JAG1

I myself feel all discaboobed..... we had a fall and it's spring now? It's like there's three months missing in there somewhere.

Exactly Joe! They were okay when they first started out, used to get the small town treatment, but now with the crowds having moved into Oregon they don't care as there's plenty more customers going in there now a days.

We have the 2010 outback with a CVT trans. We bought it with around 90,000 miles and had to repeatedly argue with the dealer to change the trans fluid as part of the deal. After all, you never know how the car was treated and even though the small receiver hitch had never been used for towing I made them change the fluid anyway. They were supposed to save a sample of the old trans fluid to get an analisys and did not do that. I was an unhappy guy because I repeatedly told the service manager to save a sample. So after explaining the problem they took about 250 bucks off the deal. I was still not happy about their BS and won't be going back there. Anyway the CVT trans is performing well and internet research shows they are without problems so far. When you change the fluid, temperature, along with fluid level, is very important. Apparently the type of fluid and its characteristics, the level changes a lot so there is a specific temperature and level you have to bring it up to for the correct filling.

Mike, That's nice. Do you take the whitewater raft to work every morning? Big Smile.....

Joe, I've gotten to know you a little bit and first time I met you, I realized, as long whatever your looking at is for a truck its 'really nice'

Randy, I buy 95 thru 97 Ford aluminum wheels. They fit the old standard size on the lugs. The newer Ford rims will not work. The 95 thru 97's are the only years Ford had these rims made by Alcoa because they were too expensive. They are also probably the strongest highest quality wheel you can find in a 16 inch used wheel. The offset will put them out about another 3/4 inches which is a bum deal but I can live with that and may get some small fender flares eventually. I buy them off craiglist every now and then with a full set costing about $200 in good condition. One set was not bad for $70 but had to remove old tires. You can see Alcoa rims on cement trucks on the front and is the same profile but larger. Take note of what the aluminum looks like, because, unlike a cast wheel, a forged wheel has a distinctive color/ look to it. The thing I like is the weight rating of 3750.

I wish I was still so much a go getter. That's good to be so diligent about your truck. Can't wait to get on the road to your place too.

Mike, my 2nd gen track bar was worn, loose and clunking at the upper bushing at only around 35k miles. At that point my truck had not hauled the camper much. 3rd gen track bar has a beefier upper mounting and bushing. I cannot explain the premature track bar wear I had as compared to yours. Also when you 'saw' the wheel back and forth, at a stand still, the frame flexed at the steering box mount area on the frame. plus you can see the pitman arm shaft coming out of the steering box moving about. Doesn't that place extra stress on the bearings?

I've used the stick ons for awhile. They work as long as lacquer thinner or brake cleaner is used to clean the inside of the wheel first to make the area very clean before sticking on.

I think your right. Back when I did mine everyone was referring to it as the two inch leveling kit. That is what I requested but, after doing it the non adjustable track bar placed the front differential off center by 3/4'' and vibration at 65-70. Once recentered with the adjustable the vibration went away. Truck at that point had worn out shocks anyhow so I got the longer ones and everything was level till I loaded my 3,000 lb camper and then the call for air bags. Now that I know, I would go with the 1 1/2 level kit like you say.

Yeah and you can just barely see the jack stuffed under the rear.... Just kiddin' Mike Actually to do a leveling kit cost quite a bit to do it right. You need adjustable track bar, longer end links for the sway bar, longer shock absorbers and when you put a load on it, it will ride with the front high. Then money for air bags to the rear. I did get an added bonus with the air bags though, because there was a whole lot less sway to the truck camper when loaded. I was very happy with that portion of the expense anyhow.

