Shipping Crate Project

[Alexis700]

The old shipping crate is having it easy , it is sitting during the week and avoiding road salt.

Got some firewood for the garage wood burner today, winter showed up suddenly on thanksgiving and wood is cheaper than heating oil.

Going to get the shed built for my air compressor tomorrow, its sitting out behind the shop on the concrete I poured a few weeks ago. Just have to get the shack around it and start on plumbing air and wiring.

Will be covering the inside of garage in body work dust soon enough.

 

[Alexis700]

How the window and fan stuff turned out, not bad. The PVC 5/4×4 trim is cut off leftovers, so that's why some is blue and some is white. Going to paint it beige, someday ...

 

[Alexis700]

Still working slowly on getting my garage setup to do bodywork, have to wire compressor and run shop air lines. Finish shelving to free up floor space and then will be ready to get some stuff painted.

But for the first time in my life, I can pull my truck into my own heated garage and rinse all the salt off it when it is 10 degrees outside. That is a good feeling.

 

[Projectjunkie]

Still working slowly on getting my garage setup to do bodywork, have to wire compressor and run shop air lines. Finish shelving to free up floor space and then will be ready to get some stuff painted.

But for the first time in my life, I can pull my truck into my own heated garage and rinse all the salt off it when it is 10 degrees outside. That is a good feeling.

Congratulations!

 

[arse_sidewards]

You gonna wait until you get another ticket to paint the bumper?

 

[Alexis700]

So the cop didnt write anything on the bumper , probably because it is not overheight.

But the tint tax and tires was $300. I have not been driving in that township much at all with the dodge since I moved, so probably wont be an issue again.

 

[bdkw1]

Still working slowly on getting my garage setup to do bodywork, have to wire compressor and run shop air lines. Finish shelving to free up floor space and then will be ready to get some stuff painted.

But for the first time in my life, I can pull my truck into my own heated garage and rinse all the salt off it when it is 10 degrees outside. That is a good feeling.

You know what's ever better? Living somewhere that doesn't salt the roads.

 

[Alexis700]

Cleaned up the bumper and painted it, was starting to get a bit rusty. Havent had to do much to the dodge, but did find out when the bolts fall out of the AFC housing that can turn into an insane oil leak.

Pulled into a park and ride couple weeks ago right before I got on the highway to head into Pittsburgh, just to check things out because truck hadnt been driven for a bit. Look under front and theres oil dripping off the entire front axle, driveshaft, left front frame rail and puddles everywhere underneath.

The 4 little M6 bolts holding on the afc had vibrated loose, 1 was gone. I put socket cap allen bolts in there when I put the pump on and happened to have allen wrenches with me so tightened them up and was back on my way.

They had flat washers , not lock washers. So I pulled the bolts out and them back in with blue loctite and split lock washers. Hopefully they stay tight now, lost about a quart of oil in 10 miles when it came loose.


This looks more socially acceptable I guess.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Looks good but I have to give you **** for the gloss black bumper on the primer black truck. I mean you have still done more to yours today than I have to mine in 5 years but you know internet expert opinions.

 

[Alexis700]

Been driving the old dodge here and there, took it on a 300 mile trip last weekend with the trailer to pick up a parts truck and that went well. Was like 4 degrees outside, other than the heat not coming out the floor vents it was a nice ride. Amazing how hard you can push it when it is that cold and the Pyro never gets hot.

The day I found the big oil leak from the afc I pulled off the road because I thought the front left caliper was sticking and wanted to check before getting on the highway, seemed like it had some drag. But the wheel was cold , then found the big oil slick.

Anyhow went to town to get groceries after work today, and confirmed the front left caliper is sticking. Felt drag on way home, and the rotor was hot as hell when I got back. I cracked the bleeder with the wheel jacked up to see if the hose was holding pressure, no change in drag with bleeder open.

So caliper is sticking, they were in rough shape when I first put brakes on it when I got the truck. Honestly suprised that I didnt have any issues before now. Ordered a set of calipers and hoses for it from rockauto, and hopefully the rotor didnt get warped all to hell. There is only like 20k miles on those rotors.

I really havent had to fix anything since I broke the nv4500, its a good old truck. Have the 89 f150 project I want to get on the road before I pull the cab and bed off the dodge, so soon as that ford is together the dodge is going in the garage to get the nice body swapped on it.

 

[Alexis700]

One nice thing about an old cummins that never fails to leak oil , you can change brake hoses without reflaring and replacing brake lines.

That is very rare in Pennsylvania on something this old.

Got the new calipers, the driver one was ****ed. My clamp was just flexing trying to squeeze pistons to get it off. So the pistons were seized up in the bore.

