How'd it go today?

[Nutball]

I’ve seen guys with big mil trucks walk away with the sled. Like off to the parking lot 😆

Story is the truck is a ‘73 with most components rebuilt in ‘90s which it makes it more unfortunate they oversped it and threw a rod. Very heavy pistons, rods don’t like RPM. Piston lodged in upper bore. They drove it home. Presumably the low half of rod beat all the holes in the block until it was in pieces in the oil pan or ejected. I test ran it to see if the air compressor, alternator, water pump, etc. worked. They did.



I bypassed the fuel system…

Radiator leaks, common. Big old school heavy, truck shakes them apart.

View attachment 144682View attachment 144683
View attachment 144684


View attachment 144685

A diesel bucket truck I drove didn't have a red line from what I remember, but it only revved to 2500, and was marked up to 4,000. I accidentally reach 4,000 more or less once when I got the wrong gear downshifting. It was a 7 speed with 4 gears in the middle, so it's an easy mistake, and I was tired, so my reaction time was slow. No failure thankfully.

 

[WoodCutr]

It's a good way to break stuff. Two things to consider:

1) Pulling a sled in low gear allows time for the engine to reach peak output. Peak power + lowest gear = maximum stress on the drive train. Not to mention longer time before it stalls...

2) As the load increases slowing the truck to a stop, power is actually going back through the drive train in reverse. Acceleration requires power, acceleration is a change in speed, so to slow something (accelerating it in the opposite direction) means power is going in backward, and depending on how fast the truck is forced to slow down, the drive train could experience way more torque than the engine could ever supply.

In pulling videos, trucks often break just before they stall, after having experienced higher than maximum torque for a few seconds. The weight of the sled, if on the truck, can increase traction such that the wheels don't slip as easily as they would if a driveshaft starts twisting, so it gets twisted until it snaps.

max tq on the engine is considerable less than my clutch or transmission is rated for, first gear isn't a low ratio at all so the diff and U joints should take it

I do agree that it's a good way to break stuff, and was a consideration, especially my hitch thats only rated to 16,000 pounds, everything would most likely be OK

I will be putting either a brownie box in, or if I feel really fancy, a 13 speed Eaton, low ratio's would save lots of wear and tear on everything by not having to use the throttle to get moving, less RPM's = less shock load risk, same for closer ratio's, my synchro 5 speed will either refuse to go into gear, or the synchros will grab and let you shift way too soon resulting in grinding or dropping into gear really hard, specifically 2nd gear, it doesn't care how close the RPM's are, so if you're in a rush to grab 2nd you can get into doing severe damage really quick, especially since its almost an 80% split between 1st and 2nd so you're back to nearly a complete stop before the engine as slowed enough to grab 2nd


You're only about 2 hours away from me, so I figure your roads are very similar to mine, you know the sort of hills I'm encountering, add in living right on the river so we see lots of driveways with 20-30 degree inclines, no clue why people are so stupid as to spend 5-10 million on a house, and have a driveway you can't drive up in the rain, but they do it and think its cool, there was one specific driveway that my bucket truck wouldn't hill start on, 4 speed Alison, not sure which converter it had but it would stall the converter and start rolling backwards, that one sucked to get out of

 

[Nutball]

The drive train could have a lot of fatigue. It's usually old trucks I see fail.

I've driven a 4 speed Allison, and it wouldn't stall the converter. You could just sit there on the gas and brake if you wanted, except it would trigger a brake alarm. Actually, I wish it would lock the converter or a clutch or something for better mpg. I had one hill that I probably wouldn't get up loaded, but luckily I only had to go up empty with chipper at 5-8mph. I did break a drive shaft on that truck while trying to get out of mud. It didn't feel like it got sudden traction, so it could have been metal fatigue. only a 165hp engine in it limited to 3,300rpm.

 

[WoodCutr]

its possible theres fatigue, but its a low mile truck and everything behind the transmission is like new or new, no play in any bearings besides the carrier, it has a little but nothing concerning, my bucket truck had almost 1/4 turn of play in the diff input, made a very loud thud if you shifted from drive to reverse

my Allison would lock up in third and fourth which was nice, but it still sucked, 56mph downhill and drank diesel, my dump truck will cruise at 70, 75 downhill, but it does drink diesel, 50 gallon tank gets me about 200-250 miles on a good day, another reason I want either an aux box or a 13 speed, stay in boost and avoid lugging so much, should save on fuel, especially having O/D on the highway, right now you're stuck sitting on the governor at highway speeds which is good for a DT360, but bad for your wallet

 

[treebilly]

Had a meeting early. Got our jobs done by 2:30. Went to start tomorrows job and they had a car parked under the removal and we’re not home so an early day. The boy and I ran the heck out of the rc trucks until I left to watch my oldest play softball. They won. Then I started putting my mini back together. I got the motor mounts in and the new bell housing installed before calling it for the night. Now for the three S’s and off to bed.

And my wife thought she put beef short ribs in the crock pot today. For some reason we had ox tail in the freezer and that’s what she made on accident. She cooked it in some sort of Japanese bbq sauce. I was the only one to eat it. Really wasn’t bad.

 

[WoodCutr]

if you ever get ahold of some bear meat, bear chili is amazing!

 

[WoodCutr]

came across this picture I took from a river bank clearing job a few weeks ago (River sold separately)

 

[SkwerI]

I used to have a Ford straight six. The thing would start ticking to let me know it was time to change the oil. I told my bud that and he said yeah, ok. Showed him.

