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C3500HD Tow pig

red

Being a lake bum in Texas
Messages
2,028
Reaction score
1,761
Location
Lake Brownwood, Texas
Stumbled across this truck on the local ads and couldn't pass it up. 1995 C3500HD with 6.5 diesel/NV4500. Pretty low miles at a little over 141k, had been used as a electricians truck. New batts and it fired up, mostly good on the test drive. ABS light on, constant clicking noise from the area of the HVAC box, HVAC fan only works on high, cracked windshield, 3rd syncro sucks (grinds), exhaust cut off behind the cab.

Just a few minor problems and in need of a service. Picked up the truck to become the primary tow rig turning the 82 crew cab into the offroad toy. So the service bed is likely coming off and a flatbed will replace it. Or maybe chop down the rear 4 boxes so the gooseneck can be attached. Goals for the bed are:
Gooseneck hitch
Gin poles
Enough storage for roadside tools, not much else

Has the 11ft ish bed length. 65mph cruising speed at 2600rpm.

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There's another one listed here right now, 454 with a dump bed and priced closer to 5k.

Borrowed these pictures from another ad, basic idea of what my bed plans are. I have a rusted out flatbed that I've been using as a scrap metal bin, will take a closer look at it's sub frame and probably use it along with the turn over ball gooseneck hitch. Same idea as I was building for the crew cab before.

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New windshield a few days ago, registration and oil changes today (engine/trans/axle). Gonna spend part of tomorrow rotating the tires since it has 2 oddballs on the rear axle. The other 4 tires are the stock 225's then 1 of the rear hubs has 2 245's on it. Rotating the 245's to the front so the rear axle has 4 tires the same size.

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Once those are rotated will grease up all the joints then get to the brake controller and prepping the rear electrical stuff for the bed swap that's planned for next week. Service bed is listed on the local classifieds for $250 but has to be gone by the end of next week.

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Nice that they did not run both odd ball size of tires on one side of the rear differential.
This is going to be fun to watch.
 
Nice that they did not run both odd ball size of tires on one side of the rear differential.
This is going to be fun to watch.

They did, both 245's were on the driver side rear axle hub making the diff work constantly. Diff oil didn't look great but not horribly burned either. From what I've read these dana 80's were hard on the oil anyways. Also the tag on the diff cover says it should have 4.63 gears but that doesn't match up with the RPM/speed so guessing the axle has been rebuilt.

Will keep an eye on the rear axle but didn't see any sever signs of wear in the diff or metal shavings. Old trans oil looked clean, nothing out of the ordinary.
 
Electric junction box is now mounted on the frame, once the service bed comes off I'll run the wires to it and the other mounting bolt.

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Trans is shifting easier after the oil change. Still can grind going into 3rd occasionally but not a constant thing like it was before. Running Amsoil throughout the truck.
 
Well, even with the rusted out flatbed it's got some weight to it at just over 8000 lbs. I remember reading somewhere that these HD's stripped down to just cab/chassis are near 6500 lbs. Cargo on the receipt was the service bed and a few hundred pounds of scrap.

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Hose for the hydraulic clutch blew out on friday, got the replacement master/hose/slave installed today which was more of a pain in the ass than expected since the previous replacement had been run through the wiring harness in a few spots behind the engine. Also found out why this turbo has so much 'whistle' compared to other 6.5's I've driven........

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Seeing all the black soot on top of the intake, is that from the missing bolts ?

The old oil film? That's what I'm thinking. The bottom of the engine cover that sits directly over it has old oil film on it as well. The turbo looks newer than the engine which makes me believe the old turbo had a seal failure that leaked oil into the intake, which was pumped out through those 2 bolt holes. Or maybe the CDR failed before. There's no significant blowby and the engine starts/runs great.

Running by fastenal in the morning to grab 2 bolts and fill those holes. Holding off with the turbo boost bolt for now since gauges are not the priority yet. Soon, but not yet.
 
About to find a tad more power and 1/4 more mpg too.
Make a project day of pulling the upper intake off and cleaning all the oil you can out of there.
Pop the cdr line out of the intake and see if it is oil soaked like that. That’ll tell you if it’s all from cdr or a past turbo.

When you pull that upper intake and after cleaning cleaning, get the water spray bottle and do a 2000 rpm wmi imitation so the water mist can blast some of that caked oil off your valves. Running a hunch of oil long term helps burn valves.

When a person has one super oily, removing lower intake for cleaning and using bottle brush and vacuum on the intake valves never hurts. But you sound a tad busy for that...
 
About to find a tad more power and 1/4 more mpg too.
Make a project day of pulling the upper intake off and cleaning all the oil you can out of there.
Pop the cdr line out of the intake and see if it is oil soaked like that. That’ll tell you if it’s all from cdr or a past turbo.

When you pull that upper intake and after cleaning cleaning, get the water spray bottle and do a 2000 rpm wmi imitation so the water mist can blast some of that caked oil off your valves. Running a hunch of oil long term helps burn valves.

When a person has one super oily, removing lower intake for cleaning and using bottle brush and vacuum on the intake valves never hurts. But you sound a tad busy for that...

Picked up some bolts this morning and found out the issue, threads are stripped out.
 
Found out something interesting, my little 4k generator should be able to run the plasma cutter but for some reason it can't. So I had to bring the cutter to the garage in town (HOA can't bitch if the stuff is done in the garage). Got to slicin and dicin parts of the rusty flatbed out for the fuel filler neck and the gooseneck/5th wheel hitch rails. Will eventually do a better filler neck but with how rusty this bed is I just need something that works. Hitch rails will be secured to the bed frame and probably make the mounts long enough to secure to the truck frame as well.

Measure and mark for where to cut.

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Initially tried to cut the bed sub frame from underneath then realized it would be much easier/cleaner to just do it from the top.

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All that removed.

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Hole for the filler neck.



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Hitch centered over the axle.

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Haha! Score one for the good guys!
Obviously sux it got hit in the first place, but was thinking while reading “dang, wish he had one of them cameras.”

On my older rigs, they would get a smack like that and. The people tell me, I usually tood them don’t sweat it or would have them pay just junkyard price of part. But they want to be dishonest and run like that- Dealership pricing for parts and labor. Jackwagons!

Did ya tap (possibly helicoil) the lower intake manifold yet?
 
Haha! Score one for the good guys!
Obviously sux it got hit in the first place, but was thinking while reading “dang, wish he had one of them cameras.”

On my older rigs, they would get a smack like that and. The people tell me, I usually tood them don’t sweat it or would have them pay just junkyard price of part. But they want to be dishonest and run like that- Dealership pricing for parts and labor. Jackwagons!

Did ya tap (possibly helicoil) the lower intake manifold yet?

Yea all it did was transfer some paint to my bumper, don't think the driver realized he hit the truck. Going off the video his car must be scratched around the rear door/quarter panel area though. Gonna swing by the local PD on monday just to give them a heads up. I'm not worried about the scratch on the bumper (want a full front end replacement anyways), more of just covering my ass.

With the intake manifold, since it would have to be pulled in order to thoroughly clean the metal shavings from getting tapped, the oil residue, for now I just took some silicone and secured those 2 bolts with that. It's a halfassed patch but for the short term it'l work until spring comes around.
 
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