meadsipper
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The article above is dealing with the newer 6.7L Cummins from 2007.5 and newer (this is what I was referring to in my prior post as the most undesirable of the Cummins engines). Its not really the CAT that is being stolen but the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) which is notorious for plugging with diesel soot and puts the whole engine in jeopardy if there are issues with it and the rest of the emissions system. The entire system is worth well over $5000 new from Dodge BUT...most Cummins owners are now doing Emission Deletes once there warrantee is over.
Dellens Red ram already had what I assume was a fairly large programmer/tuner as he had a full set of aftermarket gauges and pod on the drivers pillar of the truck (you can clearly see the gauge pod and tuner on the right drivers pillar.
As far as the price of the motor and stealing just the truck for the engine...they are quite common in those years and I know of a mechanic just outside of Kitchener that deals with nothing but Dodge Rams and has at all times 3-5 engines sitting on the racks and they are priced from $2500-$5000. Steeling a truck like they are accused of just for the motor would be insane! The only thing that would make it worth them to steal a whole truck would be if they were going to do an Engine/Power Train conversion into a totally different truck...For instance, 8 years ago I built a GMC 1ton and converted its gas engine/power train to a Cummins/dodge drive train and although I sourced all the parts separately it would have been a whole lot easier to do the conversion with a whole donor truck as I also needed most of the wiring and little things that were almost all but impossible to find on there own.
Also about the use of Jet Fuel...while it does lack the lubricity that normal diesel fuel has, it would be very easy to add to add a litre or two of two-stroke oil to every tank which would increase the lubricity and would not hurt the motor one bit. In fact, even in my own personal 2001 Dodge Cummins (which was built for the use of the diesel fuel prior to 2007 (there is that 2007 year again!!!) ULSD (Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel) needed an increase in lubricant so I would add one litre of two-stroke oil at every fill-up and by doing this I never hurt the fuel system running the new diesel fuel. On my 2012 Cummins...its motor is almost identical to the 2007.5 motors and it was built for the ULSD fuel.
I just really cant see steeling the truck and using its parts for there own personal truck. IMO, I still believe that, like I stated in my post yesterday...DM and the others were getting paid big bucks to steel the very desirable 1997 5.9L Cummins powered Dodge Ram. I also got thinking after I wrote my previous post that they could have also have wanted to steel the truck, take it back to the hanger at the Airport in Kitchener and fly it out of the province. DM could have easily had many connections to theft rings and with his possible knowledge he would have been the perfect guy to look for the particular truck that was on the grocery list! He also could have easily met people on his trips to Mexico at the races that could have been involved or connected him with people in these theft rings. Very easy money if you are that type of person and I believe that TB unfortunately fought back and someone pulled a knife or a hand gun.
I am really glad that you are on this board!
I posted the cat converter theft link to illustrate how a truck can be stolen for one part.
You know enough to add the two-stroke oil during your diesel fill ups, but DM may not be as mechanically knowledgeable to put in lube additive, especially with jet fuel, if that is what he was using. Maybe he found out the hard way.
BBM -- I posted on another thread the possibility that a customization project may have been intended for the truck. Thanks for bringing this up.
Also, your last paragraph expands on another possibility some of us have been considering: that the truck was intended for someone else, not necessarily DM.
It's still showing that the truck is the motive, or at least, the main part of it.