diesel4life

Nice! Now the fun begins!

You can easily throw a performance box on these trucks without sacrificing any reliability whatsover. I run a Smarty and a mild set of injectors and drive sensibily and get better fuel mileage than I ever did in stock form. What's nice is the power is there when you need it pulling a hill or coming from a stop to get a load moving. These ISB engines are tough platforms they really are a medium duty engine in a light duty pickup.

I had my radiator removed and front gear case cover off in 2 hours. Actually more like an hour and a half because I didn't have a 36 mm wrench to remove the fan so I took a spare 1-1/4" wrench and carefully ground 4mm out of it. Just kept checking it with a set of calipers and took a hair over 2mm off per side of the open end. That took close to a half an hour.

Not sure if Tom has internet here or not, so I will briefly answer for him. He made it home to his family here in Ohio early yesterday morning. He is exploring his options and talking with a few trans builders here locally.

When set up properly they are a big benefit. I have a set for my tilt trailer and it makes a significant difference when loaded heavy.

Hope all is well Tom.

Sounds like you got it figured out Tom, let me know if I can be of any help or if your nephew needs anything....what a way to start out a vacation. I will keep my phone close by today in case you Call. Good luck.

Tom, how far are you from the Ohio/Michigan border? I am down for a few days until I get I get my new radiator. Working tomorrow but off Monday and provided my radiator is in I will have it together by late morning...if there is ANYTHING I can do let me know and I will do what I can. BTW, I know the guru of Dodge transmissions in the area...he lives in Kingsville and can build anything you want/need. I have seen and ridden in some of the trucks he has built transmissions for (mine included) And he can build em from mild to wild. Very competent and fair, the only downside is he is always busy. I can put you in touch with him if you like. I'm headed to bed shortly have to be up at 330 for work so PM me or call me tomorrow. If I don't answer leave a message and I will get back to you soon as I get it Does your nephew have a truck? I have a trailer that will haul your truck, get ahold of me tomorrow hopefully we can figure something out.

I got the gear case off and low and behold the dowel pin was still there. I don't think it was ever going to go anywhere as it was recessed and very tight, but I made a little tab for it anyhow. Made it out of a 3/8 fender washer and trimmed it down to fit. Soon as I get the seal for it it will go back together. As for the radiator, after checking around on the internet I didn't find anything that really impressed me (other than a 4 core aluminum radiator with aluminum tanks, $$$$) I ended up ordering an aluminum radiator through NAPA. I know the owner and he cut me a pretty good deal. Back to the grind tomorrow and through the weekend so I probably won't get it back together until Monday.

I actually got mine off of CF. Guy was selling due to hardships and was offering it at a decent price. We got to talking and he was in bad need of a set of tires, I just so happened to have a set of 285/75/16 GoodYear Duratracs. About 60% tread left, we ended up trading straight up. He also threw in the Hella lights, harness and relay. I think I got the better end of the deal! If your patient and keep your eyes open the deals are out there. I watched all the local classifieds and forum classifieds for about a year before I came across that one.

It's a fairly small hole and is right at the bottom. I THINK it could be fixed, but my concern is at this point do I just cut my losses on a 16 year old radiator and buy new... That is likely because the aftermarket radiator you bought is aluminum compared to the OEM copper. Once I got my radiator pulled I kind of answered my own question about the 2 core vs 3 core. Radiator technology has come around just like everything else. Aluminum radiators can use wider tubes that create more surface contact area from the tubes to the fins and helps dissipate the heat quicker. So essentially a new quality built aluminum 2 core radiator can cool as effective as an older 3 core copper radiator because it has roughly the same surface area.

Put a stick through the bottom of my radiator last night.... @#*&* Just got on and was browsing through for some internet options and one thing I am seeing quite frequently is the option of a 2 row or a 3 row radiator...Never having the pleasure of having to pull one I am ignorant to what is in there, although I am assuming it must be a 2 row because I can't see them offering anything less than OEM standard. That's surprising to me, I always ASSumed it was at a minimum of a 3 row or a 4. I'm guessing due to the surface area, a 2 row was sufficient for these motors. I wouldn't mind upgrading to a 3 row but the truth is I have NEVER seen my truck overheat and the 3 rows appear to be at least 30% to 40% more than the 2 rows....not sure if it's worth the money. Any opinions on the matter? How about actual manufacturer? I am about to call my local parts guy to see what kind of prices he can get me, in the mean time I appreciate any and all comments/opinions/experiences. Looks like now is going to be the time for me to tear the front end down for some serious maintenance. I was planning on waiting until fall but had plans on removing the radiator to degrease, coolant flush and fill with HOAT coolant, pull the front gear case to see if I need to tab the dowel pin, and inspect/replace damper and any other areas that may need resealed once I'm in there. It's not the best timing as things are busy at work, but if Im gonna be in there I might as well go for it rather then do it all over again in 2 months!

