2002 2500HD - Solid Axle Tow Rig

I was tired as hellllll. At least I wasn't drinking, right?
 
Not much has changed recently aside from getting some updated tunes. 4 and 5 are big boy tunes. As per the tuner 4 is "more" and 5 is "more + more" :D

Anyway, my buddy needed a few Lube Locker gaskets for the Second Gen axles we just picked up and I need to fix the leaky inner axle seal in this truck. So, ordered the knuckle seals, outer axle tube seals, inner seals, and since I don't want to pull it apart AGAIN....I may have inadvertently went ahead and ordered a Detroit True Trac :rolleyes: Since they were out of individual carrier bearings, they (ECGS) cut me a deal on a install kit...so might as well put new carrier bearings in it too. So, full front diff rebuild, here we come!

I'll order a rear True Trac later on. They're expensive! Damn AAM 11.5s...

I'm hoping to ride up to Ohio in April to get the transmission built. Hopefully big things will be happening soon!
 
They'll swap, but, the AAM version is a 2:1 bias and the True Trac is a 3:1 bias...from what I've read. In a nut shell, the Eaton version is tighter. Plus, I'm not entirely sure, but there may need to be a spacer involved to take up the space for the tone ring. Does Dodge still do that? I can't remember...

Plus, I don't think ECGS has any of those in stock right now. Even when they do, they're still close to 850 bucks. I'd just as soon have the same rear unit as the front.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
They'll swap, but, the AAM version is a 2:1 bias and the True Trac is a 3:1 bias...from what I've read. In a nut shell, the Eaton version is tighter. Plus, I'm not entirely sure, but there may need to be a spacer involved to take up the space for the tone ring. Does Dodge still do that? I can't remember...

Plus, I don't think ECGS has any of those in stock right now. Even when they do, they're still close to 850 bucks. I'd just as soon have the same rear unit as the front.
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I’m not sure on the specifics but I’m sure I’m a tightwad so it would be something I’d look into iffen it were mine.
 
Basically every traction aid for an 11.5 is 1000 bucks. Give or take.
 
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I kinda wish they made an E-Locker for the 11.5s. That'd be the best of both worlds.

Anyway...got my stuff in from ECGS today! I'll probably ride up to @iwaxmyjimmy 's house to do it. I don't have the stuff to pull and press bearings. Other than that, it's pretty simple. I did spring for the knuckle seal install tool when I originally put the axle together. It makes life a lot easier.

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Nevermind my freshly cleaned drawers on the kitchen island :D Damn using RTV on a diff cover any more...ever since I got the AAM cover for the rear and it came with a Lube Locker style gasket, I'll use them on everything from now on! BTW, True Tracs are hefty! Then again...there's a lot of steel all up in there. I'm ready to get this thing put together and not leaking.

I think the next big spender, non-transmission, project will be adding hydro assist and a new power steering pump because...why not?
 
I absolutely love that giant fuel tank.

Ran up to Beckley, WV yesterday to pick up a buddy's truck. The transmission broke pretty bad on his way home from Ohio. 20,000 miles on an Allison with lots of expensive parts on it and found lots of chunky metal in the pan. Going to pull it and take it back to the people who built it. I don't have much confidence in them.

Hopefully I can get the Mishimoto trans cooler cleaned out, but it's going to need a radiator. You can't clean out those heat echangers in the side tanks. I know the converter is toast too...which sucks. It's a triple disc Suncoast.

My truck did good, but I'm definitely dropping back to a 63mm. This 67 is too damn big. Pulled lots of hills in 4th gear at 60 mph. Never saw coolant temps over 197. I can also tell that new oil cooler is working. After hours of hard use, it would still idle with 25 lbs of oil pressure! Pretty good for having 326,500 miles on it and still looks damn good :D

I've got a Fluidampr harmonic balancer that'll be here today. Excited to see how much it smooths it out.

Here's the truck I hauled back. 08 LMM Duramax. 120,000 miles on it. She's hefty, but pulled quite well while running 80.

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nice haul! But a broke transmission in the midst?? Damn, dude. That sucks ass!
 
Nope. The broke transmission is why the LMM is on the trailer. I didn't go to WV just for poops and laughter. My bone stock, 326k mile, 5 speed Allison is doing just fine...surprisingly.
 
