mr.mindless

It's long, but read through that Pirate thread for the full skinny. Different people have done different things. Some use the dodge knuckle and brakes and bolt on the Ford spindle. That's the only option for rolling your own with an AAM front axle. I put the Ford knuckles on my Dodge D60 housing, bigger brakes and twin pot calipers were as big a reason for me to do it as anything else. That way I knew everything was going to bolt and and go, too.

What are you used to for mileage, BTW? I usually get 12.5 empty around town, and the same or a bit less on the highway towing. I've always blamed the 4.10s. Everyone who gets 20 or better has 3.55s.

That is exactly normal behavior for the trans when self-managing as far as my decade of daily driving an RE trans in my Dakota taught me.

Ah! Accelerator position certainly will make a difference, then. I'd been of the understanding that the 215 advanced timing about 2* at full acceleration, but what I read in ISX's post here contradicts that. In any case it at least makes checking fuel pressure more important. As long as you're not drawing it down to zero when accelerating you won't see any big symptoms. I did have a FP gauge when my lift pump died and the truck didn't fall on its face until I was at 0psi for several seconds. It was able to run all right on the fuel in the pump. I'd almost bet it could draw from the tank and run acceptably if it wasn't trying to draw through a failed LP.

it really sounds like timing too far advanced to me. I wouldn't be surprised if you're at 6-8˚ static timing. Being an automatic, this is a 180hp pump without the timing notches, so high accelerator position won't retard timing. Therefore I don't think low fuel pressure alone could do this. I can tell you that while a P7100 will suck fuel, with a bum lift pump you'll be doing all you can to make 20-30mph up even small hills with a load. That was NOT a fun trip to southern DC.

It doesn't look to be the timing cover, unfortunately. I did a very good job reinstalling that when I did my cam, I'd had looseness and leaks quickly after putting this motor in. Everything got stripped down, cleaned up, gasket tack on both sides of new gaskets and all bolts were red locktited. I didn't sanity check myself and check any with a wrench yet though.I've got to get the belt off, pull the shroud and fan, pull that idler pulley and look behind it. Maybe I missed loctite on one and had a through-bolt fully back out and go away, giving me a massive leak right there? That'd be the best possible news...

Unfortunately, it's gallons of oil not of diesel.Started yesterday on a 600 mile round trip. Oil light was coming on as I got to my destination in Newburgh NY and I added 5qt. It had last been topped off ~1100 miles ago. I added a gallon when I got back to Rochester 300 miles later. I saw the oil light flash at me one more time after a bunch of idling and ~30mi of around town running after that, I'm REALLY hoping that was a fluke. It usually it has relatively high consumption, adding up to 1-3qt/1000 miles, but this is pretty unheard of.It's an external leak. The bottom of truck and trailer are well rustproofed again. Very very little on the bottom of the hood so it's not front main.I can see some oil on top of the timing housing near the water pump/idler pulley area, and after getting off the highway it looked like I had a decent amount puddled under the breather tube too - but the oil under the truck started further forward so it could just have been running down the outside of the tube too. KDP is tabbed, but it almost looks like a cracked timing housing. I crashed this truck about 1700 miles before I left on yesterday's 600 mile trip and it's been fine since, but it did touch the motor on the front passenger side (had to replace alt & bracket; fan, clutch, idler pulley; lower water neck was cracked when the fan hit it).It doesn't leak at all at idle that I could notice though. This is going to take some digging, I think. Booo.

check out this thread on a few ways to do it yourself. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/dodge/874442-dodge-ram-2500-4x4-dana-60-hub-removal-converison-ford-knuckles.html I'm running '96 Ford knuckles-out on my '97, I saw about 10% increase in milage. If you have a dually, you need to find dually Ford hubs, the Dodge spacers don't have enough meat to bore out the center for the hub to come through.

