I have been tinkering on the last few things on the motor swap and the long list of "while I am here" stuff on the black crew cab the past few nights.
Today my daughter helped me fill up the cooling system before lunch. After lunch I continued to dial in the last few things before firing it up with the new motor under the hood.
After cracking some lines and bleeding some air out of the system, it fired right up. It idled a little high, after the pump rebuild, but I will have to tune it up anyway so the idle with have to be set after the fuel screw gets dialed in.

I am off to have a celebratory beer and hook up the engine harness, rather than the jumper wire I just had it running on.

 

I have had the black crew cab out for two drives. The first one of about 15 miles was pretty smooth, other than the rear e-brake cables not releasing all the way making for some warm rear brakes on return to the shop.
The next night before dinner I took it for another ride, all was going great until while shifting from 3rd to 4th the clutch pedal went "dead". I instantly knew what happened and I "floated" the shift into 4th. I made it the last 5 miles home in 4th. After I was safely in the driveway, I turned the truck off and shifted it into 2L and restarted it to drive it into the shop in 1st gear.

While it is in the shop tonight, I installed a Beckson 4 inch plate in the HVAC box as a clean out and re torqued the lug nut on the rims and tires I installed last week. I will swap out the clutch hydros this weekend with a set up I have on the shelf, for just this occasion.

 

well hopefully tomorrow I can put the saga of rebuilding the rear brakes to bed. what should have been an afternoon job stretched out to two weeks, wish I could find more time to tinker in the garage.

 

Had a slow air leak in my RH rear tire so swung into the tire shop to get it fixed today. They told me I had a diff leak, first thought it was most likely the residue from the inner hub seal leak I had a month or so ago....but NOPE the pinion seal is leaking now.

 

Have you checked the breather tube is clear?

 

Yup I thought the same thing when the hub seal went.....removed it and checked that air would pass through, and made sure the fitting on the diff was clear as well.

 

I take a drill bit and manually spin it inside the fitting. It clears all the goo out of it quickly. Amazing how hard that gunk gets over time

 

Especially if you have mud daubers!

 

I had a mud dauber get into the ground hole of an extension cord. I had to drill the stupid thing out, tough little bugs...Mark

 

Put the driver door back together after the window motor replacement. Seems like the 3rd motor in about 4 years. Than goodness for the lifetime warranty on that part from Oreilly's. Or maybe that's the problem. Also modified my weatherproofing and sound deadening insulation before the door panel went back on. Took it to meet the wife for lunch, to the golf course the next day and then washed the beauty after church and took it for a spin to fuel up! Nothing like a clean truck!!!

Rain deflector for the door speaker.

 

Got the drivers door on and put together I didn’t scratch nothing this time .Not bragging just lucky.Got the fenders and 2 hoods ready for paint

 

Took the dodge to the dump today.

Spectacular weather to sit with a bunch of diesels in line to dump your junk.

 

Two hoods Gunch?

 

Yea 2 hoods it’s a long story .Both had the skin loose in spots well when I resealed them I turned them over to dry and it pulled the skin down .Finialy figure out cut all the seal and stand them up and seal them all of a sudden both hoods felt good didn’t need much body work at all Now I got one with the holes for the Ram and one without .

 

Are your mirrors original or aftermarket? Mine from LMC have rust on the post holding the mirror, after 1 year. Crappy foreign junk stainless!