www.ColoradoClassicBroncos.com

Scott built his own IIRC.

Jesus_man wrote:Give Scott at addicted a call. He may know of a good source for the pipes. He's done a few.

Good idea! I had forgotten that he was into power strokes. He was working on that ugly green one that he has when he built my cage. I'll give him a call. Have not seen his new place over in Fort Collins.

Today I fixed the turn signals that wouldn't cancel. Yep, everything was fine, just the turnsignal/multifunction switch was not bolted to the column. One screw missing, one loose. - FREE

No parking brakes? Yep, adjusted them. Parking brake works.- FREE

No A/C? Hooked up the A/C machine at work, pulled it down & tried to charge it. Only got 1/2 the Freon in that it should have taken. Something else is wrong, but I don't know much about A/C. You can't win them all. - FREE, SO FAR.

A few weeks ago there was a popular news story about an elephant in India that was rescued by an animal welfare group. The elephant had spent decades at an attraction on the streets of Bali (I think). It begged for money, and lived on trash- literally plastic and garbage. It had spiked leg restraints. As it was being cut loose of its restraints, in a covert, night time operation, it was crying. There are pictures of tears running down its face. The elephant's name was Raju.

I have never named a vehicle, but after reading the story of poor, neglected Raju, crying as he realized he was being released from his own personal hell, I've named my F250, Raju. I feel it knows its in good hands now.

OK A/C is charged. That was operator error on my part. New to us A/C machine, I didn't have it set up right. We'll see if it stays charged.

I talked to scotty about building me up pipes and he can do it but I would have to pull the transmission. I'm not the desperate yet.

I have been working on all of the things that I wanted to do before winter and made a dent this weekend. I removed the fuel bowl,turbo, up pipes, fuel pump and driver side exhaust manifold for some R&R. With no bellowed up pipes, I replaced the doughnuts on the old ones. The original set up is really a shitty design and I doubt the new doughnuts will hold long ( Or at all ) . I also put a gasket in on the driver side exhaust manifold ( Pass side was done a while back ). I wanted to change to a quick spool turbo housing and a riff raff compressor wheel but the wheel was out of stock so that stuff will wait till the up pipes are ready. The fuel pump was replaced ( I'm thinking that a dying fuel pump may have been what stranded me a couple weeks ago ) and while it was torn apart I went ahead and replace the glow plugs. I had planned to reseal my fuel bowl but found a sweet deal on a NOS unit for less than I could have purchased parts to fix the old one. That turbo fights like a ten fisted bitch coming off and going on but I finally beat it into submission. I took it for its mad in voyage and my EGT's were high. I got it home and realized I had not reattached the Exhaust gas bypass valve. Of course it was now so hot that it took 5 hours for it to cool down enough for me to stick my hand down under the turbo to reconnect it! I'll test it again tomorrow on the way to work.

I took mine for alignment late last week, but they didn't align it. I asked them not to if the ball joints were bad. They said the lowers were shot & the uppers weren't far behind.

So I've ordered new ball joints, and the seals needed to remove & replace the hubs and knuckles. I also ordered a vac pump, to get the HVAC controls working, and an extra CPS.

I'm also planning to add grease to the "unserviceable" hub bearings, through the ABS sensor hole, hoping to avoid replacing the unit bearings for a little while.

Gunnibronco wrote:I took mine for alignment late last week, but they didn't align it. I asked them not to if the ball joints were bad. They said the lowers were shot & the uppers weren't far behind.

So I've ordered new ball joints, and the seals needed to remove & replace the hubs and knuckles. I also ordered a vac pump, to get the HVAC controls working, and an extra CPS.

I'm also planning to add grease to the "unserviceable" hub bearings, through the ABS sensor hole, hoping to avoid replacing the unit bearings for a little while.

I replaced my passenger side ball joints before Moab and have not done the driver side yet even though I have the parts. I need to get that done and get it aligned. Mine drives and tracks fine but my steering wheel is a little off center

Oh I guess I'll add my stuff in here too. I gotta get with dieselorings and order all new seals for the front hubs. That way I can have 4wd this winter. Need to get it aligned too. Still have an exhaust leak but its at the manifolds. That can wait. Also gotta do rear rotors.

casadejohnson wrote:Mine drives and tracks fine but my steering wheel is a little off center

Mine drove straight when I got new tires, but with just a few hundred miles on them, its started pulling to the right. It was getting progressively worse, so I thought it should be aligned before I screwed up a new set of tires.