A good friend of mine just started distributing LED lights and light bars. www.lifetimeledlights.com. I haven't picked them up yet but I got a couple pairs to replace the backup lights on my trailer. A few friends have installed the 13.5" strip lights and they are downright amazing. I just put in new '00+ factory style fog lights (clear lens, not fluted) in my '97 and it made a HUGE difference. of course the old ones were severely yellowed too. [ATTACH]4807[/ATTACH] Along with my ricer headlights (projector e-code pattern low beam, separate reflector high beam - all 55w H1 halogens on relays) I've got quite decent output [ATTACH]4808[/ATTACH] It's nothing compared to the daylight that I get from my Eagle's headlights though. I put in H3 conversions in all 4 3x5 sealed beam spots, with relays, and I run 55/100w bulbs. It's probably not doing much charging of the battery with a 52w alternator at idle with the high beams on but it's the best lights I've ever driven!

Sounds almost like a missing fuse?When I manage to get down there we can compare '97s

Flagman is right on. Filament in the wrong place will throw all beam focus out of whack. I wonder if the lock ring wasn't tight and the bulb came out the back? I melted a housing that way once.

Sat a week, fired no problem with what I'd call a slightly slow crank. I'm happy as a pig in slop and just had to share :D

1 wire sensor on my '97 12vThe '01 24v motor had 2 terminal sensors in all locations. I couldn't get them to work at all (probably different resistance profile since I'd bet the ISB ecu is looking for voltage versus 5v supply and the 12v PCM is looking for resistance from ground)If anyone knows actual specs on these sensors I'd LOVE to know. I've been driving without a temp gauge for 2 years now. No super simple fix since the threads in the 24v head wouldn't take a 12v sensor.

No fuel heater in Alberta and no issues?It really must be there strictly for summer blend fuel in -30s+ if you're there, without, and fine!

Just one more worthy data point - it seems to start a TON better now too. I'm still limping it with one battery, and it's been not really enough to fire it up past sitting a full day. I'm still not going to trust it to sit at the airport this weekend - but it fired right up from Sunday night 'till now, 40-44 hours...

Thing is running awesome. Still not a 20mpg truck but at least it's fast again 16.2 in 230 miles of mixed driving. Up maybe 1mpg from expected. I was doing some reading on 24v p7100 timing, particularly on CompD, and one thing mentioned that struck me was reported timing retardation from oversize lines. Some of those guys are running over 20* on DD trucks and still starting okay. Going from .093 lines to .078 lines feels like I picked up some timing. Granted I went from likely tired 205hp injectors to matched rv275s, so it's an apples-to-pears comparison, but even so it feels improved. Hopefully these lines last more than 10-13,000 miles!Can't wait to see how it tows. Hopefully at least a smudge cooler.

80% done. Just test fired it. Injectors installed, timing checked (at 13.7* or so - a bit mild but I think that's where I set it; not far enough from where I want it to bother), valve lash set. Just need to clamp lines and put the intake back on. [ATTACH]4430[/ATTACH]Started easier than expected. Cranked 2-3 times with 1-3 cracked, that's when it started to catch. Tightened them and I fired right up.

Got old lines off last night, new ones showed up today. Think I'll get out the bug spray and keep wrenching till its done tonight. I'm most interested to see if the timing slipped. I really think it has, and it really should not have since I had everything torn apart when I set it and was able to get everything perfectly clean.

that's the only thing that can be played with without the valvetrain involvement an actual Jake provides.

Hazing has come and gone and come again a few times.Have a new set of stock diameter lines on the way I'll get to tearing things down and swapping the injectors. Also going to make sure the crossover tubes are clean. Vendor said they have an "edge filter" in the tube that can clog and cause issues. Nobody else is blowing lines up like I am, I guess. Good for them, bad for me and my vendor. Very glad they're still working with me on this.this week I'll- swap injectors- inspect/ clean crossover tubes- check/ set valve lash (.009/.019 target)- check/ set timing (14-14.5˚ target, so will aim for 17.25˚ actual)- install new stock dia lines and return broken/burst crap

very much - the exhaust brake is really a disappointing thing. wouldn't affect a thing. all 3 cyl does is kill fuel delivery, that makes the motor take more effort to idle but wouldn't affect decel at all.

