flagmanruss

The thought of a bad thermostat had me thinking...One of the tweeks... we've been trying "Winter Fronts" to block the grill in winter to raise underhood temps & speed warm up. Presuposes everything else being correct. If the IAT sensor went out, the engine would, likewise, stay in the "run rich" warm up mode. Is there a coolant temp sensor? Will these show Codes?

My pickups have always carried commerial plates but I've been waved off roadside inspections. RI has a couple of Truck Inspection areas but have never had fixed facilities there that I can remember... just paved turn offs. RI State Police have "truck cops" with SUVs with portable scales.

When I got sick at one point, the truck unavoidably sat for several winter months. The mpg was low ever after... otherwise drove normally... I towed heavy with it... & even passed state safety inspection once. Dealer said "no codes" & refused to look further. On the next annual state inspection, a different garage jacked the front wheels to check the ball joints. The front wheels would barely turn!! The discs had expanded outward so they dragged the caliper frame, even though the pads were good & worked normally. I don't think the mechanic had seen this before but I was watching when he did it... thankfully, he was good enough to look further when something did not seem just right. (It seemed odd when he checked the ball joint so he tried spinning the tire!) A brake job & the mpgs were back up.

My truck came with the factory fog lights.They are worthless & the bulbs too expensive. I never use them anymore. I believe Ginos has an up-bulb kit for these but wonder if the heat will shorten bulb life. I know my truck is low mileage, few hours on the lights... but I am satisfied with OEM headlights. I wonder if some mis-aim or mis-positioning (a small depth error will screw up the lens focus)... or fogged lenses is the biggest culpret. There are those who have adapted sport headlights with dual bulbs. I would look at the headlights very closely... find the real problem. If I wanted driving lights, I'd figure out something above or under the bumper...

The wheels are alloys... I know a lot of people who have trouble with leakers on the second or later set of tires. The tire place that fixed the tires before... said they tried to stop the leaks after cleaning the rims... tried to tell me "if that didn't work to buy new rims". The salesman at Town Fair Tire said they didn't like to use bead sealer because it made it hard to get the tires off... I said it I put another 50,000 miles on this 1997, I likely will have bigger worries than the tires.It's not just Chryler products either... my friend's Subaru had this... had multiple attempts to clean rims, fix, etc. Tires were still that way when he traded it. I agree centering the steering should be easy it thay pay attention... I pointed it out & it was taken care of. I have spent a bunch of money on the car... but if the problems had been fixed right on previous attempts, it would have been done & could have been making progress on other things that need work (like the truck). Knowing where to go & who you trust is important.

The Cirrus has been my Daily Driver... easier to get into than the 4X4. I've been bothered by a vibration for a couple of years. Additionally, I've had slow tire / wheel leaks that have necessitated blowing them up once a week or so. The tires I had on it were winter tires bought by Dear Daughter for her Sunbird when she grew tired of getting stuck in Vermont winters... she drove it home & the car died. After it sat for a year, she junked it & I pulled the tires. The Cirrus was the only car the tires fit so I had them mounted when I needed new skins. Asside from being noisy, I drove them without any issues for the first year or more. Then the vibration started... and air loss... I had the car into a tire place twice to fix the leaks & rebalance... I had the front drive shafts replaced which accomplished nothing (except redistribution of wealth). I noticed the steering wheel was no longer entered... had the front end gone over a couple of times... was told "needed no parts" but was out of line... take it to an alignment shop. I only drive locally ( & didn't get around to it until this week.

OK, I had the Cirrus in a front end & brake shop (will post separately). After telling me that they "Didn't do anything other than brakes & front ends" I guess they were slow & offered to put a scanner on the Cirrus & see what it needed to shut off the CEL. I told them I'd replaced the part... it was on the passenger's seat... they read the codes, said I had done the right part, reset the CEL and didn't charge me additional!CEL is out, so far. I've made an appointment for the state inspection.

I believe the OLD BLOCK is a 53. The new block is in the right time period to be a 53 but if it is a 53, it will be so marked. The blocks were not used in any sort of an order & there was more than one block supplier. My 01 has a 55. "Locate the large wiring harness mounted to the block. The cast number for the Cummins 5.9 engine block will be located just below the wiring harness and above the spot where the oil pan meets the block. Engine blocks cast by Tupy feature a two-digit number embossed on the block surface. Blocks cast by Teksid include a longer series of numbers in a smaller size. "Move to the passenger side of the vehicle and look directly below the oil filter mounting assembly. Another instance of the cast number can be found on the block, ahead of the front turbo drain port. Read more: How to Locate the Cast Number on a Cummins 5.9 Engine Block | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7370476_locate-cummins-5_9-engine-block.html#ixzz1cVq1ma5x

This block appears to be the standard output version of the 1998 24 valve... offered with manual transmission. Supposedly down rated for automatics.

