notlimah

No I haven't. Don't get too much highway for my typical driving. When I was towing for the camping trip probably was at 60-65mph (not 100% sure since my speedos off again) but even when empty and on the highway I don't really go faster then 65 anyways lol

There's probably little to no difference between the two, but I'm not expert on the matter. As far as dampers go, I think if the rest of the steering components are good up front, then you shouldn't need the damper, it's more a nice to have. Since I installed my 4th gen steering, I haven't had a steering damper. I've done a lot of in town but also towed a 5500lb travel trailer that gave my truck a decent squat in the rear with my leveling kit up front. If anything that'll accentuate the problem but I haven't had a single issue either way. Something tells me your alignment is the perp here.

Well sounds like you pretty much got it figured out. I'd cap off the T portion you'd use to transfer fuel as well just to eliminate the possibility of leaks. Other then that it should be a pretty straight forward installation. Just make sure you use diesel compatible sealant.

Are you just trying to put in shut off valves for filter changing purposes? Keep fuel spillage low? If you put shut off valve after the tank but before the Airdog and another shut off valve after the Airdog but before the VP that would accomplish that. Otherwise I'm not sure what you're attempting to do with the valves with it draining back by gravity. For my filter changes on the FASS I use THESE I found on amazon.

Thanks for sharing your story! Glad you took away what was important from the trip and didn't focus on the negative. It's perspective like this that lacks popularity now a days!

Ok so I talked with Dynamic again today and sorry @CTcummins24V I totally forgot to ask about the low stall converter until I read through this again! I'm sure I'll talk to him again soon and I'll ask, or just give him a call! Anyways, after our first conversation I did some soul searching if you will and basically realized that my goal of 500-550 is far fetched to say the least and that if I ever was to making that kind of power it would be pretty far down the road. Plus what mods I would do in the somewhat near future would be a fuel box (quad adr) and injectors (rv275s or 40-50hp) which Jon and I agreed would get me just into 400-425hp territory if I'm lucky. Seeing as how that's double the HP I have now. I feel for my needs and the way I use the truck now that double the HP will be more then enough to keep me happy for a while. If I ever did decide to throw bigger injectors and charger on then I'll just head out to Dynamic again and have him beef up the trans with the billet bits and shoot for the moon. Obviously not the most cost effective, but when were talking about good guys like Jon, I tend to not care about that stuff as much. Either way, I'm excited to get my trip out there planned and I'll keep you all in the loop!

I think I asked this already but I can't find it to verify but...... Can you apply these custom tunes to the xzt module? Obviously the fuel tap tunes and turbo timer type stuff is off the table but any canbus tuning and non-wire tap stuff, could that be custom tuned with all this new software? Or if anything, is it on the table for future upgrades?

You got two threads going on the same topic there boss https://mopar1973man.com/topic/11892-2001-24-valve-230k-miles-p0122-maybe-vpp/#comment-143600

You make a lot of good points @rancherman! The beauty of Vulcans drawstraw V is it uses the stock fuel modules but gets all of the restrictive features the module had stock. I still have he screen at the bottom of the tank but I did drill a 3/4 in hole in the bottoms bucket of the module as per Eric's instruction. From the research I've done, back around '08 FASS was supplying kits with 3/4in Buna balls but once reports of the balls being sucked or pushed back into the pump they started equipping the pumps with 5/8in Buna balls. So as per Eric's instruction, he wanted me to fill the tank all the way up and see if this issue would duplicate itself. Well the truck started up about as normal as it could for it being a little more chilly then previous days!! Super unexpected! I'll have to talk to Eric about what he thinks is the next step. What's odd about this start up was I noticed my grid heater cycling and when it would cycle and pull the voltage down, I noticed my fuel pressure would INCREASE! How is this possible?

Yea I understand that the ball is definitely going to be moving around a lot in there, but one month at two balls each seems sorta suspect to me. As far as Buna and Vitons individual strength, I should've mentioned that I was more concerned about 'additives' like you mentioned. I only run 2stroke but maybe that's all it takes to degrade it. I plan on doing a small experiment with both once I the mail shows up. Are you saying that there might be an air leak suction side which would be causing extra cavitation causing premature wear on the ball? If that were he case I really don't know where it could be coming since there's only two fittings between the pump and tank. Either way, other then taking them apart and re-doing it, I'm not sure how I could even tell if that was causing as issue.

