My RANT!

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Dennis Frisk

If I was a young man I would install a 6 speed in my truck,there is a USA company that will sell a new 6 speed for $4000.00 and I would need a good clutch a flywheel at $1000.00 . I have given some thought to doing that change .The truck would tow much better with the 6 speed std so I`am told by guys that have them. The 5 speeds have the issue with the 5th gear retaining nut backing off and then you loose fifth.There is a fix out there that requires a new shaft . so they can be fixed for about $400.00 ,My ram still has most of the joints from new , I did replace the steady bearing once and the rear joint on the drive shaft.both ball joints on the drivers side because they are a pain
to change .I got off real easy so far. later Don T

 

[dfrisk]

DON - I test drove a new Super-Duty my dealer had with the intercooled 7.3L PSD & 6-spd ZF tranny when they first came out. It was a heavier truck than mine, Super Cab short box compared to my reg cab long box. It didn't have many miles on it and the engine still seemed tight but it seemed like my old 5-spd accelerated harder when empty even being down 20 HP. I spent much more time shifting and not as much time on the gas. With a heavy trailer I'm sure it would be better than my 5-spd. For the way I use my truck most of the time I really wish I had a 6th gear that was over-driven more than my 5th gear. I'd like to be able to cruise 75 MPH around 1800-1900 RPM. The ZF-6 tranny has about the same low & high gear ratios as my 5-spd so is a close ratio transmission, I want a Wide Ratio box.

When SON & I installed my LUK clutch, it was a BIG one-day job. We dropped the tranny & T-case as one unit. Plus there was a couple hours removing the resonator or cat. as many call it. I needed it gone so I could install SON's old LUND running boards later that winter. I mounted them on a 2" x 3" rectangular tube frame bolted to the frame rails. They mount about 2 inches lower than if they were mounted to the rocker panels, easier to get in/out plus no holes drilled into the body of the truck for rust to start.

I went back on IH's website yesterday and looked at the TerraStar page again. They show a 4X4 model with late 2011 availability, and since we're almost out of 2011 I expect pricing should be coming soon. An Allison #1000 tranny in two versions is the only tranny option but I'm hoping the 4X4 gets a manual trans option along with the DT-466. I priced out a lo-profile 4300 several years ago and IH offers about 8-10 axle ratios compared to two, maybe three for the Big Three. My local IH dealer had a couple lo-profile 4200's several years ago for a local lawn service company, the cab is big enough to get up and walk around in. Truck is every bit as nice as anything the Big Three make, and for less money. Company I used to work for leased a 2003 IH 4300 with DT466 & Allison A/T w/24 ft drybox. They put over 200,000 city miles on that truck in four years, never a problem with anything, cab was so nice the driver took his breaks in it listening to the CD player. The FL-70 it replaced was a POS, leaked oil someplace constantly, was noisy & vibrated badly, broke all the leaves in the left rear spring the only time it had any weight close to it's capacity on it. The IH was Air-ride rear suspension and rode better than my Wife's SUV. The FL-70 looked ten yrs old when it went back after 4 yrs & 175,000 miles and the IH stll looked brand new after 4 yrs & 200,000+ miles. The IH cost $100 more a month to lease, $1000/mo while another FL-70 would have been $900 but the IH was worth it.

Ahhhh, But here I am specing out a $55,000 class 5 truck and I barely put 1000 miles a year on my old PSD!

 

[lhinds]

I read that ford was resumeing work on the small diesel engine, that they quit work on when diesel went through the roof.
I just bought a 2011 F150 5.0 with the electronic 6 speed select shift auto. Transmision. I pulled my 3000 ford tractor up a steep mountain with it and i love it. It just keeps wanting more. It gets 21 mpg at 75 mph and gets 19 at 55 mph. highway mileage.
I had problems with the 2007 5.4 and decided to get rid of it. One coil and spark plug cost me almost 300.