I looked into 3rd or 4th gen brakes, they wont fit with my 16.5" wheels. Maybe if I decide to step up to 20s someday will swap 4th gen brakes on it. But I like the 37" MTRS, and there is a source for the 325/85 - 16 Michelin XZLs that replaced the XMLS.

So I will probably start running the 38.5" tall michelins on this with a 16" rim and the 2nd gen brakes are as big as you can go with a 16. I think they work decent, and towing I havent had any issues slowing down with working trailer brakes.

I have an old set of nice 325/85-16 XMLs I am going to get some wheels for. So will probably be putting those on the dodge so I can at least wear em out before they dry rot too bad.

 

[350TacoZilla]

I'll be the first to say I had no issues with 2nd gen ram brakes so I don't know what other's are doing there. I'll also say I wish they were slip over rotors and either 2 or 4 piston calipers just for larger pad, longer life and easier maintenance. My 04 GMC 2500 had larger brakes, 2 piston caliper and still came with the 16x6.5 PY0 aluminum wheels. would probably not be worth all the effort but be neat to see if they could be made to work.

 

[weissguy01]

The 2nd gen brakes don’t seem that bad. I did swap the rear wheel cylinders for the Chevy ones- dont do that. They lock up really fast now. Might have missed it or you didn’t say, but whats your source for tires? Since I relocated to NC, I can’t get the deals like I used to.

 

[bradp674]

I looked into 3rd or 4th gen brakes, they wont fit with my 16.5" wheels.





I found that out the hard way. I had 18's on my truck and my spare was an old 16.5". Coming home from work going over the 205 bridge over the Columbia river my left front went flat. The wheel fit over the rotor, but when I tightend the lug nuts it wouldnt spin. So I had to pull a rear off to swap everything out.

 

[Alexis700]

So there was a local guy who bought a semi trailer full of 37" MTRs and BFG baja TAs. I got 4 off of him for $450 and then I got 6 more off him that need a patch or a plug for $125. So I have 6 more MTRs with 80-90% tread.

I had to patch very small punctures on 3 of 4 of the tires on the dodge currently anyhow. They have been trouble free since then.

For the 38.5" michelins, I bought the XMLs I have for like $900 shipped off ebay 2 years ago, but the supply of XMLs is pretty much gone. I am seeing the new XZLs for sale now. My XMLs are getting old, 2 are from 2009 and 2 are from 2012. They have dry rot starting, nothing serious but they wont hold up much longer once they are on something and not stored under cover.

Colony tire has the XZLs and they are located in Virginia, I want to drive out there and buy a set of 4 sometime soon. They sell them for $225 plus shipping, I bet if I drive there with cash I can get a nice set for $800.

325/85R16 MICHELIN X FORCE ZL VERY LIGHTLY USED 85% TO 95% TREAD 12PLY!! | eBay

Thank you for your interest in our tires! Click HERE to see our full item description. If you need to know how much freight will cost, message us with your full shipping address and the quantity you want ordered and we will respond asap.

ebay.us

I'll be the first to say I had no issues with 2nd gen ram brakes so I don't know what other's are doing there. I'll also say I wish they were slip over rotors and either 2 or 4 piston calipers just for larger pad, longer life and easier maintenance. My 04 GMC 2500 had larger brakes, 2 piston caliper and still came with the 16x6.5 PY0 aluminum wheels. would probably not be worth all the effort but be neat to see if they could be made to work.

The early 2nd gen axles were single piston, in 99 they went to a dual piston and they are as big as you can fit with a 16" wheel.

New air filter , second time I got a made in USA mopar filter from rock auto for like $13.

 

[weissguy01]

Thanks for the tire tip, they’re about 2 hours away.

 

[Alexis700]

So the floor heat never worked in the shipping crate. When I went and got that blue ford parts truck, it was like 4 degrees out. Cab temp was acceptable, but my feet were cold.

I closely inspected the vacuum line going to the heat controls that runs along the cowl. It goes through the firewall right where the heater core hoses are, and was rubbing on the sheet metal. The little plastic line had a tiny cut in it from rubbing on the sheet metal edge.

So I pulled the plastic line off where the check valve is, and slid a piece of vacuum hose over the line, so it covered the cut and will protect the line.

That fixed the floor heat, blows good air out the floor outlets now. It had enough vacuum to switch from dash to defrost vents, but not enough to switch to floor.

In case anyone has a similar issue, check closely for underhood vacuum leaks before pulling the dash. I was not about to pull the falling apart dash out to fix it, when I am swapping the nice cab onto it soon. So that was awesome to find a quick fix and not have cold feet anymore.

