New guy on the front here! I bought a 87 rn63 from a neighbor for $400. it sat for 2 years. Ive changed oil, filter, fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotor. I used 10-30 high miles synthetic because of the sale at autozone. I have heard both good things and bad about putting synthetic in these old engines. My question to you is, is it going to ruin the engine? Is there anything else I should change out?
Thanks for the help,
Woody

 

Don't be surprised if it burns a little more oil then usual and leaks might develop where leaks weren't before. But it won't really hurt anything as long as you watch fluid level. Not saying it will or won't because if the engine was taken care of before, you might be ok.

Fuel filter would be on my list as well as transmission, transfercase, front and rear differential fluids.

 

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Before long you'll be hopelessly addicted like the rest of us


In short. No it will not ruin anything. However you may develop some small oil leaks as the synthetic is thinner and will slip past worn seals better.

Other then that I'd say you're good to go. Just so long as you stay away from fram filters. If it sat for 2 years I'd run a tank of 93 octane fuel through it, help clean it out

EDIT: xxxtreme22r beat me! haha

 

got the fuel filter also, had one hell of a time finding that little bastard! as far as fluids to replace those, what do I use for each of them?

 

It was a bosch filter I put on there

 

FSM is gonna be your friend, but I wanna say all the drivetrain fluids assuming it's a manual trans is all GL-4/5. 80-90

 

Also avoid FRAM on the oil filters, I think might have been the thought there, too?

Far as the diff/trans/t-case fluids.... it's in the Haynes, believe it or not(not being a smartypants, lol... I didn't find it till months ago, hehe).

I believe it's all GL 4/5- >>> 75W-90 for the Diffs, 75W-90 for the Trans and 80W-90 for the t-case. I switched from Valvoline to Castrol and found it a lil bit quieter and smoother shifting.

 

isn't 75-90 just a synthetic GL-5 whereas 80-90 would be standard GL-4? Just curious.

 

Hmmm, not sure, B....

But, as I've read it in the book, and asked it to be looked up, that's what I always get either by reading or response. My friend who does Tran's' .... he said, "I use Lucas 80W-90 on every one on these"... Lucas does Syn and Conventional..... I'd have to dig deeper, good question, B.

PS> the 75W-90 I put in, Castrol, was not synthetic....

 

one other question, as far as shocks go, what's good? I don't need the best but I don't want some crap either. This is my 1/2 mile commute to work truck that doubles as my bull elk hunting rig also so I need it to be reliable!

Thanks for the help guys

Woody

 

you would think chef that as many years as I worked in oil changes places that I would know, but pretty sure most 75-90s are syn. Not saying they are not compatible though as you can really use either or. I use 80-90 in all of it.

If those trials for elk hunting etc etc are just mild trails where your not flexing the truck all that much, I liked my procomp es3000's. Good price as well so a full set of 4. The cheapest I found em at the time over a year ago was on www.topguncustomz.com. I did however feel at times that they were a little on the short side for crawling and stuff. But the ride was great on them.

 

i used to run syntheyic at 150 k and it would consume a little over a quart between oil changes, i stick with rotella and it doesnt consume any.

 

I've been using 75-90 outboard lower unit oil in my front axle for a while now, it isn't synthetic. I don't think it matters, but I had a couple of gallons lying around the garage. (my dad was in the marine business for 20 years and snagged it from work)

 

Yeah thats what I was getting at.... I've seen engines destroyed because of fram filters plugging up

 

Bilstein are the go-to shocks for our trucks. You can get them on tirerack.com for less than $70 each, they last FOREVER, and they soak up HUGE bumps without a hiccup.

 

one last thing, wheels and tires? What do you guys use? I want to stay with the stock size

 

Regarding the first Q, I changed over to full syn (rotella) at 270,000 or so. My crank seal has leaked for years now, leaks the same with syn. And the kid in the 83 in this pic (on right) uses straight 30 w in his 22r. (ps it has 115000 orig. miles), no dash crack etc.

 

Thats at welding class ^, we all get there early and hob nob.

 

Teuf...... I hope he's a good kid! lol.... Otherwise, you'd probably wanna Yota-Jack him every time he pulls in the lot! lol. Saw that pic before... still lovin it AS MUCH if not more! lol.

PS> totally off topic......... Anyone seen the Tundra Diesel yet? I wanna have one! lol

 

I saw that kids yota a year ago or so and asked him if I could take a few pics. nice kid. Then when i saw that he was in the welding class parking lot first day, I thought cool. We exchanged vehicles last week to take a spin. He has a rear locker, I couldn't tell. And he has 5.29's, man I could feel that right away. Some day I will have proper gears.