA Platinum Oil Filter $31.99
Both Fuel Filters (Mopar from the dealer) $170.95 (WTF?) Now that I know what they look like, I'll buy online next time.

Fleetguard filters are made by/for Cummins, it's their OEM filters.

Whats a (one of those "T" handle oil filter plug deals)?

It's a plug for the oil filter once you remove it, makes changing a Cummins oil filter easy and mess free.

 

[3DHawkeye]

Ouch I could only imagine what that would cost at the dealership! Glad you're almost done with selling the house. I'm sure Alaska is beautiful, but it will good to live where the weather is milder. Cold beer sure does help a lot of things🍺

 

[sourdo]

I'm sure Alaska is beautiful, but it will good to live where the weather is milder.

I love the summers here, always have. It's the summer solstice, sunset is at 11:42pm, rises around 4:30 am, and twilight in-between, never really gets dark. The fishing is the best.

But boy do you pay for it in winter. It's the darkness for 3 months that I don't like. Whenever I start to get sentimental about leaving, I just look at the picture below, and I'm over it real quick. lol...

Noon at the winter solstice

 

[sourdo]

Fleetguard filters are made by/for Cummins, it's their OEM filters.

As it is a new truck, I was leery of buying fuel filters online, esp from Amazon.

When I had the Ecodiesel, I used a NAPA fuel filter. When I changed that it was bulged outwards and kind of scary looking. After that, screw it, I buy those from the dealer, pay the price, and not worry for now. But when we get living in the lower 48, I'll scout out those Fleet guard filters, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Kst8er]

@sourdo, I'm not on here a lot but notice your a frequent commentor... I guess I missed you are moving? Leaving AK?

 

[sourdo]

@sourdo, I'm not on here a lot but notice your a frequent commentor... I guess I missed you are moving? Leaving AK?

Yes we are, 44 years is enough for this guy. We'll spend some time RV,ing around for a while till we figure out what we want to do.

 

[MAS]

I 100% hate how ignoring servicing and preventative maintenance has become common practice in the engineering/development of modern vehicles.

 

[3DHawkeye]

I love the summers here, always have. It's the summer solstice, sunset is at 11:42pm, rises around 4:30 am, and twilight in-between, never really gets dark. The fishing is the best.

But boy do you pay for it in winter. It's the darkness for 3 months that I don't like. Whenever I start to get sentimental about leaving, I just look at the picture below, and I'm over it real quick. lol...

Noon at the winter solstice
View attachment 92272

Those summers would be great, but winters would probably be even more depressing than the IA winters😔

 

[namretsud]

They design the difficulty of changing filters and oil that way to stop us that DIY from wanting to take the business away from the stealerships for the easy repair money.

 

[Captainmal]

That front fuel filter is a bitch to get off, especially from new. After my original ordeal with it I bought an aluminum cap to replace that plastic thing. Just makes wrenching and dealing with it much easier.

Then I bought an angled socket wrench so I can get a better "bite" down on the top of that filter cover. Both changes make it way easier than dealing with normal tools and that darn plastic cap. Crazy how that front filter looks so easy to get to and is so hard.