My bad. Not enough caffeine in me blood just yet when I read that the first time around. Still....nice haul. And I still say that 326k miles is damn impressive. Seems like ol' girl is just getting warmed up. :cool:
 
Yeah big fuel tanks are nice. Drove to Orlando last week and rode around for 8 days before having to fill up.

Duane
 
Nice build looks great . Out of curiosity and not telling you how to spend your money. but other than having a SAS Duramax what was the main benefit you wanted out of it? you got two other bad ass off-road rigs (from your sig) Is it just a durability thing or?
 
@DonYukon

It rides better, turns sharper, has bigger front brakes, a lot of engine stuff is easier to work on because I can get to them from underneath (water pump, harmomic balancer, oil cooler, up pipes), all of the parts are most robust, no more crappy/wore out/saggy torsion bars, the transmission/transfer case are easier to remove without the rear torsion bar mounts in there, and the center section of the new transmission crossmember unbolts. Oh, plus I hate the stock pitman arms and I hate idler arms. They're a pain in the ass to change, but that forward crossmember is gone now. Don't have to worry about the tiny, stock tie rods either. It's nice that it doesn't nose dive when you hit the brakes now. There are almost no rattles now too. It's very stable (more so than stock) when towing, which is fantastic...especially with no sway bar. My rim options opened up quite a bit as well. I don't have upper control arms to worry about. Speaking of which, it's certainly easier to keep the front end aligned with several less moving parts as well as no control arm bushings.

I think that about covers it, but really, I just did it because it's what I wanted. The fact that it's way better was just icing on the cake. I can't leave anything alone anyway. Everything I've got has a solid axle, other than my S10. There's still time though.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
@DonYukon

It rides better, turns sharper, has bigger front brakes, a lot of engine stuff is easier to work on because I can get to them from underneath (water pump, harmomic balancer, oil cooler, up pipes), all of the parts are most robust, no more crappy/wore out/saggy torsion bars, the transmission/transfer case are easier to remove without the rear torsion bar mounts in there, and the center section of the new transmission crossmember unbolts. Oh, plus I hate the stock pitman arms and I hate idler arms. They're a pain in the ass to change, but that forward crossmember is gone now. Don't have to worry about the tiny, stock tie rods either. It's nice that it doesn't nose dive when you hit the brakes now. There are almost no rattles now too. It's very stable (more so than stock) when towing, which is fantastic...especially with no sway bar. My rim options opened up quite a bit as well. I don't have upper control arms to worry about. Speaking of which, it's certainly easier to keep the front end aligned with several less moving parts as well as no control arm bushings.

I think that about covers it, but really, I just did it because it's what I wanted. The fact that it's way better was just icing on the cake. I can't leave anything alone anyway. Everything I've got has a solid axle, other than my S10. There's still time though.
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Well you covered just about everything lol. just curious is all. Although Ive never driven/ridden in anything with a SA that rode better than IFS. Unless Im doing something wrong that's the only thing I dont like about my SAS. granted the front end feels more firm but the overall ride is not as good IMO. I will say my SAS got rid of some of my body roll issues it definitely wonders more on the road and requires me to do more steering input.
 
Coilovers and radius arms on a crew cab diesel vs a Yukon. It's way more controlled than stock was. Firm, yet supple....like a lady :D
 
Totally forgot to post this, but I picked up a Fluidampr for this rig finally. Had to make several calls to find anybody that had one sitting on the shelf that they could send me. I also got an ARP crank bolt because...why not?

Results thus far: idles smoother and much less rattle in the interior. I noticed what little bit of driveline vibes I had are all but gone. The truck just feels smooth all around now. I doubt it'll change the fuel mileage any, but I check it every time I fuel up, so we'll see.

ARP says to torque it to 325 ft/lbs. My torque wrench goes just past 250, so I set it at that, it clicked, and then I went until I couldn't turn it anymore. Good enough. The stock balancer that came off looked fine, rubber wasn't cracked up any more than I'd expect, and it wasn't spun in comparison to the inner hub...however, it's definitely more better now. No complaints.

It's still a slip fit like stock, although all of the Fluidampr instructions say it's supposed to be a .0005-.0015 press fit. I'll make a drill guide or pick one up and pin it eventually just so it won't ever be able to shear the tiny little stock crank pin. That'll be as good as having the crank keyed.


