diesel4life

It only takes a few minutes to pull the ball and spring to check, and is an easy fix if that is the case.

Level 5 on the smarty netted me better mpg than 3. I run level 7 along with my 275s for the extra power when I need it but I drive conservative and get the same milaege as on sw5.

Good point dennhop, Ive actually done that before in a pinch to get 4 whl drive, I was stuck in a snow drift when I realized I had a vaccum issue. It took a little digging to get under the truck, but a quick swap of the lines was all it took (and a little coaxing forward to reverse) and she went right in. After that I replaced all the lines from the t case to the actuator, hard lines included, to avoid any future problems.Good luck in the job search, I hope you are able to get back on your feet soon.

Get the batteries load tested, check all your cable connections to the starter, all grounds, if everything is in good condition its probably time to pull the starter.

I have had an issue with my regulator in my AD100 twice now. The ball gets wedged in the spring and the pressure dropped by 3-5 psi each time. The second time it happened I tweaked the end of the spring in towards the center to prevent the ball from getting wedged again.

Honestly the pans are not worth it. The upgraded cooler you are contemplating will do much more for cooling than any pan is capable of. If you insist on a triple disc a billet input would be a good upgrade IMO, unless you plan on leaving the truck at stock power with no intentions of installing an exhaust brake. For the initial fluid fill just run any old ATF+4 as you will need to do a filter/fluid change after a few hundred miles. Personally I have always used ATF+4, it is a synthetic fluid and by far the best OEM fluid on the market. I talked with a Chrysler trans engineer a few months ago and he conceded that the new ATF+4 is capapble of much more than the 30k mile service intervals that is recomended on the 47RE. Remember, those intervals were developed based on the ATF+3, and the new 68RFE and Aisin have 60k mile intervals and they are coupled to an engine with double the torque output. He recomended I do a sample at 40-45k miles, and go from there. This was based off my uses, which is 90% rural/highway with 30-40% of those miles towing, so others intervals may vary according to their usage. At any rate, I don't see the value in running something like AMSOIL ATF unless you were in some SEVERE driving conditions with high temps. The only other advantage I can see is extended drain intervals, but you still should be dropping the pan to at least do a filter change, so that wipes out any advantages that I can see, but thats just my opinion. What fluid does Sun Coast recomend with their transmissions? I know alot of aftermarket builders actually recomend the Dexron fluid over any synthetic.

The biggest part is removing them. Once theyre out of the truck you might have an hour into drilling and tapping, and that is taking your time to make sure no shavings get in. If yours are new I wouldn't be too concerned for at least a few years unless you have them apart for something.

My FSM and my Chilton both refers to them as hub bearing assemblies. Or hubs for short. LOL

I did take pictures but they were on my phone that ended up in lake Erie on a walleye fishing excursion over the summer. I drilled a small pilot hole straight down through the center of of the flanged part of the hub (the part that bolts to the spindle). You will know when you're through because there is a gap between the body of the hub and the bearing. Just go slow and keep cleaning the shavings out. I started out drilling with a drill press but when I got close I clamped the hub in a vice and finished drilling upside down to keep any shavings out. Then I used the appropriate bit for the tap and only drilled half way down. I didn't want to risk getting any shavings into the bearings and the pilot hole is enough to allow the grease in. Once the hole was tapped I used a pencil magnet and a shop vac to make sure the hole was good and clean. If you have slip on rotors you can put a 90* grease fitting on and point it towards the rotor and reinstall everything and you're done. I have pressed on rotors so there are two options. Either drill a hole through the spindle large enough to get a grease gun through from the inside next to the universal. Or you will have to remove the assembly and grease the hub and then reassemble. A little work but this is probably something that only needs greased every couple of years unless you put a ton of miles on your vehicle every year. In my case they lasted 12+ years although it was probably a little too long because I could hear a difference in spinning the hub before and after. Now the reason I did this to begin with is because when I had to change my rotors out the hubs were frozen so badly in the spindle that I actually seperated the hubs pulling them out. So I had the chance to see the inside of them so I could see where a good place to drill would be. Everyone I talked to said my hubs were trashed since I pulled them apart, I figured I didn't have much to lose so I decided to press them back together. I cleaned them up and used a 25 ton press to put them back together and then drilled and tapped and greased them. 2 Years and 30+ thousand miles later and they seem to be holding up well. I even shoot them with an infrared temp gun every now and then on long trips (I check my trailer hub bearings this way) and they run nice and cool.

