I removed my serpentine belt to hunt for that squeal/grind I heard the other evening after work. Turns out it was the tensioner pulley. Spun super easy, and made a high pitched metal on metal noise while doing it. Grabbed the one off my old 89 motor....seemed in way better shape...nice and quiet with a bit of resistance. Tossed it on and all seems good. Forgot how much I hate re-routing that belt though.

 

I think all said it was about 3 hours. But that included cleaning 10 pounds of dirt and oil off the skid plate, cleaning all the oil and grease off the front drive shaft. And about an hour cussing the stupid little bottle pump for the quart sized bottles.

 

Today I'll be installing a new alt pulley to see if J. Martin is correct why my belt squeals from a worn out pulley.
Post results later

 

ll this sounds like the problem I had
last year, turned out I had a front crank seal
weeping, oil gets on the pulley.

 

Today, my flexplate / transmission went bad. Need to get this squared away fast, as I don't have much time before the weather settles in.

Of all the freaking things to go wrong...

 

Sorry to hear that T-man.
I know you want your truck dialed in for the winter plow season.
I hope it something simple.
Maybe the flexplate gave up the ghost?

 

. What were the signs? I ask that cause I remember when my flex plate went...sounded like marbles inside the bell housing, and got louder with acceleration. At idle, faint noise. At 65 mph, very, very loud. But, the trans shifted normal, and got me to home which was 40 miles away from when the flex plate cracked. So, my tranny didn't go, just the FP. Hopefully, your conditions are similar, and even though some work getting to it, a broken FP is better that a broken tranny. I replaced mine with a 2nd gen one from Cummins. Hopefully that's all it is. If I remember right, I replaced the rear main seal with a fresh one while I was in there, and also bought new flexplate mounting bolts, all parts from Cummins

 

If it won't go, and won't crank, the flexplate is completely sheared.
BTDT got the T shirt.

Wouldn't hurt engine seal. It would be worth while to throw in a front seal while the transmission is out, and check the front pump bushing.

PM sent

 

That's exactly what has happened..

I made it home, but I don't want to drive it any further. Either I jack it up, and yank the trans myself, or I get a local shop to rebuilt it completely, with a new flex plate.

Not wanting to remove the trans and put it back in with 200K on the ODO.

 

Thanks. PM Sent.

 

Today, I (besides having my flex plate crack) replaced my alternator pulley and belt.

Replaced just the pulley, and the squeak was still there, unchanged from the old pulley.

So, then I put a new belt on it. Squeak is gone. Whatever is going on, it's definitely belt related.

 

Did a little street testing....learned a little, but not too much. Ran on a data logger, 60-foot time of 2.11 (my best, but still bad, should be 1.8X) and 0-60mph in 4.6 seconds. Probably high 12's at best. Just a .032 jet to spool. Going to lower the tire pressure from 12psi to 10psi next time, do a VHT burnout, and try a real launch next time. I did get down how to lock the converter in first, spool with nitrous, and shift all the gears manually with no tach, so I consider that all to be good practice.

Needs more nitrous.

 

If it were me, and "me" meaning: 1. I have the time to do a flexplate install, which for a first timer took me an entire weekend, taking my time doing it right 2. Skillset- it's all in the planning of the series of tasks to remove and replace, refill back with ATF and test drive. I already know from things you've done to your truck you've got the skill set, T. 3. Tools- outside of the norm, you will need a transmission jack. Don't try and even think of riggin' your regular floor jack to remove and replace a transmission with the NP205 attached to it, no matter who says it can be done. You role that thing off and plop it on your chest and you are gonzo, under a truck of all things. I've read of people doing it with floor jacks that "they've made adapters for" and I call BS and STOOPIDD! Get the 3 ton capacity one from harbor freight. Built well, and not that bad in $$. Actually, a great investment as far as tools go 4. Lastly, the funds. If this happened to me, T, I am in no position to outright go and have my tranny rebuilt, and even if I did, the thought of having it done out of shear panic, and not planning, researching, etc., would leave me feeling like I didn't get what I paid for or really get what I wanted in a tranny rebuild. So, where am I going with all of this? In all honesty, I truly believe you've still got a lot of life left in your A518, and the flexplate is all that needs to be done. I've never seen you post anything about overheated tranny, tranny slippage, growling noises, and all the associated signs that lead up to a transmission demise, so that's why I say you're tranny is still alive! I would invest in a tranny jack, and at best get an OEM Cummins 2nd Gen FP along with new attaching bolts, Cummins rear main seal kit, and be back on the road after a weekend of fun under the truck. Then, start saving my $$$ and plan for a true bullet proof build( and all the things you truly want, not what a shop suggests) and incorporate a transfer case rebuild into that. Heck, you could locate and trust in a shop to do your rebuild as part of the planning stage, and maybe to save some dough while your rigs at the tranny shop, you could rebuild the transfer case in your garage. In the end, you'll feel better, knowing it was something well thought out and planned for. Just get the flexplate replaced. With the jack from harbor freight, a new FP and bolts, ATF, and misc sealants, seals, etc., your talking $400 max. You could rent a jack, and save even more $$, just make sure it has safety tie down chains and a side to side/front to back tilt feature like the harbor freight one does. If I was there and all healed up I'd gladly help you with this one, bro! Sorry for the long post, BTW

 

FWIW, when I pulled the trans on mine to do the rear main seal I was of similar thought as far as having the unit out and not going through it with 200K on it. I decided to rebuild it while it was out and found that aside from a worn spline interface for the aluminum front planetary gearset there was very minimal wear to the unit as a whole, in fact ALL of the clutch discs measured out to be withing a few thousandths thickness to the brand new ones i put in. YMMV though.

 

Thanks guys.

Called a local trans shop. Wants $2500 for a basic rebuild. Any upgrades would be extra.

So far, I've ordered a new flex plate, ARP Bolts which will be in sometime in the next couple days.

Today, I picked up a Cummins rear main seal kit $82.41
Adapter gasket $8.39
Barring tool for rotating the flexplate $38.51

Still undecided on how to go, although looking for a warm garage to rent and do this myself is seeming to be the best route, albeit, not the easiest.