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I should also mention that this was one of those mods made 10x easier by being able to access it from the bottom without all that pesky IFS crap in the way :D
 
Just drove 6 hours to Beaufort, SC and aside from I95 sucking total mule ass...the truck was smooth as a baby's ass! It loves rolling along between 80 and 85. I mayyyyy have hit 102 when somebody pissed me off :driver:
 
I decided to check my transmission fluid today after noticing the transmission warming up very quickly and running warmer than usual. It's a little on the brown side and probably two quarts low. So, I just ordered 5 gallons of trans fluid so I can drain/fill/drive/drain/change spin on filter/drop pan/change internal filter/and then refill. Hopefully that'll get me back to having beet red transmission fluid, like usual. I also ordered a new dipstick tube since it broke recently, a new drain plug for the transmission pan, and an internal filter with a new rubber lined steel gasket. I also decided to change the motor oil while I was at it and picked up some PPE filters to try out.

PPE's new "double-deep" spin on Allison filter is supposed to be 15 micron vs 30 micron with the factory Allison filters. It's also got WAY more filter media surface area. Something like 2.75x more. They're 17.99 vs 8.65 for a real Allison filter, so worth a shot, right?

When I was looking for that, I saw that they had a larger filter for the 2020 L5P trucks too. Since yall know I did the 2020 oil cooler, I snagged one of those oil filters. I've got an Amsoil filter on it now and I know they have great filters, but this particular application uses a tiny filter! I like to run long oil change intervals. They offer one a little larger than the factory AC Delco PF-26 and another that's almost twice the size. You'll never guess which one I got :D I think it's around 4" diameter and 8½" long (not bragging, but that's impressive). I think it filters down to 5 microns, has a metric shit ton more filter media, and I read something about the bypass and drainback valves being much more better. I'm hoping it'll up my total oil capacity to 12 quarts...so I got 12 quarts...we'll see!

I'll post some pics later once all my crap gets here. Luckily, the Northrop FSE I work with down here is real cool and let me ship everything to his house and is going to let me work on it over there too.

I'm going to get the transmission built one day....just not RIGHT now. I'd like this 327,500 mile, bone stock, somewhat abused, Allison to hold on for several thousand more miles!

Here's the links if anyone wants to look.

www.ppepower.com

2001-2019 GM 6.6L Duramax Premium High-Efficiency Spin-On Transmission Fluid Filter

Double-Deep Spin-On Filter Premium High-Efficiency Spin-On Transmission Fluid Filter Features: Filters particles down to 15 microns 2.72 times more filter surface area Improved fluid flow; filtering
www.ppepower.com www.ppepower.com

www.ppepower.com

2020-2024 GM 6.6L Duramax Premium High-Efficiency Engine Oil Filter

2020+ GM 6.6L Duramax High-Efficiency Engine Oil Filter (replaces AC Delco PF26) *This oversize filter requires the use of the 114002700 PPE Fuel Pump Relocation Bracket (2020-2024 L5P)This oversized PPE Engine Oil Filter has 2 times the specially engineered filter media equaling 522 square...
www.ppepower.com www.ppepower.com
 
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Got the transmission serviced yesterday after work, dropped the pan just to see what it looked like, changed the internal filter just to give me warm fuzzies too. It was surprisingly clean in there. Zero complaints. Some stuff on the magnet, but nothing out of the ordinary. New dipstick tube and all that jazz as well. I believe the majority of the trans temp issue is the spin on filter. It hasn't gotten enough in it lately for me to remember how quickly they'll heat up when they need to be changed. No big deal!

I could certainly tell it was happier after I filled it up with some fresh Amsoil TorqueDrive. Doesn't cost any more than TranSynd, so that's cool.

Changed the motor oil too. First time since the new cooler. I could still see a golden brown when I drained it, but of course, it was black at first glance. The detergents do a great job of keeping stuff suspended in the oil. The new lower oil pan is nice too and lets it drain without keeping all that old, nasty oil in there.

Just waiting on the new spin on filter to get here tomorrow, I'll top it back off, and be good to go! It scared me a little, being 6-ish hours from home...because I got a deal on something and gotta tow it back home :D

I'll snag some pics later. Stay tuned.
 
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Croatan_Kid said:
...because I got a deal on something and gotta tow it back home :D

I'll snag some pics later. Stay tuned.
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Hey, what you hiding there?? Curious minds want to know!
 
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