mws

Oh, and you have to THINK about what to do and when ... Which answers the inevitable question (surprised it hasn't been asked already!): "Well, if it's such a great idea, why don't they come from the factory that way?"

Well put 88... I don't have a problem getting out to lock the driver side hub every once in a while. Hell, if nuthin else you can just lock up the drivers side and make whoever's riding bitch jump out and lock their side when the trail gets wild. :o Think of it this way... How many times while on a trail run will the guys that have a front locker even need it or use it? The ones I know of use it as little as possible because of the steering issues and the extra wear and tear on everything involved... The weld locked front has an advantage over the ABR because YOU pick the line you plan on running, and by picking your own line YOU choose where to put the passenger tire since it has all the power... The ABR will act like an open diff till you reach up and flip the switch. I think I'd be able to look up a steep hill from the bottom and decide THEN to lock it up or to leave it in 3wd... Autolocking hubs are weak as hell from what I hear and from a few pics I've seen on ones that looked like a bomb went off inside of'em... I haven't heard a story of someone breaking a manual hub with IFS yet tho. Me thinks thou speaketh with above average logic and wisdom... In other words, it makes perfect sense to me. I'm not sure VSicks ever quite understood the concept of what you're proposing before engaging the naysaying machine... I agree it is very rare you actually NEED the front locked. Usually to get out of a difficult spot - at which point you're probably already stopped, so having someone get out to lock the second hub is only an inconvenience - More of an inconvenience than flipping an ARB switch for sure, but it is also a whole lot less money. For those of us on limited budgets, that is an inconvenience worth considering. As I see it, the only difference between having an open diff and a welded diff with only one hub locked is that with the welded diff, you get to choose which front tire is getting the power whereas with an open diff, the tire with the least traction gets the power.

Back to the original question (my, but what a digressive bunch are we, ehh?). 45 mA is very little draw - it's 0.045 amp. Not much more than a couple digital clocks or alarm LED's. Your battery should list "reserve capacity" on it somewhere - and it should be listed in "Amp Hrs". Take that reserve capacity, divide it by 0.045, and it will tell you how long the battery can power that load. Say the battery says 30 Amp Hour reserve capacity. 30/0.045 = 667 hours, or just under a month. But in reality, you do NOT want to draw a car battery below 1/2 charge, so your real time is about 2 weeks. That is all assuming: - the battery is fully charged - the battery is in like new condition BTW, Optima's do not have nearly as much capacity as a regular wet acid battery - that is their main shortcoming.

Gulp. It's not too often I fess up to things like this, but I did pick up one of those compressors from Pep Boys while on sale for $49.95. I generally steer well away from imported crap and will eventually have a dependable on board compressor. But lately, every $$$ I have seems to be going towards our tow van. So I compromised my better judgement and ethics and bought one. We wanted a 12V compressor to have with us when dirtbiking. Between all the trucks, trailers, and flats on the motorcycles, a portable source of air is a very good thing. Up 'til now, we just brought along a charged 11 gallon tank and a hand pump. Run off the tank 'til empty, then make the kids pump it back up with the hand pump while we cheer them on and toss back a few barley pops... But now the kids are getting big enough to stage a successful revolt against the oppressive and malevolent seniors, so we need a new option. These appear to put out about 10X more air than the typical dime store 12V compressors. I plan to drain a 31x10.5 tire and time how long it takes to refill it soon. Will probably still bring the tank along - it's real handy as it can dump a lot of air very quickly. Fill up the tires, then throw the tank back in the truck and turn the compressor on and re-charge as you drive. Let the passengers monitor and determine when to shut it off.

As far as which method to use, "filling teeth" or "weld together"... hmmm... With the filling teeth method, it does allow a very small amount of differential movement - like 10 degrees of rotation. Not enough to cause any loss of traction, it seems it would make it easier to lock or unlock manual hub if it has that small amount of free play. On the downside, all of the drive force for one wheel is focused on fewer teeth of the spider gear. That could be a problem if the spider gears are not strong enough. I know this method has been used on many diffs with no spider gear problems. If the Pathy spider gears are as adequate as others, it should be no problem. With the weld together method, there is the advantage of having the load distributed across twice as many teeth (assuming you can weld both sides). On the downside, the carrier could no longer be taken apart. Not too big of a deal, I guess, as carriers are not that expensive. And it is much more difficult to get in there and clean everything out.

Trailchaser - When I first read your post, I thought that was a bad idea. But then I stopped to really think about what you were proposing. And the more I thought about it, the more I saw the good in it. The loading in 3WD mode isn't any more than when in a locked 4WD mode. The max load occurs when the driver's side is in the air and all of the weight of the vehicle is on the passenger side - and that will be the same whether the driver's wheel is being driven or not. I continue thinking about all the various loading scenarios, and keep coming back to the same conclusion - it shouldn't be any more "hard" on components than an ARB locker. I'll keep thinking, but it sure looks like a feasible low dollar alternative to an ARB. Anybody see something I'm missing?

Hopefully, it costs about 20% less per gallon to make up for the increased consumption, ehh?

The jack is on sale at Harbour Freight again. $49.95.

