brandonjansen - 2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited Build Thread

First was the H&S MiniMaxx tune with custom tunes from Draconian Diesel. This includes 4 custom engine tunes and transmission tuning. The tunes I got (and power from them) are as follows:


I also got an overhead mount for my MiniMaxx to give it a clean install. I ended up having to spend a couple hours modifying it to make it fit exactly how I wanted it but it was definitely worth it. Now it looks like it was meant to be in the truck from the factory.

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At pretty much the same time as I bought the tuner I got a Sinister EGR and cooler delete kit for the truck as well. I got it from a guy on CumminsForum brand new in an unopened box for $165. Couldn't pass up that deal. So it showed up and sat on the shelf for a couple months.​

Finally the last piece of the puzzle was the exhaust. I definitely changed my mind a few times on what exhaust system I wanted to run. After watching tons of youtube videos I knew I wanted a 4" system rather than a 5". To me it just sounds way better. A little more raspy and not so much of a low droney sound. I was also 95% sure I wanted to run a straight pipe system after watching those videos but I was concerned about the total volume and possible drone at cruising speed. For that reason I was originally dead set on an AFE kit that came with both a straight pipe and a muffler. As time went on I was more and more sure I'd want a straight pipe and that if I did need to muffle it at all I wouldn't want the big muffler that came with the kit. So I ended up scrapping the AFE idea and with with a 4" Flo Pro stainless turbo back kit and a 4"-5"x12" stainless dual walled tip. It ended up being over $100 cheaper than the AFE kit. The muffler wasn't worth that IMO.


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Since the tuner needs to be installed on the truck when it's at operating temp I knew I needed to do that as soon as I got home from work Friday. Quickly read through the instructions once more to make sure I wasn't missing anything and then went ahead and did it. First off I can say it's much easier than my Bully Dog was on my 1500. None of that key on, key off BS that it makes you do. You first have to go through a few setting and it asks you questions about transmission tuning (I had to enter a code) and speed limiters, etc.... then it probably took about 10 minutes to actually install the tune. From there it was just one key on, key off cycle for it to clear the codes and it was good to go. Started right up.

Since I got off work early and the tuning when faster than I thought it would I said screw it, I'm doing the exhaust tonight. So I pulled the truck into the garage (or at least as far as it would fit) and started on the process. The first step was now loading my custom tunes into the tuner to make it a race tuner (for a deleted truck). It was pretty much the same process as the original tune, I just had to enter in another code and then search for the file. No big deal. After that I got underneath the truck and started ripping the stock stuff off. Most of it came off fairly easy. I had to fight with a few of the rubber hangers and a few of the sensor connections for the exhaust system were a pain to get at and unplug, but nothing any more challenging than what I expected. The worst part was probably removing the transmission cross member (had to be done to remove the down pipe). It was in there super tight and is a little wider than the brackets that support it.... so I had to use a pry bar to move it around a bit. Then there was a bit of fighting to get the stock down pipe out because of the cat that's in it and the tight space between the transmission and the floor. But once I got it past one point it dropped right out.

Putting the new exhaust on was for the most part a piece of cake. It took a little bit of fiddling around to get the down pipe clamped back on the turbo (it's hard to hold the pipe with one hand and then get the clamp on and tightened with only one had...) But after that was on it literally took me 3 minutes to bang on the pipes to the axle... they're all just straight pipes with band clamps. Then I had a little screwing around to do with the final pipe. Flo Pro leaves it long from the factory in case you don't put a tip on it so obviously it needed to be cut. In order to figure out where I needed to cut it I had to install it fully and then put the tip on to mark it. Both were pain because that back rubber hanger is the toughest one to get on and sliding the tip over 10" of pipe isn't fun either.... Anyways, finally got it marked and cut and then threw it back on. From there I made sure everything was lined up properly and then tightened all the clamps from the turbo back and aligned the tip. Threw the transmission cross member back in and then it just took a few minutes to tape and tie up all the wiring/connectors from the stock exhaust and it was good to go.