Yea we'll see how far this needs to get, but for now I just want to solve this issue. Im going to do some more research of my own in Viton vs Buna plastic balls. You can read up more HERE but basically from what I've read so far, Viton seems to be slightly tougher and resistant to more substances. According to Eric, Buna and bio diesel don't mix well and will weaken the ball. This doesn't neccesarily mean adverse effects on the fuel pump system, but it's degrading a component for sure. As far as pumps and companies, I don't expect any lift pump company to have zero issues with their systems. They're just too complex to mass produce without some minor issues here and there. My problem is standing behind the product and at least giving the customer the feeling that they've exhausted all their efforts just as must as the customer has and I didn't get that with FASS. I think their product is great, just not completely satisfied with their customer service. If they did cut corners in check ball manufacturing to save a buck then that's on them, but they should be willing to take the hit when problems related to that start being reported back.

Yea, it's really more annoying because the pump is working fine 99% of the time, and I know why it's not the other 1% but FASS doesn't really seem like they're willing to do anything about it. Talking with Eric thought and we came up with some possible ways to fix it. It seems like the difference in check balls that FASS and Airdog use are quite significant so I'm going to try that out as well as a couple other things. I was also noticing slightly higher fuel pressure when I'm on the throttle so I'm trying to see if maybe that's adding to any of these issues. Going to check my alt voltage and see if it's increasing with RPM, also going to replace the VP's overflow valve and see if that might be getting stuck shut or something causing the high pressures to show. Although things are fairly manageable since I know it's the check balls fault, if things go downhill from here, then it's definitely time to rethink my current fueling system.

Well this problem has come back up. Almost a month to the date. I'm almost 100% sure that the return ball is indented again and causing this. I called FASS and talked to them but they didn't offer any solutions. I told him that I was seeing the exact same symptoms I was seeing prior to replacing the last spring and ball and he said well I can send you out another spring and ball but it's unlikely that you got two bad ones. I'd tend to agree but it also seems weird that the these check balls are going bad as quickly as they are. He asked what suction system I was using and I told him I was using the Drawstraw v system and he was quick to blame that for being the problem, saying that he's heard of people having issues before running this setup because running the 150 with that setup causes too much cavitation. I asked him if he could explain how drilling a hole in the tank and sticking a 1/2in tube down it is any different then drilling a hole in the fuel module and sticking a 1/2in tube down it? He couldn't answer that, nor could he answer why one would cause more cavitation then the other. Basically just BS'n me and trying to point the finger at any other product then their own. I then asked if I got the fuel pressure regulator from them if that would fix it and he said "well yea, you'd be able to get rid of the spring and ball so that wouldn't be an issue anymore" to which I replied, if that's truly the case, then it can't be an issue with Vulcan's Drawstraw then right? Again, no answer. So he's going to send me ANOTHER (read third) check ball and I'll try that out, although I don't think it'll work. I then called Eric at Vulcan and told him everything that just happened and he said the same things as me, BS! But Eric being the stand up guy he is, still wanted me to double check some things on the parts he sold me so he had me fill up my tank (I was just under 1/2 tank) and said to see if it does it again tomorrow morning after it's sat. He's thinking that their MIGHT be a pin hole in one of the fuel hoses in the module that could be causing it to let air in once the fuel level gets below it. I highly doubt this is the case, and I think he does too, but it goes to show how much he stands behind his products that'd he'd even offer that as a possible solution. Anyways, I'm sort of ranting here a bit since you can click page one and see how long I've been dealing with this issues, I've about had it with dealing with this! I've narrowed it down to two possible solutions. One is I try and different check ball, like the ones Eric sells for the Airdog system. They are identical in size and purpose, but called two different things. Second is getting the FASS fuel pressure regulator, which I really don't want to get, since I already spent a pretty penny on the pump, another 140 just to get this issue resolved that shouldn't be happening in the first place is ridiculous IMO.

CJC OFF ROAD (424) 241-3252 Poly Performance (805) 783-2060 Either one of those companies should be more then capable of answering that question.

I'm pretty sure a 4th gen damper will work but I was going to call CJC off road or poly performance to double check.

