flagmanruss

I set to stock when it goes in for a sticker. Standards are different at 8800 GVW.

If the frame is flexing / working, and there's no cracking... there's a lot of folks "missing" the changes while in motion. It could actually be. The area might just be under constructed... a little give here, a little give there... with no fixtures to measure the movement, who's going to see it with their naked eye?

Already replaced track bar with 3rd gen upgrade kit. When I have it in the shop next, I'll have the whole front suspension (including the front bushings) inspected for play.

I've never owned a vehicle that wandered like this. 68 Plymouth Roadrunner with 140K... rock solid at speeds beyond the speedometer. 64 Chrysler 300... rock solid throughout ownership. 79 Chevy C30 ran like a bear & tracked fine when I bought the Dodge in 01. Chevy S10 throughout out's life... 80 VW rabbit tracked fine until the timing belt failed. 1989 GMC C15 during the several years I owned it. OK, there was one... my ex stripped out the steering box on my Jap built 80 Dodge Challenger. The lash adjustment was stripped (how I got it returned in the settlement). I stupidly believed the dealer / stealer that it couldn't be repaired. I was pretty nieve then. I should have taken it somewhere else to get it fixed, even if it took a while. Ex was a drunk & probably drove it off the road. Heard she wrecked the C15 within the year but not my problem any longer. If this truck drove like this NEW, none of you would have bought them. So there is something happening after they are built OR a weakness in the build. If it's a weak spot in the frame / mount, then it should be possible to reinforce it. If it's not possible to correct the fault, then logically I should dump this truck an buy a different product withoutthe flaw.

I refuse to accept that it needs a low ratio steering box. I want my truck to drive like it did new... and it didn't have any such when new. The wander got noticeable around 45-50,000 miles. Yes, I still have the factory optional 265 tire size. Logically, SOMETHING has to have worn in those miles. We ought to be able to find what it is & fix it.

My toy hauler has a WD hitch & frankly I'm no fan. It wouldn't be driveable without it but I'd much rather have a gooseneck or a 5th wheel. I helped out a trader at an encampment. His trailer had to be removed before the event started but he blew the tranny on his FORD. I had to drop my googeneck horse trailer, tow his out & hook mine up again. He wasn't hauling autos, but trade goods. He had blown out a total of 4 new tires between the last encampment & that one. I don't recall the tire details but I think they were not properly load rated despite what the saleasman told him. My horse trailer came with D rated bias ply truck tires... Never had a problem. My Toyhauler has ST tires & came with a fist full of paperwork... tire reciepts for blow outs. I don't know anything aboout this maker. I'd look long & hard at the weights, tires & ratings.

My truck isn't fun to drive anymore. The driver has to be on the steerings constantly back & forth an inch to keep it tracking properly. I"M planing to do a steering box brace in the Spring. Maybe a lower steering column replacement bearing also. Honest;ly, I'd drive it more if the sttering was like it was new. Already did the 3rd gen track bar upgrade.

I have no reason to believe the cable has ever been replaced. The only thing the winch is used for is plowing & the main use of the ATV. I hear you on the wire splinters... coming from the boating world, I'm familiar with various ropes & cables. I snip any fish-hooks then tape wrap the end to work on it. I'm thinking to use some shrink tubing over that. I have replaced the winch's cast iron fairlead (running block) with a roller unit the first time I broke the cable. I'm not seeing any signs of rust in the galv cable. Appreciate the link to the cable... but I'm not dropping the plow off & removing the winch while laying in the snow in the driveway. Maybe in the Spring...

So I messaged my buddy about his synthetic winch line... he had installed just a couple of years ago. He replied with a cryptic "NFG" The winch is only used for the plow... the first 3 feet of the cable. Gets shorter every time. Eventually the cable will need to be replaced if I live long enough. LOL! We don't have ice dams on the roof because we don't have gutters... some great icicles though. A story & a half long to the ground. The drip off the roof makes a very dangerous door step since it's not melting. With enough ice melt, finially got one door mat free... I brought it in & melted it by the wood stove (basement)... then put it back. Typically, we get them up & rotate them. Hard year. Second coldest / snowiest Feb on record. We had floating docks at the marina years ago & we hated these around the clock cold years. Normally it was only cold at night but barely above freezing in the day. When the water freezes to the pilings at low tide, it will lift them out as the tide comes in. When it's cold around the clock, it's impossible to prevent the pilings coming out. It caused a lot of work & damage. Somethings I really don't miss.

