2025 Ram trucks

[Renze]

It’s not “a popular belief “ , it’s a Physics fact.

It is a fact, if your piston bore remained the same.
However, if displacement stays the same (meaning a bigger piston diameter at the shorter stroke) and mean combustion pressure stays the same, they cancel each other out.

Your “Smaller piston fully cancels out the extra mechanical leverage “

Thats a fact, yes... Just do the math, if displacement, combustion pressure, rpm, cam timing and lobe shape remain the same, the math doesnt just get another outcome if you change bore and stroke ratio... unless other minor design factors are involved that prevent such engine from achieving the same mean combustion pressure, namely cylinder fill rates, determined by intake tract resistance and valve timing...

Shorter stroke engines however, can make more rpm with the same piston speed, thereby making more power with the same displacement. Therefor, cams of short stroke engines are generally tuned to improve high rpm breathing while loosing bottom end torque, while popular belief thinks its just the stroke causing this. Basic engine explanations that are common, when attributing secondary design characteristics of long stroke and short stroke engines to stroke itself, are grossly oversimplified: there is no causal connection between them

then there’s no torque advantage to design a longer stroke engine

Indeed, there isnt in this day and age. There is a thermal effeciency advantage because the combustion room surface area at or near TDC is smaller with a smaller bore and the same compressed volume.

Piston speed and combustion room surface area are what drives industrial engine design into oversquare engines with a 1 to 1.2 to 1.3 bore stroke ratio in heavy industrial engines.
In automotive engines, weight is a bigger factor and longevity less, so the consensus is undersquare engines that operate at high rpm when accelerating fast, and drop a few 1000 rpm when cruising.

 

[Renze]

We all know battleships and tugboats and huge mining equipment can have V configuration diesels, but perhaps we keep it to the other 99.5% of the equipment TBN’ers own/operate?

I just needed the KTA19 and KTA38 as an example of inline engines and their V derivates having the same piston spacing because i dont know any other engine family that exists in both V and inline versions.. though the same point applies to 15 to 500hp engines that TBN folks own/operate.

Oh wait, the Deutz FL514 range came in 3 to 12 cylinders. But i doubt TBN folks own/operate these oldies.. the F4L514 was Deutz first aircooled engine in 1944 developed for H'tlers war on the Eastern front in the Siberian cold...

 

[WinterDeere]

I do hear Gale Banks talk about ruining an engine when the grid heater bolt rots off and destroys a piston... i never heard of any other engine with this failure point, ever..

Gale Banks is in the business of selling upgrades, some of which may be a solution hunting for a problem, or being sold as potential failures more common than they really are.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have a pretty trustworthy tech who only works on Ram diesel trucks at one of the largest Ram dealer on the east coast
He said he’s seen zero trucks have this failure.
Let’s hope it stays that way.

Also would think there’d be a recall if it was a serious problem? After-all it takes little effort to resolve.

 

[Renze]

I have a pretty trustworthy tech who only works on Ram diesel trucks at one of the largest Ram dealer on the east coast
He said he’s seen zero trucks have this failure.
Let’s hope it stays that way.

Also would think there’d be a recall if it was a serious problem? After-all it takes little effort to resolve.

My 2.5 TDI broke a camshaft, bending valves and a rod. I brought it to the garage a few days before because i heard my fuel pump timing was off around 1500rpm.. My garagist had heard of the problem, but never thought of it when i asked to check pump timing (driven from the other end of the camshaft) but when it happens after 390.000km and 12 years, a manufacturer wont recall it.
My later 2.5TDI i drove to 560.000km before a pulse giver disk on the crankshaft came loose, breaking my crank position sensor which was no longer available from VW. The camshaft was fine !

Both failures occur at high mileage and infrequent so that these issues dont get recalled.

My mates Werklust WG18B loader has a Daf 620 engine. The truck versions had no issues, but the offroad version with a deep pan (able to work at 45 degree slopes), has a longer oil pickup tube whose support strut can come loose. Then the pickup tube itself can vibrate from the socket, engine starves from oil, and it throws a rod.
When you stick your finger in the bung you can feel the strainer and test if its solid. If not, the pan needs to be dropped and the strut reinforced and repaired. Theres plenty of time between strut failure and tube failure, so my previous employer never recalled these loaders, the service department just checked at every oil change.

Given what you guys tell me, this is a similar issue, that can simply be avoided by annual inspection of the bolt. Or simply replacement by a stainless bolt. The Cummins has no timing belt, but if it had, changeing this bolt every timing belt change would probably prevent this.

But i agree, its rather convenient for Banks that this solves a potential failure point... That will convince the wife that you really need this performance upgrade !

 

[bmaverick]

Noticed the concept 2026 RAM Dodge Grand Caravan RWD and a 5.7L Hemi. Also has a different hidden slider door track as well. Not a minivan, but a mid-size van. Not a full size RAM Van last seen in 2002.

Ram's CEO Tim Kuniskis wants a new van and it could be inspired by the best-selling Dodge Grand Caravan

https://www.carscoops.com/2025/01/ram-grand-caravan-tim-kuniskis-wants-new-passenger-van/

 

[Renze]

Ram's CEO Tim Kuniskis wants a new van and it could be inspired by the best-selling Dodge Grand Caravan

How well received is the ProMaster in the US ?
Selling the Dodge Sprinter made sense, but to me personally, the ProMaster will allways be a lowly Fiat Ducato with its chimpansee snout.

I assume this is a fake, but this snout already makes it more palatable;

The only US vehicle mass imported into Europe was the Dodge Caravan, or Chrysler Voyager as it was called here most of the years. They sold a bunch untill the crossover SUV came in fashion 10 years ago. Right now, i only see the Pacifica listed.

I just dont see a pickup truck based V8 RWD van being a replacement, its going to be more expensive and heavier.. ?
Its certainly not going to sell in Europe..

 

[bmaverick]

How well received is the ProMaster in the US ?
Selling the Dodge Sprinter made sense, but to me personally, the ProMaster will allways be a lowly Fiat Ducato with its chimpansee snout.

I assume this is a fake, but this snout already makes it more palatable;

The only US vehicle mass imported into Europe was the Dodge Caravan, or Chrysler Voyager as it was called here most of the years. They sold a bunch untill the crossover SUV came in fashion 10 years ago. Right now, i only see the Pacifica listed.

I just dont see a pickup truck based V8 RWD van being a replacement, its going to be more expensive and heavier.. ?
Its certainly not going to sell in Europe..

Nope, it is for the North American market, plain and simple.

 

[Renze]

Nope, it is for the North American market, plain and simple.

The Pacifica isnt what the Voyager was in European sales.. not by a long shot..

 

[gtbensley]

That was 10 pages of wasted time....