Josh Ullrich is the Diesel Power Products Sales manager.
He has been working for Diesel Power Products since 2008.
Who is Josh Ullrich?
Well, I suppose that my obsession with diesels started out in high school. It all started when I was around 15 or 16 and a couple of my buddies and me would go over to the local diesel guru’s shop Friday or Saturday nights and hang out to watch him work on trucks, which usually just ended up with all of us drinking “sodas” until the wee hours of the night. Usually within an hour of getting there, the trash talk would start back and forth with whose truck was better and could do something better than the next. At that time I had a completely underpowered Chevy 1500 with a 305 Vortec and 35” tires that literally couldn’t get out of its own way. But it had a big lift and looked cool! Now, the shop owner was a specialist in 12 valve Cummins and was teetering on 600 RWHP with his personal truck, and for 13 years ago, that was pretty darned impressive. But again, my truck was bigger, so that meant it was better, right?!
So, after a couple of years, I got really tired of 10 MPG’s and no power, I figured you at least should have one. So, I was all set to build me a 383 Stroker to throw in the old Chev, but then it hit me like an epiphany…..why not have both (power and economy). So there it was, I went out and bought me a 2001 Dodge Cummins.
I literally didn’t last two months before my first power upgrade. At the time, I was working at a local motorcycle / ATV / PWC shop, and the manager was good friends with the original of owner of Dr. Performance, “Doc.” I had a wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket, and I was talked into headed over to Dr. P’s shop that day for a Twister II kit. And oh boy, I thought I had the fastest truck on the face of the planet! Of course, I had to go and show my buddy (the local guru) how much power my new Cummins had. I’ve never seen someone laugh so hard…….and so it started.
Over the next couple of years (about eight actually) I was continually adding/changing/blowing up/repeat, different parts on the truck, and going to every competition I could. I loved that truck! But after eight years of completely relentless abuse, the truck started to give me more issues than ever, so I fixed it one last time and sold it. Times were tough, and I couldn’t afford another Cummins, so I got a 1500 Hemi. I can’t express this enough, I HATED that truck. It was a good truck, I tricked it all out with black everything, made it “look” tough, but it sucked. Every single day I owned that truck, I was looking for another Cummins. At the time I was running an accessory department at a Dodge dealer, so I’m not sure if this made it better or worse, because both brand new Cummins surrounded me every day, but also older trade-in Cummins were coming in every day. So, after six months of misery, a 2001 Patriot Blue Cummins that was a fifth wheel hauler its whole life strolled in with 103K on the odometer….PERFECT! I traded the Hemi back into the dealer and literally switched them for my “new” truck.
With my new truck, I really wanted to keep it “close” to stock. The previous owner had already outfitted the truck with an Edge EZ, RV275 injectors, 4” exhaust, an AFE intake, and a “decent” single disc converter. Before I even pulled it out of the lot, the truck needed a new lift pump, so in went a FASS HD 150. Then about a month later a customer of the dealership traded in a 2001 that had a TST PowerMax 3 on it, and I was told to take it off of the trade in…..guess where that went?! So I was already on a road towards where I didn’t want to go. It’s kind of like that little green monster on your shoulder that irks you along, “come on, just do it.” I knew I missed the power that my old truck had, just didn’t want some of the expenses that go along with it.
Now, push forward a couple of months and I come to work here at Diesel Power Products. The whole theory of keeping the truck “close” to stock is just thrown right out the window. While my current truck hasn’t received a lot of the power upgrades as the old truck, I think I’m taking a better approach at things. With the old truck, the theory was ALWAYS bigger is better. For instance….why go with 100HP injectors when they make 200HP? Why go with a 62mm turbo when I can get a 66mm? So basically the drivability of that truck completely suffered. It was fun to drive, but it was just a big, laggy, smoky mess. Again, fun at the track, but not for using as a truck. The current truck I’ve made it a more balanced package that still runs very well, but it’s extremely responsive with little smoke. I’ve also addressed a lot of the typical front end issues associated with the Dodges and made the truck handle a lot better, especially with all of the unpaved places I take the truck.
But, as anyone that owns a diesel will attest to, it’s a project, and you’re never finished. Next BIG project for the ol’ girl…..crew cab conversion, then it will be done (yeah right).
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