On the subject of anti sieze, I'm sure most are aware of the required torque reduction when using it. Most torque critical fasteners/parts will specify what is recommended like Skellyman says. If the recommended lube is antisieze no reduction is necessary. Normally a light grade oil is recommended. In some instances a dry torque is called for but not very often.I'm forced to use it on pretty much everything if I want it to come apart again due to all the salt and humidity we get, so it's something I have to be mindful of especially on really critical parts. Heres a good link to Bostiks site, if you scroll down to the different types of antisieze and the specs they also list the % in torque reduction for each type of sieze. http://www.bostik-us.com/sites/default/files/N1%20NeverSeez%20Brochure%202011.pdf

schedule 40 pipe official weight from Ranch Hand is 226 pounds. When I mounted it I hung it from the rafters in the garage off of a snatchblock and used the winch on the 4wheeler. Got it hanging level and drove the truck into it and bolted it up. The wifes girlfriend walked in as I was installing it and after taking everything in for a minute asked if I was going for redneck of the year with my bumper...I told her there's no competition I get the award every year!

The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly claimed that it has the authority to unilaterally garnish the wages of individuals who have been accused of violating its rules. The big "accused" word is very troubling. Gee, whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? (As if we should even have to worry about the EPA OF ALL ENTITIES. I bet Jefferson Franklin, Adams and Livingston are all rollin' in their graves right now

Joe you had a bad 4th this year...sorry to hear about your son I hope he gets well soon. I gotta tell ya, I grew up on the back of all my uncles Indians and Harleys so owning one myself was not if but when when I came of age. Lost a couple of friends in school to bike wrecks but the big one that hit home was my uncle. His best friend owned a mint 48 Indian and hit a deer on it and died. My uncle bought it from his friends wife and him and I fixed it up over the course of two years. He finally got it going about midway through the summer of 2007. Rode it over to my house to drop off a present to my son for his birthday and was leaving from here to go to bike night over in PA. Just across the Causeway bridge into PA (not 5 miles from my house) a teenager backed out of a driveway and he hit the car broad side and was killed instantly. It was the second time he had ever been on that bike. That was it for me, haven't been on one since. Too many idiots out there that just don't pay attention and you don't stand a chance when they invade your space.

Did you pry on your balljoints to see how loose they are? How about control arm bushings? Any broken belts in your tires? Out of balance tires?

Heres my Ranch Hand, and after an impact at 55+ to boot. It was only a yearling so it was small in body and when I hit it the bumper folded the little critter right underneath the truck. We have the same problem out here, lots of tall grass and tree line right up to the ditch, I've hit em at 70 at night and 25 in broad daylight...the one I hit doing 25 literally ran into the side of the car and crumpled the passenger side door. All in township limits to boot. I am on the roads at 330-400 in the morning when they are very active and have developed quite the trained eye for them...sometimes theres just no avoiding them.

How much does AM$OiL charge for an analysis?

That's nothing new to be honest. It was illegal to remove the stupid smog pumps in the 70s and cut the catalytic convertors out when they get rusted or plugged and replace them with a straight pipe, but people have been doing it for decades. People that live in counties that require annual inspections are forced to stay a little more honest, but if you live in a county like I do you can get away with just about anything you want as long as you don't get stupid (like rollin' coal!!)

Being you trust them I think it's safe to assume they shook the entire front end down while they were in there doing the track bar...if that's the case the next likely step is in the steering box. There is a way to adust them which will take some of the slop out of the wheel, or it could just be worn out.

Are you running a 30w engine oil? I'm a little hesitant to run 30w oil on an older diesel engine. I know they are recommended in some newer engines, with tighter bearing tolerances and such.

The Chrysler spec HOAT is backward compatible to all CTD cooling systems and is what I will be switching to this summer as I am due for another flush. It is a five year 150k mile coolant. I plan on doing annual pH tests or maybe more depending on results to verify. Even if I can go four years in between flushes it will be twice the interval I'm doing now, which will be a win win for the pocket book and the environment.

Alot of times they do come apart and it's a real bear to extract the rest. I've had to drill a small pilot hole and carefully thread in a small self tapper screw and take a pry bar under the head of the screw to pop it out. Not very fun and pretty stressful considering where the broken pieces can potentially end up going.