That is a very nice looking wheel - remarkably good for a stock wheel! Some wheel companies offer wheels in that kind of charcoal gray finish. And of course, you could always get the design of your choice powdercoated in a nice gray....

Ethanol does boost effective octane, but it has a couple negatives. 1) It absorbs water 2) It has less energy density per given volume of fuel 3) It burns leaner If you drive the vehicle regularly, 1 is manageable. However, some peopel have had some issues in vehicles that sit a lot. When burning ethanol blends, your mpg and power WILL go down. Period. No way around that,. Less energy density means you must burn more to get the same output. Some FI systems can self adapt enough to deal with the lean burning problem. Some can't. If your Check Engine light is coming on, that is telling you it can't - the system may have gone as rich as possible, but it is still running too lean. The O2 sensor detects this and turns on the light.

hose clamp? How hokey! Duct Tape!

well... technically, a bushing IS a bearing... It's not a ROLLER bearing, but it is still a bearing. Bearing is the generic term, bushing is a more specific sub set.

Just to clarify terms, the heat expeller in front of the radiator is the condensor. The evaporator is the heat absorber inside the plenum.

Who wants to know the secret to removing pilot bearings? Who? Who? OK - here it is: - Pack some grease into the bearing - fill up any cavity behind the bearing and about half way to the surface of the bearing. - Find or make something that fits snugly within the pilot bearing. Reversed socket with an extension in it to seal the hole, old piece of transmission shaft, wooden dowel, plastic rod turned to the right diameter, whatever. - Slide the something into the bearing, and give it a few good raps with a hammer. The something will press into the the grease and pressurize it. Some neat physics occurs, and the grease will push the bearing out! Of course, if the something is too small, you just made a mess.... Physics is your friend....

Didn't someone offer a lower range set of TC gears? Like near 4:1's? AC?

Pilot bearing is a female bearing in the center of the flywheel. The forward end of the transmission shaft fits into this. The throwout (or release) bearing is the collar that the fork pushes against to release the clutch. I always replace both when I work on a clutch. They're not that expensive, and who wants to go back in within the next 50K miles to do the other??? Odd thing - we just converted my nephew's '93 VW Eurovan from an automatic to a manual. After hours scouring the manual and a couple calls to VW parts department and mechanics, I was finally convinced that the Audi designed 5 cylinder doesn't have a pilot bearing! Has anyone ever seen this? Seems whacky to not precisely support and align the end of the trans shaft....

The toughest part is usually getting the transmission lined up and back on after doing the clutch. I bought a transmission jack at Harbor Freight. I am very skeptical of most of their child slave labor built offshore pot metal junk, but this scissor style wheeled transmission jack looked pretty well designed and built. All sheet and bar steel, no castings. This is the one you crank up and down with a 1/2" drive ratchet. I have used it on 4 transmission pull jobs to date, and I can honestly say this is a must have if you chose to do your own. It's well under $100 (goes on 1/2 price sale pretty regularly, and will make the job WAY easier.

When the MTVV2 is done, pumping up the Pathy a little bit is next. Probably limit it to cleaning up the intake manifold and heads, and then Thorley headers and the S1 cams. (MTTV2 = Monster Tow Van Version 2) I have a leaking exhaust manifold, so I "need" to do the headers as a true solution. Drilling the studs out in the truck is a PITA, so why not just pop the heads out to make it easier? And as long as they're out, might as well whip out the die grinder, right? And if we're in that far, why leave the stock cams in? The S1 is a rather mild cam, and I would be surprised if it would cause the vehicle to fail the tailpipe test. And even if they did, swapping cams is not really that difficult a project on these engines. Better part of two days every two years to provide 700+ days of better performance and mpg? Eh, I could live with that. Now you understand why I have very few "little" projects!

Haven't you ever been in a situation where you need to just barely inch along while watching something really closely to avoid disaster? And end up having to slip the clutch mercilessly? That's when a doubler comes in handy. Clutch saver!

That neosynthetic sounds intriguing... Somebody try it! I would like to use polyurethane, but I hate squeeking so much I have avoided it. I'm also wondering how well a high temp antiseize compound would do? I have Nikasil in the garage - it is a thick grease with various additives. I use it on my trailer ball and it has proven to be an awesome lubricant under heavy loads - no more ball galling! And no more squeek.

Ooohhhh... could this be the start of a taunting war within team moderator? We'se certainly hope so, don't we, presssshhhussssssss...! I think I'll be pulling up a chair for this one! sssh The admin ( :bow: ) hasn't been biting lately so I'm swaping lures... Besides, I'm just a lowly moderator so I'm -study- and till I can land him and . Hard to :X . sssh

My note says PN 464 on the Thorleys?

Man, just how nice a guy do you think I am? OK. But just a quart. And normal E-Bay rules. The fluid is free, but the shipping and handling charge will be $79.98. Just give me all your account numbers and I'll take care of EVERYTHING... But seriously, enjoy the truck, and keep using this site to assure you get to enjoy it as much as possible for as little as possible!

I'm going to bump this up one time in the hopes someone can throw me a hint or idea...

Oh, my. Does it get any better than this? WELL done, Pezzy. Yet another gold star an the "What an awesome site" counter.