ronman

Oh Lord, that lens hack is... just... wow, man. Oh, and I found my first set of Morimoto mini-D2S projectors on eBay complete with bulbs and ballasts for $150, so between watching there and the outlet section of TRS' site, you can come in well under budget.

Nothing really special about replacing the hub. You need a big socket (42mm or 1-5/8" as I recall) and either a really long cheater bar or an impact with big balls. My "Earthquake" impact that's rated 750lb-ft wouldn't budge it, but the neighbor/Ford tech's 1500lb-ft Snap-on zipped it right off. Once you get the nut off just pull the hub off the spindle, clean up the ABS sensor real good and just slide the new hub on and tighten it down. I think it calls for 350lb-ft? I didn't replace the nut on mine, but some people say to do it. I didn't have any issues at all with mine.

Wow, I didn't even think to put a ball valve in there for filter changes... I'm totally doing that next change! Great idea! I use my front-end loader to lift the bed off. It's a lot easier that way. ;)

That's the diode pack from my 2.53V alternator...

Man, what a pain in the *** to work on this thing is! Even with the core support, radiator, condenser, everything on the front of the motor down except for the timing cover and balancer, the intake and exhaust manifolds, and the hood off, it's still a pain in the *** to access all the bolts.

Picked up the motor yesterday, tore it down today. Rotating assembly looks good, only area of concern is some superficial rust on the rockers. I've located a mild cam for it, so we'll be swapping that in as well. I ordered a full gasket kit for it, and will definitely be replacing the plenum gasket. It looks like it may have already been replaced, judging by the mess the intake gaskets left behind, because it's not blown out like I've read about. Other weird thing: there were no exhaust gaskets, but there were no signs of an exhaust leak, either. The EFI on this thing is dead simple. The harness will be a breeze to reinstall. Also, thanks to Ma Mopar for putting removable core supports in the trucks. Makes working on the motor much easier with the radiator and condenser out of the way.

Put your meter on AC volts, put red on the stud coming out of the back of the alternator and black on the battery ground terminal.

My nephew threw a rod in his Dakota and we've only been able to find one motor locally to replace it. It's out of a 96 Ram 1500. Obviously I'll be swapping exhaust manifolds and all the the electronics... Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Interested in this, for sure.

That's what I have. I actually kind of regret purchasing it, if I had it to do again I'd spend the extra money and get this one that a heavy diesel mechanic friend of mine recommended: http://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-Solution-Commercial-Eyeglasses-Cleaning/dp/B010LW0LO6/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1443677356&sr=8-15&keywords=ultrasonic+cleaner

When I replaced my head gasket a couple months ago I pulled my injectors apart (one at a time!) and dropped them into the ultrasonic cleaner, fill of Purple Power at 150 degrees. Ran them for about 20 minutes, and they came out beautifully.

Did that say 1580?!

Look for a small oval with a 4-digit code stamped on the sidewall. My Goodyears say "4910" which means the 49th week of 2010...

It starts right away if I jump the small terminal on the starter to +12V. So I've got a 3' wire with an alligator clip run down there until I get some time to get it in the garage and actually troubleshoot it...

Correction: fuel pump runs for ~1sec when I turn the key.

And to the failed ECM point, would a failed ECM still illuminate the WTS light? Would it still show codes?

You yourself say 0.1 is the limit in this article. Now you're saying 30% lower than that is too much? So what am I to do, order a half dozen alternators from every parts house in town, buy them all, install them, test them, and play a neverending round-robin game of alternator returns? I drove almost 80 miles the other day chasing down every alternator in the metro Orlando area. Only one of them came anywhere close to your numbers - and that's the one I bought. And it tests "OK" on the testing rig at the parts store that they use to approve/deny warranty, so what's your suggestion? Suck up the $130 alternator that's "OK" and go buy another one? Because they aren't going to take it back as failed unless it tests so, and there aren't any others available for a couple days... The truck started, twice, and cranked/cycled the fuel pump more than 10 times while I was priming the new VP44. It has cranked over every single time I've turned the key for the last 9 years and 170,000 miles. So to make sure I'm on the same page, the old, OEM alternator that measured 3.4VAC ripple allowed this to happen, and the new, remanufactured one that tests at 0.07VAC ripple is what's causing it not to (except when it does?) Or are you suggesting that the ECM is now somehow compromised? Forgive me if I'm slightly incredulous, but something does not add up to me.

No, the starter is not going out. It's a little over 3 years old and has a contact kit in it. Not that that makes any difference, because the fact the fuel pump isn't running means there is something else going on.

Alright, so riddle me this: I got everything buttoned up tonight, primed it (which is soooooo easy with the FASS) and it fired up and ran with less than 5 seconds of cranking. Drove it home from the shop (15 miles,) shut it down, let it sit for a minute, and restarted it. Hit on about the 4th turn of the starter and ran nice and smooth. Shut it back down and went inside to get a shower. Fast forward 30 minutes and I'm dressed for work and ready to head out. I get in, turn the key, and... nothing. Nothing from the starter, no dimming of the lights, no fuel pump... battery gauge shows plenty of voltage, but all I get with a key turn is a click from the starter relay. I swapped it with the blower relay just to see but there was no change. Oh and Mike: at idle the alternator I put on from Autozone reads 0.07VAC ripple.

Easy enough to box the frame/control arms/etc yourself...

That's shocking. My NAPA didn't have one in stock for my truck (they don't have a tester, either) and it would have been two days to get one... I went to two Advance Auto Parts stores and both the alternators they had tested >1V. The only Autozone that had one fortunately tested at 0.4 and I went with it as a stopgap til I get my Mechman.

Not impressed with the local rebuilders... none could tell me about the parts they install to build an overamp unit, just that it's $225 (oddly enough at all three places I called) and only one even has a one-year warranty. So, I read some more and wound up calling Mechman Alternators in TN, and they're building me a 170A alternator with nice parts inside for just $75 more, and a 2-year warranty. Should have it mid-October, he said they're pretty backed up right now. And in the meantime I'm gonna go to Advance Auto and buy a cheap reman and have them test til I find one that doesn't have excessive ripple...

Ok, just got back from Autozone. It output 14.71 with 2.53v ripple. The machine threw up a big red FAILED... So yeah. I'm gonna find a rebuilder in town and have him stuff 200A guts in it I think. I'm in the process of ordering an Industrial Injection VP right now.

Can the tester they have at Autozone/Advance/O'Reilly check for ripple? Or if spin it up on the machine can I put my DMM (a Fluke 88-V) on the machine ground and the output terminal on the alternator and measure it, or will there not be enough RPMs?

And if the truck won't start is it even possible to test that?