you have so much to learn young jedi.
Come home, play with baby, put baby to bed, put mommy to bed, bring baby monitor into shop...
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Come home, play with baby, put baby to bed, put mommy to bed, bring baby monitor into shop...
Come home, play with baby, put baby to bed, put mommy to bed, bring baby monitor into shop...
You left out the part about waking baby up when you go to bed, momma makes you feed baby, baby cries for 1 hour. Next day you face the wrath of an overtired momma and in the evening you are asleep on the couch before baby... Let us know how it goes.
- Thread starter
- #684
Findings:
When I was under the rig just looking around I found that I had a clearance problem with the ram and that it had contacted the oil pan. It must have happened last wheeling trip since I got to flex out the front end on a couple of spots. It actually left a very small dent on the oil pan, nothing needing to be fixed but something needing to be addressed. I had planned to go wheeling so I spent the day before lengthening the bumpstops.
I also found that my passenger side motor mount is going to need replacing if I start wheeling it harder. I'll study it some more to see if I need to redesign/modify that mount for better weight placement.
So I wheeled it yesterday and got some more motivation to get some sliders fabed up and get a front bumper together for some better winch/tow points. Driver side rocker got dented and I have a little gutter work since I peeled it down in one spot (the hole tells me it won't seal up very well). The place we explored had some serious overgrowth so that part wasn't much fun for me. I got detained on two obstacles where being locked front and rear would have helped so I had to use the strap. My jam nut on my driverside TRE kept loosening so the ram would spin the tie rod and bind. Not a problem on the street but sawing back and forth on wet, muddy rocks with a little go pedel applied more force on the parts to loosen them up. I've got my TREs tilted opposite ways (as suggested when mounting a ram to the tie rod so it doesn't spin) so I might try swapping the tilt on them to see if that makes a difference. I wheeled it harder this time and found once I got back into town that it felt "funny" when I try to reverse, like something is rubbing or not meshing correctly. It's only in reverse and I got home just fine. I didn't drive it today to work because I didn't get a chance to further troubleshooting it. Ujoints were fine and nothing looked like it was rubbing the tires so I plan to pull the diff cover and have a look inside. If it's spider gears I've got some to replace them, if it's a tooth on the R&P I'll be working on that 14bolt sooner than I thought. I'll have to go up the line from there if I don't find anything: tcase, doubler, tranny. Any of those will make me sad.
When I was under the rig just looking around I found that I had a clearance problem with the ram and that it had contacted the oil pan. It must have happened last wheeling trip since I got to flex out the front end on a couple of spots. It actually left a very small dent on the oil pan, nothing needing to be fixed but something needing to be addressed. I had planned to go wheeling so I spent the day before lengthening the bumpstops.
I also found that my passenger side motor mount is going to need replacing if I start wheeling it harder. I'll study it some more to see if I need to redesign/modify that mount for better weight placement.
So I wheeled it yesterday and got some more motivation to get some sliders fabed up and get a front bumper together for some better winch/tow points. Driver side rocker got dented and I have a little gutter work since I peeled it down in one spot (the hole tells me it won't seal up very well). The place we explored had some serious overgrowth so that part wasn't much fun for me. I got detained on two obstacles where being locked front and rear would have helped so I had to use the strap. My jam nut on my driverside TRE kept loosening so the ram would spin the tie rod and bind. Not a problem on the street but sawing back and forth on wet, muddy rocks with a little go pedel applied more force on the parts to loosen them up. I've got my TREs tilted opposite ways (as suggested when mounting a ram to the tie rod so it doesn't spin) so I might try swapping the tilt on them to see if that makes a difference. I wheeled it harder this time and found once I got back into town that it felt "funny" when I try to reverse, like something is rubbing or not meshing correctly. It's only in reverse and I got home just fine. I didn't drive it today to work because I didn't get a chance to further troubleshooting it. Ujoints were fine and nothing looked like it was rubbing the tires so I plan to pull the diff cover and have a look inside. If it's spider gears I've got some to replace them, if it's a tooth on the R&P I'll be working on that 14bolt sooner than I thought. I'll have to go up the line from there if I don't find anything: tcase, doubler, tranny. Any of those will make me sad.
