Lol, it was planned.

Blew up the old G54 transmission last Sunday. The injectors definitely seem to have added some power. 18mpg around town on the first 150 miles. Not gonna judge the highway miles since the tranny was grinding and later blew up. Have 2 W56's on the way that should be here Monday.

 

well did u get it in ?????

 

Tranny is in. It's a W56 that seems to be very worn out, too. Doubtful that it will last much longer. If it goes out, I will probably get an R151f to stick in. Interesting thing is the power numbers between the 2 motors:

HP TORQUE
22RT-E 135 173
OM617 125 180

 

Waiting for a good sunset to get my finished project pics taken. Met up with PowerstrokeJoe last weekend. It's AMAZING how different 2 of the same trucks with same motors can be. His is quiet, no black smoke, good mpg, really fast. Mine = slow, loud, medium mpg (21.5mpg in 4th gear going 55-60mph from KC to Manhattan), and rollin coal. I'll be re-timing the engine when time and weather permit. Sorry Joe but I gotta share this.... 2 guys named Joe, with yota's, with OM617's... and then this....



Creepily ironic... I should say I'm missing a shackle because my boss lost it before he gave me them.

To update on the truck's overall performance:

The rear diff has siphoned the gear lube out through the ARB air line 3 times now. ARB has new o-rings in the mail for me to try to fix it. I'll be ripping the 3rd member out next week and replacing the o-rings as well as inspecting the breather port an inspecting the R&P for damage.

I have yet to install my Line-Lock brake. The idea hit me tonight to leave the stock cable e-brake in and use it as a idle control since it clicks and holds position, with 17 total clicks, that would give me a lot of RPM range. Then I can start it in the winter and high idle it till it's warmed up, high idle for winching, etc.

Got all my lights aimed. Sure makes a big difference having 8 correctly positioned lights.

I'm avoiding the use of 5th gear till I have a solid replacement tranny ready. 5th is the weak gear and it's what destroyed my G54. I tooth chipped off and caused a domino failure effect. I'm sure after re-timing and using 5th gear I'll hit my 25mpg goal.

When I get time to take pics of everything, I'll post a big update with them all.

 

 

That shackle thing cracked me up! It was great to finally meet up. You have an awesome truck! Now I have to get that horn installed!

 

That shackle thing is too creepy guys...

 

Well after many phone calls I finally fixed my gear-lube-siphoning-ARB. Trail-Gear incorrectly installed the locking tab on the adjuster wheel of the 3rd member to where it was touching the seal housing of the ARB. I ended up ruining an afternoon by removing the 3rd member and bending the stupid tab up. I was very satisfied with how Gary over at TG handled the situation. I'm glad to know they will stand behind their work or I would be taking my business elsewhere. Hopefully now I can put synthetic in and get another mpg.

I'm also retiming the IP here next week hopefully. It'll be sad not being able to roll coal, but hopefully I won't have to worry about EGT's anymore, be able to pass people, and get my goal of 25mpg. I also found what sounds to be a good tranny up in Nebraska that I'm hopefully going to pick up Friday. I need to find one that will let me use 5th gear. Only using 4th sucks.

 

Definitely go 5.29's!!! After putting another 1000 miles on since the tranny swap and tuning the engine, I would go with 5.29's if I could re-do it. I just can't get the truck to have the power that I had when I started out with 33's. After doing some RPM calculations, 5.29's should work just fine on the highway (actually way better than 4.88's.)

PowerstrokeJoe's OM617 seemed to have a lot more power than mine, granted he rebuilt the short block, too, but I think his injection pump is tuned a lot better.


Just a little update: I got to use the winch finally and it works well on the new bumper. I'm now getting about 18mpg in town or on the highway since I can only use 4th gear until I save up enough for my Marlin Tranny. I'm going to get a W56-E. I checked the timing of the IP last week and it was right at 24 BTDC. I had initially advanced it to 27 but without tensioning the timing chain by running the engine, there was still enough slack in the chain to cause it to retard to 24. At least I don't have to pull the pump to reset it.

Everyone says you can't get too much fuel from this pump but I sure can. I think someone's messed with the adjustments on the back of the pump and I'm not sure if/how I'll ever get them calibrated correctly. I put the ALDA back on and here is what I've noticed:

It's like the ALDA "hides" your power and then gives it to you all at once when you get boost over 6 psi, making it "seem" like it's more powerful. However, with it off, I can have all that power right off idle. The one nice thing is it takes just about all the stress away from worrying about EGT's. With the ALDA off, I could easily roll coal just in neutral by revving it, and it would constantly roll coal while cruising down the highway. With the ALDA on, I can no longer make it smoke in neutral, and it BARELY smokes when lugging up a hill. The egt's used to go up to 1200 very easily. Now I can only get them to go above 1000 if I'm going up a hill and flooring it. I'm going to take it back off and see if my mileage actually goes back up, though, and here's why:

With the ALDA off and only using 4th gear, I was able to achieve 21.8 mpg. With it on, and making numerous trips in warm and cold weather and with the wind with and against me, I've gotten a best of 18.1 mpg. This makes little sense to me since I'm no longer seeing any diesel being wasted as black smoke.

I hope to have a new Marlin tranny installed before 2013, as I'm planning a trip to Texas and I need the dependability and 5th gear for better mileage.

The only thing I can think of is getting another pump and getting it tuned on the bench. As far as everything else goes, I blew out a front 7100 shock and am rebuilding that this week. A MAC valve for my ARB also crapped out already. And lastly, it was 22 degrees on black friday and the truck wasn't very happy about it. Still started with the new Red Top, but took 30 full seconds of glow plugs. Our John Deere's say no to plug them in until -7 degrees. I'm thinking anything below 32 for the OM617 is what I'll be doing, though.

