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8.1L/496 Tech

Back in '08 when I bought my '84 Chevy, the other truck I was looking at was an extended cab shortbed 2500 with an 8.1 and a ZF6. I still kick myself for not spending the money on that truck.
 
Thats the plan.
214k
gOt stolen and beat up a bit but not destroyed by anymeans.
The tow truck broke a tierod pulling it out and hes putting that back together now.

No lifter tick like mine but it does have a spark stumble but i can gaurrantee he never put new plugs in it.


4.10s.

If family does want it ill get the money/shotguns, if they do t want to buy it they can keep driving it and its spares for if i need it.


Paint scraped up a bit. Minor dents. a new mirror, and clean it out, buff job, gtg.
 
Far from perfect but it's a big dumb elephant that just works with practically no overly complex emissions. I'm amazed there weren't more of them either.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Customer base problems. Ford sold ****tons of V10s because their customers understand basic physics.

:flipoff2:
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V10s sucked ass for pulling.

Ford owners bought a v10 because it sounded exotic. Also, Ford loved stuffing them in base model work trucks. Most I've seen were backed by a ZF in a truck with vinyl seats and hand crank windows.
 
Chevy_man said:
It kills me they didn't sell more 8.1 trucks. Everyone wanted a 6.0 for fuel mileage, not realizing it takes a **** load of gas to move a heavy ass truck no matter the motor.
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I like the 6.0 ls, but let's be honest there's no reason to have one in a truck. It gets pretty much the same mileage as the 8.1. If I'm gonna waste this much gas cruising in an empty truck I want a big block.
 
Chevy_man said:
V10s sucked ass for pulling.

Ford owners bought a v10 because it sounded exotic. Also, Ford loved stuffing them in base model work trucks. Most I've seen were backed by a ZF in a truck with vinyl seats and hand crank windows.
Click to expand...
Alot of ford guys bought one because 6.0, 6.4 diesel. Myself included.
 
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Chevy_man said:
V10s sucked ass for pulling.

Ford owners bought a v10 because it sounded exotic. Also, Ford loved stuffing them in base model work trucks. Most I've seen were backed by a ZF in a truck with vinyl seats and hand crank windows.
Click to expand...
My 2V and 3V V10s towed great. There is a reason that 75% of gas motorhomes were ford V10s for years.
 
DMG said:
My 2V and 3V V10s towed great. There is a reason that 75% of gas motorhomes were ford V10s for years.
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Having owned a Ford V10 and currently own a W22 Workhorse, the 8.1 outpulls the V10 even though the 8.1 RV weighs 7,000 pounds more. Never liked the V10 RV because the power is in the higher RPMs. Had to keep my foot in it all the time.
 
BDK said:
Having owned a Ford V10 and currently own a W22 Workhorse, the 8.1 outpulls the V10 even though the 8.1 RV weighs 7,000 pounds more. Never liked the V10 RV because the power is in the higher RPMs. Had to keep my foot in it all the time.
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My 3V v10 truck pulled up our mountain better than my friends 8.1. I bet your v10 was a 2V with the 4r100
 
Not to turn this into a gm vs ford vs dodge thing but here ya go. I will give my 2 cents that the ram 8.0V10 was a good tow rig engine if you can afford the gas in it. I used 2003 for all these since it was the last year for the ram V10.

Chevy 8.1V8=340hp@4200 / 455lb.ft@3200
Ram 8.0V10= 310hp@4100 / 450lb.ft@2400
Ford 6.8V10=310hp@4250 / 425lb.ft@3250
 
350TacoZilla said:
Not to turn this into a gm vs ford vs dodge thing but here ya go. I will give my 2 cents that the ram 8.0V10 was a good tow rig engine if you can afford the gas in it. I used 2003 for all these since it was the last year for the ram V10.

Chevy 8.1V8=340hp@4200 / 455lb.ft@3200
Ram 8.0V10= 310hp@4100 / 450lb.ft@2400
Ford 6.8V10=310hp@4250 / 425lb.ft@3250
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Conveniently right before the Ford has a sizeable jump in power :flipoff2:

It would have more hp and torque than any of them by 2005. And a better trans.
 
