JAG1

Not sure why it would do that either. Does it do that when it hits 18 volts? I know that's too high.As soon as Mike gets his 6 cups of coffee:drool: He'll be right on this.I wonder if the new voltage regulator sees the voltage drop from the grid heaters coming on and then tries to compensate for that big load.I'm interested since I want to install an external VR and would like to help anyway. The engine sensors are getting kicked with the wrong voltage perhaps, is why the error codes. But, I really know so little

My marine battery charger puts out 14.8 when charging in full bulk charge on the rv and my first generation truck charges at 14.7 all the time.Don't know if this helps at all. I've heard that the old Ford regulators are adjustable by turning a screw you can adjust it up or down. Another thing to consider is the batteries internal resistance to accepting a full charge. That is why the better charge will pump higher voltages to bring the batteries stored voltage up and help desulphate and reactivate the battery's storage capacity.

Your right.... there might be something wrong cause last weekend the batteries were at 12.5. Now I find them down to 12.3. That's a lot of draw down in 5-6 days. I even took the Schumacher maintainer back when I found out it couldn't keep up. It wouldn't bring the batteries back from a just a light load after 30 hours, 12.5 up to 12.6. So O'Rielly's took it back no problem. Dang.... I hope nothing's wrong:think:

Mike does this mean when buying a new alternator you have to test it before buying? :think:One last question.... How difficult is it to change the diodes yourself?

Shaft can have a little end play but no side to side movement.Thanks for this discussion too, OKAY?

Both my trucks alternators are showing the voltage of leaking AC to be too high, around .29 V ac. Is there such a thing as a filter to filter out the AC noise?

Silver, I agree..... But lots of times I think it would be a lot smarter if we would not jump right to the most expensive solutions to a problem. I would have suggested changing the filter again to see what's in the tank. Or had him check for air leaks in the fuel system. That's what it sounded like to me. Which could be wrong, of course, but not expensive.Wish he posted back with what the problem was.......

Just the fact that I experienced no pressure drop after installing the 1/2'' lines is great. Before I hated pulling away from a stop light and watching the pressure drop to 7. When I got down to Vulcan performance It was cool.... Eric helped me put the big line kit on in his driveway. I didn't even pay him yet when he says, ''Okay now, take it out for a run and get on it, tell me what you think''. I was very happy when everything I did would no longer let the pressure drop.Why the Raptor lets the pressure drop on take offs or hauling up steep hills I don't know other than it's pressure is much higher than the stock pump ever was to begin with.IMHO, The VP needs every benefit we can give it.Mike with what you say above..... Does that mean you think there might be some benefit to increasing the size of the return line then?

Holbrook specialties (503) 655 4949 sells the U joint for the steering shaft. It's off of a John Deere tractor Drive shaft and has a grease fitting. It's work flawlessly for 12 years now. Give them a call they are smart people.

I used to get that much pressure drop with the stock lines. With the 1/2'' lines ( stock pump on the frame) I was getting a steady 14. Could not drop the pressure no matter what. Later with the big drawstraw I gained 1 psi steady.Whatever pumps we are using, does not work as hard with bigger flowing fuel lines. JMHO . I think all trucks need a prefilter and the hot return fuel moved away from the fuel supply so hot fuel isn't getting returned back to the VP. I read all this in the TDR thread mentioned. I moved the return line to dump down the filler neck.Also you should use nylon washers or whatever to get the stock filter off the manifold. There's a lot of heat going to the fuel when the filter housing gets too hot to touch. Just another bit of info from the TDR guys. I made a bracket out of fireproof plastic to hold an inch away.

Thanks Wild and Free, I read that thread too. It was lengthy but very interesting with their remote temp sensors everywhere on the lines, testing VP temperatures and using fuel coolers.One of the close buddies to the two guys doing the tests on that thread told me I needed to increase the size of the return line. Now for what exact reasons... I cannot remember. He said he had already completed that mod on his truck. This where my idea came fromFuel polishing to the extreme is adding fuel line and another lift pump to cycle fuel thru added filters. The term came from larger yachts because the fuel sits all winter and needs added filtering.Are you saying the the fuel in the tank wil eventually get too hot?

I like my big line kit because it allowed me to add my own flow restrictions. :)Such as.:Racor W/S filter before the lift pump.Ball shut off valves either side of the lift pump and prefilter for easy change out of filters and lift pumps.Hauling heavy uphills and having the stock filter restrictions. (after the lift pump).Plus Eric at Vulcan performance demonstrated to me how much an improvement it was over the stock lines. I had a new fuel psi gauge put on just before he and I changed everything out. Just the 1/2 inch draw straw alone showed a 1 psi improvement.Back then this was all on a new stock pump moved to the frame.

That's that bridge rail hook option, it keeps you from going off. I hear not many new truck buyers want that option.

If this was my truck I would probably go to a metal shop where they have a computer guided laser cutter. I would ask them to cut out 5 stainless steel trim rings that follow the footprint of the lights but about a half inch bigger all around. Have them cut the two screw holes also so they are all the same.Then I'd seal down the trim rings and lights together when installing, but after I fixed the loose paint areas.

Welcome...... I have a 2002 and a 92 first gen.

Man I'm sorry to hear that.... I did something like that.... I hooked up my brand new Raptor fuel pump and couldn't figure out why it did not work . Confused me to no end for about an hour...I had both leads hooked to the positive.Another time I ruined a 300 dollar charger hooking it up to the battery backwards I also put 14 gallons of gasoline in my truck before I realized:whistle:

YEEAAHH... Until you do service work under loose peg board hooks

Might be better to just install a battery maintainer on it. I wonder if those can keep up with the slight draw plus keep the batteries full.

I use my truck primarily for hauling the rv and short runs to town. Anyway it's not often enough to keep the batteries fully charged. Where would you hook up a switch to stop the battery discharge when the truck is stored?TIA

This is interesting. I've never heard of bad grounding causing bearing failures.

Thank you. Does the rattle can Plasti-Cote have a nail polish or lacquer smell to it? Just trying to understand what 'Plasti Cote' is

Interesting how it got pushed under the table, 'rabbit holed' :)Anyone know how much fuel is burned an hour in the planes? I think it's more than we think.

There is some discussion in Oregon and other states to place a higher tax on vehicles, 3/4 ton and larger trucks. Are they picking the wrong people? Should EPA and state gov'ts be looking at airlines instead?How many gallons per person is burned to say fly an hour.In the same 6-700 miles it only takes about 33 gallons for two people to get to point B with our trucks.If I'm taking my rv it takes 46 gallons but don't need a hotel when I get there.Anyway look at the sky in the morning between major cities. Contrails everywhere.Do the planes have cats, DFP filters, exhaust gas recirculation or any kind of smog control like our trucks?Just kickin' it around for any thoughts/ answers.

It does look very nice.I just want to say that my steering box had shaft play at 29,000. I was told they do that even when new. So that is why I put on the DSS Steering stabilizer to stop the wear. It will stop the frame from flexing at the steering box area too. I think everyone needs to put on one.