The Cummins 5.9-Liter 12-Valve Gave Dodge Rams Power to Move Mountains

The turbocharged “12-valve” 5.9-liter Cummins wasn’t designed for fast quarter-mile passes or full pulls at the county fairgrounds, but its Mr. Hyde personality emerged as Dodge truck owners unleashed the rugged engine’s untapped potential. The 5.9 was born out of the workaday B-series family of inline four and six-cylinder engines built in the 1980s for use in agricultural, industrial, or construction equipment and commercial trucks (among other things). Though it’s a Cummins in name, the B series was a joint effort between Cummins and Case via a new division called Consolidated Diesel Corp.