Shhhhhh! My dash is intact! 2001.5 & 66,000 miles.

Several commercial builds lost their roofs. 2 Lowes garden centers lost roofs THIS WEEK! Horse barn in Mass collapsed... lost 2 horses, 2 injured... several more had to be gotten out. I've had enough of this white sh*t. We had an inch of ice, rain, then 4" of snow the last 24 hours. Warmed to 40 briefly... deep freeze again tonight for the rest of the week. I thought wife should plow before she went off for the day (seeing as how it will all be frozen solid tomorrow)... she grumbled but did it. Broke the winch cable again. I went out after she left... pushed my walker through the slush... cleared the windsield in the truck & put the full TCW3 bottles back in the door pockets. I carried my cell on me in case anything bad happened. You know the story if a tree falls in the woods, but there's no one there, is there a sound?? If I fall in the shop & no one sees, it didn't happen. Then out to the barn for the ATV. I got lucky & was able to retrieve the end of the cable after a bit & only skewered my finger with one wire splinter (despite gloves & vise grips). The ATV has a brush guard. I've been running the cable through the roller fairlead, down to the plow frame, through a pulley & up to the brush guard. The pulley kept coming unhooked so I added a big steel anchor shackle last time. The pulley shive NOW has a broken flange & the roller fairlead is bent so my best guess is the shackle added enough length that they could jam. The cable broke at the pulley / broken shive. So I think I need to shorten the pulley / shackle or go to a straight lift. I thought about hanging a pulley on the brush guard but the cable would rub on the smaller tube under if I hang a pulley on the big tube on top. Not sure why I didn't want to go to the smaller bottom tube?? Obiviously a new pulley... have big one off a come-a-long. My buddy went to a synthetic tape?? on his winch but I'm not sold on it. I'm going to ask him how it's holding up. I just keep shortening the cable each time, LOL!

I like the tracked one a lot. Great. It's slow though. Riding mower drive should have several speeds to choose from. Don't know what I'd do with it except cruise on Saturday night!

FREE SNOW! Come on over. I'll loan you a shovel. People are busy trying to break up ice dams & shoveling snow off roofs. Intersections are very dangerous... totally blind with a car... iffy with my truck. Saw some d*mn fool spun out on the media on the interstate today... lots of flashing lights. Police blocking the left lanes, more Police, fire truck, 2 wreckers, rescue... Frozen snow banks are very good for flipping cars too. Another storm coming this weekend.

I bought a 4" turbo back kit off ebay years ago now... my OEM system rotted off. First the tailpipe failed. I removed the remains so it would stop banging the botton of the truck. Then the back of the muffler rotted out. Truck was not even 5 years old. My OEM system had a bigger pipe to the muffler & a smaller tailpipe. Actually I was pissed... my 84 GMC half ton had a SS exhaust... I wasn't going to do this again. I bought a SS no name 4" kit off ebay. (Best price.) It was offered in high polish or not, I bought the not polish. It included a "muffler" that turned out to be a 12" x 4" SS glass pack. I had the kit installed when the truck was in a shop with a lift. The head pipe was a bit tight but did make it. It was a decent kit & had a good sound running empty... but the drone got to me towing. I later added a SS 36" x 4" FTE swirl resonator. There wasn't room for the resonator over the cross member. The shop had to cut the pipe to get it in position. If I'd known I'd have done it all at once. The flat band clamps work fine. My SS exhaust is 8 years old & in pefect condition. I had a headers, pipes, glass packs, on my Chevy C30/454... it also sounded good running empty but was deafening towing. I went to oversized truck mufflers & it worked fine except they required replacing periodically.

I stayed with the optional OEM tire size when I bought the new Coopers. I have not checked the MPG but with the original MIchilin MTX (more of a highway appearing tread than AT they claim) I best ever of 18. I am certainly hindered by the 4.10 ratio. My Quadzilla (remember them) is inside the cab, tucked under the carpet near the GO pedal, high & dry. Everything added under the hood is in corrigated chafe protection like OEM... best others not notice add ons at inspection time. I agree putting unsealed elecronics under the hood?? Bad idea!