 

[dtanner]

Dennis Frisk

I had a look on line and built a IH terrastar and I see an auto trans and a gasser,.That truck would make a nice fiver puller with a flat deck and a Diesel with a 6 speed.I wonder if I could order one with no engine and trans ? I would install a 5.9 12 valve Cummins with dual turbos running 500 hp and 1000 ft torque with a 6 speed std !There is NO WAY I would buy that truck with a gasser for towing my 10500 lb fifth wheel,I bet it would be around 10 mpg pulling my fiver.There is a grey club cab here local on a lot, I did have a look at it.But it should have a diesel and air brakes for me.The wife and I are looking at a few different options for the trip we will take. We are planning a 4 month trip across Canada and hope some USA also. I do see some real nice diesel pushers here that would be nice to travel in.I would like to take my Nomad MC along with us for the nice days for small side trips.She wants to buy a bumper pull (30') Award so the bike can sit on back of the truck.We would love to ride the Blue Ride mountain parkway and a few other great side trips.All I know for sure is we will be heading off Nova Scotia to central Canada with out a daily plan and going to Vancouver Island for a boat trip to Alaska.What we will do or see or how long we will stop along the way will depend on how we feel the morning we wake up.I could leave now ,but have to Waite for her to retire . Later Don T

 

[jchamberlin]

Don - If you do the Blue Ridge Parkway, the spring or fall have the best weather, especially the fall; although there are also the Highland Games in the summer. There are some neat spots along the Blue Ridge, only go to Cherokee if you have to. Wayne Shytle lives even closer, and may be able to give you better pointers than I.

Try to approach through the Shennendoah Valley in Virginia on I-81, good road and "running the ridge" gets you in the mood for the Smokies: a really magical place if you open yourself to it.

 

[dtanner]

Jeremiah Chamberlin

I hope to be able to take my 1500 Nomad MC along and would love to see the parkway from it. Just look around on day trips with the MC would be great.I installed a new torque converter in my truck this summer to better handle the hp and torque of the diesel and I`am happy that pulls much better now with no slipping.I have plans for an exhaust brake and water meth injection .Water meth will give me another 65 hp and 130 torque with a much cooler running truck.The 95 diesel should be running around 500 hp and 1000 ft lbs torque on the trip.I have did a complete brake job on the fifth wheel and replaced the tires with Michelin E rated tires and have Maxbreake on my truck.Not much left to do now to be ready for the trip but to update the Garmin and buy some credit for my fuel pass , that way I can fill where the big trucks do and save a bunch on fuel prices.We will be travelling with no program so it will be day by day for the trip.I have hopes to find a good camera to mount to my MC hermit so I can have lots of video of our day trips and save them on my wife`s lap top.We will travel to Texas and Florida
also later on I know . I just hope our health lets us dot it all. later Don T

 

[jchamberlin]

Don, if you bring your motorcycle, you may want to check out the "Tail of the Dragon," a highly marketed stretch of highway that give motor cycle riders great pleasure. Although, in my experience, there are plenty of nice roads dropping off the ridge down to town that are a blast to drive, and you're often the only one on the road from start to finish.

My brother RODE his motor cycle up from Austin, Texas just to ride the Tail of the Dragon and swears he wasn't disappointed. Then he rode it back! I wouldn't have been able to make it out of the state. Here's the link:

Tail of the Dragon

I hope you and your wife have a great trip!

 

[dfrisk]

DON - Wife & I and some friends went to Gatlinburg, TN for a week in the late fall a couple years ago, right at the south end of the Blue Rdge Pkwy, Don't be in ANY hurry if you ride the pkwy, the speed limit is 45 MPH everywhere except a few places it's only 35 MPH.

It's a nice drive, but we were about a week too early that year for the best colors and about 100 miles was as much slow driving as I could handle.

 

[dlouw]

Donald, You wrote: ".... The 5.9 cummins had 160 hp and 320 torque at the crank when I got it,I have installed a number 10 torque plate and a 3000 rpm governor spring for some extra power. with a power train loss of 30% I have had the truck on a dyno and got 342 hp and 680 ft lbs torque last summer."
Sorry I only read your note today and I am perplexed. How do you achieve 342hp on the dyno from a stock 160hp (on crank), only with a different torque plate and gorvernor spring? Am I dumb or missing something (or both)??

 

[dtanner]

