Yea and I'm curious about the carnage. At 800k I'm curious to see how far it can go.

 

I'm just hopping it's not cavitation. It has a miss and the idle is surging up and down, oil in coolant and coolant in oil. Still runs OK but it's blowing the coolant out the bottle .

 

I don't know what that is.

 

Pin holes on the cylinder liners. The coolant was maintained but with these many miles something has to give.

 

So...how's it going? Time for an update!!! Hope it's going well but I'm guessing you've been too busy with work and family to get much done.

 

Yeah no time, work has been crazy and with only Sunday off that's about the only time I have to work on the Mule, but hopefully soon I'll return to my regular 48hr. schedule lol...

 

Updates too come I won't go into details but I'm working a deal out, and a good one..

 

OK here's the scoop, I'm after 2 1996 dually extended cabs XL auto's both don't run one is missing turbo and pedestal the other is complete as complete goes, condition wise they are fair, both have Alcoa's, guy said they had some kind of electrical problem, threw parts at them and they didn't start. So in the back of my head I'm assuming it might be something really simple that I can figure out, but I'm rethinking my deal, even tho the tranny fluid on both trucks didn't smell or looked bad I'm skeptic as to what if??? Also I'm in a tight budget (building my house already) I would love to finish the Mule but what if I can fix these trucks and go after profit, I mean they are really low price wise, mileage is unknown as they don't have battery's to check mileage but can check that.

What would you fellas do if you were in my shoes??

 

Well my advice may not be the best regarding this, but if they are cheap enough I'd buy them! I don't know what those trucks got for in New Mexico, but if you can get them running, you might make come out profitable.

I think stock turbos are pretty easy to come by, as well as pedestals. If you go that route and have trouble finding them, I do have a spare now that I picked up that d66.

 

The problem is what if the engines or trannys are bad? It's a gamble I'm not able to check them out in his place as he might back out of the deal. These trucks are not too expensive maybe a 3-5 K Just in parts I can double or triple what I would pay for them.

 

I'll send you a stock turbo for some dually alcoas!! Lol. But in all seriousness, I have a stock turbo if you need it. And if you part out dually alcoas, let me get first crack em please!

 

Yeah it would be a bummer if the engines/trannys are bad.

Like you said, you could probably make a bit off the parts though. I'm praying that my replacement motor isn't bad.. because if it is then my Bronco probably won't be running before I go off on active duty. I think I'll be okay though because there was no diesel in the oil on this motor, so if the compression isn't great, it could still scoot by as long as it doesn't have that problem. If the problem re-appears, I'm thinking it's not the compression that would be causing it.


As for your dilemma, I suppose it depends on if you have the space/time.

Are the body panels in good shape? If they are, then that could be worth something to people who live in rusted out areas. From what I read, these motors seem to really only have 2 major issues when it comes to them actually being bad being:

1. Getting dusted (bad factory air box, lack of maintenance, K&N filter)
2. Improper or no coolant maintenance (not adding the SCA causing cavitation)

The rest of the issues, while many, are usually fixable without a major expense. Like bad/worn out injectors or HPOP, or bad injector wiring harnesses or CPS.

I'd say, if the turbo wheels looks good, that's a good sign. Transmission are a little more sketchy to me, especially being automatic. I don't know the cost or availability of the auto trannys, but those might give more trouble than the motors. However, I don't think it's as expensive or hard to replace those if needed.




So I guess it boils down to, are you comfortable parting these trucks out if the motors end up being bad? If the trannys are bad, I'd probably try to replace them and sell the truck as a whole.





Edit. What's a dually alcola by the way?

Edit 2: Plus, if there are good parts on these trucks, if you do have to part them out, you might be able to snag stuff for The Mule to get it back up and running!

 

f350 alcoa wheels | eBay Those are for super duty, but you get the idea OK?

 

Oh okay I get it now.

It seems like the wheels are probably pretty sought after then for people with duallys, especially if it's for OBS trucks since they are probably more rare.

 

YOLO...do it!!