Adventures with a Pete 587

[JimT]

Wow, so much time has passed since I updated this. I always sucked at keeping a journal. Anyway, lets see. Since the last post I Inframed the engine at Rawze's, replaced all 8 drive tires, replaced fan clutch twice (I think the first one was bad, had an issue with it from day one), replaced a motor mount and finally installed those front springs pictured above. Replaced the steer hub caps as the plastic was warping around the bolts and just starting to leak. Replaced my Davco as the cover was getting warped and it was only a few bucks more to replace the entire unit instead of just the cover. Also installed the Cat's Eyes tire pressure thingies. That was the 2nd half of 2020 through 2021, not much else of note during that time. Engine wise things were great.

2022 has been much more busy. Started out by replacing all 4 batteries twice in a week. The first set (DieHard flooded batteries from Advance Auto) needed a jump prior to being able to actually crank the truck. At the end of the week I didn't like how they were performing so I bought another 4 flooded batteries from Napa. These were better but starting was still a little sluggish at times. More on that later.

Next she got new rear shocks and track bars (or torque arms, whichever name applies to the ones above the axle). Another windshield (averaging 1 per year due to rocks cranking it), which itself was chipped just days after it was installed, so far that has been fine with just a chip repair. Added a dump switch for my airbags along with a new height control valve. Replaced a bunch of AC hoses and recharged the system. Probably screwed it up a little as it could probably be colder and the pressure climbs what I think is a little too fast at idle, but rolling down the road it's normal and blows cold enough for now. Added a fumoto drain valve, only drained the oil once since then. A little slower than pulling the plug, but much less mess! Didn't seem to change the amount of oil drained either.

Had a flat steer tire around the end of July. Drove 8 miles on it to my trailer drop yard before I noticed it only had about 20 psi. Some rubber debris had lodged in the flow through valve stem caps letting air escape. Refilled the tire and it held pressure but I knew the damage had been done. Delivered my load a few miles away and took it straight in for a new set of Bridgestone R283S Ecopia 16 ply "Super Regional" tires. The old tires, Goodyears, went on at the beginning of 2020 just before I met Rawze the first time and were down to about 5-6/32 of tread at the lowest points. So, 2.5 years about 180,000 miles on that set. Never was too happy with them, hopefully these Bridgestones will hold up better. After that I finally bought a wireless TPMS. With flow through sensor caps they are on all the tractor tires now. The drives still have the Cat's Eye (which has been great, absolutely 0 pressure leakage) but now the flow through sensors sit between it and each tire allowing me to see pressures and temps for each tire. The system itself hasn't been the best, lots of false alarms (low/high pressure or high temps). Not sure if it's due to weak scrambled signal, or interference with some outside entity or what. But it's almost always extreme and limited to either pressure or temp. So when I suddenly see 320F degree temp with pressure reading normal or 175 psi with temp only 4F above ambient I've learned not to panic.

Now for the fun stuff. Remember the batteries? Well, turns out the starter was getting weak. So, after some searching I replaced the old Remy starter with a Mitsubishi. While I was at it I replaced the alternator (I think it was a 170-amp Delco) with a 320 amp Prestolite BLP 4002 brushless. Supposedly delivers more power at idle to run accessories. Also, created the 2nd battery box in the passenger step (original box is in driver step). Installed the Maxwell start module (Ultra Capacitor, not flux) and replaced 100% of the battery cables. Tested all 8 of the flooded batteries, found one of the Napa's was leaking and installed all 7 of the good ones. They are all the same type, same age and same rating/capacity. Definitely gives me more reserve capacity then before, but I won't really see the full effect until I switch back to AGM in a year or two.