 

Gotta remember the deere and merc are two diff. animals... not surprised you had to glow plug that long... have you tried a rad cover? it will help things warm up faster by stopping all that cold prairie air from blowing through the engine bay...

 

Actually right now the engine runs happily between 170 and 180. When i start it up, i leave the heater thermostat slid to COLD which keeps that extra little bit of coolant from circulating and my trucks usually up to operating temp within 4-7 minutes. Then when you slide it to HOT, you can actually see the water temp drop slightly

One thing i forgot is that my oil pressure gauge is on the fritz. I dont know if its the sender, the wiring, the gauge, or the oil pressure. I changed the oil, and i doubt it would still be running if it hasnt had pressure for the last thousand miles. So im not sure what it is or how to narrow it down and fix it. Sometimes it doesnt budge, sometimes its normal, and sometimes its registering about half the actual pressure. Ideally id like to cut the water and oil gauges out of the dash cluster and put autometers in their place, but it would have to look really clean

 

Well it's cold. Really cold. Got to start my truck in cold weather and here's what I've found. Below 30 degrees, it needs to be plugged in. It will start down to 10 with just glow plugs, but will drain the battery if not done perfectly. Plugged in, she fires right up with about 5 seconds of glow plugs.

I tried removing the head light in front of my cold air intake and it helped a little, so I may cut into the fender to suck cold air through there. Looking at power upgrades, I'm thinking about fitting in an intercooler, doing water/meth, increasing my boost a little more, and turning the full load screw up on the IP. Not sure how much boost to do; I'm at 14psi right now, and after googling, 20 seems to be the general consensus for a "safe" boost limit. Roy at peach parts said don't go over 16. I might shoot for 18 and see what it does. I have plenty of black smoke so I can definitely still get more power from more boost. Even at 0 degrees outside ambient air temp, I see plenty of coal.

The 2nd tranny is on it's last string and will be replaced if I ever get past the headache of trying to deal with Marlin Crawler. Trying to contact them is probably harder than trying to talk to the president. It's pretty ridiculous.....

I should also mention that I rebuilt the front shocks and WOW, night and day difference!! I've been checking for calves driving across the rows in the corn field and it feels like a baja truck.

 

Little brother wanted to try out his new camcorder he got for Christmas. Little shaky but I'll get another one with the tripod next time I'm home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eABp...ature=youtu.be

 

This is the last place I expected to find this truck. I saw it parked in Manhattan once and damn near turned around to go ask about it.

Edit: Also after seeing your ghetto rear shackle hangers and some of your welds, I don't feel so bad about my stuff. :p

Edit 2: 1-10 what would you rate the swap as far as difficulty goes? I've been trying to find an engine that I can put in my truck that will still allow me to cruise at 75-80 on interstate with 35s etc. and not cost a whole lot of money. Also I don't really want to deal with computers too much.

I also have an R151F that AFAIK is in good condition, so I wouldn't need a different transmission, just an adapter.

Actually nvm any of this. Can't do OM swap without sacrificing clearances and flex, or doing an insane lift. If you move the axle back, the tires get into the firewall. If you move it forward, you have draglink and tierod/oilpan clearance issues.

 

I wouldn't do this swap again. The power gain isn't worth it. The 22mpg is, but I'm obsessed with diesel. I can cruise at 70mph. That's about it for now till I get my EGT's under control. I have no clearance issues with anything at all. My 37x14.6x17 tires are fine at full stuff and my drag link is fine. Just need to do your research before welding. Speaking of which, my rear shackle hangers aren't pretty but they're over built. Having access to Finite Element Analysis really helps when engineering parts like these. Some welds turned out crappy since I had to weld everything outside with a MIG, but I can assure you that the ones that count are top quality. I help teach the welding class so I'd hope I know what I'm doing. If you ever want to drop by and chat and look the truck over don't hesitate. I doubt you're going to have the level of dedication I had to make this swap happen, but seeing it in person might spark a flame.

 

Yeah your welds are just a little built up in some places. Stuff like that I usually try to grind out, cuz I like everything perfect.

If I ever see you in manhattan I'll probably ask about the truck. I'm not there too often though. When my truck is finished that'll probably change.

 

Well I try to go to randolph as often as possible so let me know if you ever go there. And I'm definitely not a perfectionist. I take function over looks. The farmer's way lol

 

I love the joe bob plates, makes me think of Ricky bobby. Very nice remember checking the thread in the beginning but never subscribed, and then bam it's done!! Very cool I like it!!!!

 

Your truck is looking good. I think you should turn up the boost if you are still rolling coal everywhere. You can get rebuild kits for the W56 from East Coast Gear Supply for around $300. A W56 with a fresh rebuild should last as long as the engine.

That is what I realized and returned my OM617 rebuild kit for way less than I paid. The 1uzfe I swapped in is a dream compared to the diesel. Way more power, quieter, no vibrations, and the mileage is comparable to the diesel. Did I mention the power is AWESOME!!

 

I'm afraid that I will blow a gasket or bend something with any more boost. I'd love to run 22psi but they don't make head studs for these engines. The Marlin tranny should be here in the next week; it's been 4 weeks since I ordered it and they said 3-4 weeks. As far as more power, I'm sure this engine could produce a lot more if I had the engine bay room and the money. An air to water intercooler would help tremendously I'm sure. The first thing I'm going to try when I get the chance is meth injection. Snow performance now has a kit that run's solely off boost for a reasonable price. What I really can't wait for is all the new Mercedes and Bimmer engines coming out this year to become old so I can afford one. Diesel Power Magazine had an awesome article filled with 4cyl. engines making 200-300 hp and 300-500 torque.