I had this problem once when priming would not hold. I kept getting drain back to the tank because I failed to properly tighten down the factory filter cap to the required 25 foot pounds. It would allow drain back by letting air go in under the filter cap. Sometimes guys discovered a cracked filter cap because they used the center square drive instead of the large socket to loosen or tighten it down. So check the filter cap for cracks and proper gasket alighnment. Also, I've only had to use a 3/4 inch open end wrench to loosen a couple injectors. Never had to prime at the VP. Ever. You can also bump the starter, which gets the lift pump running for 25 seconds and look inside the factory filter, with the cap off and see if the lift pump is filling up the filter housing. You will get drain back with the cap off but can see if the lift pump is doing it's job. I generally fill the filter housing the new filter cartridge. Tighten down the cap, not having to work too fast. Bump the starter 2 or 3 times with a couple injectors loosened till I see fuel weeping at the injectors. Bump one more time and then start till she runs rough. Then go tighten the two loose injectors while she is running rough and then she smooths out and runs like normal. Tank drainback can happen so rapid when you have an air leak that it is frustrating to try and start it.And You will never get the whole system primed by cracking fittings near the VP, you have to crack two injectors at the end of the system to get full prime. Tank drain back can happen too, when there isn't enough fuel in the tank. Once I had enough fuel to prime the system but soon as I got in to start it it would drain back because the tank was just borderline to the bottom of the drawstraw. In this situation I found my drawstraw was cut a bit short and have since fixed that. I want everyone to know, if you've read this far, that Racor filters makes a filter with a hand priming pump on it. I have one on my first gen and it works so fast and you can pump it hard to check for leaks and weeps in the system.

Thanks for the vote rlane547. Sometimes I think those screens are the dealers special....just to get you to go there and empty out your piggy bank. A diesel engine truck isn't right unless it has a prefilter before the lift pump and a tighter micron filter before the injection pump. With all filters having access to be changed out.

You could call him up and say not many are going to go for that deal so if you do finally offer it for free, take down and haul, to please call you first.

Just one final point that I'm concerned over is some of the second gens have a screen filter inside a small cylindrical shaped plastic housing in line at the bottom of the factory draw straw. And you should be getting not so much pressure drop. With one factory pump oem fuel lines I would idle at 14 and could drop it to 11 mostly. Sometimes down to 7 if I really raced it. After installing 1/2 in. lines it held steady at 14-15 on the original pump moved to the frame. This proves you have a slow down in the lines/ lift pump perhaps. With the new AirDog 100, 1/2 in. lines, I'm idling at 19 pulling down to 15 with heavy loads. VP44 likes a minimum of 14 for cooling. Could the overheat code be set off by a hot VP44?

Do you have a prefilter to protect the lift pump? An after market filter that you install before the lift pump, is an important add on to your truck. Without a prefilter, I would inspect/ test the lift pump for reduced flow or clogs. Also the factory fuel filter gets quit a bit of junk trapped down in the bottom. You can see it when you lift the filter cartridge out. I tape some small tubing to my shop vac and suck that out once in a while. In your case there might still be a lot of stuff in there. You'll need to also drop the tank as there are screen type filters inside and on the fuel module bottom. You'll need to clean those, but,best to get rid of those all together, they afford no access and caused many owners a visit to the dealer. You'll need a good prefilter as it's really not an option. A diesel engine and it's lift pump has to have one.

Nice area. Do you skip getting groceries because of all the fish you catch across the road? That place looks cool.

I think it's fantastic and thank you for the update. It's the coolest.

Whats your ATV look like? He he

Ill take the one to the far right. Looks like nuts and bolts not much electrical. Mike, I'll let you drive my truck. It steers tight and straight. Not like this->

I agree because putting on the steering stabilizer at just 29,000 miles, still a new truck in my book and hardly ever worked, made a noticeable difference. If you have the wife move the wheel back and forth (not running) while under the truck, you can see the frame flex under the steer box like Dorkweed is talking about. Remember, Mopar Michael Nelson is used to driving tired ole water trucks for the fire Dept.

That's funny Cowboy.... I actually know a blonde that is pretty smart. She wangles more free work out of her contractors working on her house... more than anyone else I've ever seen and she gets away with it.

Builder walks up to the job where he got his guys framing a new home. Builder says, why you guys throwin' all these nails all over the place? Well... the head of the nail was on the wrong end of the nail. Builder says, well yer supposed to save them for the other side of the house. I still think this one's funny

Wild and Free, All the corn syrup canola oil crappy cereals burn real good in the woodstove. I hate that stuff cause I'm gaining weight from it. Feel real full with a nice sugar rush but feel like crap the next day. From now on it's oatmeal with a bit of real maple syrup on top in the mornings..

It sounds mellow yet you can tell it's a cummins right? Live Oak, for some reason I cannot get the u-tube link you posted. Just want to let you know, I appreciate it and can go to u-tube and look around. For some reason I always forget to look/ listen on that site for what others have done too.