So, between the new starter and install of the Maxwell start module she sounds and starts much different then before. Knocked about a full second off the cranking time, down to about 1.5 seconds on average. Haven't pushed the limits on the maxwell yet, but I mentally switched gears from "limit how often you start the truck without running it long enough to recharge the batteries" to "idle less, but maximize the amount of time between starts to ensure sufficient time to recharge the start module". It's a weird but distinct difference. On the other hand I spent over $1,100 on new battery cables. The overall distance from alternator to batteries was about 26' when it connected through the starter. With my new setup it's actually slightly less at about 24' despite the 2 battery boxes. Design was a little tricky at first, not only because the boxes are on either side of the truck, but also because my inverter has a shore power hookup and can also charge the batteries when plugged in. So to create a fully balanced charging setup from both the alternator and inverter took some thought since the inverter is under the bed on the passenger side of the sleeper. And yes, with the start module installed I want the batteries to essentially be one big batter bank, not 2 isolated banks. Played around with a few ideas but eventually settled on positive wired Alt --- Passenger bat bank --- driver bat bank --- inverter. And the negative going Alt --- driver bat bank --- passenger bat bank -- inverter. Each battery box has a cut off relay switch that will disconnect the batteries from the system, then there is a distribution block in each box for positive and negative connections to each battery and the start module. The result is that from either the inverter or the alternator it's exactly the same distance round trip to each battery.

Ok, enough about batteries. Next we have kingpins! I've been having a worsening issue with the truck wandering with changes in the road surface. While it's normal to some extent my truck has been increasingly sensitive to even the smallest cracks or crown/camber changes. It's not alignment as on new, smooth, flat road it drives nice and straight. While doing the usual PM inspections I recently observed some movement in the passenger kingpin so immediately ordered new ones, along with new brake shoes and drums since in the 4 years I've owned this truck they've never been changed (still had some life left too, but they were noisy, started pulling to one side and the drums had tons of small heat cracks). Also had a set of new wheel bearings on hand that I picked up last year but didn't use when I replaced the hub caps.

So far I've only completed the passenger kingpin. Old one came out fairly easily, rebuild was equally smooth until I tried to insert the new pin. WOW. What a difference. Tried using a bottle jack under the pin with the weight of the truck pushing down, it wouldn't budge. Nice and straight, just kept lifting the truck up instead of pushing the pin in. Eventually I had to use my harbor freight 20-ton shop press. That did the trick, slowly and smoothly, without breaking a sweat. First trip on the road is tomorrow, can't wait to see how it handles. Will get to the driver side soon, but first I have an idea for a jig that will make the job much faster. I literally had to disassemble the shop press, move it outside and reassemble it in the wheel well. Changed both front brakes, super easy. Passenger wheel bearings looked really good, almost new so I didn't screw around with them. They are the spicer LMS setup which is the preset type with the cone in the middle so you just torque the inner nut to 250-300 ft-lbs and the outer nut to 200 ft-lbs +/- 50 ft-lbs and don't back them off. New seals of course.

Future:
Well, in addition to what I've done and the other kingpin, I've also been stocking up on parts for future projects. I have rear brake shoes to go on in the next few weeks as time and weather allow. I have a new clutch sitting in a box in my garage, new u-joints and a new main bearing for the drive shaft. That's waiting for the transmission swap that will happen... eventually.

Oh, almost forgot. Took the fairings off the sides of the truck when I did the battery boxes and never got around to reinstalling them. Been about a month of driving now and I can confidently say they seem to make absolutely no noticeable difference to my fuel mileage. Back in June I slowed down to 58pmh cruising speed and since then I've been averaging low 8's. Mostly around 8.3 to 8.5 with a few 7.8's mixed in. I've been tracking dashboard fuel economy vs 'at the pump' numbers for a few years, so I know how accurate the dash usually is. Recently I also started tracking fuel economy readings along with my usual log of odometer readings at every stop I make and when I cross state lines. It's helped to identify specific areas of exceptionally poor fuel mileage. Believe it or not PA highways are not the worst. I-84 east bound through CT is actually consistently BAD. Like mid 6's bad with 8k of ISO on the deck. West bound is better, easily mid 10's empty. For comparison traveling I-81 north from the I-80 interchange up to I-84 east across to about the CT line with the same load averages around 8mpg. Anyway, the point is I've been able to identify better and worse areas, plan and adjust accordingly.

Anyway, that's about 2 years in a nutshell. Otherwise staying busy with work and a daughter who's now 5. Sorry I don't pop on here as much, it's just how life goes.