Off to see the wizard...

[CaseyS]

Well I struck out Tuesday headed from Louisiana up to Indiana to visit CJ and ThorParts and visit the magical solid axle factory. Primary focus of the trip was to get my truck re-geared from 4.56 to 4.10 (yes, not a misprint) and install a rear locker since everything is out. Once I pulled up, it was like two dogs meeting for the first time. While he was busy sniffing around under my hood, I was busy sniffing around under the front end of his rig. We swapped a few stories and took a short test drive in the diesel before pulling it into the shop for the surgery. I lent a hand and we got a few basic things done like getting the truck on stands and pulled the tires and calipers.

Hats off to CJ and his wife. Not only did they offer a place for me to crash for the night, they also wined and dined me with a fantastic homemade spaghetti and a couple of glasses of pinot. After that, some smack talking and dreaming commenced about marrying a diesel with a solid axle swap over youtube videos of runaway diesels, jet powered go-karts and drag racing plumber vans.

The Cummins did great on the 840 mile road trip up with no issues. I couldn't quite stretch it to a single fillup. On two fillups 387mi/19.10 gal and 350mi/18.20 gal average of 19.8 mpg. Not bad. All driving was highway miles running mostly between 70 and 75. The return trip should give me two good tanks to evaluate fuel economy differences with the regear. I plan on a short test drive around the shop next week after things are all done. For some reason, CJ was worried about me making an 800 mile test lap to run in the new gears. PSH. :no:

I'm hoping for a solid 22mpg on the way home. I'll upload a few pics tomorrow, but it is pretty germane stuff. Maybe we'll get a video posted once everything is done as well.

 

[3Hummers]

Sounds like a cool trip. Glad everything performed well. Seems like all these major transplants are turning out well.

 

[06 H3]

Awesome!! I just emailed CJ today and his email back was dude, there's an h3 at my place that has a diesel stuffed into it! I couldn't be more jealous....that's 2 unique rigs right there.

 

[cgalpha08]

CJ is definitely the man!

 

[alrock]

Sounds great, CJ has done a lot of terrific work

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk

 

[CaseyS]

Well the work is all done. Hats off to CJ for a class act and a standup dude. Found a few problems in the front diff. Driver side bearing was gone and pinion preload was nil. Got a fresh new rebuild and a few little new items that I will wait for him to post up on. Put about 50 miles on it around town running a few errands, showing off a bit and grabbing some bbq lunch. No pops, bangs, or leaks. Put 360 miles on tonight on the way home. Got another 500 or so to go tomorrow and they will be good and broken in.

I will get the rear locker wired in at some point in the near future and get that trail tested in the fall hopefully.

Poser pic before I left.

 

[4speedfunk]

Haha...Wizard? CaseyS is a wiz in his own right. For instance...
[video=youtube;EKlOri301Pw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKlOri301Pw[/video]

 

[08H3]

Hats off to CJ for a class act and a standup dude.
Poser pic before I left.

Definitely a x2 on that. Glad he spotted your zero-preload pinion. That nearly cost me a gearset.

EDIT: Casey's truck looks way too clean. I hope you took him down under the SR39 bridge before you let him go!

 

[Ryan212]

I say go for the solid axle swap. Sounds like the trip was great and the 4.10 is a good choice. I wonder what kind of mpg I could get out of mine with smaller gears.

Ryan

 

[CaseyS]

Well no road trip is complete without a story. After 1500 miles of error free travels, we had a minor issue.

The gear swap performed great. No leaks, vibrations or noise from the gearsets of any kind. First fillup on the way home netted 395 miles on 19.03 gallons for a 20.85 mpg average. I think I was bucking a headwind driving west through Illinois that sucked a little efficiency from me. Stayed the night in Cape Girardeau, MO. Headed out this morning with a decent tailwind. Picked up some slipstream from traffic heading west on I-40 from Memphis to Little Rock. When I pulled over for some lunch past Little Rock I had 275 miles on the odometer and the fuel gauge was center on 1/2 tank. By experience, hitting 245 or so on the 1/2 tank will get me to 20 mpg. This was looking like a 22 mpg tank. I took a peek under to look at the front diff and noticed diesel dripping. After eating I pulled into the gas station to take a closer look and fu was dripping from #4 fuel injection line. This line has already cracked on me before. There is a small bracket that clamps the line mid length. I figured the first line to fail was a fluke. Now this eminent problem told me there was a resonant vibration fatiguing the line. I put a wrench on the ferrule to make sure it was tight and it was. I headed back out and all was well unt about 40 miles down the road. Engine lost some power and I could tell I lost one cylinder. I kept driving, having already witnessed this once before. The fuel gauge began dripping much faster. I was going to need one more fuel stop on the way home anyway.

The first part of the tank was so food, I still managed 347 mi on 19.1 gal (18.0 mpg). I left the engine running during fueling and probably dripped a pint of fuel just while filling. I ended up driving the last 140 miles on 3 cylinders with fuel from the forth going everywhere under the hood. I used over a half tank just on that last leg, but made it home ok. From the previous failure, I happened to have a spare line that had gotten ordered wrong. 20 minute driveway fix and everything is back in shape. The spare line fits but doesn't match the bends on the others. Ill order a replacement from Cummins in the morning and be set by Friday.

I have another work site to visit tomorrow that is a 200 mile round trip on slower backroads. I am curious to see what the mileage will do driving 60-65.

 

[CaseyS]

Warning: driving slower can cause brain hemmoraging, aberrations, and general warping of the space time continuum. Check this out.

 

[Panzer07]

Man I love that way that diesel sounds.


Torres

 

[4speedfunk]

Haha....45mph at 1400rpm? That's school bus boner range!