When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I realized when replacing the trans cooler that my lower front valance was still cut out for the 35X12.5 tires that I replaced with the current ones a couple years ago. I replaced that valance several years ago when I replaced the front bumper face trim. Sine the new tires won't rub, I decided to replace the valance again.
A few parts for BTS when he rebuilds the tranny.
There is wetness around the pan, I just replaced the gasket and did fluid service a year ago, he asked me to check the lower tube adapter that's pressed into the body, sure enough there is wetness there. SO I ordered the lower fill tube, O ring, and press in adapter.
Wow, 50 hours, and almost 1900 miles round trip, it's done!
I left home Thursday @ 3PM with a buddy for company and backup driving and headed to BTS in Lead Hill, AR, returning home yesterday eve at 5PM. Knowing we'd get to Brian's place before opening (6AM) central time, we crashed in the parking lot for 2 hours before Brian and his wife arrived to open up. Within 30 min, he had me pulling the truck in. The work was done with the truck on the ground and just the rear diff jacked up to their desired height and within 10 min Brian was asking me questions about the truck, and mods, etc. He was on a creeper and wrenching just like that with 2 other employees, one being his son I believe, that was the crew working on my truck, I was the only job for that day. It's peaceful and all country there. Clearly everyone knows what their doing, no-one speaks much, and they definitely had a system.
My truck has had a shudder/vibration noticeable during acceleration at speed, and sometimes noticeable around town shortly after rebuilding the rear diff. I had thought is was excess backlash in the diff gears after a few months of driving or possibly the transfer case and I had been trying to track it down. Brian was already suspect of the Ford reman that was in truck, and explained many of the things he's seen as a result of digging in to them for rebuild.
Now, my transmission, replaced mid 2016 by the Ford dealer had started seeping fluid, and leaving drips on the garage floor the last few years or so. This and the age/mileage since the last oil/filter change prompted me to service the tranny maybe 2 years ago. Following the service, it seemed OK, but eventually the dripping returned, and I noticed that after my recent 1300 mile trip to Indiana, the forward face of the rear diff and axle were all damp and getting worse.
Asking Brian prior to my appointment he told me to look around the press fit dipstick tube adapter, which I did, and it was wet, so I brought those parts along. When he dropped the tranny and rolled it out, I saw an orange cap on the adapter hole and asked about the press fit adapter, he said that stayed with the dipstick tube, meaning is was loose in the tranny case, alternately the gasket from the tranny to the x-fer case was leaking too. Soot on the bell housing was notable once the tranny was out which tells me it's time to get those bellowed pipes. Back to my shudder/vibration, his suspicions were correct, the pump stator bearings were the issue, in fact 1/3 of the bearings were GONE. This was creating what he calls jump roping, which I fully understood, I asked about the missing bearings as nothing looked grenaded yet, he said he'll find them eventually. He did, they were scattered in various corners of the tranny internals. Following his build, all of that shudder/vibration is gone.
While they were tearing down the internals, I believe it was his son was working on the front inspecting my new cooler by blowing out excess fluid and checking for clarity, then he did some new plumbing to reduce any excess length of tubing. They took their time, there was no rushing, it was a calm and neat process to watch. Brian's wife mentioned to us that Brian will take us all out to lunch around noon as he always does with his employees. We went to a nice hometown joint with good home cooked food.
During the rebuild, Brian showed me a few things, one being his forged and redesigned sun gear shell, I believe, comparing my original and his new one. The converter is a Duramax converter built to his spec when I asked him about it. Unfortunately I did not get any pics of it or the tranny going in, I had been awake at this point for 1.5 days and was like great there it goes lets get to test driving and go home.
Brian modified the valve body in his rebuild room, which I stayed out of, he was kind enough to let me in the main garage to watch, of course I stayed out of everyone's way. Brian prefers synthetic fluid in his built transmissions and transfer case, he explains lubrication is better with the synthetic, he drained and filled the transfer case with the same while it was out. Once the transmission was in the added the fluid, warmed things up with the rear wheels still off the ground, going through revs, forward and reverse cycles prior to us driving it. Once out we took it a bit easy for final air purge, we drove with my existing tunes so he could see how things felt, and continued to explain what the tranny was doing and why as I drove.
Returning to his shop, he loaded 6 of his own written tunes as configured on his Dyno back in his garage then hit the road again.
