Well I'm going to roll it down to the trans shop that did it and see what they have to say. If they say what I think they will I expect them to do it for free, and if thats the case, I'll put a new SB clutch in....

 

A couple of cool little things done to the ol turd as of recent.

I tried the shaeffers 7000 oil Glenn brought up. Really no difference in anything I noticed so far but I didn't expect any besides being quite sluggish in the morning till I get a few miles down the road. I kinda expected that of the 15 vs 5w40 of the t6. Be interesting to see some oil results from the t6 compared to this on the next oil change.

Put the 5125 shocks on the truck. I have not taken it for a spin yet but eager to see the difference.

The biggest thing- updated the tuning for the informant 6 hopefully down the road that I can switch between vehicles.... pretty big difference in the EGT department, and added another 6 lbs of boost. Down side is the tow tunes were replaced with a high idle and silent.... not what I asked for.... not happy about it. On the note of the informant 6... I can't get a clear answer from anyone about it. from the plugs, to the possibility of removing to a different truck and still making the current one driveable and not disabled.... like unplugging a F6 and controller from the chip... any thoughts

Finally got the wifes Excursion up to paint. I had been talking about it for a month but he kept getting bumped back due to other work. Finally got to log the truck and wasn't impressed with the boost, so its going to need a little work when it comes back.

Ordered an RRD intake, boots, strictly diesel coolant filter, purchased CCV mod parts, and rebuilt kit for the turbo. Brakes are next along with the bambi basher I'll build for her safety. Tossed a new serpentine belt on it as well.

I contacted James at Barder to see if the front cover and baseplate/369 wheel could be purchase separately, and I could retain the center cartridge and turbine off my 366 to upgrade.... thats a negative, so I guess I'll hold off till the 366 gets sloppy to drop in the super core.

Finally got the shop cleaned out for summer. That was an enormous effort!

 

And that was in a weekend? What became of the transmission issue?

 

Yeah, I haven't had time to pull the turbo to rebuild or weld up another bumper but the rest is pretty much done.

Transmission is still pissing me off.... They didn't think there was anything wrong with it. It never made that deep grind in reverse till as of late. I still have the odd vibration around 50 mph in the clutch pedal too.

We will see how long it lasts.... taking it elsewhere to a shop that does all of our auto trans for customers, they do manuals too, but really specialize in the 4r100, e40d, and 48re

I have a pretty big job coming up in the next few months if we win it, that may require the tow turd to go about 15k miles in a matter of 40 days pulling a 40' deckover loaded gooseneck. For peace of mind I might pull the clutch, or at least order a new one and keep it in the truck, along with quite a few other parts and 22 gallons of oil...

Hopefully there are a few members on here between CO and MT that will accept an emergency call just in case if we do get the work and the trans pops lol

Few pics of the pulling progress....

 

I must admit I have no idea what I'm looking at in those pictures...

 

its a bunch of studs from a stud welder for a panel dent puller on the pillar and door of the excursion that were pretty damn dented in. I was a bit worried on how it was going to come out if it was at all since its on one of the toughest parst of the body... surprisingly its going much better than thought!

 

Well for a quick shock review: they definitely pick up a lot more of the little road bumps and are quite a bit softer than the 4700s. I like the softer feel for the little stuff, but man hitting a good dip gives the front end a good few bounces now before settling down, where the old 4700s did not. The 4700s were absolutely stiffer and the truck cornered well.

They would be perfect if they would tighten up the rebound damping a bit. Overall I can't complain.

 

Good to know. I'm sure I'll forget all this info and ask you when the time comes for me to buy shocks.

 

Well it appears its been quite some time since I have been on here. Put about 8k on the truck since my last post doing this all day 5 days a week.








Anyone want to take a guess at that weight pictured? I’ll give you a hint and say there is over 4k on the pin, and the 1.5x safety factor for the axles was exceeded…

I wish I had a few pics of the 40’s on the 36’ deckover beamed double tandem… that was by far the heaviest load I have ever pulled. We scaled in and they shook their head and commented on the age of the truck…. I laughed walking out the door.

