BKahler
Full Access Member
Thought I'd post a few comments and questions regarding my recent 3700 mile round trip in my 88 F250 hauling vechiles (two small cars) from Jefferson Arkansas to Fredericksburg VA to drop off the first car then on to Albany NY to drop off the second car and then up to Lake George NY to pickup a 1953 1-ton dodge power wagon and back down to Lost Creek West Virginia to drop some parts off and finally home to Jefferson AR with the power wagon.
This is my first real long distance heaving hauling trip with the 7.3 IDI. In a lot of ways I'm impressed and in at least one way disappointed. I only had one mechanical problem along the way. Sometime during the first night of driving I noticed the v-belts started squealing. I watched the gauges and nothing really changed other than the coolant temp climed ever so slightly. If figured it was probably a glazed belt and decided I'd replace it in the morning. Stopped for the night and when I checked the belts in the morning I immediately noticed that the two belts on the alternator were hanging loose like the alternator had gone way out of adjustment. What really happened was the lower pivot bolt and backed itself out to the point where it was hitting the radiator shroud. It had totally backed out of the alternator allowing the lower part of the alternator to release the belt tension. The only reason I didn't lose the bolt was because the plastic radiator shroud was in the way.
So I screwed the bolt back in and found that it wasn't tightening down. Either the end of the bolt was stripped or the captive nut was. Needless to say I was scratching my head for a few minutes on how to continue the trip without dismantling the alternator mount to fix it. Tie-wraps to the rescue. I wrapped it up with a half dozen tie-wraps and managed the rest of the trip with no more problem from the bolt. At least I can fix it in my shop instead of along side the road ;p.
Anyway, other than the bolt the only other complaint was the lack of pulling power going up those long grades in western Maryland on I-68 and West Virginia on I-79. My truck has the 3.54 gear set and I'm hoping thats the reason the power level was so bad on those hills. I actually ended up in 2nd gear (C6 tranny) on most of the grades traveling around 32 mph.
So, is the 3.54 gear set the problem or is there possibly something wrong with the engine?
Overall I'm quite pleased with the dependability of the truck and how well it ran other than the lack of power on the long hills.
Temperatures stayed fairly steady as did the oil pressure.
The A/C system at times seemed to not cool as well as it should have. That mostly occured in the afternoons when it was hottest out. Its still the R-12 system and I have no idea about its overall condition. Any thoughts?
There is no doubt I'm definitely sold on using a diesel for heavy duty hauling from now on
Brad
This is my first real long distance heaving hauling trip with the 7.3 IDI. In a lot of ways I'm impressed and in at least one way disappointed. I only had one mechanical problem along the way. Sometime during the first night of driving I noticed the v-belts started squealing. I watched the gauges and nothing really changed other than the coolant temp climed ever so slightly. If figured it was probably a glazed belt and decided I'd replace it in the morning. Stopped for the night and when I checked the belts in the morning I immediately noticed that the two belts on the alternator were hanging loose like the alternator had gone way out of adjustment. What really happened was the lower pivot bolt and backed itself out to the point where it was hitting the radiator shroud. It had totally backed out of the alternator allowing the lower part of the alternator to release the belt tension. The only reason I didn't lose the bolt was because the plastic radiator shroud was in the way.
So I screwed the bolt back in and found that it wasn't tightening down. Either the end of the bolt was stripped or the captive nut was. Needless to say I was scratching my head for a few minutes on how to continue the trip without dismantling the alternator mount to fix it. Tie-wraps to the rescue. I wrapped it up with a half dozen tie-wraps and managed the rest of the trip with no more problem from the bolt. At least I can fix it in my shop instead of along side the road ;p.Anyway, other than the bolt the only other complaint was the lack of pulling power going up those long grades in western Maryland on I-68 and West Virginia on I-79. My truck has the 3.54 gear set and I'm hoping thats the reason the power level was so bad on those hills. I actually ended up in 2nd gear (C6 tranny) on most of the grades traveling around 32 mph.
So, is the 3.54 gear set the problem or is there possibly something wrong with the engine?
Overall I'm quite pleased with the dependability of the truck and how well it ran other than the lack of power on the long hills.
Temperatures stayed fairly steady as did the oil pressure.
The A/C system at times seemed to not cool as well as it should have. That mostly occured in the afternoons when it was hottest out. Its still the R-12 system and I have no idea about its overall condition. Any thoughts?
There is no doubt I'm definitely sold on using a diesel for heavy duty hauling from now on
Brad
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because it did the job and you didn't spend $40 - 50k on a new truck.
