Leaderboard

Trail Lunch!

If you install the 2" spacers, you could potentially have binding issues with the front CV axles while the wheels are off the ground. This side-effect seems to be influenced by the particular brand of CV axle on your vehicle. The best way to confirm whether you have binding or not is to install the spacers, then rotate the front wheels (with hubs locked) by hand and feel for any resistance or binding in the inner or outer CV joints. If there isn't, you're probably OK. If there is binding, you may damage the CV axles on any type of terrain that might cause either front wheel to max out the suspension travel. Therefore, avoid such terrain. Also, another common side-effect of 2" spacers is extreme positive camber, which may be correctable with camber bolts. After installation of the spacers, you'll need an alignment.

@towndawgr50 & I harvested another R50 on its way to that junkyard in the sky. My 2nd this year. It’s sad how disposable these trucks are becoming but we really appreciate those of you offering to let us scavenge parts before they’re hauled away. (Photo by@TownDawgR50)

A few months back i had to move my pathy out of storage and up to my shop so i can work on it as it had been sitting for a few years maybe more with out being ran or even touched. When we got there it had over heated so bad you could feel it inside the cab. The coolant had disappeared totally... The next day we had filled the engine with water and ran it for a good half hour or more and it didnt even lose a drop. All is good now. It runs and it doesnt over heat. BUTTTTT. The system does not pressurize. I have not had too much with engines to know if all systems will pressurize or not. The vehicle does not over heat as it runs flawless and the coolant gauge shows half way when it has been running for a while. The top rad hose gets extremely hot to the touch (as i think it should) but i can squeeze it like nothing. Almost as if there is nothing in there even when its cold. Is it supposed to be this soft or is it supposed to be more firm? Also opn a side note a little away from topic. This shouldnt be a big issue but when ever i press the gas and let off of it, as the rpms go down it almost jumped up 1 line to about 1200 from 1100 then it idles. Is that normal or is that just something small that doesnt need attention?

I have found the fix (i think havent tested it much) to my issue. There were a multitude of issues and all of which were involving the rad cap and rad seal. The lower seal for the lower rubber piece was not smooth so making a thick layer of JB weld and sanding it down to a smooth layer helped, but did not solve the issue right away. The second issue was the lip that seals to the upper rubber seal for the cap itself was not very smooth, so taking a piece of sand paper on the face of a block to make it flat and smooth helped even more. the final part involves the cap itself where the 2 teeth that hold the cap on to the rad are too low. so taking a pair of pliers and pressing them in more and more in slight increments helped, but if you go too far you can screw up the teeth that hold it on and it will not turn on to the cap. After making it so the cap would hold on to the rad better, that appears to have solved my issue. Now i just have to test and make sure that is the case.

Hello, I'm new here, and posted an intro in the "start here thread". Tuesday evening I bought a 2003 SE 4WD with 144,000 miles from an independent dealer. The next morning, when I started it, thick white smoke billowed from the exhaust. I called the dealer who said that his mechanic had changed the plugs and put in a fuel injector cleaner, so run it, and "run the hell out of it" for at least 100 miles, and it will clear up. about 75 miles later the "service engine soon" light came on, and the truck tried to overheat, but i slowed down, coasted in neutral and kept the heat running on full HOT, so I I at least avoided overheating it... I had an app hooked up to the OBDII guage, so the temp sometimes got up to 205 F, and once even 208 briefly, but overall, i was able to keep it at about 200 F or lower as I drove about 12 miles home. So, the truck has a "power train" warranty that will supposedly pay up to $1,000 towards fixing any power train warranties. I'm posting here for some ideas and advice. I can either head down the path of trying to have the vehicle repaired (I don't know what's wrong yet, but obviously I'm skeptical about trying to rebuild a new-to-me truck that gave me problems within the first 10 miles of driving it)... or I was thinking that maybe I should try to enlist the dealer's help in getting a low-mileage vehicle, maybe with body damage or rust, but a solid engine, and then doing an engine swap. I'll have to see how helpful the dealer is... but I'm reasonable with people, and don't want to have to try to fight with them in court, since the contract says "as-is", so while i could try to make a case of fraud or some other claims, it would be an uphill battle. Moreover, if I'm able to apply $1,000 from the warranty, and leverage the dealer's mechanics to (maybe) get a good engine with say 80,000 miles or fewer and get a swap, I think that might be a better tack, and I might get their help and cooperation, even if it cost a (hopefully) no more than $3K total, or an additional $2K out-of-pocket... it would probably be worth it for the piece-of-mind. Any thoughts, suggestions or advice, especially on fix vs swap and/or approaches on trying to find a decent engine for a swap, how much rebuilds can run, whether it's worth trying... what to look for, etc? i'm obviously feeling duped, but the money's spent and I need to manage the world the way it is, and try for the best outcome possible. The trouble code thrown is P0021, which is described as "Cam shaft variable timing control, Bank 2". The dealer said that they replaced the air filter and did an oil change and put in synthetic oil during the change (that seems believable... although I probably would used regular or a blended oil on a used engine with 144,000 miles). I'm skeptical of the new plugs and fuel cleaner claim... I suspect that the dealer was either hoping it would go away, or maybe hoping the whole engine would blow, and that he could pass off the first $1,000 of any repair bill to the warranty company (I have a form from they stating the power train warranty with $1,000 limit... but it's not a whole contract with details)... or maybe the dealer was even hoping that I'd drive it hard and get some miles on it, and if it blew, that they could blame me. I drove the truck home which was fewer than 5 miles, and the problem showed up immediately the next morning... so maybe the dealer was trying to get me to put some miles on it, to try to weaken any claims I might have if I tried to make them take the truck back... Anyway, I'm inclined to try to solve the problem by finding a way to get the truck running well if I can do it without spending TOO much more money. I accept that I was likely duped, but trying to sue, even in small claims court for only $5K or less, is a big hassle, and I might not win since it can be very difficult to get satisfaction when a used car is bought with "as-is" paperwork... So while I've shared my story, I'm really looking for thoughts and insights on how to proceed re: repairs or engine swaps, and ideas of price ranges, approaches, and sources for parts. If there's any good news, it would be that I had my "ultrablue" wireless device in the OBDCII port, and their app running on my phone (image attached), so I was able to monitor the temp carefully, and keep it lower enough that I think I prevented the engine from over-heating (I would assume... because it never got hotter than 208 F, and that was only very briefly... because I know that overheating an engine can cause serious damage.) Thanks, and good to meet y'all. ? Phil Brown Arlington, VA Image from the cell-phone app attached.

Theres 2 switches for the indicator (so the ligt comes on in 4h & 4L but not N) on mine the wires rotted thru so after removing them I just soldered new wires on and all has been good. Be careful not to lose the check balls, I believe there are 3 behind each switch.