Helping JimT out with an inframe ...

[JimT]

replaced it once already about 2 years ago and of course i'd replace it again when i do the rest of the driveline. I was being sarcastic when I said it didn't magically go away on it's own, in case that wasn't obvious in text. Also, I tend to call everything a "vibration" instead of a shake or shimmy, knock or bounce or whatever, sorry if that offends the technically minded. I actually think the problem is inside the transmission on the output side, but I can't rule out the diff either. It's definitely present regardless if I'm in gear or out, although it's slightly more noticeable in gear and accelerating or decelerating. Twice I've had motor mounts break that resulted in a shift of the engine and once I had to adjust the ride height up at least 1.5 inches, all of which could have put extra stress/wear on driveline components including the trans and diffs.

I'm not getting any noticeable wear patterns on any of my tires so that narrows it down a little. I've actually been wanting to do something with the transmission for a few years now but other things like the aftertreatment and the inframe kept getting bumped higher priority. However I think it's time to act before luck gives way to inevitability. I spend a few hours every day driving listening to only the engine, truck and road sounds, so a lot of what I'm hearing is subtle, but slowly getting progressively worse. I'm constantly questioning myself as to whether I'm being overly critical or trying to find something wrong when it isn't. So don't read too much into what I wrote above as it was just a synopsis of the past 18 months as opposed to troubleshooting questions.

man, if I wrote papers in high school like I write comments on this forum, I never would have flunked english classes due to missing writing assignments.

[JimT]

oh, forgot to mention, in the past year I've also replaced both front springs and shocks, all rear shocks and both torque arms on top of the diffs. I also bought 8 new but cheap batteries to replace the 4 deader than dead ones after 6 months being disconnected from the truck. Yes 8, the first 4, DieHard brand from Advance Auto, all newly manufactured, were dead upon installation and needed to be charged before they would try to turn over the engine. Overnight they would drop down at or under 12 volts with no load. So a few days later I got some equally cheap ones from Napa that have been working just fine. not as good as the optima yellow tops that I had been using, but all 8 together cost less than 4 optima's and it's about all I had access to in stock at the time. I've always used the optima's in this truck since I bought it and they maintained a low end charge around 12.6v, only dropping lower if/when I heavily drained them overnight. Maybe it's just a normal difference between AGM and Flooded batteries, but these new ones always settle down to about 12.4 or 12.3v over night or a weekend, even when disconnected from the truck. IDK if thats normal, especially in 25-35 degree weather, but they have been working just fine though I've been careful to minimize the load on them when the truck isn't running, just in case.

Can't wait until I have the time to implement my redesign to the electrical system in this truck. Bigger alternator, 7 batteries, start module and shore power hook-up to my xantrax inverter which can also charge and equalize the batteries. Should provide enough power for my overnight hotel loads without excessively cycling/discharging the batteries (which is why I've only been getting, on average, about 18 months out of a set of AGM batteries). I'm typically on the road 4 night a week, monday through friday, so an APU would be overkill, not to mention hard to find space to mount. But I try to be 99% self sufficient with food (fridge/freezer), water, single cup coffee maker and microwave (just can't take a shower, yet), often spending the night in my customer's parking lot or a simple highway rest stop. So my batteries need to handle more then just starting and running the truck. Right now I spend up to 30 or 60 minutes a day (not all at once) idling the truck so I can use the microwave or coffee maker with less of an impact to the batteries and that's a cost I'd like to eliminate, both fuel and maintenance.

[Rawze]

(04-09-2022 )JimT Wrote:  ...
Despite spending a good amount of time cleaning and painting parts much of the paint has peeled off, in large pathces. Specifically anything that was painted with Corroseal then Por15.
...

yeah, something went wrong.

I have 'Correseal + por15'd' components all over my truck. The stuff has always been tough as nails and has never peeled or flaked off wherever I had applied it.

