leathermaneod

Thanks for the replies guys. I do not believe this is clutch or pilot bearing issues as I dealt with a bad pilot bearing with this truck before and so I know what that feels like and how it acts. This is just occasionally slightly hard to get it gear at a stop or very slow roll. All it takes is a little playing with the shifter or slight blip of the throttle to get it to drop in. Its also not consistent at all, very random. As far as the metal, the first time I drained it at 250k i dont recall seeing any metal flakes, it was just dirty. The second time I drained it a few thousand later for the clutch it looked almost the same. Only lately when I checked it by loosening the plug and letting a drip run out did I see a few sparkles. I should add that Ive never cleaned the magnet becasue I did not know about it....So maybe it was just crap from the threads. I would basically just like to get the leaks stopped and I read of some good experiences with the Amsoil and I can get it for $13.30 a qt right now so that got me thinking that maybe I could help prolong the life of my trans by draining it, giving it a good cleaning, and trying out the amsoil...I just dont want to do all that and have it be worse obviously...I guess I was hoping to hear more from guys that had good results lol. But that doesnt really do anything other than make me have higher hopes. Seems all the transmissions are different. I'd like to just go to valvoline synth 50 wt, but I'm still scare of that. Not enough testing data yet for me...

Any opinions on wether I should switch to try and help with my gear noise and slightly hard and notchy shifting? Keep in mind I do also want to get it cleaned out good because it's been a little sparkly in the past when checking the level. I'm guessing the magnets must either be missing or coated with metal since they aren't catching everything. I don't know if the metal particles could be from the new input shaft and bearing or 5th gear nut retainer or if it's normal or what, and I also wonder if that could be part of the cause of the slightly hard/notchy shifting....and I also want to fix the leaks. I'm just scared shifting could get worse with amsoil instead of better, but I've read of many people who say it did improve. I guess what I'm asking is, are my reasons to drain it good enough? Is it worth trying to improve the shifting? I know it's old and not gona be perfect, but I wanna take the best care of it that I can, and I assume hard, notchy, noisy, slight clunks into gear are all things that are not too good for it....

Thanks a million! That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for! Now I just have to decide if I really need to do this right now as I will be giving up some pretty fresh OEM fluid for amsoil....I've read of quite a few having excellent results, but I'm still scared lol. I'm sort of counting on it helping my shift quality a little as it has for others.

Ah pressure is one thing I did not think of! I'll have to put the same pressure in both and check circumference. How close would they need to be? I would think they'd have to be close being they are the same size....

We measured across the tires rather than top to bottom so we wouldn't have the squat to deal with. Is it critical enough for this to need to do the rolling diameter measurement for this? I mean the tires are the same size...why do you say it's more critical to have the matching ones in the front? I thought the LS diff was the big thing to worry about? I want to put the matching ones on the front now for the steering and the oddball on the back, I'm just worried about the diff because the tires are different brands and tread patterns.

Well we took some measurements of the tires to see just how close the hankook is to the mickey thompsons. Front Driver: MT 7/32's Front Passenger: Hankook 9/32's Rear Driver: MT 11/32's Rear Passenger: MT 10/32's We measured the MT w/10/32's and the Hankook and they were both the same. I measured and got 31 3/4's and my buddy measured and got 31 1/2. So I would say they are pretty darn close. So what do you all think, am I safe putting the Hankook on the rear with a MT? Or will I risk it hurting my LS Diff? Oh btw incase the tread pattern matters the MT's are this and the Hankook is this Let me know what you guys think

Yeah I'm in a bad/unexpected situation right now because of having to go to the 17" wheels for my tie rod upgrade. I have 3 decent Mickey Thompson ATZ in stock size, but then the oddball dynapro mt which has a lot of tread left. I only feel safe running the oddball on the front because of my LS diff in the back.....right now I'm trying to decided wether to by one dynapro mt so I have 2 sets of 2, or 1 Mickey Thompson so I have a complete set, or 2 of whatever I would buy if I was buying all four. Probably cooper discover ATP or at3....any opinions? Lol Or should I just throw the odd ball on the back? Will it hurt the LS diff to have different tires? The are the same size of course...

Very interesting! I am in kind of a crapy situation with tires right now lol. I need to get something figured out. Wish I could find a used hankook dynapro MT so that I could have a matching set up front. They are discontinued and very expensive where I have found them....

