Change of plans, AGAIN!

[Josh]

Got my plate. Licensed, titled, and registered under me and my dad in Michigan. Threw together the last few bits and took it for its first ride tonight. It's quite amazing the amount of into you can gather in 15 minutes of poking around town

First, the good:

+Power. Holy Moses does it have power. I didnt even push her all the way to the floor and it makes power. 15 PSI of boost will lay you back hard in the seat for a 3.5 ton truck.
+Power steering. Power steering rocks.
+Only one leak... see below.
+The big Michelins ride pretty good.


Now the bad:

-Clutch needs to be adjusted. It goes over center and won't come up off the floor sometimes. Will try adjusting the rod first, if that doesnt work, I'll add a spring to the linkage.
-I made the gas pdeal linkage WAY to steep. Hurts the top of your foot to pull it back that far. Need to cut and reweld the linkage at a lower angle...
-I put the fuse box in a VERY bad spot. I kick it sometimes with my foot when I push the clutch down and the cover pops off and knocks the fuses out... Annoying.
-Power steeling line is leaking a little bit. No big deal, will take it to the truck place that made it and ask for a new one.
-Very darty steering. I need a longer pitman arm on the Dana 60. Darty steering on a 71/2 foot tal truck is NOT a good thing!!
-the ZF5 is making ALOT of noise from tthe front end. I was told tehy were very noisy, but this one seems rediculous. It drowns out the cummins if you lug it heavy in 1,2,or 3rd. I gotta find out if there is anything I can do for it. It sounded a lot like clutch rattle. It wasnt slipping, or chattering, its that noise you get when you lug a manual at low speed and heavy torque. keep the RPMs up, it goes away.

An interesting fact: It makes the same sorts and types of noises my Audi TT makes, just 15X louder...

[k8icu]

Josh,

Sounds like your having fun and a big smile on your face! Glad to see you've got it moving. Now just tidy up those little issues and you'll be all set.

[Josh]

It runs fantastic. The cummins was well worth the effort. I Have one other new issue. The brakes are sticking from time to time. Its an easy fix, stop and crack the bleed screws, just annoying. Seems to be happening less and less though so I hope the issue will jsut go away on its own.

[retiredguy]

sounds like your pedal to master rod is too long and the master is not returning all the way.

[Josh]

Retiredguy,

I took your suggestion and adjusted the length of the rod and it fixed the issue. You hit it right on the head, THANK YOU! That issue was driving me bonkers trying to figure it out, and I had forgotten the rod can be adjusted.

WITH the brakes dragging, I was getting 18 MPG with the little cummins. I had issues with EGTs at first, but, I bumped up the pump timing a bit, fabricated a cold air inlet scoop that fits in the stamped piece over the radiator that the safety hood catch latches into (my new radiator is about 4" shorter), fixed the brakes, and it brought my EGTs down from 800 to 450 at 35 MPH, and from 1100 to 750 at 55 MPH, and from 1350 to 1000 with my foot flat on the floor. Those numbers are now within recommended operating range.

I have one other issue, the transfer case gets into a cyclic shake above about 52 MPH. It wags back and forth at about 2 Hz, like a fish wagging its tail. It's relatively mild, you can't feel it, but, I can see it with the doghouse cover off. I am going to fab a brace that bolts to the side of the case to hold it steady, no big deal.

Other than that, it has run flawless. No parts breakage, no surprises, just 350 trouble free miles, and lots of thumbs up and strange looks!!! Now that the brakes are fixed, and teh EGts are under control, I can start roaming out on the backroads at speed greater than 45 MPH...

[retiredguy]

as for the viabration, check your rear shaft u-joint angle. The front u-joint angle should be the same as the rear u-joint angle. If it is not you will get driveshaft "windup" and "unwindup" every 1/2 turn of the shaft, hence the viabration at "speed". This angle can be corrected by shimming the diff with wedge shims under the leaf springs. hope this helps. Also check for bent d-shaft.