Overall it took me about 4 hours to fully tune the truck and do the exhaust. Definitely not bad considering it did it all by myself at night, with the truck up on blocks sticking halfway out my garage. lol. The 1600 Lumen Snap On work light that I bought definitely helped me get it done. It lit up the underside of that truck better than daylight!

Here are links to the videos I took at initial start up. The first one is literally the first start up. Because the truck was cold the exhaust brake kicked in after a few seconds which makes it sound a little funny. The second video is high idle with the exhaust brake on. It sounds like a jet...


I took some video clips of the stock exhaust on the truck with my Canon camera and plan on taking more of the truck now with the straight pipe to make a comparrison video. Unfortunately we had bad weather all weekend so I couldn't get them. Hopefully next weekend I will be able to get some and then I'll put the video together and post it up.

I didn't take any pictures of the exhaust underneath the truck. It's pretty straight forward, it's literally a straight pipe from the down pipe to the axle, bends up and over the axle and then out the side of the truck. Here's a couple I quickly took this morning to show you guys:




Saturday afternoon I started on the EGR and cooler delete. I'll tell you one thing... I'm very glad I have a 2ft height work platform to stand on in order to work in the engine compartment of this truck. Even at stock height it's flippin high. I was literally on top of the engine or rad for half of it just to be able to reach stuff.

Deleting the EGR itself wasn't a problem at all. Plugged it, unbolted it, put the block off plate on and that was done. Most of the work was the EGR cooler. There's quite a bit involved in taking it all off (lots of random bolts, cross over tubes, coolant lines etc.). Most of it went pretty smooth and easy. The worst part was getting at the back bolts for the cooler which are pretty much at the very back of the engine which backs way under the cowl. They're hard to see let alone get a tool on. Without a swivel and a few long extensions there'd be no way of getting the inside one off. After I got them off it was just a matter of throwing the block off plates on, a few brackets, adapters and a coolant line, refill the coolant and she was good to go. Fired it up and there was no intake, exhaust, or coolant leaks.

Before EGR and cooler delete:





After EGR and cooler delete:





I wouldn't mind buying or building some brackets to put the engine cover back on because I kind of like the looks of it.... It just finishes off the engine compartment that much nicer.​

Finally the part the a lot of you are waiting for. My thoughts on the truck now that it's deleted. Well I can tell you this, when guys say it's a completely different truck once deleted they aren't exaggerating at all. I am blown away by how amazing this truck is to drive now. Now keep in mind I'm not sure how much of that is because of the deletes and how much of that is because of my custom tunes. Both obviously play into this.

Obviously the truck sounds and runs amazing now that it can finally breath and has all the useless crap removed from it. The throttle response is amazing and the power it has now is unbelievable. So far I've only been running my mileage and tow tunes just to give the truck a chance to get used to everything, break in, and play it safe and it's still insane! It builds boost so much better now and if you start putting your foot into it you better be holding on. Even just gradually giving it fuel up to 60-70% throttle it starts spinning (on wet roads). But even on dry roads it will spin if you want it too. It's just insane.... It's actually hard to describe what it really feels like without taking you for a ride. The torque it has is crazy... it goes from 60 kph - 130 kph right now! It just moves! Oh, and the estimated torque reading on the MiniMaxx at 60-70% throttle on my tow tune was 1029 ft-lbs. Now I don't believe it would dyno that high but keep in mind that's only my tow tune, which is supposed to be close to stock power. My street and street performance tunes are much higher than that.

The exhaust brake is now working much better as well. I have noticed that it doesn't come on as often... but when it does come on it's definitely slowing you down. Most hills I end up having to give it more fuel to keep the truck moving otherwise it starts pulling it down below the speed limit. Should be great when loaded, I'm excited to try it out pulling a trailer.

I am having a bit of an issue with the tuning. When I'm light on the throttle cruising on flat land around 55 kph (35 mph) at around 1300-1400 RPM the throttle is super sensitive and easily cuts out and surges. I've already emailed Dave about it and he agrees that something is wrong and needs to be looked at. He will be fixing the tunes and sending me a new file to load up that should fix the problem.