This F...ing power stroke is going to be the death of me! Just when I think I'm making headway and its running great I broke this thing again. Saturday I notice my speedo started bouncing and it was shifting hard. I took it out on Sunday and it got worse and the speedo went to zero all the time. Pulled codes and got P0500 - Bad VSS. I started goggling and it said the speed sensor in the rear axle housing can sometimes be cleaned up and it will work again. Tried pulling it and broke it. I got a replacement but it did not fix anything. Next I stick my finger down into the axle housing through the VSS hole and I can spin the tone ring with my finger....That seems bad to me so I pull the diff cover and see that the gear oil is full of metal flakes. .... Damn! once its drained I find that one of my pinion gear teeth is busted off and laying in the bottom of the housing. Also the tone ring is demolished. If I repair it, I'm going to be into this thing $750 in just parts. Even if I get the parts, I'm not sure I can do this rear end because I lack the specialty tools. I also think I would need one hell of a cheater pipe to get that pinion nut torqued to 500 Lb Ft. I know scotty at addicted does gears so I'm going to call him tomorrow. I'm seriously considering pulling a junkyard axle and just swapping it in.

Sorry for the trouble. Hopefully after some growing pains, you can get this rig healthy again!

Damn dude you just cant win with that thing. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Wow, that stinks. Let me know if you decide to pull an axle. I probably can't make it up there before this weekend, but I owe ya for lots of past help and would love a chance to repay it.

I say pull an axle from the yard, if it's pull & pay it'll be less than $150, not sure what Anderson charges.

X2. What's your gear ratio?

akaFrankCastle wrote:X2. What's your gear ratio?

I have 4:10's or 4:11's can't remember which it is. I have now talked to three people who have had the same problem with the Sterling 10.25" . I am very tempted by the Junk Yard option but I have my reservations about putting another 200,000 + mile axle in and then having the same problem all over again. I count myself lucky that I was able to drive it home when the pinion went south this time, I would hate to swap a used axle in and have it go bad a 1,000 miles from home. Still, "The Lady of the Yard" calls to me and she makes promises of cheap satisfaction.

Swap in the junkyard axle. Drive while you rebuild current one. Swap rebuilt one back in. Sell junkyard axle.

^ this

Right, people put these 10.25's under their off-road rigs all the time, so selling *shouldn't* be too difficult.

So the common problem is a manufacturing issue on the pinion or something else? Can this be fixed with a known and reputable gear vendor?

IIRC, you probably have 4.11's and the fronts are 4.10's so the fronts pull just slightly faster.

Forgot to check for 10.25s. Sorry. I promise we have OBS trucks down here though.

Jesus_man wrote:Right, people put these 10.25's under their off-road rigs all the time, so selling *shouldn't* be too difficult.

So the common problem is a manufacturing issue on the pinion or something else? Can this be fixed with a known and reputable gear vendor?

IIRC, you probably have 4.11's and the fronts are 4.10's so the fronts pull just slightly faster.

The 10.25 was actually upgraded to a stronger pinion in 93 ( And I still broke it ) and then it was upgraded again in 99 to a 10.5 with a metric bolt pattern. I don't know exactly what the weak link is but I do know aftermarket gears seem to fix it. Anderson's has a 10.25 with the correct gears in it but its the 1st generation and has more miles than mine does. I also found one in Nebraska but its a long way to go for one in unknown condition. In the end, I decided to get mine fixed. I just don't have time to deal with this right now so I'm sticking a crow bar in the wallet and replacing the gears.

On another note, I did get my bellowed up pipes from riffraff today.

All the parts came in for the truck and she got dropped off for the install today. We got Yukon gears and master install kit as well as a new tone ring from the Ford stealership. While I was at Ford I also ordered the Aluminum diff cover that they switched over to on the later super duty trucks. They claim it does a better job of keeping things cooler inside the diff but I got it because my original cover was pretty well rust pitted and because it looks cooler! I should be burning diesel again by the weekend.

