Need more pictures for motivation on my 73 Crew Cab

 

Replaced battery cable ends and installed a threaded post battery and buss bar. Once I fabricate a bracket, ill move the buss bar over off the battery. Cable ends needed were 3-0 and 4 gauge, which my local Napa stocks

 

Nice looking upgrade T-man.

 

I finally got round to changing my oil. I had forgotten just how much fun that is. I got a very nice 4.5 gallon drain pan with a built in pour spout from O'Reilly's which was very nice. Draining the oil was the easy part.

Loosening the filter was a pain since at first I couldn't locate my chain type wrench. I wasn't even sure I had one. The cheapo kind wouldn't fit between the A/C lines and the bottom of the filter which is what I had. I finally found my chain wrench and got the filter loosened. Bear in mind that I'm 6' 2" and I still had to stand on a stool to reach the filter. Of course as soon as I got the filter loose it started dripping about a gallon of old dirty oil. So now it's slippery and took about a hundred turns before it comes off the threads meanwhile spilling even more oil all over the place. Finally it was off but I had neglected to prepare a place to drain it out since the pan was still under the truck. SO I resorted to propping it up against the fence until the pan was finished draining.

I put the drain plug back in and spun on the new filter and I was taking off the oil filler cap when it slipped out of my fingers and went who knows where. I had partially pulled the drain pan out and it happened to be right under the fill cap area. I didn't much want to go fishing for it so I probed for it with my dropped part claw but it didn't seem to be in there.

I looked and looked but it was nowhere to be found. I poured the old oil back in the oil jug but the cap wasn't there either.

So I looked and looked and looked some more and I finally found it. It had landed just inside the fan shroud and out of sight.

I poured in the 2.5 gallon jug of Rotella 15W40 diesel oil I got at Walmart on sale and then I put in 2 more quarts of the 5w30 Pennzoil synthetic diesel oil I got from the VW dealer.

I started it up and drove around a bit to get everything mixed up well and cleaned everything up.

Question? Before the change the dipstick level was right at the add oil mark. After putting in the 2.5 gallon jug and running the engine a bit to fill the filter the oil level on the dipstick came back to the add oil mark. 2 more quarts brought the level right up to the full mark which is exactly 3 gallons of oil. This according to the FSM is what the pan holds including the filter.

Does this sound right? I always thought that the add oil line was one quart low.

Edwin

 

both of my trucks run 1 qt low, right around the "add" mark. i was blowing through oil topping off my 93 like every 1500-2000 miles until i realized that it goes down to that mark and then doesn't drop any lower. so now i just run them both at that level.

 

Most any diesels I have been around are always 2 quarts on the add mark or if it's a larger cubic inch engine 1 gallon at the add mark.

You are NOT suppose to add engine oil to any engine unless it is on the add mark on the stick. All engines will use oil, even if you cannot observe it on the dipstick and are not ment to be added to unless at or below the add mark.

 

I rebuilt the upper and lower control arms for a 4K lb D250 front end. (McKnittle's old 2wd arms)

New Moog Bushings all around, and XRF lower balljoints, which look great. Haven't installed the upper BJs yet, going to bolt the arms into the frame first and then reef em to 125 FT/Lb

Also arrived was a whole complement of XRF steering components. (Centre link, Idler, Inner and outer Tie Rods and New adjusting sleeves.)

So far I'm not too impressed with the XRF steering components because 1.) Everything is made in Taiwan. (All my moog bushings and even the new 7226S springs were made in USA) and 2.) The Tie Rod Ends are puny, much smaller than stock. (yes, I double checked correct P/N and taper is correct size.) I assumed they'd be as large or larger, but they boast on their website:

"Both XRF tie rod ends and rack and pinion ends are made to be much stronger than OEM.

XRF uses SAE1045 and SAE4140 steel on these parts to give greater strength and durability. OEM stud pull-out specification is >2550kg, while XRF stud pull-out tests at >4520kg."


So, maybe they use superior metallurgy, and can run smaller and still be stronger than OEM?? We'll see. They were half the price each of equivalent MOOG big size joints. The Center Link looks ok I guess, I haven't compared the joint size with OEM though. Pics below. Maybe the best idea would be to stay away from MOOG ball joints, but get mOog tie rod ends+ everything else??

 

Thats almost ed zachary what mine does.

Goes down to between the Add/Full mark, and pretty much stays there until the next oil change.

 

the "New" moog tie rod end is a bit larger in diameter (and made in USA) than the XRF but not as large as the OEM/old style moog.

It is shallower than the XRF and the ball has a loose spot in the socket around the center vs. the XRF which feels nice and tight.

 

I have seen something like that somewhere.

 

Mine too. I gave up trying to figure it out. long a go.

 

I've driven commercial trucks that did this as well, and if you added any oil it would just burn it off. My 93 motor in the crewcab does not seem to move at all over the service time....maybe a half a quart at most.

 

Christmas in November ?

Thanks Ollie !

 

Nice to have a couple spares. After my new parts truck I now have several spares.....

 

Had my truck weighted before having a yard of mulch dumped in the back at the compost facility. Truck has 3/4 tank of fuel and minimal junk behind the seat of maybe 20 pounds. Subtracting my weight the truck is 5,880 pounds.