- Thread starter
- #685
I got underneath it last night after dinner and popped off the diff cover. No problems and no metal chunks/chips in the lube or at the bottom of the housing. I looked around some more and noticed that there was a scratch mark on the inside of the passenger rear rim like a rock had gotten wedged between the caliper and rim. There was a scrape line on the inner diameter. I didn't see any thing left that could be wedged and then I found it. The top bolt on my caliper was missing so when I was going forward and braking the bottom bolt acted like a pivot point and would suck the caliper down on the rotor. When I traveled in reverse the opposite would happen and the caliper would pivot off the rotor and rub against the inside of the rim. I used locktight on those bolts but I never went back and retighten them down after a few miles on the road. I took the other bolt out and will go find a match during my lunch break today. I do feel relieved that it'll only be a $1.50 repair. I'll try and get some pics tonight of the issues I've had this week.
regarding boost leaks... I've had good luck tracking down leaks but using a bicycle innertube. Cut it in half, use pipe-clamps to attach each end to the intercooler openings... then pressurize system via the schrader-valve. Only need 10PSI or so... then listen for leaks. Or let it sit and see if it looses PSI.
- Thread starter
- #688
My 4" to 3" reducer came in so I slipped out my temporary one and put the real one in.
I decided to keep the 4" air filter and just reduce it since it's still new plus this way if I step up to a turbo with a 4" intake I'll have the parts already.
This was the scratch in the rim from the caliper rubbing due to a missing bolt. No real damage to the rim or the caliper just some scrapes. I got a replacement bolt yesterday and put it on last night so I drove it today.
This is where I peeled the gutter down. I took a crecent wrench and bent it up a little but I'll need to reseal and repaint that section once I finish straightening it out.
Here is my driver side rocker damage.
Front extended bumpstop
Rear extended bumpstop. I offset the rears so that it would contact the flat part of the spring plate. I had to offset because I moved the axle back and reused the original holes for the bump stops.
I decided to keep the 4" air filter and just reduce it since it's still new plus this way if I step up to a turbo with a 4" intake I'll have the parts already.
This was the scratch in the rim from the caliper rubbing due to a missing bolt. No real damage to the rim or the caliper just some scrapes. I got a replacement bolt yesterday and put it on last night so I drove it today.
This is where I peeled the gutter down. I took a crecent wrench and bent it up a little but I'll need to reseal and repaint that section once I finish straightening it out.
Here is my driver side rocker damage.
Front extended bumpstop
Rear extended bumpstop. I offset the rears so that it would contact the flat part of the spring plate. I had to offset because I moved the axle back and reused the original holes for the bump stops.
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- Thread starter
- #690
It does seem pointless to protect that rocker now but I wasn't planning on cutting them out, just adding sliders anchored off the frame. I'll have to see what kind of slider material I find in the scrap metal area at the local steel yard. If I need to tuck them up higher then I might cut them out and do some body work (the body work is what I'm not looking forward to).
I'm not looking forward to the body work either, but up here in the Northeast I don't have much of a choice.
Truck looks great as usual! Keep up the awesome work!!
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2006
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- Hillsboro, OR
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- www.cascadecruisers.com
Mine looked like that too.. so I just cut them off.
Mike's rig is pretty nice though. I'm sure he'll something over-the-top to fix it. 
HA!
After my SOA, I lost a top caliper bolt on the DS front in Death Valley...Made a GOD AWFUL noise and scared the SH!T outta me being in the middle of NO WHERE. I was SOOOOOO relieved that was all that was wrong.
Im so glad to hear thats all it was for you to. Id hate for you to have to go back into everything to track down a needle in a haystack.
Nice job!
Chicago
Let's see, the second one usually goes faster and considering all of the things I did besides the engine swap the first one took me about 10-11 months to get it on the ground and the next 6+ to continue tuning. I bet I could get a swap and SOA with pre-bought parts done in 3 weekends...