Dawid Johannes Louw
Ok I will try to explain this. The ten torque plate
has steps in it that are different than stock. this plate has has a rod that runs off the fuel pump to give the fuel needed at all rpm ranges.A boost elbow comes with this plate that changes the pressure of air into the engine by means of the turbo. so a stock 5.9 12 valve will have 14 lbs boost at over idle if you put your foot down. The ten plate gives my truck 38 lbs boost. The engine new would defuel at 2000 rpm , so it would pull strong till 2000 rpm`s and then just stop pulling.
Now with them
3000 rpm spring on the counter weight on the governor the engine can fuel to 3000 rpm`s before it will level off and give defuel.
So With 38 lbs boost and the ten plate giving way more fuel at a wider duration you get more HP.The 10 plate does change the amount of fuel the engine gets as well as changes the timing of it.My truck running at 65 mph my pyro tells me the engine is running at 200 deg in the exhaust manifold. Pulling the fiver that can reach 1050 deg .So if I want to add new sticks (injectors) with more holes to spray fuel I can get more power because I give the diesel more fuel.I can by injectors from 35 hp to 200 hp just by adding them to a stock engine.A 5.9 cumming 1995 is all mechanical driven for fuel delivery so they are real simple and don`t cost much to boast up the hp.I can go to around 650 hp before I should fire ring the cylinders on the head and add head studs so I won`t blow the head gasket.My boast pressure in the intake manifold would be 80 psi at 650 hp. All the kits you see that can be bought to bring up the hp in the newer
diesels are just changing the amount of fuel and timing of when its (fuel)is delivered. My truck weight is around 7000 lbs , but it pulls my 10500 lb fifth wheel along at highway speed and stays up to traffic on most hills.I can get 15 mpg towing with it ,a gas truck might get 7 or 8 mpg pulling the same load.The second gen cummings diesel engines in the Dodge Ram trucks are one of the best for this reason. If you would like more info,I can give you link to a site that you can do some reading.

Denny

My next door neighbour has bought a new Ford ton dualie with the new diesel for his new truck.He is trading his King Ranch for this XLT. He said it works nice and has bags of power.I will let you know how he does with it.His fuel bill now is over $2500 a month with the King ranch.

 

[dlouw]

Donald
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I now have a better understanding of what modifications are done to the engine and the effect.

I am still surprised that the stock horsepower goes up from 150 engine hp ("at the crank"), less 30%, that is 105hp at the wheels, to 342hp. That is more than trebble. Torque is up to to 680 ft lbs, more than double. Either the original design is bad or the manufacturer has missed an opportunity to market a better product.

How is reliability and the rate of wear affected by this mod? Again, please excuse my ignorance but I am interested in this phenominal performance improvement thru what sounds like a relatively simple modification.
Dawid (in Johannesburg, South Africa)

 

[dtanner]

Dawid Johannes Louw

On a diesel engine you just double the Hp to get torque most times on the older diesels.The problem with HP was not the engine problem it was more the drive train. The trans were to light to handle the HP and torque that the diesel could make.My truck makes all its hp and torque before 1900 rpms,so it takes strong gears to handle that. The stock torque converter can only handle about 250 hp so I installed a 500 hp and 1000 torque single billet with twice the surface area for the clutch area.The stock TC I took out had a weight of 56 lbs with some fluid still in it and the replacement weight dry was 95 Lbs. I`am pushing the edge on the original trans ,but I have modified the valve body of the trans to provide more fluid flow and more pressure to lock the bands for each gear when it shifts,much like a shift kit for a car. A good rebuild kit will cost me around $1000.00 when I have issues ,but so far the truck shifts great. It has had a new filter and fluid every 50000 kl since new . The truck has 278000 kl on it now and runs strong. When I tow my fifth wheel trailer I`am moving the truck at just over 7000 lbs and the fifth wheel at 10500 lbs and it does that now with no problems.The body on this truck will be long gone before the engine is no good .These engines have been know here to run 1000000 miles and still run and pull great.


Jeremiah Chamberlin

Some day I hope to make that trip with my MC. We both enjoy the MC and will try to make it down there. As I drive my diesel truck or the car on a great road I all ways wish I had the MC. I hope some great spring weather will soon be here so I can go back to driving my MC and mowing some grass.
Later Don T

 

[mhomrighausen]

All this talk about trucks. Snow Car.

 

[lhinds]

Here is some scary reading.
Moderator delete if to political.
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/11997-focus-monsanto-a-modern-day-plague

 

[fcurrier]

Where's the bearded guy that started this thread (asks the guy that's experimenting with JB Weld).

 

[kmcconaughey]

Frank, if you are referring to KENtucky, last I heard from him, which was earlier this week, he was researching a lathe and ranting about centipedes...

 

[cmwkrill]

centipedes?

 

[aschumacher]

I know I'm getting older and cranky...but this is a whole truckload of manure !!!

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/06/duke-energy-ceo-to-get-44-million-in-severance-for-3-days-of-wo/

 

[jbaker]

Kraig tell Kentucky to stop in here now and then

we miss his wisdom or at least his excperience

 

[mgwin]

Allen,

Now I know why they keep wanting a rate increase and getting it! I would settle for a fourth of what that bozo got.
No, I take that back. I would settle for 1/44th of what that bozo got and retire!