Diego Revisited

Years ago when I was changing oil in a few 7.3 PSD’s on a regular basis, I had a $5 hammer that I welded a short Ramset pin (nail) to the face of. It was very handy, I would hit the bottom of the filter first thing, but not pull it out until I moved the drain pan into position. I only takes a time or two of making a mess with that big old filter full of hot oil before you come up with a solution that works for you.


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IDIBRONCO said:

I will barely loosen the filter just enough so that it moves. Then I'll poke a hole in the bottom of the filter with a #2 Phillips screwdriver. After it stops draining, there will still be a little bit of oil in the bottom of the filter that will run out as I rotate the filter around. It's easy enough to keep a finger over the hole to hold the oil inside plus I will already have upwards pressure on the filter to keep it from falling when it comes loose. Then I just grab the filter and lower it over a drain pan and set it upside down in the pan. It's not completely mess free, but it's pretty close.

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When @snicklas mentioned the drain valve my first thought was, "Yeah but how do I get one on that stupid oil filter??" And now I have my answer! Thanks @IDIBRONCO! Especially since I run the PSD filter it's even bigger and more awkward full of hot oil. Problem solved.

I either do jeremy's trick with draining the filter, or a put a plastic bag over the whole filter and catch all the oil that way if its a low truck

I knew the driver's side ball joints were going to need replacing after doing the passenger side last year. I gathered some parts up....

New Moog rubber radius arm bushings



Scored a good deal on Bilstein front shocks on eBay until.... No hardware. What the heck. Found some poly upper bushings and ordered new hardware. I needed new bolts for the rear anyway....



Plus, new Moog CC844S severe duty coils for the front.



Still working but the batteries in the impact died so that gave me an excuse to get some lunch.

The secondary catalyst for this project.



Apparently a brake pad had delaminated while the last owner was hauling his camper. It stopped fine and really wasn't making any noise. But it was bugging me knowing it was there. Looks like pads were about due anyway.



New rotor with new Timken bearings packed with expensive synthetic grease.



Glad I bought new pins. The old ones were definitely showing their age!

I've almost got the driver's side done. I have to put the wheel back on and torque the bushings them I'll hit the other side.

I don't know if the passenger side seal was wrong or just a different style? It fell out when I pulled the rotor off, so it probably wasn't even spinning. Bearings looked a little brown from heat, I'm glad I changed them.



I wasn't very happy with the new rotor for the passenger side. I thought they were both motorcraft but I was mistaken. I'm about a year past the return date so on she goes...



Old vs new springs.



One of the shocks was DEFINITELY bad. The other one was tired though.



Glad I changed the radius arm bushings. Sleeve was trashed on the passenger side.



I changed one of the pivot bushings out for an Energy Suspension poly bushing. What a pain in the rear! Every time I tried to press it together the outermost piece just popped out. I finally got it stuffed in there. We'll see how it holds up if I decide to bother with the other one or not.

chillman88 said:

I changed one of the pivot bushings out for an Energy Suspension poly bushing. What a pain in the rear! Every time I tried to press it together the outermost piece just popped out. I finally got it stuffed in there. We'll see how it holds up if I decide to bother with the other one or not.

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If you change one, you should do the other as well. Just my .02.

IDIBRONCO said:

If you change one, you should do the other as well. Just my .02.

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They were both done shortly before I got the truck. I changed this one as a "while I was in there" deal. I had intended to change the other side too but this one gave me so much of a fight I had no desire to try the other one. Plus I wanted to get finished before it got too dark outside as I was working in the driveway.

My thought is I'll see how it holds up and either do the other side or just replace them both with rubber again.

Hiya Chris! Glad to see the old boy getting some love!

saburai said:

Hiya Chris! Glad to see the old boy getting some love!

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It's overdue hahaha. I also changed out the rotors but that post is "pending moderator approval" for some odd reason?

Trying to tie up loose ends (pun intended) before winter!

I've still got some slop in the steering, and it has a little bit of wander. I'll be quite pleased with it once I get that ironed out. Between the shocks and springs and removing the front sway bar it rides a lot better now. It won't toss you out of the cab on train tracks now . I can definitely tell the rear end is still pretty stiff so I'll be tracking down some shocks for that soon.

I re-replaced the hood release cable today after the deer incident broke the good used one I had installed.



Also replaced the dimmer switch. The old one worked, it just stuck. I guess it was a little cold?



I coated the new one with some silicone grease which will hopefully help.

I have lubed those and got them to work again. Not to my trucks, but when I was a civilian contractor in Iraq and new parts weren't always available.

IDIBRONCO said:

I have lubed those and got them to work again. Not to my trucks, but when I was a civilian contractor in Iraq and new parts weren't always available.

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That probably would have done the trick honestly. I just so happened to have a spare on the shelf from an old project.

For no more than they cost, I can't see screwing around with trying to lube one unless it's an emergency.