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How much weight are you pulling behind your 5th wheel?

Here in the great State of California you need a class A commercial drivers license to pull doubles and the max speed is 55 when towing.

Here in the great state of California if the diesel light duty truck is a 1998½ or newer with computer control it has to be inspected every two years or if it is sold. The inspection consist of: 1. is the check engine light on, 2. are the OBD 2 monitors set (P codes have not been cleared recently), 3. Under the hood inspection (no chip boxes, my Edge EZ is illegal and if left on would fail the test) and 4. Accelerator snap test for ANY smoke from the tail pipe (any smoke seen and the truck fails). To find out about state requirements and/or test procedures do a search, ( insert state name here) vehicle emission test / diesel emission test or stop by a test facility and ask the operator what they look for.

Be sure to torque all wheel nuts to 145 ft/lb. 134 ft/lb for a 2500. Some of the cars I work on will get a brake vibration if the nuts are not tighten down evenly and to the proper torque.

I've worked with cast aluminum cylinder heads,intake manifolds, engine blocks, bell housings, and transmission cases. I've found in some applications such as intake manifolds and bell housings the aluminum to be brittle. Flanges will snap off or a case crack if things aren't lined up perfectly, over tightened or forced. The aluminum alloy in cylinder heads and engine blocks seems to be a little bit softer. When cleaning old gasket material off with a razor blade care must be take not to gouge the surface. It's real easy to over tighten bolt and pull the threads out so it is important to torque all bolts to specification This week i'll be replacing front cam seals on a twin cam aluminum cylinder head with variable cam timing. I'll use a screw driver to pull the seals out and a small hammer and drift to install them.

If the housing is cast steel there's no problem removing the seal with a seal puller or screwdriver and tap the new seal in. If the housing is stamped steel you have to use due diligence on how much force to use. If the force needed to remove or install the seal seems excessive, remove the housing even if the manual says you don't have to.

You can replace the front crank seal with the cover on. Carefully pry out the old seal from the cover with out damaging the cover or crankshaft. Use tool #6635 with the front pulley and press the seal into the cover (page 9-34 dodge truck service manual) or put it in with a hammer and a steel drift tapping the outside edge "walking around" the seal until its flush with the cover. I've installed many a seal this way.

Looks good to me. I tried putting that stuff up once, made a lot of saw dust and firewood.

My cup holder broke when a bear stepped on it. The bear broke the driver's window to get in for some nuts that were left in the cab. Wife found a small wicker basket to hold up the cup holder tray. It's been like that since 07.

I have an Edge EZ and had to have my trans rebuilt at 64k. The front band wore out. I had been doing a lot of backing up with it and I think that's what took the trans out more than running the Edge. Had the trans rebuilt by a local and didn't put in any billeted parts, it's been O'K. The EZ made a big difference in towing the 5er but the comp is the way to go for the option to add more power later on.

Work and fun and family

Use DOT 4 brake fluid. With a boiling point of 500° you won't get brake fade. You will need a quart. Synthetic brake fluid will raise the boiling point a few more degrees but it is not recommended to mix it with regular brake fluid. Synthetic is best used on a well flushed brake system. http://autos.winnipegfreepress.com/news-article/backyard-mechanic/BACKYARD-MECHANIC-Dont-mix-brake-fluids/id-3296/

I've seen head lights cleaned with brake fluid and steel wool. They look great for a couple of months then haze over. That plastic just needs to be sealed and clear coat sounds good to me. The blubs I use are 9104. They are marked for off road use only, low is 80w and high beam is 100w.

What is your transmission, an auto or stick?

I look like that most times.

http://nearbus.net/wiki/index.php?title=File:Resistor_color_codes.jpg Resistors have the different color bands. The color coding is how many Ω of resistance there is in that resister. Transistors are marked differently. To clean the 'Silicon goo' off you can use a stiff auto detail brush but don't be to aggressive with it.

I've seen those videos before and I've 'fixed' a few control units that have had bad solder joints/connections. The job looks straight foreword. My question is what transistor is that and where do you get one?

I'm going to get me one of those. That's the new 2015 California government sanctioned tow vehicle and I herd tell it doesn't have no lift pump problems.

Last week the low was 36°, today the high hit 86°. Had long paints on and was sweating my ars off.

YabbaDoo, those mirrors look steady and for the price it can't be beat. I never go over 65 when towing, that's probably way there's no issue with vibration.

Have been using that same type of mirrors on my truck when towing for the last 10 years. I don't have a vibration problem but have a heck of a time adjusting the right side even with, my wife, the remote doing it.

In the late 80's had a guy with a station wagon that had an intermittent short to ground for the rear plate and left running lights. An 8 amp fuse controlled the flow. When I got the car there was a pile of 8 and 16 amp fuses on the floor with a 25 amp fuse in the fuse box for those lights. The wire harness had burned from inside the tail gate into the left D post and all the way to the fuse box taking out two other wire harnesses with it.

One day the local Big-O tire shop calls me up. They said that they had put tires on a1990 Volvo 740 and now the steering wheel shakes and the brake peddle pulsates. They ask 'what could have happened'? They had over torqued the lug nut and warped the rotors, a common problem with that model. A few days latter I stopped in to see how things went and go over the details with the Manager. I was telling him how important it was to tighten the lug nuts to 63 ft-lb and no more. Guber the 'tire changer', fresh from basic training at Mc Donalds, tells me that I wrong an the nuts should be tightened to 85-90 ft-lb. I go out to my work van and get the Volvo published book of specifications, open it to the wheel/suspension page and show him the spec of 63 ft-lb. He still wants to argue that not only am I wrong but the Volvo book is wrong. With that I said to the Manager " don't fire this guy. He's going to make me a lot of money." You just can't argue with stupid.

You can use a floor jack with a block of wood between the jack and door to support it when adjusting with the hings loose.

I've had to readjust and/or replace many a door. No fun trying to get the 3 axes, (front/back, up/down, in/out) lined up and those doors are heavy. Some times I would just sublet it to a body shop and let them pull their hair out.