flagmanruss

AS far as I know, the VP44 computer still has the same smog programing. Being a smog system, I do not believe it's legal to alter it. So we are fooling the VP44 by adding programers & chips on the outside.

Actually Rogan, you make some excellant points. The VP44 is great idea though a bit complex and have proved somewhat fragile. The VP44 was not designed because of a deficency in the P pump. It was done to smog the Cummins. The parameters were emissions related, not efficiency. Had efficiency been the goal, they should have done better. For some reason, we are stuck with add-ons to "fool" the VP44. Better, but not a complete re-design. Unless we understand why the VP44 was designed... we're not going to understand it's issues.

I didn't see any MPG change. I did mine because the tail pipe was full of holes... finally the back of the muffler fell out. I just could not see putting steel back there. Very Happy with the SS. 3" full length would have been a step up from the OEM with reduced tailpipe but only 4" was available when I did it. The straight through muffler is just for show. Truck has a drone.Truck got a bunch louder when the mice chewed up the insulation on the cowel box & firewall. Wife used Ipod when she rides with me anyway...

Not likely a valve guide. But all of these possibilities require the head to come off. Even "just a bad valve guide" means the head must go to a machine shop.

The Batteries are Sears DieHards, in Warentee. I drove the truck to their auto store & they supposedly load tested them & they passed. But I now have starting problems. Engine is turning over but not catchinig, which may be the grid heaters not going on. I am going clean battery terminals after it warms up outside. While disconnected, I'll slap the voltmeter on it to get resting voltage. If I find it's out of spec, it'll be back to Sears. I can buy new batteries if it comes to it. I'd not buy batteries from someone who does not stand behind their warentee but let's take one step at a time.

Now that we're talking about it... right after the several day trickle recharge... the wait-to-start light came on & stayed on & drew current. The I went & had the batteries tested at Sears. I just went outside, flashlight in hand, and the 2 black wires are on the drivers side positive terminal. The flashlight is not good enough to tell if the connections were properly cleaned. I'm inclined to think not... when I clean a post I brush the top too. Considering the fuel pump problem traced back to a bad battery connection last year... As a first step, I think I should go through the connections & clean them all. See what that brings. (My suspicion beingthey moved just enough to lose good connection.) If that doesn't bring results, I'll proceed to trace the power on those black leads. I'm suspecting there's a timer on the grid heaters... that might be the noise I'm hearing. But there's no power going through. (Scratching head). While the sales person was talkingto me, there was a youngish female in mechanics clothes listening in. I better clean those terminals before I jump to any conclusions.

Prior to the dead batteries... the truck kicked & fired off on the first touch of the key. Since then, it has not. The engine is turning over... batteries are not fallng down. Yesterday I tried with the IAT fooler off & xzt off. Today, I went to start it. I didn't see a wait to start light. Air was 45 degrees or so. It fired like one cylinder but did not catch. Repeated. On the 4th try it started & ran. It blew a cloud of grey smoke I saw in the mirror. I stepped on it slightly & it blew more of same before it cleared up. I'm clueless... but the first thing popping into my head is "Why isn't the grid heater running?" Is it fused somewhere? Could I have popped the fuse when the battery went dead? Is it on a relay? Could that be stuck? Could that be the noise I'm hearing when trying to start?... sounds like it's center dash. Give me some direction here.

I'm not finding excessive draw with everything off. I'm going to make a new post for the starting issues. I don't know "why" this started with the Dead Batteries... or did it? I'm going to recheck connections in the morning.