Regarding the shocks. It took a while for the 5125s to grow on me but I am starting to like them more and more. The small road bumps, washboards, and potholes are well absorbed, it’s the big bumps that the front end likes to bounce a bit more than I would like.

I tried the Shaeffers 7000 series oil that Glenn recommended. At first I thought it helped with the hot idle issue, but I was wrong. It held up well to about 3k, but was severely sheared after 4k using a big Donaldson filter. I went back to the T6 and morning starts were noticeably different and the hot idle issue improved as well, I’m at about 3600 on the T6 and it is performing much better than the Shaeffers on hot idle, cold start and over audibility of the engine idling. I’ll do another oil analysis, but I have a feeling it will be like every other T6 analysis from the past…. Think I’m going o stick wit the T6

I got to run the 366 down at sea Level towing heavy last week too. Right now with the truck in a stock tune at my elevation 19-20 is max post cooler, at sea level it was 23…. Maxed out around 35-36 at elevation I never tried there…. To compare to the ex with 238s/369 that went as well in a stock tune here its around 35, down there he was near 40psi…In a stock tune! 50+ was no sweat in anything out of stock….unreal.

I hope this fall I can get enough time to get a compression test on the motor. About 20 pages back I posted a video of my CCV hose blowby flow. It’s about average for the motor and time on it. The biggest thing I started noticing is I am consuming about 1.25 qts of oil every 1000 miles. She never did this 50k ago, in fact it may have been a qt for every oil change. Fuel filter is not black, more blue from the TC3W I’m running, but I do not believe the orings are seeping. Personally think its ring related on a single cylinder and she just simply burning it….. If I have the truck idling for 5-6 hours moving a chipper or trailers at low rpm on site, when I step on it through the gears on my way home she blows a faint hue of blue/black through the frst two gears and then clears up for good…. Not too worried as its just residual burn off of oil after 6hours of idling, but its there!

Changed careers about a month ago, and its been for a bumpy ride for the last 6 weeks or so. Been overwhelmingly busy in the shop and in the timber. Abusing the heck out of the truck, but I am always impressed on how the motor keeps on going…. Even if its all day wound all the way out.

Burnt up a winch motor and replaced it as well. Had 3 blow outs, but that was expected, all were due to stumps or ground junk, maybe assisted with overloading :-)?

On the list for the truck:

16w Led spot and floods for the headache rack, bumper, and rear bumper
New ebrake cable and left side shoes, old cable froze…..
Replace the water injection solenoid
Mud flaps
Horn – will likely be air since the current setup is gone - they will be loud and hopefully a chain pull!
Try to get the cruise fixed
Another oil change
Winter tires and PD the wheels black
Modify down pipe to properly fit - seal on 366

 

Looks good Nik! She looks right at home on that trailer, old truck or not.

 

She turned 20 this month according to the door sticker... Their comments were not negative but rather how the old turd made it there with the load in one piece :-) and how it was rated to pull half the scaled weight...

 

Just another day for an OBS, huh Nick

 

Man I bet she loved being worked like that! Looks right at home.

Can I make a suggestion on the lights if you haven't already picked some out. I've been using Auxbeam lights from Amazon and they have been great for the price I paid. have a 12" combo on the ATV and working on a set of 18w floods front and rear on Thora. Hooked them up for testing and they throw light! durability and reliability are good, just look on Youtube for people that have torture tested them and they held up to some crazy abuse.

 

Yeah the new Led lights are pretty nuts. My friend had a couple sets on his truck during hunting season and they outshine my HIDs in my clear lensed headlights by a lot. He stores his trailer on my property and for payment picked up two sets of floods and one set of spots. I have cutouts for the spots in the bumper already.

The two sets of floods will go on the back. Mounting/ cut out in rear bumper, and then the other set goes on the rack with quick disconnects... I have never had reverse lights... Drives me nuts.

Lights are the "Rigid" model I believe...

 

Rigid are supposed to be just about the best you can buy... My boss got some for his tractor and they're pretty awesome.