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1200 pounds will not notice your 6.0. Ride the first 500-1000 miles without heavy load and without WOT. I call it "driving like an old man". Then do an oil change.
OE motors go through a short dyno procedure, optimized for the machining conditions they have.
The commercial trucking and bus world doing both in-frames and out-of-frames rebuilds would have a hard time following that procedure, yet they see long lives. They don't wait for one thousand miles; you don't see a lot of bobtailing on highways. But they do not idle for long (<5 minutes), vary the throttle, and don't venture into high rpm for some time. High rpm tends to not be a characteristic of trucking or buses. Most truckers I believe would say get a load on it.
Hartwig is right, 1200lbs is not where I was and not a concern for these motors. For me, I will. But it really comes down to what the piston ring manufacturer states, and secondarily what the engine machinist states.
Thanks Jack, here’s a copy and paste from your article.
-—“You don’t want to break-in an engine at idle. You want to keep the rpm above 1,500 and vary the speed continuously for about the first 20 minutes.” After bringing the engine up to normalized coolant and oil temperature, put the engine under load. The cylinder pressure from 50 to 75 percent and eventually to 100 percent load will place additional pressure on the back side of the rings which will quickly establish the proper wear pattern for seating.—-
I got the initial break in right. I let it warm to around 180 degrees coolant and oil temperature and then ran up to 1500rpm varying rpm for about a minute then put in gear and power braked up to 1500rpm in each gear then romped it a few times and drove it 40 miles varying speed and rpm.
I will wait to tow, I have my spare truck for that. Thanks guys!
For me, the wait to tow is precautionary, and light compared to the commercial side experience.
There are 1000 opinions out there, I know enough to say what I might do myself may not be the ideal in the muck of all the info. I certainly don't think you've done anything wrong.
Thanks for the help Bill! I knew it would happen, she just wanted to give me a little more hell before it happened. Mainly my fault but I put some blame on the braided hose having a littke twist and not wanting to fall in line with the branch tube like it should.
She runs and starts great. Cold start this morning and fired right up. Having to make a 3/4” line wrench now to tighten power steering fitting. About to paint the full replacement front bumper and get it mounted. I may prep it, mount it and paint it on the truck, weighing my options.
The steering and brakes are much better. I knew steering would be better with the new blue top steering gear but the brakes I was not sure about. Much better though for sure.
That's great to hear. Glad you didn't have to pull the engine...again.
It would be nice to know if it was the hydro-boost rebuild or the new brake lines. One way to find out I guess.
The hydroboost was barely leaking between the master cylinder and hydroboost. The main piston seal was the reason for that leak, that is where they drip when that seal is compromised.
I think the lines help, I added the return lines and cooler too. New steering gear may have something to do with it but whatever it is she stops much quicker. I was doing some stop and go braking yesterday and it was a very noticeable difference. You have to wonder if the teflon core stainless braided high pressure lines don’t expand as much just like replacing rubber brake hoses with the upgraded braided stainless.
I just took a lunch break. Got the new NAPA power steering pump installed, buttoning back up and filling PS and coolant now.
I swear this is my luck. I pulled the fan, shroud and leaking power steering pump off and got one from NAPA with the Ford pulley and installed it, buttoned everything up and fired it up and the SOB belt jumps off the pulley two ribs because the pulley is just a hair narrower than the belt and the pulley is about 1/4” back from aligning with the other pulleys. What the hell? What Ford pulley and pump is made that way for a 2003? I have to pull it all off tomorrow and I guess just use the old pump and pulley since apparently I have a one of a kind...
It stays on fine, I thought about being half assed and just leaving it but last thing I need is the edge of the pulley wearing the belt and throwing it on a road trip leaving me wrenching on the side of the road.
It’s a Ford body and a Ford pulley. The dang pulley is about 1/8” narrower than the belt which is hard to tell from the top when installing the belt. What a pain in the butt. I’m going to Napa tomorrow and get my friggin’ core charge plus time spent swapping pumps. I could try swapping pulleys with the pump on the truck but that’s a tight area unless I pull the whole radiator, intercooler, tranny cooler and crossmember. Who knows if the pulleys will swap out correctly. I keep thinking I can just drive the truck and something else comes up.
I've replaced my PS pump twice, both times I pulled the pulley first and never pulled any radiators. Fan and shroud yes, radiators no. Just have to use a puller made specifically for the PS pulley.
The way I recall its necessary to remove the pulley to get to one of the mounting bolts or the hose connection; one of those but don't remember which.