The batteries were not dead in 2 days... but the truck always started on the first click before. Now it doesn't although it was better today after just sitting over one night. Raining this morning... sometimes hard... I am in the last month of the 3 years free replacement from Sears. I decided to take it in & have them checked. Of course, they found the batteries to be "fine". Alternator charging good which I knew, of course. I don't trust them. (Could be they want to put me off until I'm into the Pro-Rate period) I don't see how the batteries could be OK if they were so dead the dome light didn't come on... Unless there's some low voltage cut off in the electronics? I found the noise, which sounded like the AirDog... was coming from the wrong direction. I fiddled with the CD player & it stopped. No disc in there but I hit "Eject" & it went away. Clock is holding time ok.I did the key trick & got no codes... I ought to buy a code reader. I'm going to keep driving it & either it'll screw up or I'll get some confidence in it. Russ

Truck sat 2 days after last use. It didn't want to start today. Realitively warm today but on the first try the "Wait to start" light didn't come on. It turned on the first couple of trys but did not fire. On the third try, the AirDog ran long & noisily... maybe 30 seconds. Next try it fired on maybe one cylinder but caught. I drove it... ran fine & restarted fine... I notice a lot of charging still going on. The batteries are certainly suspect. I'm thinking I need to take it to Sears & get the batteries tested.

Pathfinder offers both a standard duty line with a trip blade & a heavy duty line with a trip edge. The 7.5' standard duty is 2695The 8' standard duty is 3600The 9' stardard duty is 2500... these are left overs, poor sellers & he wants to move them. Commercial plow operators want the HD model... That part does make sense. I'm thinking the wider blade will be an advantage when plowing turning into the parking spaces with my long wheelbase. Wife is now waffling on the idea... she's worse than I am... She was all for it when she came in all snow covered.

What I have learned is Pathfinder is a local company, located in an industral park near me. They manufacture plows there as well as direct sales & service. So there is no middleman to mark it up. Locally, they & their products are well thought of. Yup, the web site is down & dirty... it is that kind of place... where the boss gets his hands dirty too.

Grandmother is smarter than the neighbor... tells just what happened... http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=18993881&title=grandmother-says-boy-killed-in-cannon-accident-was-mechanically-inclined

So you are into yours for 1900... and you had to put it together.If I bought a used one, then had to hunt up the truck side, then get someone to mount it. This is complete working and warenteed. I think I need to go see it. This dealer is closest to me, right in town & has parts & service. I bought the (old used highway plow from him) that I have for the backhoe. I think Pathfinder is a local brand... about the same as Fisher... I'm going to need winter tires & ought to put them on winter rims... maybe steels.

I have had CAIs on Performance Cars (gas) & even trucks got into the act in 60s & 70s. Not sure it did anything on the street but it did in race cars. The problem is that these vehicles are naturally aspirated gas engines. Diesels fire from the heat of compression, & a whole lot more pressure. Super-chargers & turbo-chargers are a whole different ball game where even more heat (of pressure) is added to the air mix prior to entrance into the cylinders. Enter the Inter-cooled, turbo-charged diesel. The intercooler gets rid of most of the heat prior to entering the intake. Lessons learned from gas engine, naturally aspirated race cars of the past really no longer apply. Guys keep buying CAIs because they don't understand our diesels. I am also running an IAT (sensor) fooler on a switch. In cooler temperatures it's worth about 1 mpg to me.

Those Mitsubishi's were great little cars... and decent priced too. Considering my L-O-N-G truck, and what the snow will do on turns... Would you hold out for 8' or go with more readily available 7.5'? My inclination is to buy the right one, the first time, rather than roll stuff over. (I never seem to make out on swaps & sales.)Sooo,8 foot plow VS 7.5 foot plowMinute Mount type.edit:After surfing CraigsList... I found a lot of plows... but no 8' with the frame to fit my truck.I checked with a couple of local dealers. The Pathfinder dealer just offered me a NEW 9' left over $2500 cash, installed. He says this 9' "Regular Duty" model was a poor seller... so willing to make a deal to move it. Sounds like a deal.

