The good, the bad and the ugly...long story.

[fwdjunky]

Day #1 So, time for the first run of the year on Sunday (today). I get my truck back from a friend who's been doing some fab work to it (traded him my efi 454 for the work, see seperate thread about putting a 40 gallon suburban tank in a shortbed pickup) Thursday and decide to take care of a couple of nagging problems and give the truck a good once over. First nag, fan gets into fan shroud when right front tire gets compressed. Easy fix, remove fan, trim out offending fan shroud material. Right. More on this to follow. Second nag, speedo doesn't work. Rip out entire dash because I'm convinced the cable has pulled out of the gauge. Nope. Its just fine. Hmm. Take this opportunity to install tach. Put dash back together. Put drill motor on t-case end of cable. Speedo works fine. /forums/images/graemlins/angryfire.gif That just leaves the t-case drive as the culprit. Oh well, no time for that this week, will just have to stare at the check engine light awhile longer (computer gets all colors of mad about not getting a vss signal). Time to check grease and oils. All look great until.... the front D44. Pull plug, insert finger. Looks like someone poured a whole jar of glitter in there. /forums/images/graemlins/angryfire.gif Close eyes, pretend I didn't see it. This just means I'll have to front burner the D60 rebuild/install this summer. Go to thread plug back in $9.99 made in China custom chromiated, fully illumiated diff cover the guy who had the truck before me installed. Plug threads all the way through without sealing up. So THAT'S why the damn thing leaks. No big deal. Go out to classic bronco in driveway that is also awaiting a front axle reuild, swipe stock steel D44 cover to trade with truck. Figure it won't hurt to drain the goo out of the trucks axle anyway. Pull truck cover. WOW. The roll pin that holds the center pin of the diff in place has broken and allowed the center pin to back out about 3/8 of an inch at which point it began to spin with the spider gears and beat the holy P*#@ out of the pinion. Holes where the pin mounts are now roughly egg shaped. Hmm. Day #2. Go to another friends shop. Pound center pin back into place, weld it to carrier. Scratch head.... this things trash anyway, the covers off...there's a welder in my hand.... weld up gaps in spider gear teeth to lock it up, put cover on, fill with 90 weight, shrug shoulders, guess it will hold til it breaks, huh? Day 3 Drive to trail, lock everything up, head out. Notice with satisfaction after first half mile and first big climb that front axle hasn't exploded and fan isn't in the shroud...then...all of a sudden fan is in the shroud constantly. Discover rear body mounts loose...like 1/2 inch backed out of the nuts loose. Woo hoo! Found problem! Also notice truck wheels like a friggin goat! It goes ANYWHERE it's pointed! For anyone who has never wheeled a truck with both axles locked, I highly recommend it. It was the closest thing to a religious experience I have ever had. Now I just need to get an ARB in the D60 so I can do this and steer the damn thing. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[pauly383]

Wow, your frame must really be flexing for the fan to hit. Mine will flex so much that my bumper goes with my frame while body stays straight, but I haven't hit the fan. Well such is the nature of our trucks/sport /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

 

[darkshadow]

yeaah thats about the size of it. if it antperfect its all going to hell /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif

 

[bajaviking]

Welded diffs. work great and they are cheap and when they are welded 1/2 ton diffs. it adds another level of exitement to wheeling since something is going to break. Friday last week I installed my new longer brakelines and driveshaft and went wheeling for the first time in my new project blazer which is also welded front and rear. So far it's got a 4 inch lift and 33" BFG's and it works great, so far I have invested $1500 in it(including the $800 for the truck) so I am not worried about beating on it, I havent had this much fun in a long time. /forums/images/graemlins/weld.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[fwdjunky]

It's not frame flex, with the body mounts loose the back end of the cab is actually sliding to the left about 1/2 an inch when the truck leans to the drivers side, that in turn is twisting the core support around and pushing the shroud against the fan. I noticed when it happened all I had to do was run the left tires up on a hill and it would slide back. Actually pretty happy about finding the cause as its a very easy fix and I already have new poly mounts in the garage, just haven't had time to put it in. Beats trying to re-engineer the radiator mounts which is what I had thought I needed to do.