Hey there Cummins fans and experts! So… I’ve had quite the crisis in the last few days, and figured this would be a great place to get a few experienced views/opinions on my situation.

THE SITUATION is that I recently bought my first Cummins truck, an ‘04 Dodge Ram, 5.9L, 3500 dually with a manual transmission. When it was purchased got a great deal on it ($8,500) due to the 330,000 miles, and because it has a construction style body with a flat bed and loads of steel lock-boxes on it. After loads of on-line research (including this forum) and talking to a few people (mechanics and owners), I was told over and over again that these engines are gold, and not to worry about the 330,000 miles since the engine could easily last double that if was nice to it.

THE PROBLEM is that 6,000 miles later, when I’m getting close to finishing the build of the slide-in camper that I’m planning on living in while working on various farms, while using the truck as a farm vehicle. I was on the interstate when within 5 minutes the engine went from running/sounding as it always had to clacking, to louder clacking, to check engine light, to shut down right as I was pulling off the interstate. I was towed by a nice random stranger to a mechanic shop 2 blocks away. They quickly find a crack in the engine block. Making the engine not even worth the powercore cost.

THE SOLUTION the auto-shop proposed (and included an estimate of) was to replace the engine with a Jasper refab engine. The cost of which is over $14,000, which after all the labor, addition parts, and the added cost of not being able to trade in my powercore… the estimate comes to $21,000. The shop claimed to have several experienced diesel mechanics on staff, and is estimating the job take one of them 21 hours of work. The only reason this shop is the one I’m at is the proximity to the break-down, but I live in Seattle 100 miles away, and towing it somewhere else is bound to be expensive and would have to be factored in.

THE QUESTIONS/CONFUSIONS are:

• After a quick Google search these refab engines seem to generally sell for $4k - $5k… which is way less than the received quote… am I just having someone try to take advantage of my situation, or am I missing something?
• Is getting a refab engine in a body with 330,000 miles on it a really bad idea? My reasoning for considering an engine replacement is because using the same $21,000 to replace the truck seems to land me with something with at least 200,000 miles on it, which means I’d be scrapping the near $10,000 invested in the truck, only to draw another wild card of a used engine. That and the body is near perfect for my intended use.
• The mechanics at the shop were singing the praises of Jasper, however a quick search on this forum brought up quite a few people advising against them with bad experiences to back them up. So if anyone has additional views on this, or alternatives… I’d love to hear them.
• Anything else anyone things may be useful or relevant to my situation.