 

[Alexis700]

Got bored and was tired of the XMLs I have not being used. 2 of them are 15 years old, starting to show dry rot. So those are on the back, if they go boom not worried about it. Other 2 are really nice, one is a 2019 and other is a 2015, these tires are built much tougher than normal ones, and dont age out as fast in my opinion.

They do not rub, and the ride is much improved over the goodyears. Started at 50 psi front and 40 psi rear, they soak up small bumps way better than the MTRs. I put a 1/4 cup of balance bead is each, slight hop at 45 mph and smooth up to 85. Way better than I expected, maybe even smoother than the 37s.

This was not easy, but I did it! The michelins are insanely heavy, have to be 100 lbs each.

No brodozer stance sticking out a foot here, the XML is one gnarly tire though. Load rating is 5000 lbs on em, so still good to tow whatever.

 

[V30crewcab]

always liked the tread pattern on those.

 

[350TacoZilla]

****ing sweet. A set of tires that needed used and a set of wheels that sat covered in a shed for 10 years at least. If you can't find a 5th XML for a spare keep your eyes peeled for a 385\70R16. Nitto, Toyo and Mickey Thompson made them and for some reason I keep seeing 1 or 2 for sale but never a full set. The Toyo seems to be narrower than the other 2 but all are close to that 38"

 

[ridenby]

Looks good .

 

[Alexis700]

Put this off long enough, made the mistake of grabbing a tire when it was jacked up to see how loose things were. Ball joints are getting sloppy and the steering linkage was too.

Also the trackbar is not bad, but the mount area on axle needs rebuilt bolt is sloppy in the hole. I have a new 3rd gen trackbar, and a plasma cutter, and a welder and I guess no excuse not to get the 3rd gen trackbar on there.

Someone has been here before.

Also found a stick of rectangle tube , 3/16 wall 2x3 that will work perfect to redo the axle mount and make a frame side mount. No excuse at all now.

I was getting annoyed when we got 2 feet of snow and I couldn't get on it in 4wd, front end was loading and unloading like a 05+ radius arm superduty. I think the inverted Y steering linkage was flexing, so this should fix that. If I want to pin it in 4wd, dont want annoying front axle hop like a ford.

I am too poor for EMF ball joints, so got TTX lowers and mevotech didnt have a TTX upper so got the blue boot supremes. Hopefully they last longer than a year.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Ball joints and front end always seem like such a huge undertaking and it is a lot of physical work but at same time to me anyhow it's not usually hard to do as long as you already have the parts and tools. It would suck to wear your nice new tires with a bad front end so good time as any to get it done.

 

[Alexis700]

For sure, getting the old ball joints out was a work out, had to heat the inner C and beat lowers out with the sledge hammer. The uppers came right out with the press, after some heat. I got started on it, was all dirty and said might as well get all of them out, it sucked.

I had all those parts since September , didnt get to it until now.

I still need to get a 3rd gen steering box, and some parts to fab up longer lower links. 2" x .250 DOM with Johnny joints at axle and bushings on frame side is the plan. Going to cut old lower mounts off frame, and weld new mounts on further back on the frame.

That will be a little while, around $900 in parts to do that.

 

[wvracer821]

I think i remember you mentioning a good machine shop up there near you that did your motor? I'm down in Morgantown and looking for a good one i can drive to.

 

[Alexis700]

Ashcraft Speed & Marine , 724-285-4200

I had them hone and deck a 12v block, and drill & tap the block for 14mm main studs, plus line hone.

They also cut the block for fire rings and did a 3 angle valve job on the head.

The old guy that owns it, his son is into diesels and he does the work on them. Nice little shop , and they do good work. All those parts are in my shop, that engine build is a giant money pit. Will finish that eventually.

Soon as you start changing up the engine internals , the amount of $$$ required gets out of control fast.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Am I hearing the calling of a 6.7 crank in a 12V for a stroker?

 

[Alexis700]

I had always wondered how the hell this truck got a dent in the oil pan from the front diff.

Well now I know.

Got the new ball joints installed, and attacked the trackbar bracket with the plasma cutter. Going to hopefully get the 3rd gen trackbar mounted on there tomorrow.

 

[Alexis700]

Am I hearing the calling of a 6.7 crank in a 12V for a stroker?

The plan is just a plain ole 5.9 12 valve bottom end that is ready to make 1000 hp and be reliable. But a 6.7 crank engine would be cool.

Also that plan inolves swapping that engine into my 84 k20, with a 47rh and 1st gen dodge np205. Time and lots of $$$ and it will happen.

 

[arse_sidewards]

5.9 12 valve bottom end that is ready to make 1000 hp and be reliable.

You got maybe a couple dozen hours at those power levels. Might last a week, might last a few years depending on how much you do or don't put your foot in it.