Bebop said:
ABS light flickering on and off as it usually does ; I still haven't been able to solve that issue.
Click to expand...

While this isn’t exactly an apples to apples situation, I wanted to share my experience with my 2004 C5500 8.1/Allison 2200.

I was experiencing intermittent codes, some involved with ABS. I scanned my truck and ended up replacing a passenger front wheel speed sensor. Some debris found its way between the tone ring and the tip of the sensor, and the tip was ground off. I know my set up and yours are drastically different, but at the time it cleared up my issue with ABS. Down the road, I started getting the occasional flickering ABS. I also would get a coolant level light and SRS light that would do the same thing. I referenced the factory service manual for my truck and chased all the circuits to the connectors that they went through. I found that some circuits would give me high resistance even with everything unplugged. I am not sure it is a common thing on the light duty trucks, but it is a common issue on the medium duty trucks where the corrugated wire loom will chafe the wire sheathing. This will then cause short circuiting if its a really bad spot and otherwise it creates high resistance in the circuits. Many of the spots I found were not easily repairable with the harness in the truck, so I opted for removing the entire harness, bumper to bumper. The corrugated loom was very deteriorated in many spots and would literally just flake off in hundreds of pieces. I bought quality loom from Waytek in bulk and repaired as much as I could find. I was able to eliminate the random MIL and flickering on the dash. It was no small feat, but it may be what solves your issues.

IMG_9078.JPEG


IMG_9083.JPEG


Some pics of my 10,000 LB gas guzzler:

IMG_0962.JPEG


IMG_0961.JPEG


IMG_0849.JPEG
IMG_0852.JPEG


I am still under $10,000 total in this ex-Schwanns truck.
 
I don't think that Triton was a bad engine, aside the plugs. Nothing worse than any other engine if it's era. It also was pretty simple and reliable.

Not going to drive the same as an 8.1, they make power in different spots but doesn't make it bad just different.

I think the 8.1 had a slight edge just being a pushrod and not suffering the timing chain issues. Plenty of both out there in MDTs getting it done.

What I will argue is that the 2500/3500 era of GM trucks the 8.1 is in are all ****ing trash cans for the most part with the Superduty at least being a heavier duty trash can with a real front axle. So they all suck a big wang. Cummins this Cummins that...surrounded by a vagina badged pile of trash.

Sorry but if you bought a clickity clack engine in the 2000s on you paid for the entire repair history of the gas counter part with an injector repair. Sorry the only time my can comes off is never 😵
 
I have two 8.1L trucks and I love the 240k mile one a ton my 93k mile one I picked up for a few k needs the driver frame rail pulled back a hair so I don't drive it. . Anyway my friend owns a firewood place and he has a few 300k plus mile 8.1 Alison's that have had hard lives and I'm amazed at how well they do with 2 cords of hardwood oak on the back. His were all bought used in the 250k ish mile mark. I deliver for him on weekends and we treat them nice but it's impressive how well they haul still. I also credit the trans and we don't rev them much past 3500 when delivering up hills or anything.
 
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abrogate said:
While this isn’t exactly an apples to apples situation, I wanted to share my experience with my 2004 C5500 8.1/Allison 2200.

I was experiencing intermittent codes, some involved with ABS. I scanned my truck and ended up replacing a passenger front wheel speed sensor. Some debris found its way between the tone ring and the tip of the sensor, and the tip was ground off. I know my set up and yours are drastically different, but at the time it cleared up my issue with ABS. Down the road, I started getting the occasional flickering ABS. I also would get a coolant level light and SRS light that would do the same thing. I referenced the factory service manual for my truck and chased all the circuits to the connectors that they went through. I found that some circuits would give me high resistance even with everything unplugged. I am not sure it is a common thing on the light duty trucks, but it is a common issue on the medium duty trucks where the corrugated wire loom will chafe the wire sheathing. This will then cause short circuiting if its a really bad spot and otherwise it creates high resistance in the circuits. Many of the spots I found were not easily repairable with the harness in the truck, so I opted for removing the entire harness, bumper to bumper. The corrugated loom was very deteriorated in many spots and would literally just flake off in hundreds of pieces. I bought quality loom from Waytek in bulk and repaired as much as I could find. I was able to eliminate the random MIL and flickering on the dash. It was no small feat, but it may be what solves your issues.