I think tires are you're number one priority here. Especially after hearing Dripleys account with older tires getting wobbly and newer ones not. I think an alignment is next priority. I did the same as you and lined up everything really close to stock with the 4th gen steering but still wanted to get an alignment and they said I was pretty far off. Not far enough to where you could notice it driving, or like by inchs (pretty sure it was like 3/8ths off) but if I kept it like that, tire wear would have been pretty evident in as short as a couple weeks. Steering damper is probably next in line IMO. Granted, after your alignment, things might be peachy and you may not need one, which is why I suggested it prior. I'm currently running without the damper and for now, don't see a need on my current setup. Granted I have bigger tires (not sure if that matters in death wobble, might make it worse!) and different track bar, but still, it would help alleviate those bigger side to side steering movements. As far as brands, if I were you I'd have to put a Bilstein on the steering damper simply because of already having the Bilstein shocks and it would drive me nuts having two different brands in there haha. Lastly I'd say look at the track bar. Lastly because it probably isn't going to be the root cause of the wobble, typically it's the Y-style steering linkage which you've fixed already with the 4th gen update, but just because I don't think the stock track bar is any good. I know Mike and I'm sure others have zero issues with them but I think those account are few and far between IMO. I'm 100% biased but I think DOR's track bar is the only way to go here. It's made specifically for the 2nd gen trucks, the bracket is insanely stout as is the bar, and it's adjustable without having to remove it. IIRC I think the heavy duty track bar is under 400 bucks, and despite what most will say about DOR's customer service, I've reached out to them multiple times for help and they've always responded quickly and accurately to help get me through. You may have to wait a bit, but that's the price you pay for a premium product. You can speed things up by waiting to order until its actually in stock, which is what I did and I think I waited a week or so to get it.

Hmm, those all seem like solid trans components from what research I've done. Weird that you're having the issues you are. Maybe the VB just isn't tuned quite right. Dynamic said that's pretty much what makes or breaks a solid built auto. I didn't talk specifically about TC with Dynamic but I've seen plenty of his posts and he likes the lower stall converters for the most part. We talked more about what stage trans would be best for my application. I plan to get a little more in the weeds with him when I get closer to actually going out there and figuring out what will work best and what not.

Sounds fun man! Being up here in the PNW a ton of friends are bird hunters. I've always wanted to go and at least try it out.

Alright so I'm gonna give you my take on this based on what you've put down. - To verify if this was a fluke or not, I'd drive the same stretch of road and see if it happens again. Probably gonna be tough since you were loaded down but if possible, I'd try and drive it and see if it happens. Could've just been a perfect storm or being weighed down, the road layout, your suspension components, but I'd want to double check if possible. - As long as you got an alignment after you 4th gen steering (I'm sure you did) then I can't imagine that being the culprit. - The different tires up front COULD be it. Just because no two tires are created equal and since they're different tread. I'm surprised that you're even running that setup knowing what a stickler you are! What size tires are you running? - I'm not a huge fan of stock track bars, or 3rd gen track bars for that matter, but that could very well be your problem. If you think about what the track bar does, it's more then feasible to think that this could be the culprit.

The Smarty will load the latest software and enable high idle.

Yea if I wanted to get my turbo numbers down to 250-275, I'd be idling for 5-10 minutes easy, and I don't even see temps near 100*. Only time my EGTs are that low are on startup before I've driven or applied any throttle.

So I talked with @Dynamic this morning and he says I'd be best off going with a stage 3 build which is rated to around 550-600hp rather then the stage 2 which is rated to 450. Stage 2 he mentioned was basically for stock power trucks or very minimal mods but it's pretty much the lowest trans build he'd do for a diesel. So stage 3 it is, which is probably over shooting a bit on what my eventual power output would be, but that's definitely not a bad thing. He also said that the truck will still drive fine, although more firm, with stock power on a stage 3 build and that the more power you throw at that TC the better it is, so that's exciting. Now I'm on to the last bit of savings for it, and of course, the chief finance officers approval.

http://dieselautopower.com/smarty-s-03-rental-sr-s03a/

I guess I've never had issues with pulling in to park and having high EGTs. Typically I'll just wait 20-30 seconds if that once I've parked and let EGTs come down to 300-350 and then shut her down. I think I just wanted to avoid drilling and tapping another hole in the manifold.