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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond

Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
My Holley dash from the shop truck is currently there. They told me 1-2 week turn around. I called after 3 and they hadn't even taken it out of the box to look at it yet.

I really HATE the fact that Holley has bought EVERYTHING and they all have the exact same HORRIBLE customer service now.

Here is the current list of companies Holley owns (from their wiki)
ACCEL, ADS Racing Shocks, AEM, AEM EV, Amp'd, Anvil Off-Road, APR, B&M, Baer Brakes, Brawler, Bright Earth, Brothers Trucks, Carrol Shelby Wheels, CataClean, Classic Instruments, Demon, Detroit Speed, DiabloSport, Dinan, Drake Muscle Cars, Earl's, Edge, Fender Gripper, Flowmaster, Flowmonster, Flowtech Exhaust, Frostbite Cooling, GearFX Driveline, Halibrand, HANS, Hays, Hilborn, HK Wheels, Holley Classic Trucks, Holley EFI, Holley iNTECH, Holley RetroBright, Hooker, Hooker Blackheart, Hurst, Lakewood, Legendary Wheels, Mallory, Mr. Gasket, MSD, MSD Atomic, MSD Dynaforce, NOS, OG Innovations, ProConnect, Proforged, Pulsar, Quick Fuel Technology, Quick Time, Racepak, RaceQuip, Range Technology, REKUDO, REV Wheels, Rocket Racing Wheels, Scott Drake, Simpson Racing, Sniper, SPAL Fans, Speartech, Stilo, Street Fire, STS Turbo, Superchips, Weiand, White Box, XDR
There’s no competition when you own the competition.
 
One of our suppliers for the sign industry is doing the same thing and it scares me. It's as much about the customer service as it is the pricing. When they're the only game, they don't have to worry so much about keeping customers satisfied.

That particular company is so big that when they needed to update their webstore they just purchased an entire web development company to do it.
 
I called Holley again today. They checked, put me on hold for about 15 minutes then miraculously decided they were going to ship me a replacement. I'm guessing if I hadn't called it would have just sat on the shelf.
 
From my experience Holley still has pretty good customer service.

Holley still has a lot of competition. Edelbrock also owns FAST, Comp Cams, TCI, Russel, Lunati, etc.

Then the company that bought Dart heads also bought JE, Wiseco, Diamond, Trend, etc.

Also there BigStuff, Motec, and now Fueltech and Haltech plus more options for EFI. There is still a lot of competition. But I do think Holley has some of the best systems out there between their Terminator X, X Max, HP, and Dominator systems.

And another investment company now owns AFR, Racetec, SCAT, etc...

Unfortunately they are all becoming bigger and more commercial.
 
I'm am extremely disappointed in my pro dash. The first one I purchased had 2 problems, no GPS and it wouldn't always power up when you started the truck. Holley said that they wouldn't be able to replace it for 2-3 months and that I should return it to who I bought it from (not great customer service and it screws over their vendors). I did that, the new one also had the second problem (which from what I've seen online is very common) and eventually started locking up/freezing and taking multiple reboots before it would come online.

Every call to Holley guarantees at least 15-30 minutes on hold, this goes for any of their support numbers. Brothers trucks had EXCELLENT customer service before they were bought, now they have Holley customer service.

Next time I'll be buying FuelTech or Haltech.

I also have a dead Sniper that I need to ship to get fixed so I can sell it...
 
Also, sorry for hijacking your thread Scott, you may continue with your regularly scheduled upgrades and modifications.
No worries. I like checking in and seeing activity on my threads. :D

More dents please
I'm actually thinking about replacing the front fenders with the extras I have stashed. I swear the hood hinges are the only thing hold the fenders on at the cowl.
 
Got the Sniper back. Before it shipped, Holley left me a voice mail saying they replaced an injector, and I didn't owe anything. When I unboxed it I thought the ecu looked a lot shinier than the rest of the throttle body. Checked the tag on the bottom. Left is the one I have and right is the one I received 5 years ago.

20231113_114759.jpg

That's 2 replacement ECU, both out of the warranty period, and both were free of charge. So at least there is that.

It's definitely a new ECU because I had to update firmware to jive with the handheld and run the setup wizard.

Truck started up. It was a bit of a smoke show burning off the mess in the exhaust from the bad injector dumping fuel. Gonna change the oil before I run it much more.
 
Also replaced 2 rubber caps because they were coming apart. Rubber caps are just junk anymore. I replace them with Moroso soft plastic caps.
 
I've been planning on blowing apart the front clip when I swap in the L29. After yesterday it's not much of an option. In the middle of the trail run my hood started doing funky things.

20231126_141505.jpg

I've been joking the hood was holding the fenders on but maybe it was more true than I thought.
 
After driving in a bunch of mag chloride on the way to the snow run, the truck needed a wash. I found this while I was spraying under the truck.

20231129_133542.jpg

Dropping bolts out the transmission crossmember. I use grade C pinch lock nuts, so I'm surprised to see them back off.

I almost forgot about my other loose bolt story. When I shifted in to 4wd on the trail I was hearing an usual sound from the front axle. When I crawled under to investigate, I found all 4 front output flange bolts loose. :yikes: Glad I decided to suck it up and crawl under the truck in the snow.

Seems like my truck is trying to fall apart.
 
After driving in a bunch of mag chloride on the way to the snow run, the truck needed a wash. I found this while I was spraying under the truck.

View attachment 462638

Dropping bolts out the transmission crossmember. I use grade C pinch lock nuts, so I'm surprised to see them back off.

I almost forgot about my other loose bolt story. When I shifted in to 4wd on the trail I was hearing an usual sound from the front axle. When I crawled under to investigate, I found all 4 front output flange bolts loose. :yikes: Glad I decided to suck it up and crawl under the truck in the snow.

Seems like my truck is trying to fall apart.
Better to have it fall apart from use than rotting in the driveway. Might want to use a paint pan on the bolts after you get them tight and that will make the nut/bolt check easier. Anyone that moved needs a wrench, no change leave them be.

Mine needs the same treatment once I put the engine in it.
 
Last time I looked over the entire truck well was before the Rubicon. Between that and the one trail I managed at Trail Hero, I guess the truck saw enough action to loosen things up. I definitely feel like the Rubicon had a lot of articulation.
 

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