Head studs (and a whole lot more) - great job by Trucks Unlimited in NC

[bismic]

Just paid the last payment on the 2006 truck and got the title yesterday - feels GREAT!

Hit the 5 year mark on Oct 30th and hit 99,700 miles today.

I chose to celebrate a little early by having headstuds put in .... along w/ the beta version of the water pump w/ the billet aluminum impellor (BulletProofDiesel part), 4" Banks exhaust, and (finally) had the DynaTrac ball joints installed. The old ball joints didn't look too bad, but the front end definitely feels "tighter" now.

I got a good deal on an oil cooler (thanks Tim), so I had them change that out also - even though my temps really weren't bad. I did it mainly because I had so much casting sand in the beginning, I just felt better adding this to the scope of work. When removed, the original oil cooler showed no external signs of being plugged. I had some other miscellaneous things done as well (added fumoto block drains, hoses changed, changed out glow plugs and harnesses, EGT probe, etc) - not really worth much discussion. I stayed w/ Ford Gold coolant for now. I saw no reason to change at this time, but (as I have said in the past), I will most likely change to ELC soon.

I had the work done at "Trucks Unlimited" in Winston-Salem, NC by Scott Wisenhunt (scuffy828) in the middle of a 3100 mile trip. His shop did a fantastic job and the return trip, after all of the work, went flawlessly. Trucks Unlimited only had the truck for 4 work days, plus part of a morning for the test drive. In this time span, each of the heads had .002 machined off of them. On the drive home (we left immediately after picking it up), there were no signs of a contaminated IPR valve (I monitor IPR duty cycle, ICP, etc). No issues w/ exhaust leaks either. The batteries had a good charge on them, so either not much cranking was required or they charged the batteries afterwards. I suspect there wasn't much excessive cranking needed. It even appears that a hanging drip of oil (pretty much from day 1) appears to be almost gone now - I am assuming that it (or most of it) was from a glow plug o-ring.

The truck was put back together - just as I left it with them. I have a fair amount of aftermarket stuff that had to be disconnected so that the cab could be pulled. It was all where it should be when I picked up the truck. I keep a lot of junk in the truck cab (under and behind the seats, etc). Most of it was where it should have been. They did great to get it all so close to how I left it - lol!! I should not have made them move all of it, but I truly expected them to pull the engine, not lift the cab.

Again - Thanks Scott and team!

Oh - and another big "thank you" to BulletProofDiesel - your billet aluminum impellor water pump is a GREAT little addition. I will be evaluating it as best I can and writing up some thoughts on it. Bottom line - it performed VERY WELL, but then the ambient temps dropped quite a bit the day after I picked it up. More testing will come when I tow with it (unfortunately I did not get it installed during the "hot" season).

[Lilpooh]

Good to hear Mark!!! You ready to put some hot tunes on it now!!LOL!

[bismic]

Originally Posted by Lilpooh

Good to hear Mark!!! You ready to put some hot tunes on it now!!LOL!

Next year - or at least I HOPE someone is still installing custom tunes on a DashDAQ next year.

I will probably put an airdogII on it before a heavy tune though!

One of these days I want to install some Casserly 155's, and maybe the PowerMax too!

I sure do like your list!!!

(it's a sickness)

[Lilpooh]

You got the same "wish list" as me, 155's and a Powermax. LOL!

I towed with the BPD impeller the other week, no issues. Temps were the same as the stock unit, but it's nice knowing I won't spin off the impeller again.

[SCUFFY828]

glad all went ok, pleasure to meet you as well, always nice to put a face with a internet name

[Evil Eye]

Originally Posted by SCUFFY828

glad all went ok, pleasure to meet you as well, always nice to put a face with a internet name

'bout time you did some work!

Great to hear, Mark! Was Scott's shop on the way or was that the main reason for making the trip? He's a bit out of the way for some of us.

[Galaxie]

Nice!!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Autoguide

[SCUFFY828]

Originally Posted by Evil Eye

'bout time you did some work!

Great to hear, Mark! Was Scott's shop on the way or was that the main reason for making the trip? He's a bit out of the way for some of us.

lol , i do my share of work at times unless im on the phone ,which is alot

[bismic]

I won't lie Shawn - I had to drive a fair bit out of the way. I have a son and daughter-in-law in Nashville, Tn and we all agreed to meet in Asheville, NC and camp / sightsee for 3 days. That put us within 130 miles (one way). So I had to fit in the trip to and from Winston Salem. The truck saw 3100 miles in 10 days (from Texas), and my son drove his car an extra 300 miles for us. It was some hard driving, but it was worth it.

[Evil Eye]

That's awesome! You were able to spend some time with your son AND get your truck fixed. I LOVE it when things work out like that.