His tunes are are setting off my Theft light even though he states that PATS is active within his tunes, and eventually the light stops flashing, but if my PATS is truly inactive while in those tunes, I may not use them. I'll parse though that later, all I could think about was getting home at this point.
All in all, I know very little about transmissions. My description of what I'm experiencing would be skewed but I felt good about the performance and started to understand the better transfer and torque multiplying he had explained as I was driving home. It definitely feels like a stronger more connected transmission with more definite shifts a better lockup. The ability to control down grade speeds with the overdrive button or using 1st or 2nd and staying off the brake was a good experience. The drive back home was fun and free of issues. The final total was $7,800.00, with a 2 year parts/labor, to/from shipping if I can't drive the truck to him, parts cost after that.
Rags to rubber. Looking into my steering wander followed some recent posts in regard to using the Borgeson intermediate shaft that uses all U joints. At the end of the day I felt I wanted the benefit of what the rag joint was intended to provide, reduction of vibration through the steering shaft, and dampening. The Ford shaft is still available, I ordered it and realize it uses a rubber isolator instead of the rag style, maybe my original is rubber too. There may be other differences, I'll know once I install it. Will it wear out, of course, but not expected to in my lifetime, or the limited amount of miles I put on the truck.
Engine block sump heater harness on tap...
My original male power in plug on my harness has been getting pitted. They are brass spades, and I've cleaned them and applied silicone, I just wanted a new one since it's still avail. Another part to add to the weekend project list.
Rabbit hole...!!!
Decided to replace the intermediate steering shaft today. Once I removed the necessary parts (CAC pipe, battery, battery box) to gain clean access to the gearbox connection, I was able to grab a hold of the rag joint once the steering shaft shield was slid back and rotate back and forth while being able to watch the pitman arm at the same time. It appears 90% of my steering play is from the pitman arm spline fit, and/or the gearbox pitman sector shaft. My original intermediate steering shaft had a fair amount of play in the telescopic portion, the rubber joint coupler seemed fine. While rooting around underneath I found the track bar passenger side mounting bolt was loose, allowing the end bar with bushing to be loose. In an effort to correct this and get to the pitman arm nut, I ended up just removing all the bolts from the drivers side track bar bracket, and the drag-link joint from the pitman arm.
I removed the nut and split washer from the pitman arm and saw the arm was nearly flush with the sector shaft shoulder. At this point I'm thinking it's time for a new pitman arm, this was an add-on from the previous owner, so I do not know the brand or specs yet. I found a large thrust washer in my parts junk, and used it for now. Put the washer, nut, and split washer on the sector shaft and proceeded to crank things down using a 33mm socket, a 3/4" breaker bar, and pipe. I was able to tighten the nut about 1 full revolution over the original tightness. This made a decent difference, but play still exists. I will replace the pitman arm to start if the sector shaft splines look OK, then proceed from there. After all the steering linkage was put back together, I finished the intermediate shaft install. I would say about half of my left to right play simply by rotating the steering wheel with the vehicle off is gone. I"m not sure what the additional steering shaft piece is on the new one, maybe for additional dampening. I think the current pitman arm is a ProComp brand.
that is as bad as mine was when I bought the truck....
my "drive test" was 15 mph on twisty, dirt roads on the side of a mountain.
"seems to be okay", hand the check over and hit the pavement..... which was 15+ miles from the guy's home in the sticks.
done deal, I will deal with it.... 60 miles later, I spot an Alignment shop and turn in....
4 or 6 hours later, it is tight and I start for home, 1800 miles away.
A score for me, NOS rear liftgate glass. I think there are only 4 or 5 left at dealers, this one was at a North Carolina dealer 4 hours away, there was one in Alabama, more than one in California, and one in VA I believe. This dealer had it since 2019 and wanted to get rid of it, so after a little negotiating the price they decided sell it to me for cost. The parts guy also mentioned that they just took in a unicorn of a 7.3.
I looked at it and asked if it's for sale, not quite yet says the dealership owner as this became his.
2001 7.3 Limited, 4x4, obviously garaged, no trim fade, no rear entertainment, and only some 55,000 miles.
A score for me, NOS rear liftgate glass. I think there are only 4 or 5 left at dealers, this one was at a North Carolina dealer 4 hours away, there was one in Alabama, more than one in California, and one in VA I believe.