I'm also very impressed that my exhaust has absolutely no drone at cruising speed. Driving on the highway to work this morning the exhaust doesn't sound much louder in the cab than the stock one did (until it starts getting fuel that is). So far that has affirmed my decision to stick with the straight pipe. It's pretty much the perfect volume and set up for me and the type of driving I do most of the time. When towing I can definitely see it being more droney though as the RPM will be higher.​

ISSPRO EV2 4th Gen Factory Match Gauges
I ordered my gauge kit from Diesel Manor. They have a number of kits already put together but didn't one with exactly what I wanted. So I ended up emailing them and then talking to them on the phone to place my order and have a custom kit put together. I also got a bit of a discount through a membership on CumminsForum which was nice. Here's a list of everything I ordered:

I started with the sensor for the boost gauge. The kit I bought came with a boost bolt so all I had to do was pull one of the intake horn bolts and replace it with the bolt. I made sure to put a decent amount of high heat silicone on the threads and shoulder of the bolt to avoid any boost leaks. I then installed a little 90 degree brass fitting and the sensor.

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After the boost gauge I went for the exhaust back pressure gauge since it was second easiest. My block off plate for my EGR cooler was already drilled and tapped for a 1/8" NPT fitting so that's where I wanted to put this gauge. Because the manifold and block of plate get so hot I bought an install kit for the gauge sensor which is pretty much just some copper piping and fittings to reduce the amount of heating going to the sensor. I took the block off plate right off the truck for easier access and then started bending the copper pipe how I wanted it so that everything would be installed nice and clean looking. Then I just threw the plate, piping, and sensor back on.

It's a bit hard to get a good picture of it because it's back under the cowl a ways.... but you can see everything in this picture. The block off plate is the silver plate with the fittings going into it to the left of the picture and then the copper pipe coils around and the sensor is up on the right of the picture.
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Next was the part I was least looking forward to.... the pyrometer sensor. Some guys do mount them in the EGR block off plate but it's somewhat of a false reading since exhaust is cooler there than in the collector. So the best option is to drill and tap the manifold right in the collector. Obviously the risk with that is having shavings end up in the turbo.
The first thing I did was take off the tube from my intake box to the turbo for better access and then stuffed some paper towel in the intake side of the turbo to avoid getting anything in there. I then marked and center punched where I wanted the hole to be. It's about 2" up from the bottom of the manifold flange right in the center of the collector. I then grabbed my right angle drill (you wouldn't be able to get in there with a normal one) and a 5/32" bit to drill the pilot hole. I dipped the bit in a grease tube so that shavings would stick to it rather than go inside the manifold. Drilling at that awkward angle is definitely a little hard on the arm and the manifold was thicker than I expected it to be. I'd say it was probably about 3/8" thick. Once that whole was done I moved up to a 21/64" bit again dipped in grease. To tap it I used a 1/4" 8 point socket on a ratchet with the tap in it because there was no way I was getting the actual tool that came with that tap on there. Again I dipped the tap in grease and slowly started cutting the threads. NPT is tappered so it too a bit of trial and error of tapping to a certain depth, pulling it out and then seeing how far in the fitting went but eventually I got it right where I wanted it. Then I did a quick check to make sure the end of the prob was approximately centered in the manifold and bolted it all together.

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I then started running all the wiring harness for everything. I wrapped all the wiring in the engine compartment with 1/4" lume to protect it and make it look factory. I then took off the cover plate for where the clutch pedal would be installed on a manual truck and drilled a 1/2" hole in it and put a grommet in and ran all the wires to the inside of the truck. I also had another harness with a potentiometer in it to install inside the truck for the power, lighting, and ground. So I got to work on that too. I tapped into the pink wire with the yellow tracer in the 100 pin harness for ignition power and ran a fuseable link with a 3 amp fuse in it for the power. And then the orange wire with the blue tracer on the back of the headlight switch for the lighting. I nicely tied everything up under the dash as neat as possible to make it look like it was there from the factory.
I then ran all the wiring up the dash to the A-pillar to get started up there. Then it was just a matter of sorting out each wire to find out where they need to go and installing the connectors that go to the gauges. I daisy-chained all the power, lighting, and ground wiring together and then ran the wires from each individual sensor to the proper gauge. After that it was just a matter of plugging everything in, installing the A-pillar gauge pod, and making sure all the gauges were sitting straight.

