84 Crewcab...AKA..Patches

The other day I went back out to the drive line shop, to talk to the owner about mu continuing issue with the driveshafts. Man is that guy a friggin A-Hole!!

In not so many words, and in a round about, back handed way, he called me a whiner and a liar, and accused me of not knowing what I'm doing, and that possibly "I" was damaging the driveshafts.

I will "NEVER" be going back to this guy. I won't bad mouth him on-line...since he reluctantly said he would warranty the pieces. But this will be the last and final time dealing with him and his shop.
 
On a slightly better note...We had a nice family BBQ last night, and then my brother and I tore into my rear diff.

Well it's not all good news for the Dana 70. The power-loc unit is worn out, and the pinion is running deep on the ring gear. Enough to run past the outside edge of the gear. And it appears I have at least one wheel bearing that is a bit iffy.

But my brother says there is nothing that can't wait a few weeks, or longer, to address. So now I have to source all new parts for a complete diff rebuild. Thankfully my brother has all the tools required to do it in his shop. So it will be a learning experience for me as well.

On a bit of a funny note...while talking with my brother last night I was telling him my issues with my driveshafts. He finally asked who was doing the work...so I told him...he laughed and told be he had worked for this guy a couple years ago. And that he is truly an A-hole to work for as well. he said he only lasted a few months and had to get out of there.
 
The Powr-Lok shouldn't (actually can't) affect the ring/pinion gear mesh whatsoever. The only parts that can "wear out" is the clutches, and even broken in half they can't affect the gears other than parts getting into the teeth. The only the bearings or a crush sleeve could cause the kind of damage you describe. The diff itself should be fine unless a bearing seized on it. Replace the clutches while it's apart and replace the carrier bearings, but other than that it should go back in and give you many moons of happy service.
 
Actually the clutches are toast...as you say, but the cross bars, and spiders are worn out as well....they were rattling around in there like rocks in a tin can. OK maybe not that bad, but much worse then they should be. ;) But yeah a good rebuild and it will give me many years of happy service. :)
 
thrashingcows said:
The other day I went back out to the drive line shop, to talk to the owner about mu continuing issue with the driveshafts. Man is that guy a friggin A-Hole!!

In not so many words, and in a round about, back handed way, he called me a whiner and a liar, and accused me of not knowing what I'm doing, and that possibly "I" was damaging the driveshafts.

I will "NEVER" be going back to this guy. I won't bad mouth him on-line...since he reluctantly said he would warranty the pieces. But this will be the last and final time dealing with him and his shop.
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Considering the quite large shadow you cast, who in their right mind would want to ridicule you to your face?[smilie=f:
 
thrashingcows said:
Actually the clutches are toast...as you say, but the cross bars, and spiders are worn out as well....they were rattling around in there like rocks in a tin can.
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Oh, yeah... I forgot about those. Being that I never deal with diffs in which they're a problem, I tend to do that. I've literally never seen that happen in a Mopar-sourced axle other than the 7.25", which was a bag of shit from the get-go. :doh:

Regardless, that damage still doesn't affect the ring & pinion whatsoever.
 
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No it doesn't. But like my brother mentioned...I have a bunch of smaller, separate issues, that may be combining with each other to create an effect that makes things seem worse then they are?

Regardless, a good rebuild from side to side should take care of things. ;)
 
Last week I decided to tackle the oil cooler. I had been seeing a bit of coolant leaking from my oil cooler. So bought new gaskets from cummins, and went at it.

The bolts holding the oil cooler should be at 18ft/lbs...mine were maybe 5ft/lbs when I removed them! I would recommend that you check your oil cooler bolts.

Once I got the assembly out of the block, I ended up with a couple loose pieces.



That is the pressure relief valve for the oil bypass. It is supposed to be one piece!

And this is where I found the top piece of the relief valve.



So I spent the next couple hours trying to find one. No one seemed to have one, and the cummins dealers parts department was closed, due to the long weekend.

I eventually called a friend who said he had a complete unit I could try. So i buzzed over there and grabbed it. Turned out the pressure relief valve in this one was shot too!! I just couldn't get a break. :(

So I went back and cleaned up the gasket surfaces. What a PITA. Not sure what those gaskets were held on with, but it took wire wheel, and small sanding discs to get it all cleaned up.

 
So since I needed the truck to go to work the next day, I decided it was time for some back yard engineering. ;)

I hunted around the garage trying to think of what I could use to assemble, and secure the relief valve so it would function as a single piece again. I dug through many of my containers of MISC. Stuff I see, find and have left over from projects and such that I toss in containers because " I might be able to use that one day...."

Well eventually I came across this...



Think it was leftover from some Ikea furniture? Anyway I carefully removed the rolled metal around the middle. The ground off one end so i could get to the spring star washers. Then I slowly, and carefully bent and ground down the fingers until I was able to sneak it into the bore to hold the relief valve back together.



