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Long, slow build of my truck
- Thread starter pacificdrumma
- Start date
ak diesel driver
6.5 driver
thank you definetly different than my 150
pacificdrumma
Well-Known Member
Well the truck is finally running and driving correctly again. But I have now discovered new issues. More on that later.
I have been building the lift pump/pre filter bracket at a friend's house, using rough measurements that I took of the frame. The issue here is I can't periodically check to see if everything is fitting. So following my last post, the bracket fit, but my plan of running bolts through the top and bottom of the bracket didn't work because it was only marginally taller than the frame. So, I added some small pieces of angle iron to hook onto the frame, and some small tabs for bolts to go through:
So I go home and test it out thinking it's going to be good to go, it's not. The hook tabs work great, but one of the mount tabs places the bolt right into the cab mount. Argh. So what I wound up doing was cutting out the corner of the bracket under the fuel filter so I could slide the bracket back closer to one of the crossmembers. The fuel filter has about 1/8" clearance before it hits the crossmember. Not ideal but I'll keep an eye on it.
Anyway, we hooked everything up, bled it, and got it running. I think I'm going to drop the tank again, delete the sock on the stock up, and T the stock pickup and sump together so it always has fuel available. Overkill but screw it. I adjusted the regulator to about 13-13.5psi at idle, haven't been able to get it lower than 11 so far.
In this pic you can see one of the straps that grabs the top and bottom of the bracket to hold it in place. Also you can see that there is maybe 1" max of ground clearance lost. The filter does not dangle down the way a FASS or similar system might.
Now onto the new problem...It was cold last night and the truck had been sitting for a couple weeks, so I jumped the driver side battery with my car. A bit later a friend came over to help and we jumped the passenger side battery with his Chevy work van. It appeared as though the passenger battery was not responsive, there was no sparking when we connected the jumper cables. Also no sparking when rubbing the cable ends on the battery terminals. If that battery isn't any good, that could definitely explain my voltage drop issue in the previous post.
But at least the truck is running.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have been building the lift pump/pre filter bracket at a friend's house, using rough measurements that I took of the frame. The issue here is I can't periodically check to see if everything is fitting. So following my last post, the bracket fit, but my plan of running bolts through the top and bottom of the bracket didn't work because it was only marginally taller than the frame. So, I added some small pieces of angle iron to hook onto the frame, and some small tabs for bolts to go through:
So I go home and test it out thinking it's going to be good to go, it's not. The hook tabs work great, but one of the mount tabs places the bolt right into the cab mount. Argh. So what I wound up doing was cutting out the corner of the bracket under the fuel filter so I could slide the bracket back closer to one of the crossmembers. The fuel filter has about 1/8" clearance before it hits the crossmember. Not ideal but I'll keep an eye on it.
Anyway, we hooked everything up, bled it, and got it running. I think I'm going to drop the tank again, delete the sock on the stock up, and T the stock pickup and sump together so it always has fuel available. Overkill but screw it. I adjusted the regulator to about 13-13.5psi at idle, haven't been able to get it lower than 11 so far.
In this pic you can see one of the straps that grabs the top and bottom of the bracket to hold it in place. Also you can see that there is maybe 1" max of ground clearance lost. The filter does not dangle down the way a FASS or similar system might.
Now onto the new problem...It was cold last night and the truck had been sitting for a couple weeks, so I jumped the driver side battery with my car. A bit later a friend came over to help and we jumped the passenger side battery with his Chevy work van. It appeared as though the passenger battery was not responsive, there was no sparking when we connected the jumper cables. Also no sparking when rubbing the cable ends on the battery terminals. If that battery isn't any good, that could definitely explain my voltage drop issue in the previous post.
But at least the truck is running.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Husker6.5
135' diagonal 16:9HD, 25KW sound!
Very possible you're running off of only one good battery. That's the rub of them being in parallel, voltage stays constant but amperage drops if one goes bad. The only way to make sure is disconnect the positive cable on the Driver side battery to isolate the two, then do a load test on each battery to see if one of them is shot.
Will L.
Well-Known Member
Harbor freight sells a battery load tester for $20. They go on sale for 14.99 iirc. I bought one back in 94ish. Still works great.
DieselSlug
Well-Known Member
Nice setup, I did something similar back in College however I was cheap and used Cummins Carter Lift Pumps. All the Cummins guys hated them but I never had one fail!
Buy a lottery ticket tonight - You are that lucky to be able to post after attempting to spark something next to a battery.
The safe way to use jumper cables is to connect the ground LAST and connect said ground to a heavy metal engine part somewhere not near the battery. After jumping remove the engine ground first to avoid sparks next to the rapidly charging/discharging battery. In a theoretical world the flame arresters in the battery will work if any hydrogen lights off next to the battery from a spark. Dealing with dead, damaged, and or frozen batteries all bets are off and they can and will explode in a sulfuric acid spray cloud of lead and plastic shrapnel.
ak diesel driver
6.5 driver
I've seen 2 blow up
MrMarty51
Well-Known Member
I had one blow up. I was fortunate, it just blew the caps off, a real acid bath when the hood was opened.
Will L.
