Now one should be happy now, no? Wrong! LOL I accidently found the power screw and the stock clutch from the project truck that I had reused as I couldn’t afford a new clutch (but it would have done the job at 178 hp had I not messed with things…) was now slipping. Enter South Bend CON OFE now ordered and installed. This solved my slipping issue.
And, I finally got tired of the open diff so a sure grip may have made its way in there too. Lucky for me, Randy’s Ring and Pinion still had new 3.07 center sections available! So I got all new guts for the Sure Grip. For those that know the 3.07 geared trucks, they were a different pinion and center section than the rest of the Dana 70s that had 3.54, 4.10s, etc. The 3.07 truck use what’s known as a Dana 61 and Dana 71 axle vs the standard Dana 60 and 70. Commonly called that due to the 61 and 71 cast into the center diff case.
So this was good now! The truck was sitting better, driving better, sounded better, and looked better! But then a problem started….. 😉
May 2010:
I was driving along minding my own business, with 20,000 lbs GCW, and dad was in his new 2008 Mega 6.7 also around 20,000. All was good until we had a looooong grade coming out of a construction zone. We pulled side by side… he looked at me…..I looked at him…..he grinned and both pedals went down! The 2008 pulled with fury while the 1990 was snorting diesel like a coke addict! 1990 pulled a full pickup length on the 2008 and we are only at ½ way point of this hill. “We’ve got them” I yelled to my truck as I let out a evil cackle! But then, while I was minding my own business, the EGT got to 1450 F and I had to let off!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!! The 6.7 then passed the old 5.9 and had won the challenge as I could not get back on WOT due to the EGT’s from the small H1C turbo. The newer truck had proven it was better and had disgraced my truck. And my old girl and I pulled in behind the 2008 with our tail between our legs as the CB crackled with a chuckle from dads end. It was done. We were proven to be weak and old and my truck and I shared the embarrassment. This was just disappointing and not excusable due to some lousy hot air. I felt I had not given the right tools to my truck to allow her to do her job. Logically I need to turn down the pump, or cool the air as I didn’t want to risk melting a piston at some point if not paying attention. And as I was not about to turn the pump down, a HX35 (actually stolen off the crew cab engine! You may remember that part of the crew cab story! :D) and 3 pc BD manifold were ordered up and installed (the original exhaust manifold was starting to shrink as they typically do and my bolts were starting to bend)! I had already done the 60 PSI valve springs when the exhaust brake was installed, so I would remain good there. At this time an ASA Modifieds intake was also added for better incoming airflow to feed the HX35/18cm combo.
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June 2010:
Next issue was interior. As I now had a great cruising truck with the 3.07 gears and a 5 speed, the truck was becoming uncomfortable on long drives as the clutch was too close. As the 727 was not great for long hauls, the truck never went far but now it was spending more time on the road. So I attempted to install a set of SRT Ram bucket seats but that failed as the seats were too big for the reg cab and sat my body 3” from the steering wheel. I actually had to tilt the wheel up to get my body into the seat over the side bolsters. So I installed a seat lift thus raising the original bench 3” to allow my long legs to stretch out a bit. But while I was in there, I also sound deadened the entire interior shell as it was becoming too loud on long trips with the stacks behind my head.