I let it idle in the driveway for about an hour, it never cleared up. Hazed on the next startup when I left on my trip, too.Truck sat Thursday midnight until about 2pm Sunday. No haze at all when I restarted it. :shrug:Visited a friend about half an hour away on my way back, and had ANOTHER injection line crack :banghead:, so started my visit there bending up a replacement. Didn't note if it was hazing when I left there. Drove 2.5 hours, got tired and slept with the truck idling, drove just under 2 hours home. When I was parking my trailer I could see the cloud and while it sat cooling down (EGT was 400-450 at the time, when usually in that post-parking situation it's 325-375) it was hazing heavily again.RV275s were in my mailbox when I got home this morning. Not bad for a Thursday afternoon order - Saturday delivery! wow. Go go DAP! :thumb1:I'm waiting to hear back from my injection line vendor to see what they're going to be able to do for me. It may be time to go a different route. I kick myself daily for not just putting my 12v head on this block when I swapped motors. :banghead::banghead::banghead: The #3 that I bent up didn't match well enough to fully clamp, so I at least have that one; I'm hoping I'll be able to swap on a full set of stock diameter fuel lines instead of the .093s I've been going through. Figuring/ hoping that a thicker wall line may not have this issue. Wish I'd insisted on that the 3 months ago when I was sent a second full set, having now replaced 2 lines already in around 10,000 miles.Bottom line is that I'll put off swapping the injectors until I have fuel lines to deal with anyway, and I'll check/set timing and valve lash then too as long as I'm in there.

No extra smoke in the hills. Power and boost down a bit, egt up a bit. I placed an order for rv275s before I left. I think it was a good call. Well - a good call either way - but hopefully a solution too.

Fired up my pile yesterday after it sat for a week or so, and it's hazing at idle pretty badly. Grey smoke, smells like [thick, but] healthy exhaust. I have straight exhaust with just an expansion chamber and I can see a pronounced 'puff' of thicker smoke that makes me think it's one cyl in particular. Searching for hazing or haze didn't turn much up so I figured I'd post for thoughts before I pull the trigger on a set of RV275s from DAP (24v head, P7100 pump). I'm heading out for a weekend of offroading tonight (towing heavy of course, probably 23-24k through PA mountains for 250+mi each way). I don't really want to try to check/set timing before I go, but it's possible that it has slipped since I did the cam swap 6-7 months ago. From what I read the popoff pressure difference 12v to 24v retards timing about 3˚, and I think I set mine to be effectively around 14-15˚ (17-18 by the table). Just put a fresh mechanical lift pump on it roadside a month ago after a sudden failure had me doing 30mph up hills on the DC beltway, and fuel pressure is good. I let it run for close to an hour, it never cleared up. Revs smooth, whether slowly or quickly - doesn't break up. This motor has seen a ton of abuse from me with the ongoing fuel line failures, it's probably done a couple thousand miles in 5 cylinder mode. Who knows what sort of issues that could cause in the long run. Also has a pretty unknown history besides having come from a bus, and having been under my hood for the past 40k or so. I've never done an oil analysis or anything. What I don't know won't scare me - - - Updated - - - details: stock ISB205 injectors (175-225k mi) stock B5.9 215 pump and DVs (311k mi) "Big Stick" cam Details (18k mi) I think this motor has some pretty healthy blow-by, it'll push some oil out the dipstick tube. Drinks probably a quart per 1000 miles when being worked. - - - Updated - - - sounds like identical symptoms that were confirmed by replacement here: http://www.dieselbombers.com/diesel-distress-support-ticket/100352-excessive-smokes-exhaust-popping-2.html I've had an exhaust "pop" when I'm to the floor under load for a little while, I was afraid I was barking the turbo and just stayed away from doing it. I can hardly wait to pull all my fuel lines. again. :banghead:

Very good and thorough writeup - this is the only point I have a comment on. The track bar is put under load when steering so this movement can be looked for at the step where the tires are on the ground, steering back an forth. The track bar/ axle/ frame will be moving side-to-side relative to one another with worn joints or bushings in the track bar. One other thing to potentially look for is tie rod or drag link deflection possibly indicating a weak spot or crack. I once got in a fight with a curb while maneuvering a trailer in a TIGHT spot and bent my tie rod; a couple days after I straightened and sleeved it I got bad steering play. Under 100 miles later my drag link was in 2 pieces with a cracked adjuster sleeve. Thankfully it happened on a city street again maneuvering my trailer and not on the interstate 10 miles sooner. I dug for a pic but I guess I didn't take one of the hanging steering linkage...