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/state/story/Tremonton-boy-killed-with-toy-cannon/7OjqDiiM-UWmKwIwqXcICg.cspx My heart aches for the family also. The reporting is terrible. The neighbor is an idiot. Sadly the boys youthful experiments cost one his life. But the scale model cannon did not take itself off the shelf, load itself & ignite itself... indoors. What were they thinking?

http://www.chevron.com/deliveringenergy/biofuels/

I'm not sure what I would ballast with. I grew up ballasting the rear... we used double bagged sand in a box in my Mom's 64 Chrysler. My 68 RoadRunner... in college... I had 2 dynamite crates filled with sand. I foolishly let them go in a prank. (Campus cops went kind of nuts though when they found them along with tel wire strippings... things were different in the early 70s). My (Jap) Challenger wasn't worth a toot in the snow... until I put a row of sand filled bleach bottles, wheel well to wheel well over the rear axle. They were the cleanest. I used beach sand (free) & funnel, screwed the cap on. Off season, I stuck them in the garage. I have a couple of tons of lead bricks in the barn from my bullet casting biz. Guess that's anchor the rear!

Everything is making sense. What years push frame interchange? What years rims interchange? Mine is 01.5 with rear discs. Agree on the chain lift. Many years ago, I had a Jeep Wagon which I was working on a plow for. I never got the hydraulics straightened out. I could lift it with a come along to the plow frame.

I'm just beginning to research this... Yes, I have a big transmission cooler. Dunno if it came with the plow or trailer packages (have both). Also 8800 gvw. Is the poly plow enough lighter to matter? Just for my driveway... How wide a blade do I need? I'm seeing a used V plow on the flea. Several straight blades 7.5-8' MM's. Did you need the leveling to clear the tires? I'm pretty high stock... high enough that I have trouble getting into it with my bad leg. Timbrens?? What is this? (I'm thinking you're talking about tie rods ends? Mine seem tight at my low miles.) Thanks guys, Russ

I can't get up on the backhoe to plow snow anymore. "We" (mostly she) has been plowing snow with a 650 ATV... But in a big storm, she has to plow several times. (Just seems really dumb to be out in the snow when we have a truck with a heated cab.) I have 400 feet of driveway to the road, 3 turn out spaces off it, a turn around space opposite. I might plow the neighbpor's mailboxes but that's it.Truck came with a "plow package". What else does it need? Probably mount a narrower taller winter tires on spare rims for change over. I'd like one of the newer set ups that don't have a bunch of stuff on the front when not in use.

I'm omly familiar with old fashoned alternators / voltage regulators... you couldn't see a lot of them charging at idle. As soon as the RPM picked up there was enough output to register on a ammeter. I just realized what I said... modern vehicles have volt meters...

OK. I checked the battery voltages at 12.5 each after resting an hour off charge. Block heater had done it's thing for just an hour, air temp about 35*F. I figured nothing to lose, didn't bother with a jump start, just let the grid heaters run normal & turned the key. Took maybe a couple of seconds longer but it started right up. The clock is messed up I notice... Too late to take it for a drive today, just moved it enough to get in front & shut back down. Looking at 3-6" of snow again tonight. (Messing about with extension cords is much nicer when they're not snow covered!) I put the charger back on, picked up the extension across the driveway (block heater.) Sheila moved the charger cord behind the woodpile so she could plow snow with the ATV this morning. So I'm going to give it another day of trickle charge, make up for the Starting Amps & finish off, then pull the charger. I'm going to moniter the battery voltages & see how the batteries look after a few days. This was a mistake, avoidable. Probably shortened the battery life at least. Thanks for the tips, Russ

I've had the 6 amp charger on it 36 hours so far... + another 8 come morning. (Only shows a 2A charge going on.) I should have checked the voltage before I put the charger on but I didn't... it just seemed seemed moot. After 24 hours of charge, I disconnected the charger & got 12 on each battery but I didn't let them rest to get the true voltage. I will disconnect the charger & let it rest & test voltage before proceeding. If it looks like they are taking a charge, I'm going to run another cord for the block heater... give the block time to warm up. Then go for a jump start. I only have cars to jump from. If this does not work, I pull the batteries & take them to Sears.