I will take that bet let me know when you want to get started
You left out the part about waking baby up when you go to bed, momma makes you feed baby, baby cries for 1 hour. Next day you face the wrath of an overtired momma and in the evening you are asleep on the couch before baby... Let us know how it goes.
also the die grinder at 11pm tends to wake them up and piss off wife/ neighbors
you also forgot the cruiser fund is now the Costco Baby diaper/ wipe/ butt ointment fund.
Come home, play with baby, put baby to bed, put mommy to bed, bring baby monitor into shop...
man dillusional days before kids were some of the best times I had.
Getting back to topic here:
So you are staying away from HG or rings on your current assessment or just trying to get the turbo/ leaks etc worked out before going that route?
Clint
- Thread starter
- #695
I found a big leak this week in the curved tubing after the intercooler I thought I fixed before. I found out how porous welding can be. This time I think I got it. I haven't put it back together yet but am hoping to have it back together tonight since I also pulled the intercooler to test. I'm also working on a much stronger new base for my tcase shifters. Anyways, back to wrenching.
- Thread starter
- #696
weekly update
I pulled the intercooler again to try out some testing. I picked up a bike tube for testing and found that tightening down hose clamps kept poking a hole in the tube so I ended up using duct tape to keep them on. I'd put in more air and test for psi and the tube kept getting bigger and bigger with the 4.5psi being the max. This was the result (my wife came out when she heard it pop):
Then I just cut out the valve and taped it on. It leaked but I was able to get more than 4.5psi in it. I filled up a tub and found my intercooler was bigger than I thought.
Every once in a while it pays having kids. I grabbed the kiddy pool, filled it enough to submerge the intercooler and put it in. I turned up the compresser regulator to 40psi and kept air feeding into it and with the leaking from my "pressure fittings" I at least had 20psi in it. Since my boost gauge fluttered as low as 5psi I figured 20psi was enough for testing. As you can see there were no bubbles so the intercooler was fine.
With no leak from the intercooler it has to come from somewhere else. I grabbed the tube I thought I fixed before for a test. I taped up the ends with the bike tube valve.
The ends weren't air tight but I got enough pressure in it to clearly see several pinholes leaking air which = boost leak.
I cut out that section and welded in a new piece. I'd test it and fill the holes. This I did about 10 times and kept finding air leaks. The last one tested good but I picked up some JB Weld and coated the weld areas just in case. I also coated a few places on the intercooler just in case where the welds didn't look the best cause I don't really want to take out the intercooler again. I gave them a shot of new paint.
While I was down there putting the intercooler back in I noticed my passenger motor mount wasn't looking too healthy.
About 2/3rds of it had separated from the base. I called around and found a replacement and decided this time I wasn't going to drill to soften it up. If the new one starts to show similar signs I'll redesign/modify the bracketry to fix the problem.
I used the engine hoist to lift the engine high enough to wiggle the old mount out and get the new one in. I had to loosen the bottom nut on the other side to lift high enough. I also thought I could get away with leaving the bottom radiator hose on. No such luck and it popped off dumping coolant all over the ground. Guess I'd be doing a coolant flush as well. Anyways it's all back in and I'm getting more vibs transfered to the cab. The intake horn is hitting the hood so that might be part of it. It hits where a beam is on the hood so I just need to notch that for a little more clearance. I have entertained thoughts of making my own intake horn as well and making the connection to the intercooler a straight tube instead of my curved one, we'll see.
With the motor mount issue I didn't complete my shifter mounting bracket but I got it mostly finished. This mounts on just one side of the tranny. I replaced some pan bolts with longer ones so I had a stud sticking up that I could bolt this bracket onto. I moved the mounting points for my 203 H/L and tcase H/L up to reduce throw just a little bit. I might need to clearance a few more things when I hook things up for trial. I'm also planning on finally finishing the shifters by extending them up for better reach from the driver seat.