If this is happenning at operating temps don't confuse the compressor cycling on and off with the grid heaters. The compressor will be cycling as long as the heater or a/c is turned on.

When I changed my rotors out I drilled and tapped my hubs for grease fittings. I pumped about 20 to 25 shots of grease into each hub while spinning them, and it actually quieted them up drastically. After 12 plus years I suspect they were pretty well dried up.

Recomended intervals for changing brake fluid is every 2 years, from an un opened can. Alot of people miss the part about the unopened can, as the seal is broken on a can the fluid starts absorbing moisture, which will drastically reduce the boiling point of the fluid, and can introduce corrosion into the internals of the calipers.

Interesting, both my 98 and my former 00, both which I bought with the OEM block mounted Carter pumps, did not do that. If I turned the key forward I could hear the electric motor bump very briefly, but never long enough to even move my manual fuel pressure gauge. I never timed it but it was definitely less than a second all together. Either way, what the OP was describing is still not right.

I know someone who runs these on a 35" MT tire and he does get a little vibration at lower speeds.

Your lift pump should not activate until you bump the starter. That is not normal operation. Between that and the delayed wait to start light something is amiss. Find a good code reader and have your truck scanned for any codes.

I had to replace my batts 3 years ago in August. I caught a sale on Interstate batteries and the deal was too good to pass on. Last month I had one fail out of the blue. Started fine one day and the next I noticed a pretty severe drag. It failed under a 50 amp load. My truck might sit a day or two here and there during the warm weather but for the most part it gets ran every day. They prorated the battery but would not do anything for me for the other. I went round and round with the store and got them to make a phone call but still got shot down. All I was asking for was for replacement of both batteries at the pro rated price. I thought that was fair, but apparently they didnt. So now I'm running one new battery and one thats 3 yrs and 3 months old.

Exactamundo!

I towed a Mustang (appr 3500 pounds) on my 2500 pound tilt trailer 300 miles to Cincinnatti in 50 degree weather with my winter fronts and it never budged above 190*. We had been seeing cold weather up here which is why I had them on but by the time we drove 300 miles south the weather was considerably warmer. I almost pulled them at a fuel stop but decided against it and just kept an eye on the gauge. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen my truck run hot, even towing heavy in 90* weather. Pretty robust cooling systems.

I would rebuild yours if at all possible. I was in a pinch and had to replace my calipers the night before a long road trip. Went with NAPA figuring I would be safe, I've had to replace the driverside caliper twice in a years time. I know others that have had similar issues with reman parts. It just seems like the general quality of reman parts has gone down hill. Lifetime warranty is of little value if it's trashing other parts in the process and leaving you on the side of the road. I've had to deal with both.

Thats the system my friend has. that will work if you only have Chryslers, Motive also offers a kit for most all import and domestic cars for around 100 bucks. It's cheaper to do it all in on shot vs piecing the system together, IIRC the different adapters are close to 30 bucks each.

let us know what you think of the truck. Oh yeah, pictures, lots of pictures!

It could be something as simple as a sticking regulator. Not sure how the FASS systems operate but it may be worth a shot to pull the regulator apart just to make sure you don't have any debris or something else going on in there before condemning the pump.

We went from having 12+ inches of snow on the ground and temps steady in the low teens during the day to temps in the mid 50s and pouring rain. Inch and a half of rain in the last 24 hours and another 1 to 2 inches predicted in the next 24 hours. Needless to say, ALL of our snow is gone except where it was drifted and piled....The fields are under water and we have flash flood warnings in effect through the weekend. So much for a white Christmas...

If the flow in the bucket test varies alot I would think it would be more of a pump issue or maybe a regulator issue. I have had to pull the regulator on my AD before because the ball got wedged into the spring and caused the pressure to drop.

If you follow the line from the transmission up to the heat exchanger on the passenger side of the engine block, there is a fitting that is threaded into the bottom of the exchanger and then the line threads into the fitting. This is the check valve. It's only purpose is to prevent drainback when you shut the truck off. I removed mine when I rebuilt my trans at the advice of my builder. They are known to fail and when they fail they restrict the flow of fluid and can starve the transmission of oil. The only thing you will have to remember is to give the truck approximately 30 seconds at start up to allow the TC to prime the system if the truck has been sitting.