Helping JimT out with an inframe ...

[Brock]

My new Western Star has a Davco and I cannot see fuel in it, Davco book says that's normal for the level to be low.

As for recaps, I have never in my life blown a recap. I always buy Bridgestone (Bandag) retreads though because many friends have blown recaps they got from Mom and Pop shops.

[amermextrucker]

As far as recaps , I'd say BANDAG is the best of the bunch. I've bought them before at the factory in Bolingbrook, IL. They would also install them for you.

[Lonestar10]

i refuse to run them this 16 t680 had around 75% on 8 recaps when i bought it and even though they wouldnt give me core credits or used tire credits i still replaced all 8 with new DR454s and i dont wait for DR 2/64 or Steer 4/64s on tires i replace them as soon as i dont feel comfortable with how much tread is left. heck just replaced 2 perfectly good 75% toyo steers and replaced with mich x-lines because they were out of round and my alignment guy will not do an alignment on out of round tires so i said throw some new ones on the guys a pro not that in and out laser alignment crap i think he spent 2 hours getting the tires centered on the hubs and flat on the hubs as previous owners never used the gaskets behind the tires so the backside of my rims are chewed up a bit he also bent my axle to get the right camber as he did with my trailer to make it stop eating the inside edges of tires since hendrickson thinks a straight axle is gona be straight when you throw 20-25k on it.

and im quite pleased with this truck pulled a 7.8mpg running I90 at 67mph from sioux falls to the 90/94 interchange at Tomah Wisconsin, then up 3miles to highway 21 running 57-58mph over to Wautoma WI for the nite. with a 13.6ft high load of pvc pipe so basically few thousand miny parachutes.

[Waterloo]

I have never had any luck with caps, and have never installed on any equipment I have owned. But boy I have pulled some trailers with them. One unit, a step deck van, that is all the company would install, caps, those 16 inch tires... I ran my local TA out of those little caps to the point I finally got the company to install virgin tires. It was to the point of stupid, we could have outfitted two trailers with virgin tires for the monies they had in all of those recaps and service calls, hell three trailers! And these were BanDag tires... Never had an issue after the caps were removed.

[JimT]

So, just a "quick" follow up to ongoing events.

Been busy playing catch-up, business-wise.

After about 2500 miles the Davco level finally began to stay about 1-2" above the bottom of the clear housing. Haven't followed up on anything else fuel system related, yet, but that's on my short list of things to do.

After the tire blowout and the one odd-ball tire I decided to start replacing the rest. After some research I went with the consensus here and put 4 new Bridgestone M710 on the front axle and left an assortment on the rear axle for now. I'll probably do the other 4 in early December. Carrier's National Account pricing put them at $387/tire with payments spread out on my settlements.

Engine is running ok. Might have an injector acting up, but it's subtle right now. Otherwise I have good power and minimal oil consumption. About 7k on this oil and the change is barely noticeable on the dipstick. Fuel mileage is down from a long term 7.47 mpg average pre-inframe to about a 7.36 post-inframe. Although I've been spending a lot of miles remembering how to drive right. Still, tank to tank it seems a bit lower than it should be. Will probably drop this oil a little early, around 10-12k and do my first oil sample post-inframe. Will be interesting to see the results as things start to wear in.

I currently have 2 coolant leaks. One from the new drain fitting and one from a rubber hose at the rear of the engine. Otherwise, no other visible external leaks.

Alternator is still running fine, despite the noise. It's more pronounced at the start of a day and seems to quiet down a bit toward the end. Same goes for the whine of the oil pump.

On an unrelated note my Xantrax freedom xc 2000 power inverter started acting up. The fan started running even with no load and one monday morning it shutdown due to "overheating", though the entire case was cool to the touch and there was little to no load. It has adequate air flow so I'm thinking some internal issue. Maybe a temp sensor. I'm torn, it's not "user serviceable" but that rarely stops me from tinkering around with things.

On a positive not the tractor passed a periodic DOT inspection, so I'm good for another 120-days.

[Rawze]

(10-12-2020 )JimT Wrote:  ... Fuel mileage is down from a long term 7.47 mpg average pre-inframe to about a 7.36 post-inframe. ... tank to tank it seems a bit lower than it should be.
...

When i did my own inframe, it took 80,000 miles before my fuel mileage started coming back up where it was before. A tight, freshly inframed engine has lower fuel mileage until it gets broke in good. My own truck lost a solid 0.8 mpg during that period. New drive tires vs. worn out ones will drop the fuel mileage even more till they get broke in too. Every time i have replaced mine, I lost about 0.7 mpg on the tires till they got broke in again.

[JimT]

(10-12-2020 )JimT Wrote:  Engine is running ok. Might have an injector acting up, but it's subtle right now.

Guess I should have elaborated a little...

At cold idle it's a little rough, but smooths out as it warms up. Rawze noted this when we first fired it up and there has been no real change since then.

What caught my attention since then is a slight surge, reproducible, typically around 1500-1600 rpm. It's most noticeable with little to no engine load, like cruising down the road and the engine has to do the bare minimum effort to maintain a given speed. It's sometimes present under acceleration, however it's VERY hard to notice when it does occur.

This surge is predominately audible and I can't see any actual change in RPM on the digital dashboard reading. Maybe 10 rpm, if that. It occurs with a constant period of about 1.5 seconds when running about 1500-1600 rpm. It doesn't occur at higher (1700-1800) rpms and I don't spend enough time in lower rpm ranges to know if it applies. It does not seem to occur at idle speed (I'm set at 720rpm).

Some quick searches here led me to this post in reply to this thread. It pretty much matches my situation/symptoms.

[SquareOne]

JimT, just as a quick follow-up to your fuel level in the Davco ------> My last oil change, I also replaced the F/W sep and fuel filter. Although I could see the fuel below the black securing ring on the Davco, it has just begun to show the level above it. It's currently about .5-.75" above the black ring. I have around 7k on them.

There is mainly 1 place I get fuel as I have a dedicated route, so maybe that contributes to the fuel quality and also why it takes awhile to see the 'restriction' level above the black ring.

On a side note, the level stays very constant. If it's .5" above the ring now, it will be like that through the period of time the truck is not in use as well. Level only moves up gradually, never fluctuates down.

[Lonestar10]

i get fuel where its cheapest on my card. i get about 40k miles per DAVCO filter running a 7nm filter and every time i change it the level stays below the black ring for atleast 5-10k miles.