The other reason I didn't finish is that I took some time to clean up the rig from the last weeking trip. I had to bring out the pressure washer for that one.
Boost did increase and I've reached 21psi so far. I still have the intake plate gasket to replace but the gauge isn't boucing as much so it's nice to have some progress. I also started running some injector cleaner and will run a couple tanks through.
I pulled the intercooler again to try out some testing. I picked up a bike tube for testing and found that tightening down hose clamps kept poking a hole in the tube so I ended up using duct tape to keep them on. I'd put in more air and test for psi and the tube kept getting bigger and bigger with the 4.5psi being the max. This was the result (my wife came out when she heard it pop):
Then I just cut out the valve and taped it on. It leaked but I was able to get more than 4.5psi in it. I filled up a tub and found my intercooler was bigger than I thought.
Every once in a while it pays having kids. I grabbed the kiddy pool, filled it enough to submerge the intercooler and put it in. I turned up the compresser regulator to 40psi and kept air feeding into it and with the leaking from my "pressure fittings" I at least had 20psi in it. Since my boost gauge fluttered as low as 5psi I figured 20psi was enough for testing. As you can see there were no bubbles so the intercooler was fine.
With no leak from the intercooler it has to come from somewhere else. I grabbed the tube I thought I fixed before for a test. I taped up the ends with the bike tube valve.
The ends weren't air tight but I got enough pressure in it to clearly see several pinholes leaking air which = boost leak.
I cut out that section and welded in a new piece. I'd test it and fill the holes. This I did about 10 times and kept finding air leaks. The last one tested good but I picked up some JB Weld and coated the weld areas just in case. I also coated a few places on the intercooler just in case where the welds didn't look the best cause I don't really want to take out the intercooler again. I gave them a shot of new paint.
While I was down there putting the intercooler back in I noticed my passenger motor mount wasn't looking too healthy.
About 2/3rds of it had separated from the base. I called around and found a replacement and decided this time I wasn't going to drill to soften it up. If the new one starts to show similar signs I'll redesign/modify the bracketry to fix the problem.
I used the engine hoist to lift the engine high enough to wiggle the old mount out and get the new one in. I had to loosen the bottom nut on the other side to lift high enough. I also thought I could get away with leaving the bottom radiator hose on. No such luck and it popped off dumping coolant all over the ground. Guess I'd be doing a coolant flush as well. Anyways it's all back in and I'm getting more vibs transfered to the cab. The intake horn is hitting the hood so that might be part of it. It hits where a beam is on the hood so I just need to notch that for a little more clearance. I have entertained thoughts of making my own intake horn as well and making the connection to the intercooler a straight tube instead of my curved one, we'll see.
With the motor mount issue I didn't complete my shifter mounting bracket but I got it mostly finished. This mounts on just one side of the tranny. I replaced some pan bolts with longer ones so I had a stud sticking up that I could bolt this bracket onto. I moved the mounting points for my 203 H/L and tcase H/L up to reduce throw just a little bit. I might need to clearance a few more things when I hook things up for trial. I'm also planning on finally finishing the shifters by extending them up for better reach from the driver seat.
The other reason I didn't finish is that I took some time to clean up the rig from the last weeking trip. I had to bring out the pressure washer for that one.
Boost did increase and I've reached 21psi so far. I still have the intake plate gasket to replace but the gauge isn't boucing as much so it's nice to have some progress. I also started running some injector cleaner and will run a couple tanks through.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #699
I'm not finding as much energy as I used to but since I've been working on it almost every week for 1 1/2 years it seems odd not doing anything to it on my days off. So I guess I've forced myself into a routine. Trips and wheeling help me get out and help me set goals. That's usually when I find out what is working and what needs more attention.
Hey Mike,
Just catching up on the rest of your thread here. Been months since I read up on it. Looking great as always! I can't believe the amount of work you have, looking great man! Andre
Just catching up on the rest of your thread here. Been months since I read up on it. Looking great as always! I can't believe the amount of work you have, looking great man! Andre