1995 Dogde Logs One Million Miles

1995 Dogde Logs One Million Miles PICKUPS Miscellaneous 27-4-13 Tom Olding, Fort Recovery, Ohio, thinks the head gasket may be going out on the engine in his 1995 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel pickup. That might make it a "worst buy" candidate except for the fact that this truck just recently passed the 1 million mile mark and the engine has never been touched. Nearly everything about the pickup is original. "I bought it new when it came out in 1994," he says about the extended cab pickup with a Cummins diesel. Olding can't say enough good things about that engine. "I've changed the oil every 9,000 miles, and routinely changed air filters. I've replaced the fuel pump a couple of times, but it has the original injectors. I had to put a water pump on it at about 750,000 miles. I've worn out a couple of clutches, and fifth gear has gone out of the transmission twice," he says. "But with more than a million miles on the pickup, I'd have to say I've gotten my money's worth out of it," Olding says. He has used the pickup to deliver Airstream travel trailers from the factory to dealers, driving for KBT Trucking Co. He delivers an average of about one trailer a week, logging somewhere around 110,000 miles per year. He believes he holds the record for the most miles on a pickup with the original engine. "I didn't start out to put that many miles on it," he says. "I've worked for KBT for going on 15 years, and started out with a Ford F-350 with a diesel engine. I put 572,000 miles on it before I replaced it with another F-350. The engine on the second one started smoking after only about 240,000 miles so I traded it on the 1995 Dodge. "When the Dodge passed up my first Ford in mileage, I figured I'd put 600,000 miles on it. It kept going strong, so every time I passed another 100,000 mile mark, I'd decide to go for the next one. It wasn't long before it had 900,000 on it and I figured I might as well drive it a million miles," he says. When he passed his goal, he bought another 3500 Dodge Ram with the same engine. "I found a 1996 that had only 160,000 miles on it. It had been well-maintained, and I figured it might be as good as the older one." He now uses the well-traveled pickup for shorter trips, but says he still wouldn't be afraid to head off on a long delivery with it. "It doesn't have the power it did when it was new, but it'll still handle a 26-ft. travel trailer just fine," he says. Cummins Diesel Engine Co. invited him to display his million-mile pickup at the plant in Columbus, Indiana in May when the company celebrated the production of its millionth engine. A video commemorating the occasion will include footage of Olding's Cummins-powered pickup. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Olding, 411 Fox Road, Fort Recovery, Ohio 45846 (ph 419 375-4643).

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