How many miles have you put on your PXL?

[ffejer78]

Personally, I wouldn’t even try it. Part of it is the height/width, and the fact that I have a bed rack/RTT, but also I’m running 15.50 width tires, and I don’t think those fit in most automatic car wash channels. Maybe with 13.50 and no bed rack it would be OK. But I’d let someone else go first. :-)

So I had a favorite place to get my truck washed…got in line, they said no (with a giant line behind me). They then offered to hand wash it. Me being me, I said ok. $80 for a crap wash vs $28 for the automated. I assumed the same price but obviously I was wrong. Fail! I would wash it yourself!


Now i daily drive my prospector built truck (not built by AEV). A few things that people don’t realize are big expenses on the diesels…:

-turbo and actuator - I had 100k on it when my turbo went out. I went aftermarket to keep costs down and to get a little more when towing the horse trailer. The turbo / actuator combo installed was almost $6k. You can do it cheaper, but for what I’ve heard that seems about average (plus or minus),

-injectors-haven’t done mine yet (dreading the day) but you can expect approximately $6k for injectors installed. FYI,

-gearing- (if not done at AEV) went from the 3.42 gears (stock on my year 2014) to 4.56 to account for the 37” tires and the weak transmission. Installed that was about $4k,

-transmission- at 125k on it, my 68rfe went south. This is another thing to plan for. I just installed a RevMax 68rfe 700 series and that was almost $15k installed. (I also went with a tune for the transmission which required a lil more).

-sensors-something simple like a NOX sensor is generally about a grand. The good news is we have 2 or em on these trucks (year dependent). The front NOX sensor is a pain to get to (on the turbo essentially). Not a terrible thing, but consider a couple grand a year for repairs. (This includes the coolant sensor which is plastic welded to the reservoir, the dreaded Y pipe issue cause ram engineers are “smart” and the grid heater / killer bolt issue. There are ways around it but generally they are not cheap.)

-fuel injection pump- the 2019+ trucks are using the cp4 pump instead of the cp3. There is good about these pumps…but a lot of bad going around as well. Some are switching back to the cp3 from the cp4. Just know the pump is another potential issue (maybe $2k)…


now don’t get me wrong,,,I love my truck. I would have love to get a fully done PXL! I just think people should know about the hidden details of this truck. A lot of these prices may go up or down depending on how mechanical you are. I’m a mechanical engineer but didn’t install all of these parts. Just be prepared for “maintenance items” after you get it.

[PorkChopExpress]

So I had a favorite place to get my truck washed…got in line, they said no (with a giant line behind me). They then offered to hand wash it. Me being me, I said ok. $80 for a crap wash vs $28 for the automated. I assumed the same price but obviously I was wrong. Fail! I would wash it yourself!


Now i daily drive my prospector built truck (not built by AEV). A few things that people don’t realize are big expenses on the diesels…:

-turbo and actuator - I had 100k on it when my turbo went out. I went aftermarket to keep costs down and to get a little more when towing the horse trailer. The turbo / actuator combo installed was almost $6k. You can do it cheaper, but for what I’ve heard that seems about average (plus or minus),

-injectors-haven’t done mine yet (dreading the day) but you can expect approximately $6k for injectors installed. FYI,

-gearing- (if not done at AEV) went from the 3.42 gears (stock on my year 2014) to 4.56 to account for the 37” tires and the weak transmission. Installed that was about $4k,

-transmission- at 125k on it, my 68rfe went south. This is another thing to plan for. I just installed a RevMax 68rfe 700 series and that was almost $15k installed. (I also went with a tune for the transmission which required a lil more).

-sensors-something simple like a NOX sensor is generally about a grand. The good news is we have 2 or em on these trucks (year dependent). The front NOX sensor is a pain to get to (on the turbo essentially). Not a terrible thing, but consider a couple grand a year for repairs. (This includes the coolant sensor which is plastic welded to the reservoir, the dreaded Y pipe issue cause ram engineers are “smart” and the grid heater / killer bolt issue. There are ways around it but generally they are not cheap.)

