Everything posted by diesel4life
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Ball Joints?
So your saying you can't remove the plug once the ball joint is intstalled and screw in a 90* zerk, grease the joint, and then reinstall the plug? I realize there is not enough clearance to leave a grease zerk installed and drive the truck, but every ball joint I have seen at least has enough clearance;,,, to do what I mentioned above. If you can't do that then I wouldn't even bother buying a serviceable joint. They all come from the factory greased so there is no reason to buy something with a hole in the top of it if you can't use it.
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Ball Joints?
I'm not quite following what your saying? All serviceable ball joints should be greasable after they've been installed on the truck or there isn't any point in buying a greasable joint as they are all greased from the factory.
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Ball Joints?
I'm not aware of any lower ball joints that allow you to leave the grease fitting in place all the time. Most that I have seen come with a 90* zerk and a plug. Remove the plug install 90 to service then reinstall plug. This should be able to be done with the ball joint in the truck.
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Ball Joints?
Dynatrac recently started making ball joints for second gen trucks. they would get my vote hands down. Last set you will ever install and IF they ever wear out they are rebuild able without removing. They are pricey though so probably not the best option if you don't plan on keeping your truck. Back to the choices you mentioned, Are the Spicers gareas able or sealed? I would not put a sealed ball joint in my truck after seeing the condition of my OEM joints. They were so dry they were full of dust. If they would have been servicable I'd probably still have them in the truck. As it was they only lasted less than 75k miles. I've Got the MOOG Problem Solvers in my truck and so far so good. Only appr. 40K on them so far though. Just be careful when ordering your not buying knurled joints. These are designed for control arms that are too worn out for standard sized ball joints and will stretch the bore of an otherwise good control arm.If you have to replace the ball joints again in the future you may have to replace the control arms.
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I Ain't Happy
Good to hear Tom. Hopefully she holds together a little longer this time... Wish I could say the same about my trans (in the TDI). I think I have sourced some good used gears out of a junkyard transmission, the guy is going to let me pop the case and have a look before I pay him for it. It's been sitting under cover for several years but he doesn't know the history on it. I just have to get over to PA one night BEFORE they close. If I have to buy new gears (through VW only) I may as well just buy another transmission. Those suckers are expensive.
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I Ain't Happy
I have not had the chance to stop by and see Dean. Been busy with work and any free time I've had in the evening I've been trying to make some head way on the transmission on the TDI. Also had to make an unexpected trip to New Jersey to pick up a disabled vehicle. As soon as things get slowed down a little I will get up to see him, I've been needing to talk to him anyway.
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I Ain't Happy
Have they at least been in touch with you as to where they stand with your convertor?
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LarryB's
I broke the terminal off myself by bending it back and forth...it was in bad enough condition it needed replaced and the nut was acting like it wanted to strip out so rather than risk rounding the nut I got it out from under the truck and put a little heat on the nut and it came right off. As for the end cover for the selonoid I cleaned it up with a little spot blaster and coated it with a liquid metal called Belzonia. Very strong 2 part metal filler. I bead blasted the motor casing once I tore everything down and put two good coats of chassis saver high gloss black on. New contacts, plunger and brushes from Larry B's and reassembled and she's good as new. Spins over faster tnan she has in a while. Gotta love the good ol' rust belt.
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LarryB's
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Motor Oil's cuss and discuss
^^^^^sounds like we have a volunteer!^^^^^ I think you would be pushing it going so many miles with no bypass filter and so little makeup oil. Dorkweed had two things working in his favor, extra filtration and makeup oil every 2500 miles to replenish the additives.
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I Ain't Happy
Good for you! W:asn't he wanting to drop in a Jasper reman without even looking at yours, or was that someone else you talked to when you were calling around?
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I Ain't Happy
Don't worry, I've got the PR end of things handled over here. I saved the pictures Tom put up and plan on showing anybody who asks for any recommendations on trans work, as well as Dean when I see him next. I'd be interested to hear what he has to say about the whole ordeal because he does know Mike on a somewhat professional level.
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Motor Oil's cuss and discuss
My point is there was a comment made that you ran 80+k miles off a single oil change, when in actuality there was an equivelent of a couple of oil changes worth of make up oil added over the course of those miles. Not taking anything away from what you did, those were still some impressive numbers and you proved that dino oil is capable of going much farther than manufacturers would like us to think.
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Motor Oil's cuss and discuss
One quart every 2500 miles comes out to 32 quarts over 80k miles. That is equivalent to 2.6 oil changes over 80k miles, or an oil change every 30,760 miles (roughly). Still pretty good, but no where near what was claimed originally.
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misunderstanding of depression and related problems.