[Chamberpains]

Something must be different between the Por-15 in the south and what we get in the NE. I'm fairly close to not touching the stuff again. I have the exact same problem Jim is having. It peals. It flakes. It gets moisture under it. I've done some relatively good prep before applying it and got the same result.

Im looking at going to a more pure marine/salt water exterior hull application paint next. I'm just simply not having good success with por15. I think Waterloo made mention he was having problems with it too. Last year. But I could be wrong on that.

[tree98]

If you live and drive in the rust belt it will not hold up. Driving through salt here and there is quite different than living in it. Here in the rust belt, the only way to have it last is 1 sandblast 2 epoxy primer 3 Urethane paint or an industrial alkyd like sher-chem (sherwin williams product), but sherchem isn't available in a wide range of colors like a Urethane (imron) or polyester (opticryl) paint. These primers and paints require full respirator and total body covering to avoid contact with VOC's.
I've tried everything under the sun over the years and I'm here to tell you this is the only way to do it if you live in the rust belt. It's a lot more work and requires a lot more equipment but it will hold up.
If you can't or won't buy all the necessary equipment you could just
Google search your area for commercial blasting and painting, then take all your parts off and send them to those guys. Anything else is just wasting time and money.

[SquareOne]

(04-09-2022 )JimT Wrote:  ...Despite spending a good amount of time cleaning and painting parts much of the paint has peeled off, in large pathces. Specifically anything that was painted with Corroseal then Por15. ....

Whats odd, is I experienced the same thing when I painted and installed the new damper. I tried the Corroseal on a few different items and found it seemed to work great on the lightly to mildly rusted parts (not on the truck, just stuff around the house.... some fab projects I had been working on which were still bare metal, my tubing bender, couple scrap pieces, etc..), but it didn't do well on clean metal. When I tried it on the damper, it turned the correct color the instructions said it would and appeared to have good adhesion. Once I hit it with the air hose while prepping for the POR-15, it came off in large patches. Almost as it had no adhesion whatsoever. The other items I used the Corroseal on are still like the day I put it on....but again, they were light-mild rusted.

(04-09-2022 )JimT Wrote:  Outside of the engine, my driveline issue still hasn't magically gone away on its own... dang... Could be trans or diff or something else causing some speed related vibration, notably around 50-55mph and 70 and up (not that I exceed 62 very often). I'm currently planning a big overhaul where I'm gonna change my rear end gears to a different ratio, swap out the tranny (the current 13 speed makes some noises I don't like, probably needs a rebuild, might go with an 18 speed instead), replace the clutch while I'm at it (seems to work fine except for the lack of a clutch brake for the entire 4 years I've owned the truck) and everything else in that area while it's torn down....

For a min, I thought you were talking about my truck lol. I've been chasing a damn DL vibration for a quarter million miles. I've taken measurements on DL angle and ride height, changed the driveshaft, all U-joints, damper, torque rods, etc.....basically anything that could contribute to it. Even ran the trans up to speed while the driveshaft was disconnected to eliminate the rest of the drivetrain.

Some of that vibration remained even with the rest of the DL removed from the equation. I'm thinking at this point maybe it's the input shaft bearing or possibly the pilot bearing? Hell maybe the clutch has some oddball wear pattern (although if I lightly rest my foot on the pedal, there isn't anything out of the ordinary coming through). It comes and goes and although it's faint and few and far in between occurrences, it needs to be addressed. I'm nearing the 700k mark, and Rawze, you may not remember, but when we viewed the initial history of this my truck 3yrs ago, the first 350k miles were rough for it to say the least.

[JimT]

(04-13-2022 )SquareOne Wrote:  .... but it didn't do well on clean metal. When I tried it on the damper, it turned the correct color the instructions said it would and appeared to have good adhesion. Once I hit it with the air hose while prepping for the POR-15, it came off in large patches. Almost as it had no adhesion whatsoever. The other items I used the Corroseal on are still like the day I put it on....but again, they were light-mild rusted.

that's probably the same effect I'm seeing. The nice clean parts (despite the high humidity at the time) didn't provide a good surface for the corroseal.