I have to give Kudos to the wife, for getting the ATV winch to work. We attended a Christmas party a couple of years ago & when we went to leave, everyone's cars were frozen closed. Shortly after, I found Prestone Windshield & Wiper De-Icer in a pump sprayer at WalMart. So I bought one for each car. This is what she remembered & used after the heat gun failed to free the winch.

Let me work on it. Update: Generating a list. On page 6 of search results... still more search resuilts to go.

She reported the winch (plow lift) was frozen this morning. (-7 at 7AM... +15 by the time she got out there.) She used some spray de-icer & heat gun with little luck, seemingly. Used a ratchet strap to lift enough to plow a little (rather than the comealone I suggested). Anyhow, the winch thawed out & she wasd able to do more while I made a grocery run. Driveway is plowed barely wide enough to get my car out... just can't push snow over bank with such a small plow.

There are more shops advertizing Bosch test benches now... maybe as many as 30 in the USA. Most of the ones listed are in the Western states?

Shirt life span lift pumps is TOTALLY unacceptable since it causes expensive damage to the IP... IMHO, people don't invest in diesels to trade them in... I bought mine because I intended to KEEP IT... My previous heavy hauler, Chevy C30, 454, etc was 23 years old. It seems to me that there's a vacume in the market for a Lift Pump that will go the distance. I used to see gas Marine engines with double diaphram fuel pumps... old fashoned mechanical pumps on the blocks. I will say I saw them on Mercruiser inboards for certain.

In reading Blue Chip pages... it says that the Special X VP44 uses genuine Bosch parts from other applications to advance the timing mechanically. I believe the total advance is limited by the design of the VP44. It says the special X pumps do mechanically what a box or tuner does electronically. http://www.bluechipdiesel.com/better_fuel.html And advises not to combine a Special X pump with such a tuner. I find the electronic choices preferable... like my XZT+... because I can switch to stock at the flip of a switch. There are NO New VP44s in the USA. All in the US are rebuilt... to some degree. Blue Chip makes a big deal out of upgraded parts & housing... and computer. It's my understanding that there are only a couple of shops with the test bench needed to set up the VP44. Blue Chip doesn't have one. ADDITIONAL: http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/25-fuel-system/247-bosch-certified-vp44-injection-pump-rebuilders

I shouldn't write this... don't want to jinks myself... I have an original AirDog 150 or 165? Not a bit of trouble. (knock on wood) I don't have a warantee on the AD. The FASS seems to offer the easiest replacement from AD & as I read it a lifetime guarentee I'm not finding a link to the Walpro set up. Is there a write up somewhere? I've always wondered why mechanical fuel pumps were standard for generations... gas & diesel... switched to electric & nothing but troubles.

I couldn't figure out what you were building DUHH! on me. I have the center seat option, backrest folds down with storage... which is how I keep it. Forgot it folds up! Can't wait to see what you do with it.

Carb was serviced by ATV shop recently. I'm thinking there IS blow by. I'm considering hotter plugs... one range might help. Or a multi-spark type plug. I can't take the ATV out of service when we plowing with it every third day! Wife's been out plowing this morning... about 10" this time. Still very windy, (50-60 mph gusts) so no point in trying to do much until it stops drifting. additional: The wind let up & she's been out plowing & clearing vehicles. (Nice of her.) Those gusts cleared the snow out of the trees in a white out blast! NGK (official site) was not encouraging on cleaning plugs, especially is they are sooted up. My take is the carbon crosses the insulator shorting the plug & unless it's completely removed, will fail to work. Years ago, I had flooded plugs (on the travel-lift)... looked clean... but wouldn't fire. New plugs got it going. I did some reading on the multi-contact plugs & passed on them. I went ahead & reordered a 10 pack of the standard plugs. At least that should keep it running until Spring.

2002 Bombadier Quest 650. Bought used. Probably some blow-by. It's touchy. Set throttle in warm weather & it stalls often in cold. Set throttle in cold weather & it runs too fast to shift when running. Use is mainly plowing snow. (Pretty rough duty since the snow is higher than the blade.) Occasionally dragging firewood out. Note: it's only a single cylinder... plug has to be "good". Problem is... had a new standard spark plug NGK DCPR8e start of the winter. The one that came out was sooted black. Just had to put in a spare today. Turned over but wouldn't start. Started right up with new plug. The plug that came out was "clean". Only have one spare now so I'm shopping for additional spares. Are any of the additional cost plugs any good? Mods: Wasn't sure where to put this. Move it?