IMG_9078.JPEG


IMG_9083.JPEG


Some pics of my 10,000 LB gas guzzler:

IMG_0962.JPEG
Click to expand...
I need to do that.
But I don't want to :bawling:

Also, I like your BFR chassis :smokin:
 
Skinny said:
Sorry but if you bought a clickity clack engine in the 2000s on you paid for the entire repair history of the gas counter part with an injector repair. Sorry the only time my can comes off is never 😵
Click to expand...


You couldn't be more wrong, but if believing that let's you sleep at night, so be it.
 
Bebop said:
I need to do that.
But I don't want to :bawling:

Also, I like your BFR chassis :smokin:
Click to expand...
Thanks, it’s actually just the subframe piece. He sold me a skid plate and lower subframe piece and I made the rest.

abrogate

Thread 'Project perseverance - start to finish'

Almost 20 years ago I found Pirate4x4. I spent many, many years there admiring all the cool stuff people were sharing. I absorbed a lot from the members who frequented the site. It helped shape my career path. I had shared my old truggy build there and enjoyed the discussions about what I was doing, right and wrong. PBB died and social media became king, but it wasn’t the same. I built a new buggy in the meantime and took a couple pics along the way. It’s not the newest and best , but I am proud of how things came together.

AEDB3B51-61C7-433C-9D45-9E1A8E2D1D69.jpeg


This was my old truggy as it sat prior to...
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DMG said:
Maybe you misunderstood him. But he is pretty close to spot on after 2003.
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Possibly. I read it as all the diesels of that era, have had their injectors replaced.

I'd venture to say, you should expect 250-300k service life out of a diesel/injectors or an 8.1.
 
TRINDU said:
Possibly. I read it as all the diesels of that era, have had their injectors replaced.

I'd venture to say, you should expect 250-300k service life out of a diesel/injectors or an 8.1.
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Duramax injectors last about as long as Nissan CVTs. 150k if you're lucky, sub-100k if you're unlucky. :laughing:

You probably get twice as many miles out both in BFE Texas where everything is twice as far apart but it's still the same number of drive cycles and same number of years.
 
TRINDU said:
Possibly. I read it as all the diesels of that era, have had their injectors replaced.

I'd venture to say, you should expect 250-300k service life out of a diesel/injectors or an 8.1.
Click to expand...
I don’t know of any 2000+ diesel that wouldn’t need injectors by 250k. I have seen people still running original injectors at that mileage but they usually have random hazing, hard cold starts or holes burned in the pistons, eventually.

And I would never install used injectors but I will happily hang a used gas 6.0/6.8/hemi.
 
TRINDU said:
You couldn't be more wrong, but if believing that let's you sleep at night, so be it
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Classic butt hurt...same feeling you get having to remove your cab.

Bruh it's an opinion, get over it. But I would venture to say no one having to pull a cab for a repair, replace injectors, or a high pressure pump would go man my ****ing wallet still looks good.

Oh let's now add DEF and SCR systems to it.
 
DMG said:
I don’t know of any 2000+ diesel that wouldn’t need injectors by 250k. I have seen people still running original injectors at that mileage but they usually have random hazing, hard cold starts or holes burned in the pistons, eventually.
Click to expand...

Guess I'm the outlier, I have a few in my stable with zero issues around that mileage. Helps that I'm the one who put those miles and maintains them though.

Being in the repair business does skew your view though. I wouldn't own a 07+ GM gasser, but know people have 250k+ with favorable results.

Skinny said:
Classic butt hurt...same feeling you get having to remove your cab.

Bruh it's an opinion, get over it. But I would venture to say no one having to pull a cab for a repair, replace injectors, or a high pressure pump would go man my ****ing wallet still looks good.

Oh let's now add DEF and SCR systems to it.
Click to expand...

Not butthurt, haven't spent a dime on the engines. Nor would I pull the cab to fix one. I also own a 8.1
 
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