Must have been running Rotella oil. That crap is good for maybe 100 hours and turns to water. Do yourself a favor and run ANY brand of oil except Rotella in your diesels!

 

[WoodCutr]

Must have been running Rotella oil. That crap is good for maybe 100 hours and turns to water. Do yourself a favor and run ANY brand of oil except Rotella in your diesels!

been running rotella for years and not a single problem, even in stuff where I haven't changed the oil in about a thousand hours (yes, I know, don't tell me its bad to wait that long, I am more than aware enough)

 

[flushcut]

Had a meeting early. Got our jobs done by 2:30. Went to start tomorrows job and they had a car parked under the removal and we’re not home so an early day. The boy and I ran the heck out of the rc trucks until I left to watch my oldest play softball. They won. Then I started putting my mini back together. I got the motor mounts in and the new bell housing installed before calling it for the night. Now for the three S’s and off to bed.

And my wife thought she put beef short ribs in the crock pot today. For some reason we had ox tail in the freezer and that’s what she made on accident. She cooked it in some sort of Japanese bbq sauce. I was the only one to eat it. Really wasn’t bad.

Stubby wrenches are your friend. You saying motor mounts and bell housing I know exactly how deep you are in this machine.

 

[SkwerI]

been running rotella for years and not a single problem, even in stuff where I haven't changed the oil in about a thousand hours (yes, I know, don't tell me its bad to wait that long, I am more than aware enough)

I have two memorable experiences with Rotella. First was when I worked for the city of Winter Park in the Forestry division about 27 years ago. City maintained equipment, all oil changes on a regular schedule. The Vermeer 1250 chipper had about 1200 hours on it. Burned oil like a freight train, oil leaking out everywhere, low compression, the works of an abused engine. Except it wasn't. The old Whisper chipper it replaced was getting sent off to auction and I had the misfortune of running that one a couple times. It barely ran.

Second was when I bought a 2001 Chevy C8500 with an Altec AM855 bucket in 2007. The truck had about 7000 hours on it. My first oil change I used Rotella because it was supposed to be "The Best". In less than 100 hours my low oil pressure light came on at an idle. Second time I switched to Delo 15w-40 oil and never had that problem again. I ran 300-400 hours per oil change and ran that truck for 11 years and sold it with over 18,000 hours on the clock.

 

[WoodCutr]

my chippers last oil change was back in 2022 as I remember, I don't run it super often anymore, we used to run it 14 hours a day 6 days a week, down to 2 hours a week or so average now, oil is fine, still slippery

not sure what oil is in the Giant, that oil was as black as tar the day I got the machine, my excavator went maybe 40-50 hours before it started to change color, ran rotella in my bucket truck for the 3 years I had it and no issues, sat at 40PSI at idle, but to be fair it never got above about 150 degrees unless you were pulling up a 2 or 3 mile long hill fully loaded, same for the dodge, been rotella in it for the last 30,000 miles, towing 10-14,000 pounds all day every day, 18mpg and that oil is as close to a gold color as it gets in a diesel

 

[Cobleskill]

My straight six was probably Agway oil. Farm supplier. We used it for years. I do run Rotella in a couple tractors. They use some oil but they are entitled with their age and hours. I might give Delo a try.

 

[Kaveman]

Great view from the job site today!

Just some pruning and burning, simple stuff. Great day in the Sierras!

 

[treebilly]

Stubby wrenches are your friend. You saying motor mounts and bell housing I know exactly how deep you are in this machine.

Deep enough that I thought about unhooking the last few hoses and wires and completely pulling the motor out. That seemed not worth the effort just to see what is under there.
Going back together nicely though. I cleaned up everything I could and put the pump back in before class tonight. Depending on the kids sports schedules it could be done tomorrow. Saturday at the latest. Then I need to order a new set of tracks. They seem to have come down in price just from a quick google search.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Cheap TSC wrenches for creative solutions:

 

[Dave Shepard]

my chippers last oil change was back in 2022 as I remember, I don't run it super often anymore, we used to run it 14 hours a day 6 days a week, down to 2 hours a week or so average now, oil is fine, still slippery

not sure what oil is in the Giant, that oil was as black as tar the day I got the machine, my excavator went maybe 40-50 hours before it started to change color, ran rotella in my bucket truck for the 3 years I had it and no issues, sat at 40PSI at idle, but to be fair it never got above about 150 degrees unless you were pulling up a 2 or 3 mile long hill fully loaded, same for the dodge, been rotella in it for the last 30,000 miles, towing 10-14,000 pounds all day every day, 18mpg and that oil is as close to a gold color as it gets in a diesel

The new Cummins must be different. The older ones the oil turned black the first time you started them during an oil change. I always got three gallons of Mopar 15w40 (Mobil) and a filter from Dodge. $29.33. I don't know if the dealer would let you look at the oil and filter for $29.33 today.

 

[WoodCutr]

The new Cummins must be different. The older ones the oil turned black the first time you started them during an oil change. I always got three gallons of Mopar 15w40 (Mobil) and a filter from Dodge. $29.33. I don't know if the dealer would let you look at the oil and filter for $29.33 today.

the "new" cummins is still 21 years old LOL, pretty much every diesel will turn oil black instantly, just how they go, I was trying to convey how the rotella seems to be holding up, sorry if there was any confusion (although I am pretty sure the oil in the dodge is still somewhat clean looking, did get an oil change about 500 miles ago)

I was surprised to see that the oil in my excavator stayed gold for a few days, the Giant's oil was black before I even took it off the trailer the first time, speaking of, I think its due for its first oil change this week