Well-Known Member
seen a single group 38 go, and a triple set of group 31 in a semi. Guess which one made me jump...
Nosferatu49534
Well-Known Member
Holy crap.... I didn't know that was possible. Why/how does that happen?
ak diesel driver
6.5 driver
Basically a battery puts off hydrogen, that plus a spark.........
Nosferatu49534
Well-Known Member
Huh. I didn't realize it was a thing. I also don't bench charge batteries that often. Guess when I do ill be super careful. [emoji15]
MrMarty51
Well-Known Member
Sort of like the Hindenburg. If You dont know what the Hindenburg is then click the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster
Nosferatu49534
Well-Known Member
I remember that from school... Something stuck at least. Lol.
Will L.
Well-Known Member
Not just bench charge. What does a bench charger put out, 2,6,50,175 amp? My big one is over a notmal alternator at 225. What does your alternator put out- 180ish for most 6.5s...
And hydrogen is lighter than air, so it collects under your hood instead of falling to the ground when sitting there idling.
A loose connection is what blew up the 3 in the peterbilt I had to fix. The battery box stored up the gases while it idled for a half hour or so doing an idle charge test. The alternator was constant charging (from the loose connection I figured out later).
He shut truck off, I took a quick voltage reading at alternator, then started back up about 15 seconds after shut down. BOOM! This was on a fuel tanker- last thing any of us wants to here.
We were already doing testing on Optimas. One of the owners of the fuel company was 50’ away from the battery box. We tried to make the optimas outgas enough to cause an explosion and couldn’t. Within the month every vehicle in the fleet had optimas. Gel batteries have more value than just longer life. They still outgas, but nothing like a wet one.
And hydrogen is lighter than air, so it collects under your hood instead of falling to the ground when sitting there idling.
A loose connection is what blew up the 3 in the peterbilt I had to fix. The battery box stored up the gases while it idled for a half hour or so doing an idle charge test. The alternator was constant charging (from the loose connection I figured out later).
He shut truck off, I took a quick voltage reading at alternator, then started back up about 15 seconds after shut down. BOOM! This was on a fuel tanker- last thing any of us wants to here.
We were already doing testing on Optimas. One of the owners of the fuel company was 50’ away from the battery box. We tried to make the optimas outgas enough to cause an explosion and couldn’t. Within the month every vehicle in the fleet had optimas. Gel batteries have more value than just longer life. They still outgas, but nothing like a wet one.
pacificdrumma
Well-Known Member
Let's dig this thread up once more. Looks like the truck is gonna be getting a new pair of axles under it, a Dana 60 front at the very least.
So as is likely the case for many of you, I find myself replacing at least one ball joint a year, or some other relatively PITA front end component. Last year it was both uppers w/ control arms and one CV axle. Granted the CV was my fault, but the ball joints do not seem to hold up to a cranked front end and 285's - shocker, I know. By way of a bad accident I was in, I was fortunate enough to come into a small sum of money that I have decided to put towards a front end conversion. A local 4x4 shop who specializes in GM trucks will be selling me all the parts necessary, and in turn I will get to do the swap myself (with a lot of help from some very knowledgable friends) at said shop. A condensed list of what is to come:
-Dana 60, 90's Ford OBS axle (ball joint)
-Off-Road Design kit (3" lift)
-Sky Jacker 2" lift springs
-Dual steering stabilizer
-Dual shocks
-Red Head steering box
Of course, there will be small nickel and dime items such as drop brake hoses, etc., but those are the big ticket items that will be used during the swap.
So as is likely the case for many of you, I find myself replacing at least one ball joint a year, or some other relatively PITA front end component. Last year it was both uppers w/ control arms and one CV axle. Granted the CV was my fault, but the ball joints do not seem to hold up to a cranked front end and 285's - shocker, I know. By way of a bad accident I was in, I was fortunate enough to come into a small sum of money that I have decided to put towards a front end conversion. A local 4x4 shop who specializes in GM trucks will be selling me all the parts necessary, and in turn I will get to do the swap myself (with a lot of help from some very knowledgable friends) at said shop. A condensed list of what is to come:
-Dana 60, 90's Ford OBS axle (ball joint)
-Off-Road Design kit (3" lift)
-Sky Jacker 2" lift springs
-Dual steering stabilizer
-Dual shocks
-Red Head steering box
Of course, there will be small nickel and dime items such as drop brake hoses, etc., but those are the big ticket items that will be used during the swap.
n8in8or
I never met a project I didn’t like
Sweet! That will be a cool project. Sorry to hear that it was an accident that allowed you to pursue it.
KrisML
Active Member
Gmt400 trucks are badass with a straight front axle.
Sounds like your going with leaf springs?
Sounds like your going with leaf springs?
pacificdrumma
Well-Known Member
Yup 47" front square body springs. Sky Jacker has a spring with 1.5-2.5" lift. I think with the heavier weight of a 6.5 it will be closer to 1.5". The ORD kit nets 3" itself. So all said and done it should be around a 4-5" lift. I am hoping to be able to run either a 33 or 35 with either looking good. I don't want to run 35's on 3.73's on a 6.5 because of the strain it would put on the engine and transmission. The answer to that issue may be coming tomorrow though
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