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August 2010:
See, I was racing dads 2008 Ram again and we were going through the mountains in Pennsylvania and got to a really nice long 3 mile climb before getting into NY state. We both left the bottom at 70 MPH with the goal to maintain 70 all the way up. And maybe gain some. 😉 Well half way up, I had to let off the throttle and watch his newer truck pull away. Again a replay of last time. The 1990 was running 19K Gross and although the pyro never went above 1300 F, my coolant however was through the roof at 230 F! As most of you know, the 1989 and 1990 model year trucks has a smaller rad than the 91.5-1993 intercooled trucks had. The upgrade from the downflow to crossflow was done as many trucks back in 89 and 90 were overheating. Go figure that I was now having those issues as well. So, an upgraded duel ¾” rad was done utilizing the original as the base. Although this helped, it still has the ability to get warm on 90 F days while towing zestfully. This may have to change at some point in time to facilitate better cooling but it is a good start. Also at this time, turbo and exhaust manifold blankets were put on to keep the excessive engine bay heat down as I was starting to melt firewall wiring on long grades. Boo. LOL
You can see the age had gotten to my core as well as plugged the inside core with crap:
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And the re-cored rad:
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The turbo blankets from Turbo Performance Products:
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Also at this time, I had grown tired of the very large gap between 3rd and 4th. For those of you who have driven a 3.07 getrag truck, you will understand what I mean. Redline on 3rd is 2500 rpm, and a quick shift to 4th put you then at 1500 rpm. Yes, it worked, but you would be out of your power band again upon up shifting and then you lose the momentum and have to shift back down to 3rd. So towing heavy was a challenge. So after some research, a friend with a used Gear Vendors suggested I buy his old system and that would allow me to spilt the gear. Brilliant. So I managed to get my sticky little meat hooks on a near mint unit and into the 1990 it went. 😀
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September 2010:
Gauges, round 1:
As our trucks get older, more and more info and access to parts are lost. As many people who are new to the 1st gen world are interested in the performance aspects of these old trucks, I thought it might be nice for them to see what gauge mount options are good for these trucks.
The following are the pods in my 1990:
A pillar:
The following A pillar pod consists of a single and a double. As there is no triple pod made for a first gen, I thought I would make my own. I started with the dual pod on the bottom, sanded about a 1/16″ of the plastic off the top to make it a flat surface, then took the single pod and took about 1/8″ off the bottom so that it would fit under the trip. Both of these pods are still available from places like Genos garage or any Autometer distributor. This is the result:
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Dash Pods
This is the dash pod that was originally available through many distributors, but was discontinued when the manufacturer was bought out back in 2004. It came shaped to the dash specifically made for first gens, and was available as a 3, 4 or 5 pod unit, left, or right hand design. I believe these were made by US Gear and also by Banks although Banks may have originally purchased them from US Gear.
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Also available, was a four pod unit. I managed to get this one used as I needed room for more gauges! This has also been discontinued.
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Roof Pod
This is actually a 3rd gen roof pod that mounts over the rear view mirror. Please note this is NOT an easy install and requires extensive pod mods as well as headliner mods. The key to making this work is cutting approx 1″ off both sides and then sculpting the sides to the same reverse curve the roof/headliner of the first gen is. The reason for cutting an approx 2×4″ section of headliner and foam out is to create a indent for the back sides of the gauge. As the sides will be cut down so much, the back end of the gauge sticks out over the top edge line of the pod by about 3/4″. Cutting the headliner solves this. To attach it to the roof, drill 4 holes in the pod bottom and get 4″ long screws that go all the way through the pod and into the inner roof sheet metal. Be careful, if you have clearance lights you may end up in that general area. Dont ask how I know this! Then just bolt it up. I ran the wires under the pass A pillar (drivers is full from the a pillar gauges) and then under the front headliner retainer trim. Budda bing! Its done! Yes, the pod is available from Genos Garage.
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End result:
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For those that will ask, the gauges at this time were as follows:
A pillar – trans temp, oil psi, coolant temp
Dash – tach, pryo, boost, exhaust back pressure/turbo drive pressure
Roof – Diff temp, air tank PSI, Gear vendors temp
September 2010:
