HEADLINES: Cracked Open At 500K—A Million-Mile Contender?
Fresh builds, neglected engines, and a 500,000-mile look inside a 5.9L common-rail Cummins.
When Drew Pumphrey broke the seal on this ’05 model year 5.9L Cummins at D&J Precision Machine it immediately begged the question: could it have made it to the million-mile mark? According to Drew, the 500,000-mile common-rail lived most of its life on a farm, where it was treated to regular oil changes and never treated to power adders (i.e. programmer). While not perfect inside, the wear (or lack thereof) on the bearings say this Cummins could’ve gone much further than the first half-million miles. It’s proof that good maintenance and the stock power level are the best recipe for making a Cummins go the distance.
Carnage Corner
Change Your Oil!
We’ve seen this one before… A 6.4L Power Stroke pushed well beyond its oil change interval and the tar-like sludge that results from maintenance neglect. According to Still El Mechanic, this 6.4L logged 36,352 miles and 384 days since its last oil change. That’s nearly four times the miles Ford recommends—and we don’t even know how many hours were racked up in those 36,352 miles. Remember that an hour idling is equal to 25 miles driven, so a service truck that both accumulates miles and idles all day is going to require a different, more accelerated oil change regimen.
High Horsepower
2,020 HP At The Wheels
When a U.C.C. truck shows up at your local dyno event, you know it’s going to be a good time. That’s exactly what happened when David Petrick rolled onto the rollers at Smoky Mountain Truck Fest 2023 with his wild, third-gen Cummins. As the favorite to win the Unlimited category, David didn’t disappoint, clearing 2,020 hp. Then the bottles were turned off for a fuel-only rip, where 1,436 hp was the result. That mark was good enough to claim top honors in the Fuel-only class as well. All indications are that next year the truck will return with bigger nitrous solenoids and a considerably higher horsepower goal.
Check Out The New (And Improved) Crazy Horse
Whether it’s competing in no-prep or Pro Street, Nathan Wheeler’s Cummins-powered Super Duty known as Crazy Horse is a serious threat. And thanks to some recent help from the folks at Truck Source Diesel, he’s turned the dial all the way up to 11. Fresh out of fabrication work, rewiring, tuning and everything in between, Nathan’s Ford is packing the best parts money can buy. The short list reads as follows: D&J Enforcer Cummins, S&S fueling, Hart’s Diesel, a Rossler Transmissions TH400, SCS Gearbox, Neil Chance Racing Converters and Tim McAmis Performance Parts. And with five stages of giggle gas from Nitrous Outlet onboard, the new Crazy Horse is fixing to make a big statement come Spring 2024.
Old Dodge, New Tricks
If this truck looks familiar, you’ve been following diesel drag racing since the early days. Back when it was in the hands of TS Performance, its compound turbo’d and P-pumped 24-valve Cummins brought truck pulling tech to the drag racing scene. A bit outdated today, it’s now under new ownership—and that ownership says it’s time for updates. The old Caged Fury is currently in the care of DNR Customs, home of former U.C.C. champion and eighth-mile 4×4 diesel record setter, Derek Rose. Needless to say, we expect a completely different animal to leave here. If we had to guess, the iconic second-gen will be treated to a common-rail Cummins, a Turbo 400, and a major diet in conjunction to being both back and front-halved.
