Daisy has fallen into disrepair. (my version of it anyway). I've spent so much time/money on the Toyota this year that daisy has been neglected. In her defense, she's pretty solid and doesn't ask much of me. But there are a few things going on that need to change.
The radiator leaks, again... These damn Champion radiators are junk. It's leaking from a tube a few inches in from the drivers side tank. Every time the fans kick on I smell coolant, it's starting to get the frame and drivers side spring wet. Radiator Express (who I ordered the radiator through) has been cool about it, I'm going to buy a different radiator from them and they're going to refund the difference. I keep reading about people having great luck with the OEM big block radiator (spectra CU730) with LS swaps. It's bigger than what I have in there now and with some oem parts, will drop right in. So when the new radiator gets here I'll figure out my fan mounting and send this shiny all aluminum junk back.
My new transmission leaks. The pan gasket seeps all the way around, has since the moment we filled it. I want a bigger pan but they're expensive so this one might take a while. What bugs me the most is that the underside of my truck was clean and dry for years. Now this trans pan has a coating of oil and dirt on everything under there. Unacceptable.
Finally, ever since we had the new trans installed, the truck vibrates worse than ever before. It vibrated before but it's noticeably worse now. It's only slightly better when off the throttle. I start feeling it around 50mph, it gets worse at 60mph and doesn't go away at 80mph like it used to. My dogs can't even sleep on the floor when we're on the highway. The driveline is in phase, t-case output and pinion input are both solid, no play, u-joints are new. It's got to be angle related. Granted, that didn't change when the trans was replaced, not sure what the connection between the vibration and the new trans is.
I checked some angles this morning, on the rear diff I found the pinion is pointing up 13*. The eng/trans/case are pointing down 6*. Measuring angle on the case itself is difficult as most of it is inaccessible due to my skid. I was able to put the angle finder on one of the cast ribs on the case and get a photo of it where I couldn't get my head up there to see it. That 7* difference could be the whole problem. I think I'll get some shims and try that.
