diesel4life

How far below your tank does your sump hang? I like the idea of a gravity fed line but the vulnerability kinda scares me.

The mileage is actually not too bad considering the load being pulled. If the truck was loaded on a deck over it likely sat up very tall with a lot of wind resistance. I have learned over the years that wind resistance plays every bit as much into the fuel mileage game as weight does.

Anytime you open up the fuel system your going to have air and will need to displace it with fuel. The best way is to go to the highest point in the fuel system and crack it open while the lift pump is cycling. Once you get the ball valves in you may be able to get away with just cycling the lift pump one time before starting the truck, depending on how close the valves are together and how much fuel you have lost. There will still be a small amount of air in the line but if it is a small enough amount the lift pump should be able to overcome it before it makes it to the engine.

What year/transmission does your fire chief own Mike? I have driven a few newer 6.7s (10 with a G56 and a 12 with the Max Tow package) and the 12 was like driving a MDT compared to my old 98. The torque range was pretty impressive. I would like to drive the new 385/850 trucks with an Aisin.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that! Did the tires show any signs of age? Dry rot, checking, etc?

Check the control arms out, the bushings will either wear out or dry rot from age and make a clunk when going over bumps. Feeling them in the floorboard is about the right location as well.

Variable vane turbos themselves are very reliable and have been around much longer than the inception of the 6.7 In a Ram pickup. Volkswagon has been using vgt setups since the late 90s and they run 100s of thousands of miles trouble free for the most part. The majority of problems start with the EGR system plugging up (at 67k miles the owner is due for this cleaning) or the dpf plugging off. Either way it seems it is almost always emissions related that starts the chain reaction that leads to a turbo failure.

UDC= User Defined Catcher. It is a performance tune that allows the end user to fine tune the Catcher software. I don't know what they will be releasing for the VP trucks, but on the CR trucks you can tweak the timing, duration, rail pressure, waste gate opening pressure, and torque management. It all boils down to being able to finely tune your truck to get the cleanest smoke free tune while utilizing all available power. As far as drilling the exhaust manifold, if you don't own any cobalt bits do yourself a favor and go buy one of the appropriate size for the tap. It will cut right through it in no time and will leave larger shavings which will be easier to fish out of the manifold with a magnet rather than the finer metal dust a dull bit tends to produce.

I would associate a vibration with a rotating component, like a universal joint, driveshaft, or a tire. Does it get better/worse with road conditions? If your on a rough bumpy stretch of road can you hear it more than a smooth stretch? Or is it more speed related?

All this assuming your going to drive the exact same way you did prior to getting the extra power...most people don't. The 275s are a nice bump in power but I have been thinking about upgrading to something more. As for the Smarty, it has been confirmed by sources at MADS that they will be releasing UDC for the 2nd gen crowd. Should be interesting to see what they come up with considering what they have done with the third gen crowd.

If you don't have to pass e check at a minimum you should look into an EGR delete and either clean/replace the oil cooler. Many of the 6.0 problems were Ford related, the same engine in the Internationals were much more reliable.

Must of been a repower with the 7.3? 06 Was the era of the 6.0. Good to hear you made it home safe, that had to of been a long 3 days

If he lives in an area where he has to pass an e check eliminating the dpf is an automatic fail.

AD100? or 150? Any wet spots around the pump?

If they are truck related can you just refer them to the forum? That would get alot of exposure in a short amount of time.

1500 Miles can be done in 20 hours if you really push it. Probly not gonna happen with a heavy load, that's just running solo.

Must be one heck of a deal to travel 3000 miles! My friend owns an 05 or 06 (can't remember) F550 with a service body. 6.0 Power Stroke, 2 wheel drive chassis, regular cab weighed in right at 8500 lbs empty.

I did the MOOG track bar about 3 years ago. I'm guessing I've put 25k miles on my truck since then, all of them with oversized tires and running lots of dirt roads, fields, and lease roads. As far as I know everything in The Problem Solver line carries a lifetime warranty.

I would personally prefer an 03-04 truck as those model years did not have in cylinder EGR. If the truck suits you that much better then go for it. IMO there will not be enough of an increase in performance to make sense financially so it would have to make good sense body configuration wise. Virtually the same problems your experiencing on your truck are still problematic on the early 3rd gens too so you might be facing the same maintenance headaches you are dealing with right now. I would stick with an NV5600 unless you find a sweet deal with an auto or find one that has already been upgraded. If you find a truck that has additional filtration that would be a bonus to me, as injectors are pretty pricey and OEM filtration was sub par.

Check your connections from the battery to starter. If everything is tight and corrosion free it may be time to rebuild or replace the starter.

Prices and warranty are the same as they have been for years. Doug was running the buisiness for 7 years before Chip sold out while he spent his winters down south, so that's not an accurate statement either.

Chip is not the only company selling used PSGs. Like I was saying earlier, he refused to go that route for the first 13 or so years of being in buisiness but his hand was more or less forced to offer the same product that everyone else offers. You have to be careful of marketing hype. What most manufacturers call a new computer is essentially a reman board. To me this is not new. Look at all the reman parts you buy over the counter these days. Most of the time they only last a fraction of the time the "new" component you replaced it with. Chip is the only builder I am aware of that offers certified used, reman, and new boards. Chip worked closely with an engineer from Cummins and developed a few patents related to the VP fuel system. Their return rate on pumps is less than 2%. Not just while they are under warranty but the life of the pump. Those are pretty solid numbers that would be hard to beat. Then you compare warranties and their premium pumps come with warranties that are double that of all the other rebuilders I see offer.Apparently he has more confidence in his pumps than anybody else on the market. It all depends on what you want, but his entry level pumps are right in line with what the rest of the market offers In terms of quality.

The report I read stated they flew too low for the airlines to be able to track them with their radar, but the military was still able to track it for a while. I too wonder the motive, they are saying piracy but if that were the case you would think the demands would have started long ago. Logic says she is sitting on the sea floor somewhere.

If he was only wanting to do a compression test why did he pop the valve cover? I'd say he got the short end of the stick on that deal, looks like the engine took water and then got yanked (probably hydro locked) and been sitting for who knows how long. That things gonna need a complete tear down.

A certain member on here also recently reported calling Thoroughbred Diesel on the same question and was told their remans come with used psg as well. Chip refused to sell pumps for the longest time with used electronics because that is one of the most common failures but was recently forced into at least making it an option to be able to compete with other builders prices.