diesel4life

Your front driveshaft should rotate freely when the transfer case is in 2 wheel drive

Gaskets are available for a few bucks if you ask for them, a little less messy compared to silicone but either will work. I use synthetic in the rear as the higher 3.54 gears tend to generate alot of heat in the hot summer months when towing. Its pretty much standard on all new OEM vehicles.

Your brakes can reach several hundred degrees under the right circumstances (heavy towing, frequent brake use, etc). The heat transfers to the calipers which can cook your brake fluid especially if theres any moisture in the fluid. This is one of the reasons why it is recomended to flush every 2 years. I generally buy the smaller cans as once you open a big one what you dont use isnt going to keep very long. The smaller cans are a tad more money but in the end I find I generate less waste. If I know I will use a quart or more I will buy the bigger cans, but that doesn't happen very often.

I wonder if you took a badge to a trophy shop (or something similar) if they would be able to duplicate something similar for other vehicles?

OK Mike, one damaged VP is on it's way to you. I sent it lowest priority, they said 7 to 10 days. Originally I asked for it back when you were finished but considering the cost of shipping, don't worry about it. It will never be accepted as a core due to the damaged nose. The only reason I wanted it back was to fiddle with it myself but like I said shipping was more than the pump is worth. Enjoy!

Smartys are expensive but you get what you pay for....very rare for one to malfunction they are an extremeley reliable tuner. Yes you can do a Scan Guage ($180) but add that to a lower end tuner and your right back up in price range of a Smarty. Plus the ability to adjust abs for different tire sizes. Heck I've even made money on several occasions either using mine for diagnostics or enabling high idle feature. Smarty also fuels hardest in the lower rpm range of all the tuners which is where I need it the most for daily driving and towing. Edge makes more power if you tap the pump but its in the upper rpm range. Not very useful to me. I think the argument of adjusting on the fly is a little over rated, once I tweaked the parameters of my tune I very rarely ever touch it. It's probably been close to a year since. Power is very manageable whether driving empty, towing, hotrodding, or driving in a blizzard. Its just not an issue for me.

DOT4 is a better fluid but DOT3 is all that is required and if you flush your brakes every 2 years should be sufficient. Let us know what you think of the bleeder, I am due to flush the brakes on 3 vehicles this spring and think I will buy one rather than borrow from my friend again.

I believe they get them from the same place Dorkweed posted.

Same here, only #1 available at the pump locally is heating oil/off road fuel.

Any loose steering components? Does the truck track straight?

I hung iron for 14 years for a company that is owned by a local man who also owns a large construction buisiness and 2 gas stations. He owns a fleet of trucks as well as a slew of large equipment so he is always in touch with whats getting dropped in his tanks at the stations as they are his source of fuel for everything. The word from him is no #1/#2 blend, strictly treated #2. 2 types of wax crystal modifiers to prevent gelling and an alcohol free de icer. I can't speak for other local stations but this is where I get my fuel from, and coincidentally who delivers fuel to the company I'm with now.

I run nothing but #2 here and have ran it with no anti gel additives down to 0 to a few below. We have seen a few days/nights of -12 to -14 and the offroad fuel at work which was untreated did not gel either. I've ran probably 75 gallons through the 9130 in the last 2 days trouble free. It just depends on how its treated at the rack.

What temps are you seeing and what part of the country are you from? If you suspect gelled fuel pull your first fuel filter coming off the tank (if completely stock it will be your OEM filter). Anytime you see forecasted temps 15 to 20 degrees below average its a good idea to treat the fuel in your tank. This cold snap is affecting alot of people, yesterday morning coming into work at 4 am there were 2 tanker trucks pulled over on the side of the road, both headed for my plant. I saw them later and asked if their fuel gelled on them, yep. Once it happens it can be a real pain to get back on the road.

Isnt the abs module fused? I remember on our old Tahoe I was driving down tne road one day went to hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor, then started kicking back at me. I literally had zero brakes and rolled through a stop sign...thank god it happened at 3am on my way to work. Anyhow, I simply pulled the big fuse to disable the module and it let me have power brakes again, no abs but not a concern to me.

I assume you mean the 5600 are superior... In your case of running at max gvw 5th gear would be essentially useless most of the time (as is OD in the 47re). Now the difference between a slush box and a standard is an automatic with a good torque convertor will afford you a little leeway where your stuck in a particular gear with a standard... with a 5 speed you could find yourself in 3rd gear on a steep grade on the highway....no real advantage over a good auto IMO.thats where having an extra gear really helps in a standard. Standard transmissions need oil coolers every bit as much as an automatic does, it's standard equipment even in OEM form in anything recent.

Not bad at all, and will likely improve as the truck gets broke in.

What happens when the truck has been running and up to temp? The easiest thing to do is have the batteries load tested again. Any auto parts store can do it for you. I just bought a new battery for the VW Beetle, got it all installed, went to crank it and it was flat out dead. I put my voltmeter on it and it was showing a little low (about 11.8 volts) but as soon as I had someone hit the key it flat lined my meter. Took it back to the store and they load tested it and it was flat shorted. I made them load test the new one before it left the counter, installing a battery in a TDI Beetle is not a fun job. If they check out fine then connections and cables would be my next suspect. I am planning on changing mine out when the weather breaks just to be proactive. 16 years of high load cranking, salt, and humidity is probably starting to ask alot out of a set of cables.

Can I have another, SIR!

I know I will catch alot of flack from the 5 speed guys, but I don't think it makes sense money wise to do a conversion from an auto to a 5 speed. The gear ratios are similar to the automatics and you won't be gaining enough efficiency IMO to make a difference especially in the situation for you where you are towing at max gvw. You got to remember they discontinued the 5 speeds 12 years ago in favor of an extra gear.

Pump is boxed up, with your name/address on the front, sitting in the back seat of my truck. I have been procrastinating waaay to long on this one, but I will get it out by mid week (working long hours first part of the week and won't get home until after the post office closes)

John I tried sending you a PM but cant...maybe your box is full?

I'm kind of surprised they even mounted the 19.5s if theyre playing the liability card. As you well know alot of your common tire chain stores will not install anything other than what is on the door sticker. Why didn't you just install them yourself?

Not what you want to hear but the guys are right, throwing performance parts at a stock 47re is going to result in a parked rig. Not something you want if you depend on it for a daily driver. Even running a Smarty with an aggressive tune made my stock tc on my 00 shudder under heavy acceleration, I couldnt afford to upgrade so I put the Smarty away and drove the truck another 2 years before I could get the trans rebuilt properly. Theres a right way and a wrong way to mod a truck, the right way will afford you the luxury of keeping it as a daily/dependable driver and the wrong way will have you strapped for cash and out of a vehicle.

Coolant specs are plain ol ethylene glycol (the green stuff). Chryslers ATF+4 is actually quite advanced for an OEM fluid and is all I use. Brand does not really matter as any company that makes it has to adhere to Chryslers stringent standards and they are all pretty equal. I would highly recomend doing a brake fluid and power steering pump flush as well, they are both overlooked and some of the most important safety features on your truck. Most manufacturers recomend these systems be serviced every 2 years.

They're a great injector, very clean and a nice mild boost in power. If I ever get around to my turbo project I may end up going with something a littler bigger.