I lost a very close friend to suicide several years ago. Unknown to everyone but his wife, he had been battling depression for quite some time, ended up going on a drinking binge one night and got in a big brawl in a local bar where he hurt 4 or 5 people, one of them very seriously. The police were looking for him, and once he sobered up and realized what he had done it was too much to bear and he went out in the woods and ended it all with the squeeze of a trigger. He left behind a successful career, a wife, and 3 young children. The pain it caused his children was so deep and scarring I hated him for it for a long time. I didn't know how to cope with it so I did the only thing I knew which was put everything I was feeling away and just be there for his kids as much as I could. Thank god they have all grown up to be productive, law abiding, citizens. When something like this (Robin Williams) comes up, it brings back a lot of painful memories. I sure do miss my friend.
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I Ain't Happy
"Minnesota Tom" is located in Minnesota....
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I Ain't Happy
What is the big gob of silicone all about? I would go after him Tom, no excuse for shoddy half *** work like that. I can tell you I will be putting the word out from now on if anyone ever asks about the quality of Mikes work. I've never recommended him to anyone because I've always had my guy but this makes the third hack job I've come across (first one a friend, second a co worker, and third being you). Three strikes your out buddy.
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I Ain't Happy
Ouch. Did he ever tell you the mount was in need of replacement?
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Motor Oil's cuss and discuss
Which begs the question why do people dump their oil at such an early rate... IIRC Dorkweed has a bypass oil filter. That kind of extended service wouldn't be possible without one, not if you value your engine anyway. As I said I can go much further than 20k but choose not to for a few reasons. I could easily go this distance with dino oil as well but choose synthetic because they are much better for your engines overall health. There is a reason new vehicles have switched to synthetic or at a minimum a synthetic blend. And with the price I get Schaeffers delivered to my door going my interval is a break even point with one UOA per year vs sticking with dino and dumping at 10k intervals.
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Motor Oil's cuss and discuss
Donaldson ELF for the Dodge every 10k miles. The truck uses no oil so the only makeup is when the filter is changed. I'm actually contemplating going the 20k mark as they are rated for 15k but filters are cheap in the scheme of things.
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HE351CW swap on a second gen
The VE is a variable vane. Gives you boost at low rpm/load conditions quicker than a standard turbo. All of the big 3 have gone to vgt's (Dodge being the last I think). VW has been using them since the late 90's. It's just a more efficient turbo. Now if your more into the performance end and not so concerned with fuel efficiency then yes there are better turbos out there.
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Had a little fun wednesday night...
Our pulls were last night. The usual tractors, modified tractors, stockers, super stockers, and my favorite to watch the 2.6 Class. There are rumors of next year sporting a 3.0 Class. Most everybhuody in the 2.6 Class looked like a work truck in the flesh, with exception of custom traction bars, most everyone running dual rear wheels, and of course some serious mods under the hood. Several 2nd gen Dodges, a 3rd gen, a couple of 1st gens. Ford had a couple of good representatives, a 6.4 That had some serious speed built up but the sled transferred the weight up front and shut him down pronto. He was just shy of 300 ft which was where 3 or 4 of the Dodges wound up. Then came the class of the field, a new body style Dmax. Looked like a full blown show rig right down to the bling wheels and the fronnt weight/ice to air intercooler in the shape of a big bow tie and custom painted to match the truck. He cleared 350 ft. Very impressive rig.
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HE351CW swap on a second gen
Good write up. I would do the VE swap over the CW. More efficient and you can utilize the exhaust brake with a standalone controller. It is substantially more than a CW but when you figure in the exhaust brake it brings the price back down to less than what with you would spend upgrading your turbo and buying an aftermarket brake. I started collecting parts a year ago, between fixes around the house and vehicle repairs getting the rest of what I need has been put on hold. Someday.
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Motor Oil's cuss and discuss
Currently up to 20k intervals on both the truck and TDI using Schaeffer's and still well within acceptable parameters. Now I could go much further than this and I may try with the TDI because she puts so many miles on it but at the 20k mark for the truck is about what I put on the truck in a year's time.
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I Ain't Happy
No it is the manual 5 speed trans. The 5th gear is aaccessible without dropping the trans, I'm going to pop the end cover off on my next day off (god knows when) and have a look. If the damage is contained to the selector gear or the 5th gear I will probably be ok. If the shaft or shaft splines are roached I'm pulling the trans and either going for a full rebuild or looking for another. The other 4 gears are perfectly fine. The wife drove nearly 100 miles home in mixed highway/city traffic after 5th let loose so I may get lucky, although it never goes that way for me so I am expecting the worst until I know different.