(04-13-2022 )SquareOne Wrote:  For a min, I thought you were talking about my truck lol. I've been chasing a damn DL vibration for a quarter million miles. I've taken measurements on DL angle and ride height, changed the driveshaft, all U-joints, damper, torque rods, etc.....basically anything that could contribute to it. Even ran the trans up to speed while the driveshaft was disconnected to eliminate the rest of the drivetrain.

Some of that vibration remained even with the rest of the DL removed from the equation. I'm thinking at this point maybe it's the input shaft bearing or possibly the pilot bearing? Hell maybe the clutch has some oddball wear pattern (although if I lightly rest my foot on the pedal, there isn't anything out of the ordinary coming through). It comes and goes and although it's faint and few and far in between occurrences, it needs to be addressed. I'm nearing the 700k mark, and Rawze, you may not remember, but when we viewed the initial history of this my truck 3yrs ago, the first 350k miles were rough for it to say the least.

I've been wondering about the input shaft and/or pilot bearing and that possibility only strengthens my desire to more forward with this project. I figure if I'm gonna drop part of the driveline anyway I might as well do the upgrades I've been thinking about and change a few other parts (even if they aren't bad) instead of doing the same labor 2 or more times. After doing the inframe I've committed to long term ownership of this truck so it makes sense to put the money into parts that will help see the truck through it's next 600k-1mil miles. It's been working very good for my business usage and I see no reason to swap it for something else at this time.

I've been averaging 62mph, mid-roof sleeper and flatbed, though New England, New York state, NYC/LI, NJ and eastern PA with about 85% of my miles running back and forth along I-84 getting 7-7.5 mpg with tall and light ISO loads (or mixed loads ISO/pallets that are nose light, tail heavy). Also pulling 7.2-7.8 mpg with 45k loads of 4' tall skids. Recently recorded a 9.3 mpg tank of fuel round trip from NH to PA back to NH. 50% empty 50% loaded with 3' tall tarped ISO weighing in at 4,000lbs. That run was extra notable since I usually average 9-10mpg just pulling an empty flatbed. FYI I weigh in just a few pounds under 30k with my tractor, m/t trailer, flatbed equipment and full tanks. I've considered reinstalling my roof fairing to help some with the tall ISO loads, but there would still be about a 3' gap and it would make getting around Brooklyn with shorter load a little more difficult. Sometimes I do run 68-70mph in order to make deadlines and stay within the HOS without losing a day's work, but it's only when needed and the income gained is worth the higher expense.

Right now with 3.36 rears I have to hit 72 mph just to reach 1800 rpm in 12th gear or 1550 rpm in 13th gear. Makes 13th gear completely useless. Even in 12th gear cruising at 62mph is 1550 rpm. I need to find a gear ratio calculator to figure out what rear end would be best for my application.

[JimT]

On a side note, I missed out on a chance to buy a wrecked truck (rear end damage, totaled and auctioned by Ins. Co.) with a good cm2250 engine. Guy couldn't get a hold of me before accepting another offer :( Too bad, I could have snagged the entire truck for $5,000. Even if it needed an inframe (unlikely at present since it had supposedly just gotten a crate engine a few weeks before the accident) it'd still be a great buy. Worst case I could have parted it out for more than the cost. But alas that didn't happen.

Instead he sold me the turbo with actuator from the working engine for $500. Offered me a fuel tank and DPF as well, but I had no need for either. Intake side of the turbo looked clean, exhaust side was sooty and has a small rust trail, though that looked fresh and could have happened over the past 8 months that it's been sitting on the shop floor. No play in the turbines, blades looked good. Off of truck so had no way to test functionality, but seemed like a decent bet. Probably send it down to GA for some TLC and keep it on hand in case my turbo needs replacing.

Now I just want to clear space in my garage and find an engine to rebuild. For fun. Is that wrong?