Man it seems like I've done nothing but work on these trucks lately. Transmission in the F350 decided it wanted more neutrals so that went south. Long story, but I decided to go with the Precision of NH 2648PSRV torque converter. I have only put 40+- miles on it so far, but really like it. I had to get the RV version from out of town, but it seems like it's worth the wait...actually had it in less than 24 hours. When I get a few more miles on it I'll put my foot in the go pedal purdy good and let her rip to see how it does, but I'll also be hooking up to several trailers moving some things to south Texas next week and we'll get some info there.

I pulled the Excursion out of the garage to head over and take care of some stuff on one of the trailers, but went back inside to grab my sunglasses. When I come out I notice a small pool of liquid under the truck..and sure enough, it's coolant. I go ahead and pull it apart and look at the receipt for the warranty. It's from the summer of 2017, but there's probably only 35k+- miles on it. Get it all clean & buckledup hoping this pump last longer. It was a good opportunity to get the billet aluminum thermostat housing put in place as I've been putting it off for years given the possibility of snapping those 3 small bolts.

I moved on to the F350 thinking I'll try the billet aluminum housing on it. If it snaps off I'll pull the pump, clean it up, paint it, and re-install. None of those bolts would budge, even though I put some penetrating oil on them. When I pulled the pump I noticed it did have a bit of play in it, though it wasn't leaking, but has been on the truck since 2009 when it was replaced under warranty 140k ago. When I get the pump off I see where the impeller had been scarping into the back plate of the pump...the front cover on the truck looked good, no scraping. The thermostat was toast too as the center rubber seal was all caught up in there so I'm assuming it never was really completely closing. I ordered a Gates water pump and a thermostat with the one piece gasket that fits around it to seal the top and bottom. I also noticed the belt on my truck was beginning to crack on the groove side of the belt so I ordered the Gates K081213HD green unit. This belt is about an inch or so shorter than the ones on the trucks now, but when it got here and fit with no issues I ordered another given the age of the one on the Excursion and they both seem to have a chirping bird in the engine compartment. Found a good deal on them for anyone interested...


So far no leaks on the billet aluminum housings, but I did use a small bit of Permatex Form a gasket around the outside edge surfaces. I also put some ant-seize on all the bolts and even the large fan clutch nut...hopefully won't have to do this again for a while, but I was really worried about the bolts on the F350 pump given they'd been in there for so long. Interestingly everything came apart easier on the F350 than it did on the Excursion.

Once I get everything moved down the south Texas I plan on rebuilding the fuel bowl on the F350 so I can also add a fitting for a pressure gauge. I'll go ahead and get the other gauges...EGT, transmission temperature, and turbo boost...set up in the F650 lower dash. Then I'll mount the Atoto touch screen head unit with a backup camera...wait, I'm giving myself more work, but I'm betting the wife is going to want this in her Excursion...

 

For the chirping birds try rubbing a candle on the toothed side of the belt. The wax will spread itself around and maybe you'll get lucky.

Where was the deal on the green belt?

 

I won't have to worry about that for awhile with the new belts, but I'll keep that in mind for later. Looks like they may be sold out, but I'm sure they'll restock. The link is in the first post...they were $45 a piece...

 

I think that is where I got my Green belts also, bought two of them,
when you need one now, you need it "now"....

 

you can get the proper sized belt for a good price on RA Gates K081223HD on Rock Auto $46.xx

 

Haven't lost one yet...I have 3 spares now...one in each truck and one in my tool bag.

 

my "need it now" happened fast.
the water pump bearings seized.

.

 

Yep, that happened to me several years back, but the belt was still okay...