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So far I'm very happy with the gauges. They look great and work great. The one thing I have noticed is that the A-pillar pod could have the gauges pointing a little more straight/downward. Right now they're point a little higher up that I would like... especially the top one. But there's nothing I can do about it.
It's also very nice finally being able to see what's going on with some of this stuff. I had a boost gauge on my MiniMaxx (a very small one) but not exhaust back pressure or a pyro. My exhaust back pressure is slightly lower than I expected it to be which is a good thing. Although I haven't got on it hard yet to see how far it will climb up. And my EGT's are definitely lower than I thought they would be. They were only about 600-700 degrees F cruising down the highway this morning and then got up to around 800 if I hit a bit of a hill. Can't complain about those numbers! I think my tuning, intake, and the fact that it's winter has a lot to do with that.​

I finally moved last weekend (17th) so I got the put the truck to work once again. I had my Uncle's 28 ft enclosed trailer loaded up going back and forth between the old house and the new house (just across town). This is the first time I've used the truck to tow since deleting and tuning it and I can tell you it is ridiculous.... That truck has so much power and torque now, the fully loaded trailer didn't even phase it. I'm not exactly sure what the trailer weighed fully loaded, I would guess at least 9000 lbs if not more (for the heaviest load at least). On one part of the drive you come around a sharp corner and then there's a fairly steep hill right after it. So I was essentially starting with no speed at the bottom of the hill. I started giving it enough fuel to get it moving and it hit the hill like it wasn't even there. I looked at my MiniMaxx and it was only at 65% load and still accelerating like crazy. I had to finally let off because I was gaining on the cars ahead of me too quickly. I was very impressed with the truck!

The exhaust brake also works amazing at holding back all the weight. Most hills I didn't even have to touch the brakes unless I was actually coming to a complete stop. All the rest of them it would either hold it at the correct speed or actually slow it down. The highest drive pressure I saw with the exhaust brake on was 55 psi which was very good considering how much it was holding back.

Unloading at the new house:

One picture I quickly snapped of the inside of the trailer on one load:


On a side note, here is our other moving vehicle:


My Dad ended up borrowing a trailer from work so that we could load up all our or garage stuff (tons of tools, equipment, parts, etc.) and all of our garden shed stuff before our actual moving day to spread the work apart. That way we could just park that trailer and not worry about unloading it right away.​

We've also been having some super good weather here lately. It's still somewhat cold at night (about 0C or 32F) but during the day it's warming up to 11C (52F) or so which I definitely can't complain about for this time of year up here. The last 3 months we've actually broken records for the driest winter months.
So just to bug any of you fellow Canadians out east this is how I was cruising around on the weekend.



Sunroof open and not a cloud in the sky!!

I also took that opportunity to wash the truck since it's supposed to be nice all this week as well. It was in desperate need of a wash; absolutely covered in salt, sand, and mud. So I spent a good couple hours yesterday afternoon giving it a good wash.




By the way... wash soot off your bumper is definitely not a fun thing. It's really hard to get off! Fortunately I found some Fantastik to spray on there and let soak, it helps a lot. I ended up pulling my exhaust tip out about 1.25" after this wash to see if that helps keep some of the soot off my bumper.

I don't have all my cleaning supplies at this house yet (they're still in that deVry trailer) so I did the best I could with what I've got. It's definitely better than what it was. Once I get my stuff back I'll go over it again and do a full detail and interior clean as well. It's probably about time for another couple coats of wax as well so that should probably happen soon.​

As far as future mods go the frequency of them is going to slow down a bit as I am now getting into the lifting part of the build. At this timing I'm planning to get some AMP research steps next month (since they'll be needed for the lift) and then possibly a few other small things like an AMP bedstep and HID lights. After that it will probably be in hiatus for a while so I can save up some cash for the lift and wheels/tires. But we'll see how that all goes. Plans always change and for some reason I seem to get a lot of mods done before I actually planned on. lol.​