Trailered home a 1989 F350 dump truck that looks great on the outside, but the 7.3 IDI is something else

AMAZING SHOP!! Goodness gracious. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

For the top bolt leverage, put another box wrench over the open side you've got sticking up. I love this trick! Hope that helps. Looks like you've got body-sag from the body bushings, it shouldn't be THAT close. But could be a camera thing. I've gotten after those with the double wrench trick and also with a LOT of extensions and a u-joint from the bottom, powered by my trusty impact.


And to beat the dead horse, make sure you get the dampeners for the lines when you order them. I was obstinate once and ended up with a cracked line after only a few months without the dampeners. I was shocked they would crack so fast, but one did!

Do you have to remove the transmission? With the PTO on there, I'd leave it in place unless it was bad and had to be rebuilt.

Oh and for the trans cross member, I've done a box wrench on top and again a impact wrench with u-joint next to the socket on the bottom. If the impact can't handle it, your breaker bar can.

The_Josh_Bear said:

Oh and for the trans cross member, I've done a box wrench on top and again a impact wrench with u-joint next to the socket on the bottom. If the impact can't handle it, your breaker bar can.

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The 2 top bolts are a bear to get to.
I have a long 15mm box/open end wrench that fit. Then as Josh said, an extention with a swivel and an Impact gun. Forget the lower nut size. My cab sits close to the bolt heads and won`t come out. really just need to loosen it enough so the Bracket is floppy enough to slide the X Frame out.

Just went through this in October.


Goat

Old Goat said:

Forget the lower nut size.

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If it's still the factory nuts, they are 18mm.

IDIBRONCO said:

Do you have to remove the transmission? With the PTO on there, I'd leave it in place unless it was bad and had to be rebuilt.

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As far as I know the transmission is fine. I was under the impression removing it is almost necessary to pull the engine?

I'm going to try first without removing it I suppose.

I went back down to the shop after dinner and knocked out some more prep work. Just couldn't help myself.

@The_Josh_Bear That trick with a 2nd wrench worked on the driver side top bellhousing bolt!



But the passenger side one was really on there. Was finally able to get it from below with this contraption:



I have 3 impact extensions that allow for some flex as can be seen. So with those 2 out of the way, the remaining 4 all came out easily from below using the double extensions and the impact. Also got the motor mount nuts out and a floor jack under the transmission to make it level with the engine. Oil filter removed as well. Nothing is still connected to the engine as far as I can tell.

Dropped the truck back off the jack stands and pulled the cherry picker into position:



I need to cut out the top link in the chain so that the leveler will swing 90 degrees and be parallel with the crank. That has always been a pain in the past as I have to fight the engine to keep it straight.

Had to undo the hood springs and pull it back towards the windshield to where the arms just touched the cowl sheet metal:



I believe I now have the clearance needed to lift the engine up and forward.

The oem lift eyelets are all missing except for the one used by the throttle cable bracket. Fortunately I found a guy on eBay selling a full set. Ordered those a few days ago. Given how heavy this engine is, I'd rather play it safe vs. just using some large washers and single bolt for the chains.

My engine stand is only rated for 1,200 lbs. but I plan to make a wooden frame/cradle to hold the nose to prevent the enormous stress there would otherwise be on the stand.

Won't be long now!

crazydane said:

As far as I know the transmission is fine. I was under the impression removing it is almost necessary to pull the engine?

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No. Absolutely not.

crazydane said:

I'm going to try first without removing it I suppose.

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That's the easy way.

crazydane said:

My engine stand is only rated for 1,200 lbs.

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That's enough. It's what mine is rated for and I have no problems with one our engines on it.

@IDIBRONCO You were right. It was a bit of a tight squeeze to get the oil pan hump over the front crossmember before I could pull the engine forward the rest of the way. Hopefully I didn't pinch anything too bad.



Rested it gently on a piece of wood to remove the clutch and flywheel:



Engine is ready for another round of degreasing:



Lots of cleanup to be done in the engine bay area:



Thanks

Pulled the clutch and flywheel. Clutch, flywheel and flex plate look to be in decent shape: (clutch is not glazed, just reflection from the shop lights)



I don't *think* the rear seal is bad:



Took the engine outside and sprayed it down with degreaser and power washed. Repeated a couple of times:



Got it on the stand and stacked some wood blocks for front support:



Ready to remove the intake and exhaust manifolds next:



It will be a LOT nicer to work on now compared to before.

crazydane said:

I don't *think* the rear seal is bad:

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It probably isn't... yet. But when will it ever be easier to replace? And think about what you'd have to do over again to replace it in a few years. Or days...

Do you have a drip pan for your engine stand..?

If not...I belief Summit Racing Equipment could fix you up...helps keep the potential mess contained...too nice of a floor to soil...but that is just me...

Looks like you are rocking along...good job...

Very true. But that's probably the least of my concerns right now. Popped one of the heads and it doesn't look good.

Standing water in the #7 inlet port:



However, after popping the head, that cylinder was mostly full of an oil cocktail:



After wiping is down the first time:



#7 cylinder wall is scored pretty badly:



The scratches catch you nail real easy, so they are pretty deep.

And all pistons are already 020 over: (this is #1)



And look at all that junk along the edge of the piston.

Are those sleeves in the bores?

Head gasket close up: (#7 again)



Injectors and glow plugs:



Head (#5 and 7):



#1 and 3:



I purchased this dump truck to haul dirt around my property and the occasional run to pick up gravel and mulch. It will see maybe 500 miles a year, if that, so I don't really want to drop several thousand on getting this engine rebuild.

I paid $2,000 for the truck and was hoping that spending another $1,000 would get it in good enough condition for my use case.

If I tear it down the rest of the way and clean out the block and give the bores a light hone, any chance this truck will serve me well for, say 10 years? That would be 5,000 miles, give or take.

crazydane said:

It was a bit of a tight squeeze to get the oil pan hump over the front crossmember before I could pull the engine forward the rest of the way.

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I always tell people that the way to get one of these out is lift, pull back, lift pull back until it's finally out.

crazydane said:

flex plate

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That's the clutch plate. A flex plate is the "flywheel" for an automatic transmission.

crazydane said:

And look at all that junk along the edge of the piston.

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My first guess would be that it's junk that fell off of the bottom of the head in the valve/combustion area.

crazydane said:

I purchased this dump truck to haul dirt around my property and the occasional run to pick up gravel and mulch. It will see maybe 500 miles a year, if that, so I don't really want to drop several thousand on getting this engine rebuild.

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You could see if you can find a used, running engine.

crazydane said:

If I tear it down the rest of the way and clean out the block and give the bores a light hone, any change this truck will serve me well for, say 10 years? That would be 5,000 miles, give or take.

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It possibly might, but I'd wait until you can be almost 100% sure where the water came from before making that decision.

Sorry yeah, clutch plate, not flex plate. And good point about the junk just being debris that fell in when removing the head.

So I pulled the other head and again, #8 at oil sludge in it:



There was also water in the intake ports, more so than the other bank.

But what really caught my eye, was this huge chunk of cylinder wall missing in #8:



That thing is a good 1/16" deep. I have no idea where it went. You can also see a crack in the cylinder wall to the right of the missing chunk.

Here's a closer look at #7 again. I think I see crack in there too:



Finally, here's a shot of the block wall between #6 and 8:



That definitely looks like a sleeve in #8. which could maybe explain why a big chunk of it is missing?

Here's a running 89 7.3 for $800:


Maybe that would be the best next move?