I took the pictures of the truck with the shackle flip the day after the shackle flip was done. I put the exhaust tail pipe back on and it cleared the springs by about 1/8". The exhaust was below the spring. I was worried about the drivers side tire going up and driving the passenger side spring into the exhaust. We played with a floor jack and were surprised to find that as the drivers side went up, so did the passenger side spring. That didn't make sense and we couldn't safely get it high enough to get full droop from the passenger side.
My class has a 1" lip at the bay doors. Every time we have moved the truck, that lip bounces me in the air. Both ends of the truck do it. When they moved me and I was making engine noises. The front axle bounced me. The rear with the shackle flip just floated. With no shocks, it floated and floated actually. But, no bounce. There might actually be something to all the comments on line about how well a truck rides after a shackle flip.
My exhaust clearance was over 1/2" after that short little push. I got the fuel tank and skid plate back on. 1/2 tank of fuel in the tank. I was up to 3/4" clearance between the spring and exhaust without moving either item. Once the skid plate was back on I started loosening the exhaust further forward on the truck to move the tail pipe rearward. I actually lost a little vertical tail pipe to spring distance, but being further back I think the chances of the spring ripping the exhaust off are a lot less. Once I get it driving I will be able to put it in situations to really test it and know for sure. My next option is to take the 90° tail pipe bend and open it up to a 45° like all the new trucks have. That will take it away from the spring entirely.
Now that the fuel tank was on to stay, I hope. I decided to try running the engine in the truck. I had a student holding an empty soda bottle on the end of the turbo oil line and another student holding an empty water bottle on the fuel filter output line with instructions to yell out of something came out their line. With the pink wire off, I started cranking. Less than 10 seconds had fuel from the tank and through the already filled up fuel filter. We closed up the fuel system and cranked another 10 seconds or so to get oil at the turbo. Once that was installed I pulled the glow plug control plug back in and got nothing.
The next several days were spent testing, hot wiring, swapping out controllers and finally a different controller pigtail. The factory glow plug system now works like it should. The pink wire was installed that first day though because I wanted to hear it run. I hot wired the glow plugs for an 8 count and it puffed after a few seconds of cranking. We had run the engine last summer so I thought it would fire right up. I forgot we had pulled the IP cover and sucked all the fuel out to turn up the fuel screw. Even though we put fuel back inside the IP. I think some air was in there too.
I fired up the second try and then died a few seconds later. Lots of exhaust noises where they shouldn't be as well. Along with smoke where the noise was. Must start the engine, so another 8 count on the plugs and a little throttle had it running. Very loud and smoky up front. Really ruff low idle too. What is wrong with my engine????
I turned it off and looked at the drivers side exhaust. I could see the top of the donut. A few turns on each nut to get them tight and we tried it again. It stumbled to life was quiet for about 2 seconds and then loud again. I forgot the stupid springs on the exhaust nuts! The studs were out of threads and the cross over pipe wasn't tight. I put some spacers in for the time being and tried again. It stumbled and jerked and finally settle down to a low lope with only exhaust from the tail pipe.
We shut it down again to figure out why the fast idle wasn't working or the cold advance. I had knocked one of the wires off the sensor when installing the turbo down pipe. With the green wires hot now, it fired right up and idles nice. With no cooling system installed, I never let it get to more than 200° on the EGT. Which is the only gauge I have installed that works right now. Well, the Oil temp did come off the peg, but not much and the boost won't show boost without a load on the engine.
It wasn't until I had the glow plug system all working right that it finally clicked in my head how important the after glow period is on a cold engine. 3 1.5 second glows 5-8 seconds apart starting 5-8 seconds after cranking make a huge difference. I had started the engine hot wiring the glow plugs and it always ran like crap with lots of white/gray smoke the first 20-30 seconds. With the system working, no smoke, no lope, no stumble, just a smooth running engine. Something to keep in mind if you are a manual glow plug person.
I had put off touching the axles, brakes and steering until the end. I had suspected a rear lift might have to happen from the start and the rear pinion yoke flops around with oil all over the housing. If I did a lift, pinion angle might be effected so I didn't want to buy U bolts twice. If the axle was bad, I didn't want to do the brakes twice or have to transfer them either. If the rear was bad and I couldn't find another 3.73 which I suspect still might not be enough gear with my 315 tires. I didn't want to throw money away on a 10 bolt front brakes, bearings and steering if an open knuckle 60 were installed.
I couldn't put it off any longer. I pulled the rear 14 bolt semi float cover off last week. Black chunky goo came out. There was enough goo on the bottom of the housing under the ring gear that my thumb nail was completely covered. Twisting the pinion made the carrier move up and down too. The gears looks ok though. Yukon Gear has a complete rebuild kit with bearings and gaskets for everything at $311.
However, I have another 14 bolt semi float at home under the last V2500 that came from Warthog. It says on the dash sticker GT4 which is 3.73. It also says on the sticker G80 which is Gov Lock limited slip. Monday evening after work I wedged myself under the fuel tank out in the field and pulled the cover. Nice golden brown clean fluid came out. There was a gasket with a light smathering of gray silicone holding it on and the housing was spotless. Gears looked perfect as well. I have never had the speedometer for this truck, so I have no idea how many miles. The presence of a gasket makes me thing factory or dealer service instead of the slopped on with a putty knife orange silicone we have all seen on things.
So, an axle swap is next. I pulled or tried to pull the brake drums from the Cowdog Tuesday. They were rusted solid and once off I found a full dust pan of dirt/grease balls on each side. The end seals were leaking as well. I pulled the brake push rods from the wheel cylinders and fluid came out. Anyway, once the parking brake cables were released from the backing plates. I just put the tires back onto the axle without the drums. The drums actually looked pretty good inside. I will compare them with the other axles and run the thickest two I have.
Yesterday, the M715 got tow bar attached to the '90V2500 and everything is set to back it into my shop for a fast axle removal someday soon.