Received a call from them during lunch, but bad line so I stopped in the shop on the way back to the Data Center.
Overall I was fairly impressed. While they did have the following laundry list of items that needs to be fixed, they did not give me any grief for wanting to do the work myself when I get home. What really surprised me was that they said the oil in both differentials and the transfer case were at the proper level and looked nice and clean. Even though I had already authorized them to do a "Drive Line Service", they said that the truck did not need it and they did not want to charge me for any work that I did not need.
Anyway, here is the laundry list they gave me ...
Injector Return lines leaking ... These have been "leaking" since they were installed with my rebuilt fuel pump. They have always been moist with diesel around that area. I suppose that I could put a new set on, but can do that when I get home.
They said that they thought that one of the injectors was leaking but could not be certain until they return lines were replaced.
The Steering Gear Box was loose. They said that the shaft coming out of the gear box wiggled back and forth. They wanted $650 to replace it. Can't you adjust the lash in the gears to get rid of play in the steering gear box? I thought you could. I told them that I would replace this when I got home. It's been like that since I bought the truck, and I've tightened up the lash before.
The transmission needed a rebuild. They said that they needed to replace all of the "Electronics" in the transmission because the torque converter lockup was not releasing when coming to a stop. This one I though was BULL since there really is not any "Electronics" in our transmissions other than a few solenoids and a couple of sensors. They said that they had a scanner plugged in while they were driving and their scanner indicated that the trans controller had issued the command to release the Torque Converter, but that it had not released. Because of that they needed to pull the transmission from the truck to get at all of the electronics... Can't you replace the solenoid pack just by pulling the pan? Anyway, I thought that this last line was "Bull" because I don't believe that the OBDII port on our trucks reports live data like what commands the controller is sending the transmission for a scanner to pick up on. Or am I completely wrond on this one. I did not even ask them how much this last item would cost as I am certain it would be way over my budget for the entire trip, and I can get a rebuild E4OD with upgraded parts for not too much coin and install it myself.
The last item was the "U" joints. They said that the front drive shaft had some play in it and that even if they were dry that lubing them up would not get rid of the play. I told them that I did not plan on using four wheel drive on the way home so that drive shaft would be stationary the whole way home, so no need to worry about that until later. However, from my experience on older 60's / 70's cars, that lubing the "U" joint got rid of the wiggle and the way to check them was to grab the drive line by the "U" joint and push / pull to see if there was any play, if so, you lubed the joints and the play went away.
The only thing that I am paying the shop for is a front end alignment so that I do not tear up the front tires driving home. Other than that, they did not do any work and I am getting out of the shop for less than $85.
I suspect that the noise I was hearing was in fact the coast clutch, but that it was only making noise when the engine was 240 degrees or more and I was pulling over to let the truck to cool down. I could not duplicate the noise today and the shop could not duplicate the noise.
Well, hopefully everything will go well on the trip back to Utah at the end of next week.
P.S. Anyone ever in this area and I would recommend All American Four Wheel Drive. They did NOT try and take advantage of me and gave me a fare deal for their time today.
Thanks - John Z
