hey fellas,

not to be rude, but the external filter housing is supposed to be an inline filter. all i did when i upgraded was to fill up with tranny fluid and screw that cup back in. 2nd job 6.4 powerstrokes don't have that external filter housing. essentially, it just filters a minute amount, and my logic dictates that it becomes redundant when we upgrade to the 6.4 internal filter, because that is the true filter which we were all intended to have.

Mike, i've been hanging in there. i'm just slowly getting back on the forum. making some progress somewhat. lol.

Sean, i hear u. i was just seeing if anyone ever thought to "build an upgraded line kit" since i was down under the truck and it just hit me like a light bulb. lol. aint nobody thought about improving on the lines? lol.

i know, i'm stirring up a hornet's nest, but let's make america great again! lol!

on a serious note, i think Bulletproof Diesel makes an aftermarket external filter kit for the 6.4 powerstrokes, and thats the closest i've seen to an external filter kit with some sort of "upgraded' lines over stock. i'll be scouring the internet for more info. i may never find it.

oh, and next tranny maintenance, i'm gonna replace the dummy plug in there. any benefits or changes if i decide to replace the epc solenoid and 1 other solenoid as an upgrade? will it affect me? i'm on stock tranny and no tunes. will it be detrimental? thanks y'all!

 

Jack, just liked your Facebook page. i do maintain a Facebook album on my progress with my nightmare of a truck. never will i ever buy a dually ever again. it causes too much nightmares.

hope everyone is doing well!

 

That above is a tough one to hear. Care to elaborate?

 

As per 87CrewDually, please elaborate on never/ever dually? too much nightmares?

 

Sorry for the late reply. Compared to a SRW, a dually is much more maintenance and then some. It just keeps adding up and adding up. Simple math.

 

Sounds like you had a bad experience. Other than 4 fender light bulbs and 2 rear tires maintenance hasn't been any different than the SRW trucks I maintain. With approaching 170,000 I just changed out steering components and I did lower ball joints twice and uppers once in it's lifetime.
Now if you said the 4x4 dullies are not as fuel effecient then I'd have to agree.

 

Howdy Worm, I always enjoy reading your posts, glad you're still crawling around out there and I mean that in a good way.

 

4x4 Duallies have 16 to 20 more time consuming nuts to have to undo to take off the wheel adapter so that the rotor can be removed so that the wheel bearing can be lubed through the abs hole every 60K miles. The issue with those nuts is that they cant be zip zip zipped on and off with an impact gun, because one needs both a short socket and a long extension to access them, and the tools (gun + extension, and socket) must be disassembled and reassembled again for each and every single nut. And then done again on reassembly. And then done again to check torque to spec. And then there is the other side to do. The entire sequence all over again. Each and every repeat step. SRW's just pull the caliper and rotor and done.

 

Seriously? That's a reach. And is not happening. Original hubs here with almost 170. Replaced rotors once. Never greased hubs through the ABS speed sensor. Anyways taking off an extra set of nuts with an impact isn't costing any more money or parts anyways.

 

Putting more grease in a sealed bearing can cause it own problems.
Not to mention the fowling of the tone ring.

 

Also not to be rude, but I don't think you understand the diagram. *if the diagram is correct*, that filter is not in-line, it's in-parallel.

There are basically 2 "loops" that the trans fluid goes through. A short loop is through the filter, a long loop is through the cooler in the radiator.

Both the cooler and the filter present resistance to flow. When it comes to fluid flow it works very much like electronics, and you can think of the cooler and the filter like resistors or like light bulbs.

Both loops get flow in accordance to the resistance they create. The higher resistance of the filter vs the lower resistance of the cooler means more flow goes through the cooler.

Here's the point that the diagram is trying to make. If you just pull the filter out you've now switched the bias. The lower resistance flow is now through the empty filter housing, so it's going to get the majority of the flow. Most of the fluid will take the short loop through the empty filter housing, and never make it to the cooler. From an electronics analogy perspective, this would be like removing the 2nd light bulb and shorting out the 2 wires in place of the bulb. Test that out and you'll see the 1st bulb goes out, because none of the electrons bother to take that path.

That's why it's explaining that removing that filter is neutering the transmission cooler and could lead to overheating the transmission. The right way to delete the filter is to also plug the passage. Do that, and all the fluid will go through the cooler like it should.

Anyway, hopefully that makes sense.

 

Fowling the tone ring? Will it fly away? Or should it be hunted and shot?

Actually, my ABS has never worked better since re-greasing the bearing. I verified function by logging the individual wheel speed sensors PIDS with an NGS scan tool while driving.

How can new grease foul a tone ring, when the old grease didn't? How can a tone ring be fouled by grease, or even gear oil for that matter, when tone rings are in a constant oil bath of icky clingly gear oil in the rear differential, and constantly exposed to the uncontrollable slinging of grease in the unit bearing? The tone ring is piece of metal. It isn't going to get fouled. The tight tolerance of clearance between the hall effect sensor tip and the teeth of the tone ring is mechanically self clearing. The interaction is magnetic, and any film of grease between the tip and the ring is transparent to the signal.

My bearings were dry. The last of the old grease had spun and wicked out through centrifugal force through the seams of the "sealed" bearing. I removed the unit bearing entirely in order to inspect. My needle bearing was dry too. The Ford maintenance manual calls for regreasing this needle bearing every 60,000 miles, and mine definitely needed the grease at that mileage interval. I caught it just in time before any effect appeared on the stub axle.

On the other hand, I agree that some problems can arise by putting too much grease inside the unit bearing. Filling it entirely can create more friction, which creates more heat in the bearing. So moderation is key, as well as using a compatible grease. There are many years and hundreds of thousands of miles of practical field experience that ratify the practice of regreasing the unit bearing through the ABS hole... one member on FTE is at nearly 300K on one of his original unit bearings, now 17 years old. He's a greaser, every year. I'm not that ambitious.

 

That's a pretty good analogy. What I don't get, is the center port on the filter housing looks to be smaller diameter than line size, which would be a restriction, yes? (forcing some flow to the cooler) There was some confusing (conjecture?) in the thread Jack posted about there being a check valve in that housing, yet the Ford diagram and description not only doesn't mention that, but then it does say: "There is also a temperature controlled flow valve in the unit that allows cooler flow warm and not cold" -- assume the "unit" they are talking about is the filter housing and not the "unit" being the transmission itself? hmmm.... In any case it is pretty strongly worded to not change anything.

In Dom's query though, replacing the filter housing completely with a direct line to the cooler and from the cooler to the existing hard lines, should work just fine -- the trans thermostat sends fluid to the cooler when hot enough...

 

Donald,

thanks for the input. thats essentially the idea that led me to this thread. if we can delete that function, then we're pretty much good. but in lieu of that, if we can upgrade our components, that might be 2nd choice. maybe someone who has access to a 2nd job 6.4 powerstroke can chime in about that setup. maybe someone needs to make a kit to emulate that setup without the external tranny filter? just a couple of random thoughts.

 

Dan, you're correct about that valve. i think when the tranny heats up to 190 degrees, i think, then it opens and allows fluid flow.