On hydraulic jacks... talked to my brother Steve last night after his last train run of the season. (Narrow guage excursion.) He tells me he uses the Harbor Freight 20T jacks. Says he's blown the seals out of them & was able to locally source for correct O rings to rebuild. It takes a vise or clamp to anchor the base & a spanner to back off the nut around the piston. Why are folks so afraid to rebuild bottle jacks? He also said he's had the casting which recieves the handle break & had a machist make a batch of the repair parts. I have yet to take my jack out of the box, but I'll look close when I do.When I worked at Concordia Yachts in South Dartmouth, Mass we (the yard gang) blew up a lot of jacks (lifting 40-50 foot boats cradle & all). The space was limited & the jacks that fit were marginal at best (sometimes clearly overloaded). The boss had a local auto parts where they bought their jacks who claimed to rebuild them. We, who used the jacks, did not believe them... thought they were just adding oil & charging for rebuilding. (1/2 the price of new) but the rebuilt jacks blew the seals almost at once. Russ

I don't know if you can see the nose section of my gooseneck is tapered. I'm old school I guess...

What injectors did you get on ebay & from whom? Thought I heard a lot of complaints with vendors selling Chinese junk. I hope you get what you paid for.

I bought a "20 ton" bottle jack at Harbor Freight today... I'm sure it's not best grade but everything's made in China no matter what you buy. It ought to be able to do the work of a 10 ton jack. I can't do much physical these days... but I can't afford to waste my few minutes on my feet (or knees under the trailer) with inadequate tools.

I think I need a bigger jack. I have 3 that I think are 3 tons each... unfortunately, not cumulative.

I didn't know about sliding hitches when I had a 5th wheel. The horse trailer is a gooseneck/hidden hitch. I never considered a short bed. I'll go stand in the long bed corner. I recently saw a long bed with a crunched cab... the driver was a mite bit touchy.

Jack is only 3000 pound. 4' 2x12 on ground, not sinking. Can't pump handle without excessive force, weaping around the pump plunger packing. Toyhauler is 28'. No toys but water tanks are still pretty full. Camper itself seems pretty heavy.

I am NOT happy using a laptop as my primary. So I picked up a use Dell Optiplex 380 CPU, still in warentee. Windows 7 Professional. So I've begun backing up all my pictures & files on my old desktop to my backup drive. And I get brave... Really the old desktop had gotten to be a PITA... frequent lockups & "Hung Apps". After everything we did to the new laptop... I got the bright idea to uninstall Internet Explorer 8... and all 25 of the piecemeal updates. So one by one I uninstalled the updates & IE8 (taking me back to IE7). I know some had done this (according to Google). Immediately the automatic updates wanted to re-install IE8. I OKd it and the 5 cumulative updates (instead of 25). So far I have yet to have a Hung App. WHAT?? Did I spend all this money (I could have spent on my truck) when I didn't need to? AAARRRGGGHHH!!! --- Update to the previous post... I took the old desk top apart, thought I was just going to connect the New (used) tower... wrong! Old computer use PS/2 connections, new ones are USB. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! (again)

I hear you on the ramp... I will consider that for my travels. Right now the trailer has been maneuvered into it's winter resting spot & I really don't want to hook up & move it right now. So I guess I'll be dropping the stabilizers (it's really just a couple of screws jacks) & trying again. Draining the water tanks might help some too... I had them full for the weight & water during the hurricane.This seems to be a heavy trailer... I wonder if a plastic ramp could hold it.

I need to jack up one wheel on the toy hauler so I can remove the wheel & screw in the wheel well repair. The camper is "parked" tonge jack down, all stabilizer jacks down, trailer leveled. I've tried all the jacks I have at hand... a 3 ton floor jack, a couple of bottle jacks (one marked 3 tons, the other unlabeled). I'm jacking under the spring plate under this axle. I can't get the wheel off the ground. What the h*ck am I doing wrong?

I've seen a lot of interior lights just tapped off the running lights... so the "lights" have to be on to get the interior lights. Just take a second to check that before going exploring.

When, not if, I have to do brake lines again, I think it would be wise to do a rust free replacement.

Mapquest found yas! I'm in Exeter RI 02822Russ

Items like this are probably best bought face to face. I expect that you'll likely have to buy the whole unit. You might save a few bucks by using the local RV place to match up the unit then order it online and wait for it to arrive & hope they don't screw it up again.

Rhode Island is NOT part of New York!! Where are you from?

Best d@rn wheel barrow for manure... I used to put front loader against outside door, fork into it... let my friends Mr John & Mr Deere put it on the pile. 3 pile rotation. 1 was compost for garden 2 was composting 3 was fresh (dumping on) "I should have got it sooner!"