Affecting return to center or other things? Do you think it's hurting anything?

Haha yes unfortunately it is true. I didn't take measurements, those are just guesses, but fortunately I didn't really do anything that didn't need done anyway. You really think that could be affecting things that much?

Any recommendations on what RTV to use on the pto covers? I had new gaskets put on when we had the trans out but they both leak. I'm trying to avoid that happening again.... Also anyone have opinions on adding a filter?

Thanks guys. I do have a tendency to expect more than I should out of this truck, so it's good I have you guys to keep me in check lol. I hadn't even thought of tires before, but it probably doesn't help that I have a Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ with like 5/32 on one side and a toyo MT with like 12/32 on the other side lol. I also have a weird squeak from my control arm bushings on the drivers side now. I notice when getting in and out or if I press down on the bumper. Not sure what that's about. Those bushings were replaced over the winter, I just had the arm out last night to clean them up, add antiseize, and pinch the arm a little more so it had a better grip on the bushing. Then I set the caster to max on both sides.

Do yours not stay in by themselves? Mine are tight enough to keep themselves in there. Just press in. You could also try a wrap of electrical tape around the gauge to make it fit a little more snug....

Alright so I got everything back together and caster maxed out. It definitely helped my return to center, most noticeably at higher speeds like 55 up, still not perfect though...at low speeds it still seems pretty poor to me, but I honestly don't remember how it was before my new steering gear....for example, if I make a 90° turn like in town, 3rd gear so pretty slow, it will only return to about 2 o'clock to the right or 10 o'clock to the left....does that sound normal? Is there anything else I can do? I may give Ryan a shout today and see what he says....

Yeah I did the math after I posted that lol. Still I'd be very interested to see how it would keep up in actual use.

Yeah idk, maybe with the smaller "hyper drive" gear? It says it flows up to 20% more....when I first spoke to Richard about it, I asked about 1/2" lines. He said it was possible, though more difficult because the pump itself is made for 3/8", but that they were running some on crazy pulling trucks. Maybe you would need a setup like that. It would certainly be interesting to see how it would keep up for you.

I just saw yesterday that Glacier now sells a bracket that allows the fuel boss to be used with the Fluidampr :-) see the **NOTE** in red at the bottom of the description in this link http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/product.aspx?pf_id=FB-98502

That's almost exactly what the fuel boss is! You can wire in a light to the Hobbs switch so you know when it's open and closed....

But if they last....the reliability of box store reman parts is just incredibly horrible to say the least. It's ridiculous. I don't know how they stay in business with such poor quality control.

If you still have your original alt, I would buy a kit from Larry B and rebuild it yourself....

Thanks guys! I should hopefully be getting this done tomorrow provided the dealer gets the bolt, nut, and washers. I ordered it Friday and stupidly did not confirm that it all comes together. I just told them to get the bolt....I'm really hoping it all comes together or I'll be waiting a few more days :-(

Thanks @dripley. Yes I understand what I am doing and why, I'm just trying to confirm exactly how the adjuster needs to be positioned to accomplish that. Thinking about it, I believe I would need to have the hole and the line on the washers pointing staight ahead. Does that sound correct?

lol that's ok. I was hoping @Buzzinhalfdozen Or @Wild and Free would chime in since they suggested it haha. So what is it about those darn lower control arm bolts that causes them to seize up? I think I spent about an hour on the sawzall trying to cut that bolt on each side of the arm. It didn't even look rusty at all but the nut wouldn't budge! Just like the other side....

I was actually able to get the bushings out and back in pretty easily with some of the parts from a ball joint press kit, a short piece of flat steel to keep the arm from colapsing, and a big hammer. At this point I was more looking for advice on the which way the washer needs to be to be at max castor? I believe it's straight to the front, but I can't find anywhere that tells me including the fsm.

Ah ok then. I think mine has something kind of like that too. Though at this point its more of a vibration than a pop or clunk. I thought track bar as well, but new one didn't fix it. It just occured to me this morning that maybe it is the upper control arm bushings? my lowers on the driver side are done and I'm in the process of doing the passenger side lowers. Then sometime I'll have to tackle the uppers on both sides...pretty soon there will be nothing left to replace on this front end...