My E99 Centurion has been giving me issues since I bought it. Low power, low boost, running hot, spewing coolant, horribly rough shaking idle, stalling, burning oil, all the fun.
I am officially done messing around. I picked up a parts truck today, L99 zf6 with a manual t case and 133k on the clock. It fires right up and runs/idles smooth and shifts well. It has a new clutch, and oil pan, but I will redo the pan as it is somewhat leaking because someone did it in the truck with the cross member cut out, it didn't seal well with oil running down on sealer as it set. The truck will retain the stock injectors in the engine and stay almost entirely stock.
Initial observations of the engine are good. I will be doing a compression test and a thorough evaluation of the engine before removal.
The flatbed is useable, but a bit light duty for my use on my other truck for plowing. Tue cab and frame are rotted junk. Axles are useable(sellable)
Rims and tires are good, 4 spare aluminum rims came with it too.
All in all, not a bad deal for $2,500







4 miles from home hit a bump and airbags deflated dropping the rear end low, once weight was off, I was able to get the pump to air them up again(second time this air-ride kit has done that)

 

This will be fun. I was kinda thinking that you had things ironed out with this truck after finding some issues with the injectors?

 

I'm still digging those rims!
Oh...if I can bring my truck back to life.

 

What clutch do you plan to use? I need to decide which one to buy for my swap.

 

Looking forward to following along with you Eric.

 

May I offer some voice of experience here, please? I have the exact same model year as yours. Same drivetrain as well. Mechanical transfer case, etc. There was a design flaw in the transfer case that will leave you stranded without any warning due to the fact that the mainshaft wasn't manufactured with an oiling passage to lubricate the shift fork. End result is that the splashing that the engineers were relying upon to keep everything lubed up was inadequate. I was left stranded on the top of Mount Rainier, WA with a truck that wouldn't move under it's own power, period. Had to tow it back home and leave the RV in the campsite where I had just booked a few nights as a maiden voyage.
Recommend you drain the transfer case ATF and look for ANY sign of melted plastic. What that is, is the ends of the shift fork and mine were ground away to nothing. And there was ZERO warning signs.
I was sent a link to a rebuild kit that contained a mainshaft with an oiler passage machined into the assembly. It was a fairly easy job, once I got it apart. I have diagrams for the job saved to my computer, if you are interested send me a PM and I will email them to you.
Pictures of the job that I found that were still on my hard drive.
EDIT. It took me a couple of minutes to pick it out, but the shift fork that failed is in the first picture, sticking out below the larger shift fork that still appears to be ok. Kind hiding in plain sight and it doesn't look much like a shift fork because it's missing all it's teeth.

Compare the old shift fork with the new, and much more robust design. It's the smaller of the two shift forks and there are no teeth left..

Upper shaft is the one with the oiling passage.

Updated shift fork. Note the metal thrust bearings now, and gear with oiling passage, instead of plastic little ears.

Ready for closing.

 

And this truck only had about 55,000 miles on it when this happened. I bought it with 49k on the clock.

 

This is where I bought the parts necessary to upgrade the TC. Original link that I was sent is no longer valid, but this is the company that I got it from
https://www.drivetrain.com/parts-cat...g-a-parts-list

 

I will look into it. Hadnt been aware the 271 t cases had that issue, thanks for the suggestion

 

since it has a new clutch, which feels like a luk, I will run that for now. If I were buying a clutch I would go for a south bend 944-60k-hd
Their street dual disk takes a lot of abuse but isnt as friendly of a pedal pressure or as nice to the budget.

 

some of the quirks settled down for a bit with injectors, but they are back, the injectors are garbage. Done dealing with this engine. Waste of time to continue messing with it , better to just swap out and go back to about stock.

 

It’s a shame what NY winters did to this parts truck

 

Oh come on Eric, that'll buff out

 

That is one rotted out truck. Very grateful I don't live in the rust belt.

 

It's a shame that residents of states like that ALLOW the D.O.T. to do that to privately-owned vehicles.