Thanks a bunch! Unfortunately, my trans went kaput again
I'm fed up with this automatic. It's been a pain since we decided to keep it. I have a Jeep to drive for now, so even if it's two months before my truck sees the outside of the barn, I'm going to push and push and push for an NV4500. I'm actually going to go digging to see what I need for it right now. I don't really know what broke this time. I think I sheered either the flexplate bolts or the torque converter bolts. I'm really guessing flexplate, because when you crank the starter, the flywheel and torque converter both turn, but the motor doesn't even try. The way my schedule works out and where I live compared to where I leave my truck, it may be two weeks before I even get the trans out
Who knows, maybe I'll man up and get it out this Sunday to figure out what's up with it. I kinda miss drivin the Jeep anyways

 

Man that is awesome. I haven't read the entire post but I would highly recommend you put in one of those adjustable track bar kits in wile the motor is out of the way. It will speed up and take the hurt out of your lift later on as well as taking some more of the dodge out of your rig. HAHA

 

Haha I appreciate it! I definitely need to put one of those trackbars in, which will probably happen over the summer. There's no way I'm takin the motor back out anytime soon though!
What's the chances that I sheared those flexplate bolts though? I figured I'd have to be making crazy power to do that... Considering the rattling before it just flat out free spun (rattling being one or more bolts already broken and spinning around with the flex plate) and then the motor literally suddenly free spins. Not like when the single disc TC went out, it went slowly. This time it was super sudden. And now, when I try to start it, the flywheel and TC both turn, but the motor doesn't crank over at all. So wouldn't that mean that the Flywheel isn't attached to the motor anymore?

Sent from my HTC One X (CleanROM)

 

I've got some good and bad news. Good news, it was the flexplate that broke, and not sheared bolts. Bad news, now I have to get a new flexplate . I'm actually tossing up the idea of buying an nv4500 and swapping that in. Projected cost, upwards of $1,500. All of which I don't have at the moment
I'm sure I could work something out with my parents, but I can get a new upgraded flexplate for ~$200.
One of the reasons I want to do the manual swap is the early shifting. I mean, c'mon, 3rd gear and I'm only going 10mph??? What the hell is up with that? However, our diesel expert did throw out the idea that I could do a manual shift set up. There's two different ways I could do it. I could buy a manual valve body and a floor shifter and use that. IMO, that's jank Option two, I spend around $700 on a transmission controller and then another $400 or $500 on a paddle shifter set up that would look much nicer. Obviously I don't really have the money for that right now, but at least it's an option.
Any thoughts?

 

So I have some fantastic news on the NV4500 swap! Turns out, the trans that my buddy used to have in his truck (which we knew was a good NV4500) was sold to one of our other friends who still hasn't used it yet! He's willing to part with it for $1,000. The best part? It already has a flywheel, bellhousing, and slave cylinder All I need to find is a master cylinder, the clutch pedals, and a 29 spline input shaft!!!
Looks like we might get away with doing the swap for around $1,500!
Unfortunately, we don't have all of that money right now (in the middle of closing on our house), so it may be another week or two before I can start on it. When I do start on it, I'll make a whole new thread for it and add a link to it in one of my posts here.
So excited!

 

It's been awhile, but I'm going to try to keep this simple.
Here's what has been done:
NV4500 swap completed a couple months ago.
I just got back from a round trip to Florida driving my truck the whole way. Right before I left I spent a week replacing a large chunk of front end parts.

New parts include:
Tie rod ends
Inner and outer tie rod (I think one is also called a drag link)
Sway bar end links
Right front wheel bearing assembly
Front and rear 3.55 ring and pinion from Randy's Ring and Pinion.
Brand new 315 MasterCraft AXT's for the stock rims. Makes the truck look ahhhhmazing.

So, as it turns out, I have a Dana 60 in the front. This I knew, however, I did not know that I also had a REAR Dana 60. In some ways, I don't really care. For my own personal use, I don't think that it will matter. Right now the 3.55 that we put in the back is a Yukon set, so I don't think I need to worry much about it getting shredded. I am slightly worried about the gear as it just went about 2500 miles after just getting put in, no break-in period at all. We are going to check it out this weekend.

I also snagged a black dash mat and cup holders for the interior. I ordered a new Fuel Level gauge from Glowshift, but my dumb self messed up the address, so it didn't make it here on time.

Here's a big question I have: Why does my mileage still suck? With 3.55's and BRAND NEW 315s on stock rims, I should EASILY be getting 18mpg if not higher, especially on the interstate. But no matter how I drive the truck, whether it's 60mph or 80mph, I get 15.3mpg So what's the deal? I may post another thread on this if I can't find any answers soon.

I'll also throw in some photos when I clean her up later this week.

 

Dana 60s and 9.25" SUCK...

 

Haha why do you say that?
Also, where do you get the spray correcting washers for the 370 marines?

 

I also forgot that I installed a 10inch subwoofer and a 1500 watt amp.
Originally I wanted the sub to be underneath the back seat, but it turns out I bought the wrong kind. So I put the amp under the driver side back seat, then my Dad, in his infinite awesomeness, made me a custom sub box.

 

Wow, I haven't updated this in almost two years. Yikes.
I'll try to keep this short.

I ditched the 370 marines for stockers (not sure if that ever got posted). Then I ditched the stockers for a set of 5x.014 DFI injectors. Those things are pretty nice.

After that, I wanted to upgrade my turbo (this was last spring). Before I could get around to upgrading the turbo, my clutch started slipping baaaaaaad.

Bought a Valair Ceramic Dual Disk and put it in in one night. That was the fastest transmission removal/fix this truck has ever seen

A week later was Scheid, so I took her out and got her dynoed. It was a hot and humid day but I still hit 396hp. The index chart they gave me put's it at 420ish corrected (correction factor was 1.20 I believe). So, on a good day I'm running over 400hp. Pretty happy, considering stock turbo.

Saved up a good chunk of cash and bought a ring. I'm still happy with that investment

Started saving again and looking for compounds. Back at Scheid I talked to a guy from Borgwarner and said my end goal was a minimum of 650hp with compound turbos. He said to keep the stocker HX35 and pick up an S475. The 75/96/1.32 version. So I started looking around then.

About two months ago I purchased an HE351CW that was from an 06 Commonrail. I'm finally getting around to the installation of that.

Prior to that, I took the truck on it's second trip to Florida. Made it 200 miles and lost almost a gallon of oil. My compression is off, and I'm hoping it's something fairly simple. I removed the oil filler cap and replaced it with an air filter and grommet from Advance, no more insane amounts of blow by over 2000 rpms
But I definitely need to get the head off and figure out what my real issue is.

Rather than go about things the smart way, because this isn't my DD anymore (Honda Civic for the win?), I'm continuing with my compounds set up. I order the 75/96/1.32 on Friday and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Once it arrives I'll begin working on fitting it in with the HE351. I'm no stranger to challenges, and I know this will be just that. Since I'm still on a college budget, I have decided to build my first compound setup. Welding is something I have always wanted to get better at and I figured this would be the perfect and worst time to grow that skill.

Anyway, I have a compound build thread over at Cumminsforum that I'll link to below. If you're interested, go take a look. It should be quite the interesting project!

HE351 and an S475 Build Thread - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum

PS- not nearly as short as I would have liked, but could have been much longer