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2000 Dodge Ram Cummins - The Point of No Return


 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Fuel Lines
The injection lines were custom bent to put the P-pump (off of the earlier 12-valve engines) on a 24-valve motor. In this case, the lines also came from Scheid, and are oversized to flow as much fuel as possible.

All that fuel won't do any good without a bunch of air, so Tom chose a big single turbo from Turbonetics to provide plenty of boost to the engine. The monster Turbonetics ball-bearing turbo with a 3-inch inducer hooks into an ATS Bigfoot T-4 exhaust manifold before exiting out through a 5-inch exhaust system. The last part of the equation was reliability, so Tom upgraded his engine with a Fluidampr harmonic balancer, and his transmission with a trick triple-disc clutch. The rearend was locked, while the frontend was fitted with an ARB air locker to make sure each of the four wheels are pulling evenly.

So did all Tom's hard work pay off? When we first saw the truck at last year's DHRA pull in Las Vegas, Tom had been bounced out of the Street class due to a hand throttle, and other various infractions. Despite having to run a class higher in Super Street, the truck still bested the competition on Saturday's pulling event, with a winning 321-foot full pull on a 300 foot track. Not content to rest on his laurels, look for Tom and his wife Sara to attend as many West Coast events as they can in '08 with his mechanically injected pulling monster.


 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Turbo Detail
The turbo that provides the air to match all this fuel is a custom 76mm unit built by Brad and Matt Lewis over at Turbonetics. Boost level is "classified," although our best guess would be upward of 60 psi.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Electric Water Pump
Less complicated is often better, and since Tom's pulling truck only travels 300 feet at a time, the alternator, stock water pump, and all the other accessories have been ditched for this simple electric water pump arrangement.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Air Shutoff
To be legal for most sled pulling events, an air shutoff like this guillotine is needed. Tom's truck also has a fuel shutoff and a transmission blanket in case of explosion.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Intercooler
Tom's truck is one of the few serious pulling machines that still runs an intercooler, although he is thinking of adding water injection to the mix since he still sees almost 1,800 degrees on the pyrometer while pulling. The intercooler is from Spearco, and is rated at up to 100 psi of boost.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Tractor Weights
Weight racks are important to all sled pullers because as much weight as possible must be placed over the front tires in order to get down the track. Tractor weights are used, and the total weight comes in at a whopping 720 pounds!
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Puller Hitch
We've seen more than one hitch break at pulling events, so Tom made his own to be sure it was done right.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Interior
The hand throttle is used to keep more precise control of the engine speed while coming off the line.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Gauges
The interior is all business with some features you might expect, like Di Pricol gauges, and some you might not expect, like a Monster tach and a hand throttle.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Dana 80 Rear Axle
The 4:10 geared rearend is a Dana 80 with a Scheid differential and 37 spline axles. The leaf springs are stock, although custom suspension stops are used when Tom is pulling.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Traction Bars
In order to add grip in the dirt, Tom also built his own custom set of traction bars.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller Rear Tires
As time has progressed, the truck has changed from a single rear wheel design to a set of dual rear wheels. Tires are 265/75R16 BF Goodrich Mud-Terrains.
 2000 Dodge Ram Cummins Sled Puller 33 Inch Tires
Up front, a set of aggressive 33x12.50x16 Truxus STS tires is used to make the front wheels do as much of the work as possible.

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