Worked really well, super snug and biting hard into the aluminum. I was able to get things back together and have not had any issue so far.
 
I also spent a little time working on quieting up the 4wd shift lever. I was rattling quite a bit. Here is a the piece that came in my Advance adapters NV4500 to NP205 kit, Vs the OEM unit.



I needed the end that be tighter on the transfer case. So I used some rubber and worked it in between the clevis and shift bar. It was tight, and took some time to get everything in place and lined up.



The other end just required the addition of a small spring washer to take up the little bit of slop. Nice a quiet now!!
 
And I cut up my original "Power Ram 250" emblems so I could make my "Power Ram 350" emblems.

I used my table saw to carefully cut the "power" portion of the original emblem off. Then I had to sand down the piece to fit tight against the "RAM". The "A" sticks up just a little bit. Once fitted I put a couple coats of paint on the lower section that was cut and sanded. Then one dry some two sided tape and installed everything.

Think it turned out good.



After how much the last set I saw on e-bay go for...think it was around $300? This works just fine for me.... ;)
 
Thanks everyone!

Well yesterday I figured it was time to get the AC working.

I had cleaned the evaporator, lines and condenser when I had everything apart. I installed a new AC compressor, it was pre-filled with about 5oz of oil. I then read through the FSM ad found that I needed to add another 4oz. So that went in and I then installed a new drier. Closed everything up and ran a vacuum on the system for 30 minutes.

I then installed the 134a conversion fittings, and refilled it with Duracool. The operating line pressures are within proper spec, but I just am not getting the cool temps I should be seeing. Even on the Hwy I am only getting moderately cool air from the vents.

I think this has a lot to do with the AC condenser being behind the Power Stroke Intercooler. It's just not getting the cool air "first" like it needs to properly transfer the heat.

I'm going to install a couple manual shut off valves on the heater hoses to stop ALL the coolant from entering the heater box. Just so you know, even with the vacuum controlled valve on the inlet heater hose to the heater core...you still get parasitic heat drawn into the heater core from the outlet line. Hope this helps a little.

If I can't get the AC temps down where they should be, or where I can live with them, then next spring I'm going to install a remote condenser with fans under the box.
 
You got yourself a little dilemma with having three things all wanting first bite of fresh air. At least with an oil burner the radiator isn't the most crucial. The intercooler is displacing the least amount of heat, so having that in front is good. I can't believe that the AC condenser getting "heated" air is your problem. I would look a little more at the air flow, or maybe even some other part of the system. And lets not forget that this 134a is no where near as good as old R12. Pump speed also has a lot to do with AC efficiency. :huh:
 
Thanks for the advice 68.

The Duracool I'm using is one of those R134, propane, butane, isobutane, mixes. And the fact that the AC condenser is configured to work properly with R12 doesn't help either. But you could be correct on the air flow. The fan clutch does lock up and start pulling more air. And it does have the shroud in place. Coolant temps are actually lower with the AC running, then without. SO that leads me to believe the fan is pulling more air due to the added heat.

I've got enough spare heater hoses and line that I'm going to make up a "summer time" heater hose assembly with manual valves. That way I can eliminate any hot coolant from entering the heater core. Then in fall I can re-install the OEM set-up.
 
i hate plastic but look at an 89 caravan heater hose control valve..it has a full on bypass

id be looking squarly at pump issues...an r12 pump is of the old design its not going to pump as good or as fast as it need to for teh 134..secondly is ac speed...is it pulleyed for a D or is it pulleyed for fuel?
 
The 91-93 cummins trucks run a Sanden HD709 unit, same unit the used on the 94-02 cummins trucks as well. And they are specific to the cummins due to the serpentine belt.

I'll take a look at the caravan unit.
 
Here is the unit I think your talking about 69....

$_21.JPG


Do you know if that outer line...with the arrow...turns? If they all point in the same horizontal direction I might be able to make it work.
 
I don't think the condenser location or the system being designed for R12 is the issue. I've converted dozens of R12 systems to R134a and never had a problem with it not being cold enough. As cold as original? Probably not. Freeze you out of the car? Close.

One thing you need to remember is that it's not a straight-across swap; because of their different chemical properties, the conversion requires a non-FSM amount of refrigerant. Also, if the system had R12 in it and was open for any amount of time, the condensor and evaporator need to be replaced. R12 is caustic when exposed to oxygen, and though they may not be corroded through, it's almost 100% certain there's a coating of corrosion internally that's killing its heat transfer properties. If you have a dead R12 system, you're much better off leaving it closed until the time comes to repair it properly.
 
Hadn't thought of that Doc. But I did clean the Condenser and Evaporator with AC line cleaning solution once they were opened. Should that not have removed any of the R12 and oil residue?
 
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