Driving across country with my truck on holidays, I am towing the trailer and leave Denver and head north to the I-80. I start heading west on the I-80 and the first big hill going into the Rockies is a nice long grade. So I am leaning into the throttle, 20,000 GVR, boost on the HX35 humming at 35 psi, uphill, grinning as I pass the newer trucks that are doing 60 while I in my old Goat am doing 75 MPH uphill. With a load. I am freaking king of the world. I love this truck! However, life has a way of showing you not to be a cocky little ass. 😉 I crest the peak and go to flick on my exhaust brake and nothing. I look at my gauges, no air tank PSI. So I baby my load down the steep grade on the other side (a fun thing in a gen 1 with stock brakes BTW 😉 ) and I pull over and do an inspection. Seems my exhaust stack elbow let go by the clamp and was then dumping my 1300 F EGT onto the plastic fuel tank, wiring, and air lines. Yup, I was a sitting duck, 3000 miles from home, with a melted fuel tank and a long way to still go! So a transfer tank was rigged to the truck bed, factory fuel lines cut, spliced into the new tank, wiring repaired, air lines replaced, and was back on the road in about 6 hours. I am sure I am not the only one that has done that before….. 😉
This was the pipe that let go:
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This is how I drove home after cutting the factory fuel lines and plumbing into the lift pump:
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This was the carnage that I saw when I got home and pulled it out (Also see the melted wiring? That air was hot!):
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December 2010:
Well, regardless of how much you modify on an older vehicle, it is still and older vehicle. With a few miles left on my cross country holiday, I had the rear brake spring holding the pad to the backing plate break. So while pulling the axles out to do the brakes once I got home, I noticed the bearings were looking a little pitted. So the brake job turned out to be an entire rear end rebuild over the Christmas holidays. A little while later I added a Mag Hytec cover to keep things cooler and help with added capacity as my diff was warmer than I wanted with long days towing (210 F +)
Heater Box:
Also another item that needed attention over the Christmas holidays was the fact that my AC system died while travelling cross country. Seems a small pinhole in the evaporator was the culprit. As I posted at the time of the repair on the TDR:
A little known tidbit of info for many who are new to these trucks. The air intake for the inside HVAC (heating and AC) system gets sucked from the cowl. The air goes down the cowl, down the side channel (under the A pillar), and through a hole in the side of the passenger kick panel into your air box. There is also no filter. If you have ever parked your truck outside, this means you likely have some debris in your system. Debris means funny smells over time in your truck, less airflow, and potential rotting/rusting of the AC evaporator as what happened in my case.
There was once a time on these boards that the first gen forum was the place to be. This part of the forum was VERY active. With the trucks getting older and fewer of them on the roads, there are fewer people here and some of the little secrets are starting to be lost. To prevent that, I am adding this so those who are new to these trucks can find this info.
Issue: Debris in heater box under passenger side of dash
Symptom: Lack of airflow, heat, or AC not as cold as a fully charged system should be
Remedy: Open box and clean out, or add access panel
Things needed: Saw, knife, RTV Gasket, flashlight, vacuum, 6” x 4” sheet of black plastic, drill and 1/4″-1/2″ drill bit
Time – Will take about 20 min start to finish
Cost – Not much!
As mentioned above, leaves, pine needles, etc will fall down the cowl and be sucked into the heater box. The first blockage the foreign objects will encounter is actually the AC evaporator core itself on the inside of the box. To clean out the box without removing the heater box from under the dash, try the following steps.
1 – Using a drill bit of any size that will allow the cutting tool into the plastic, drill 4 holes one at each corner of the area to be cut open. Then using a knife, small plastics saw, etc, cut open the front of the heater box. Do be mindful that the AC evaporator fins will be behind the area you will be cutting. Please note the depth of cut allowable in the following photo:
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2 – Cut an approx 3” x 4” hole (enough for your hand and some leaves to go through) in the front of the box. Ensure the hole is cut at least 2” from the bottom of the box. As the evaporator sweats when in use (all that water that drips under a vehicle in the hot summer comes from this area), you will want to make sure that hole is high enough that even a little backed up water does not leak out the new cut hole.
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3 – Once cut open, you will likely see leaves. Shine a flashlight in to get a better view of the far left side (the area it will build up in first).
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4 – Once the big items are cleaned out, vacuum out any leftover debris. If all of the plastic shaving dust is not collected, it will be sucked into your AC or heater core grills.
5 – Now cut the sheet of plastic so that the corners are lightly rounded. You should find that the cut plastic will have about a 1” wider cover on each side of the hole.
6 – Apply RTV gasket to the heater box within 1” of the hole. The ideal location is about .5” from the perimeter of the hole. Also ensure the bead of RTV is constant all the way around. This bead will act as both glue to hold the panel on as well as preventing air from being sucked in underneath the new plastic cover.
7 – Stick the plastic cover to the RTV ensuring the cover is about centered over the hole. Hold pressure on cover for about 1 min.
8 – Vacuum spilled debris and plastic shavings off of passenger floorwell!
9 – See if you have more airflow than usual!
Here is what came out of my box.
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And the finished product!
