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Everyone "PooPoos" the NDT tires. I've found them to be pretty good in all weather. Not "excellent" but good. That was the whole reason for them in the first place. They are a good all around tire. Out here in the rainy Northwest they could use some "sipping" for all the water on the road, but they still work OK.
I've found when (and thus it is my opinion) that brake fluid, DOT 5 at least, tends to spread out more sideways on the tire sidewall, or even climb the rubber a bit while gear oil will just run straight down like that. I serviced all my axles on my deuce and within 1 year I had to re-do all 4 rear axle ends as I had botched the keyway cork seal. I had tried to make my own cork seal. In the re-re-do work I used nice cork pieces that I purchased from Big Mike's Motorpool. I have learned that the cork pieces I cut were far too thin. Big Mike's were much thicker and they had to be squished and pressed down under the outer bearing tightly into the keyway (which I still added RTV silicon for good measure).
It's a shame that this system doesn't work as well as it should. It gives the truck great advantages when out in the boonies. I've often wondered if all the seals where replaced with "silicone" seals if that wouldn't help. Either that or heavy duty "Viton" seals. Just thinking out load.
Drake fluid level holding steady in the remote reservoir. I had this same issue with the front wheels & it looked like old grease had melted. The brake cylinders were fine. I'l check for whatever the problem is though.
I'm not sure the park brake drums are milled to be perfectly round sometimes... I've had a return spring snap on the park brake, or the mustache spring cam pin has needed adjustment, allowing a shoe to rattle and "bounce" a bit on the drum while driving. Those things have caused a noise like you're describing. Or, maybe, one of the shoes is just stuck close to the drum and not releasing on the pivots.
I had a similar noise in an 817. I was entirely wrong on diagnosis as wheel bearings and even went so far as to round up a full set to do a rebuild, when a friend helped to disconnect the driveshafts and run it in place. We saw the emergency brake hanging up like it was out of round and the faster we went, the worse it got. Then we focused on the 1/8" movement of the drum up and down...bearings at the TC output. Oh shi+.
Rusty, any suggestions on how to do the "sipping"?
There was someone here who actually did a fantastic job of modifying his NDT tires. It was a few years back so it would take a bit of searching. There are plenty of "videos" out there on doing this though. You will need to buy your own sipping tool. They can get pretty pricey for the pro models, though there are cheap ones out there too.
Man, I never "Poopoo" the NDT's. They are great for what they are, if driven properly. Anything but dry roads = air down!! Icy roads = stay home. They are like skates on ice. I ran my same exact tires for 3 winters in Wisconsin. First sign of snow, air down to 20psi. Then drive it like a big, heavy, cumbersome truck on snow and you're fine. For what they are, they work great.
Got under it with small torch yesterday. Heated up all of the components of the park brake. To where I could move everything by hand. No more noise! Now, just to remember not to set the thing every time I stop somewhere (habit).
If I think it will be parked for more then a week, I chock the front tire, and a rear tire, and leave the parking brake released. I do leave in gear sometimes as well, but not if on a significant grade.
With snow, rain and wind in the forecast, I decided to install my new cab cover. It's originally made as a nylon cover for quad runner vehicles. It also has an elastic band along the bottom so it stays put in the wind. When it snows and rains I usually have leaks around the side window frames and the soft top. So I hope this puts an end to the puddles of water on the cab floor after it rains. You can find them in different colors and sizes online. Just pick your color, measure your cab and order. Got the idea from our very own BigMike.
Maverick, the intake is off an M52. As for pics lemme do a little digging.
I purchased this whole 5 Ton intake set up from C&C several years ago. You have to do some cutting and welding to shorten things up, as the 5 Ton is longer from the firewall forward. The flex hose is 4 1/2 In Dia., and there is a piece of (2 3/4 D X 1 1/4 W) hi temp hose on the intake end of the turbo that the shortened bellows hose fits over. The rest is pretty much straight forward. I now have about 4000+ miles on this set up with no problems. I made this modification to accommodate an LDS engine down the road. Hope this helps.