-fuel injection pump- the 2019+ trucks are using the cp4 pump instead of the cp3. There is good about these pumps…but a lot of bad going around as well. Some are switching back to the cp3 from the cp4. Just know the pump is another potential issue (maybe $2k)…


now don’t get me wrong,,,I love my truck. I would have love to get a fully done PXL! I just think people should know about the hidden details of this truck. A lot of these prices may go up or down depending on how mechanical you are. I’m a mechanical engineer but didn’t install all of these parts. Just be prepared for “maintenance items” after you get it.

Really good insights into the maintenance costs, thank you! Diesels aren't cheap to fix when things go wrong, for sure, but I sure do appreciate that they rarely go wrong. Regarding the CP4 vs CP3, I think they switched back to CP3 for new trucks around mid-2020 after the issues started popping up. I can confirm, but I'm pretty sure my current '21 2500 has the CP3 in it. They might be going back to the CP4 after ironing out whatever the issues were, so I'll be curious to see what my '22 has on it that's with AEV now.

[ExpoCrawler]

Really good insights into the maintenance costs, thank you! Diesels aren't cheap to fix when things go wrong, for sure, but I sure do appreciate that they rarely go wrong. Regarding the CP4 vs CP3, I think they switched back to CP3 for new trucks around mid-2020 after the issues started popping up. I can confirm, but I'm pretty sure my current '21 2500 has the CP3 in it. They might be going back to the CP4 after ironing out whatever the issues were, so I'll be curious to see what my '22 has on it that's with AEV now.

I have one of the last 2020s built, and it came with a CP4. I have a friend with a 2021, and he has a CP3. I installed a BD CP3 conversion, and Ram reimbursed me for 100% of parts and labor.

[desertfox73]

now don’t get me wrong,,,I love my truck. I would have love to get a fully done PXL! I just think people should know about the hidden details of this truck. A lot of these prices may go up or down depending on how mechanical you are. I’m a mechanical engineer but didn’t install all of these parts. Just be prepared for “maintenance items” after you get it.

Good points - and not even mentioning the front end issues that are somewhat common (track bar, steering stabilizer, etc.). The wear and tear on rotating/controlling 37s or 40s is significant.

[Joe Average]

I know this is an old thread but I will put in my $.02.

My PXL started as a standard 6.7L 2500. I drove it about 5000mi before going to a 37” Prospector. At 35000mi I sent it in to get converted to a Prospector XL. It just rolled over 74000mi.

I am still on the original set of Toyo 40” tires (rotating in the spare) and they are about 50% worn. I fit in the local drive thru car wash that has a 7’2” height limit (barely). I have not had to replace any steering components. I have the PSC hydraulic assist. I avoid turning the tires without moving and avoid turning against the steering stops. To me it drives just like a standard 2500 as far as areas like parking lots etc being “tight”. Many times it’s easier cuz you can just go over the curbs

[PorkChopExpress]

Thanks for the extra details, that's good info to have. I've got 3700 miles on my PXL now and I've been able to take it through the car wash, but it's not ideal. The tire width barely fits and it has a habit of slipping off the rollers (I presume because of how tall the tire is). It mostly works, but makes me nervous and it stops the line of cars behind me when it slips off the roller, so I don't take it there anymore and have been washing it by hand.

The current PXLs are coming equipped with Cooper STT Pro tires, which have been working out pretty well so far. I've been monitoring my treadwear and after 3000 miles, when I did the first balancing and 5-tire rotation, I was down about 1/32-2/32" of tread, so I seem to be on track for about 30k miles of life. That is in-line with what I've seen reported online for these tires, so we'll see. I'd really like to try the Toyo OpenCountry M/T's but they're just unavailable right now and I've read that Toyo isn't planning on manufacturing more until next year. So, we'll see, but it'd be nice to get some better tread life out of the tires. I'm going to maintain a 3000-mile balance and 5-tire rotation interval and continue monitoring the treadwear at each interval to see how it's going.