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Also for those who need to know, some of the aftermarket evaps are wrong from the factory! I went through 3 of them before I got one right! Study the following pics:
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Random pics from 2010:
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February 2011:
So I was home free again! Or so I thought. A few weeks later while driving to work, I noticed a hopping feeling developing when I turned corners. After an inspection of my front end, I found the front U joints were seizing. So while I was in there, I did a complete front end rebuild with bearings, U joints, king pins/ball joints, as well as tie rod ends as I didn’t want to have any issues on a trip again. You will start to see I do a lot more preventative maintenance on the truck from this point forward. If I want to do more cross country trips, things need to be in working order. And with the rod ends now looking better, the drag link was also replaced. And a few weeks later the steering box started to leak. So that was redone as well.
June 2011:
June brought the 2011 TDR-Cummins Rally so the truck made its way down to Indiana along with 450 other Cummins Rams for a tour of the facilities. While there, several pics were taken.
(If you are observant, there is only two 0804 CPL/Non factory IC trucks in the group)
And yes. For those of you who know their first gens, that is THE first Cummins Ram on the far right.
August 2011:
As my factory steel wheels were starting to show age again, and they were slightly out of balance, I kept an eye out for replacement wheels. I found a set of used factory wheels so I pulled the two of mine most out of balance out of the mix and then sandblasted and powder coated the set of 4.
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Then, I accidently found a set of used Eagle Alloy 17” rims at the tire shop when I went to have my tires re-mounted on these “new” steel wheels. Conversation was along these lines:
Tire shop guy: Man these wheels look old school. You sure you want us to remount this rubber?
Me: I like them. Looks factory. Mount em up!
Tire shop guy: Hey Jimbo, do we still have those used Eagles off Moose’s truck?
Jimbo: Yeah Bubba, they are in those boxes.
Tire shop guy: You need to see these.
Me: But I like my…
Jimbo (As he pops up out of nowhere with a box in his hands): You will like these (as he opens the box like it is a treasure chest of toys at the Red Lobster.
Me: Son of a sea cook!!! Those actually do look good! Jimbo, we need to pop a wheel off my truck for shits and giggles….
This is what was on there:
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Well, this is what it looked like:
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And what it looked like with a random tire mounted on it:
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After some quick bartering as they were still salt covered from the one winter a guy used them, I took them home.
You can see the oxidization and salt:
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And after 5 hours of buffing and cleaning, the truck finally looked alright! I had always wanted wider tires and with this deal on the used wheels being too good to turn down; new tires were ordered thus changing the wheels from the factory 235/85/16 to a 265/70/17. This now gave the truck a much more aggressive stance.
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September 2011:
By September, my windows had royally T’ed me off. The windows were not working as the regulator was ceasing and the motor was almost not turning. The below is what I posted back in 2011. I am not sure if they fixed any of this yet but this was accurate info at the time:
So the saga of the window motors started. I am posting this info so everyone is aware of what to be watching for. For those that are unaware, there were two different PW motors for the 1st gens: One for 89/90 and one for 91.5 -93 trucks.
If you are getting new PW motors from the aftermarket, they are likely made by Doorman. Doorman is a reputable brand, but beware, they list the PW motor for 89-93. This is an error and does not really work! Read on.
So this is the PW motors, new and old. The left is the 89/90 style, and right is 91. 5-93. The new motor is a Doorman motor.
Now the motors themselves do the same thing and have the same bolt pattern. The issue is in the gear. The old one has a pilot pin, the newer does not. This creates an issue when you go to install.
See how much taller the motor and gear are?
So for the regulator now. The clean one is a Doorman and the old Dodge NOS.
Now let’s look closer at it. Here is the old one: (notice the pilot pin in the center as I left the original motor on for this shot)
Now the Doorman:
So what does this mean? Look closer
The left one in the above shot has a large cutout in the regulator for the gear. The old one has a small hole for the pilot pin. So if you now look back at the top pics where you can see how much taller the gear on the Doorman motor is, you will understand why the area is cut out on the regulator. It needs the clearance.
So what does all this blabbing mean? It means if you are wanting to replace the PW motors on your 89 or 90, you also need the regulators; or you will need to do some BOMBing (Better off modified baby for anyone who was not around for that term 10 years ago) to the regulator. 😉 If you buy one for a 91.5+ truck, you should be fine.
Everyone following? 😀