Nicely done. I also put on an 08+ diff cover. Don't know if it helped but it didn't hurt. Does it take socket head cap screws?

Jesus_man wrote:Nicely done. I also put on an 08+ diff cover. Don't know if it helped but it didn't hurt. Does it take socket head cap screws?

That's what Ford uses but if you buy them from ford the screws will cost as much as the diff cover. I just gave the shop some regular grade 5 washers and bolts to get it all together and I will change them out for stainless allen heads down the road. I did a little looking online and they can be had for about 30 cents each. Non stainless ones are available at the local hardware store but they are about $2 each. I was going to bite the bullet and pay it but they could only come up with 7 of them.

Yeah I thought so. I ended ordering from McMaster and if I hadn't stored all that sort of stuff I could have sent you what you need.

Since my last post I've done a lot to the truck.

Replaced the ball joints, didn't need an alignment.

Replaced the vac pump, HVAC dampers moving correctly.

Swapped my '05+ 18" tires & rims for '02 16" steel rims & tires. My neighbor ended up with an 02 with a blown motor, and very good tires. I probably lost a little value since my 18" tires had less than 1000 miles on them, but it solved my tires rubbing on the leaf springs when steering was near lock. Plus it will be cheaper replacing 16" tires than 18"s in the future.

Now, things get interesting. The day before I was leaving for hunting camp, the truck cranks but won't fire up. I called a friend who is a mechanic, before I finish telling him about my problem he says, "You need a cam sensor." I had ordered one as a spare, and had it in the glove box. 15 minutes later, the truck fires up! That was October 16th. Fast forward to November 8th, truck won't start. Same symptoms, cranks, won't fire, no white smoke, no tach movement. I'm 99% sure the new CPS has failed. Not even 25 days in the truck. It is a Delphi unit, not a "cheap" one. I picked up a new one today, and plan to warranty to bad one. I bought a Carquest one, no obvious manufacturer. I guess you NEED to keep a spare, at all times (and a 10mm wrench). I talked to a guy during hunting season who keeps 2 in his truck at all times.

Gunnibronco wrote:Since my last post I've done a lot to the truck.

Replaced the ball joints, didn't need an alignment.

Replaced the vac pump, HVAC dampers moving correctly.

Swapped my '05+ 18" tires & rims for '02 16" steel rims & tires. My neighbor ended up with an 02 with a blown motor, and very good tires. I probably lost a little value since my 18" tires had less than 1000 miles on them, but it solved my tires rubbing on the leaf springs when steering was near lock. Plus it will be cheaper replacing 16" tires than 18"s in the future.

Now, things get interesting. The day before I was leaving for hunting camp, the truck cranks but won't fire up. I called a friend who is a mechanic, before I finish telling him about my problem he says, "You need a cam sensor." I had ordered one as a spare, and had it in the glove box. 15 minutes later, the truck fires up! That was October 16th. Fast forward to November 8th, truck won't start. Same symptoms, cranks, won't fire, no white smoke, no tach movement. I'm 99% sure the new CPS has failed. Not even 25 days in the truck. It is a Delphi unit, not a "cheap" one. I picked up a new one today, and plan to warranty to bad one. I bought a Carquest one, no obvious manufacturer. I guess you NEED to keep a spare, at all times (and a 10mm wrench). I talked to a guy during hunting season who keeps 2 in his truck at all
times.

I have a spare in my glove box along with a spare speed sensor. If you have not done so already, check to see if all of your recall's have been taken care of. I bought a new Cam sensor but had not yet installed it when I took my truck in for a cruise control recall. While it was there they took care of a couple other recall issues one of which got me a new Cam sensor. Now I have a new one on the truck and a new spare in the glove box. Might be worth looking into it just to get a backup sensor on Fords dime.

Almost forgot about my latest power stroke junkyard score. I picked up a set of injectors from an 03 power stroke. I know my current injectors are single shots and the 03's are split shots but they are significantly larger than what I have now. So, are they worth swapping in? I have read mixed reviews on running split shots in an OBS. Rob, if your seeing this you probably know the answer to this one. I got them thinking they could be used as cores or I could just sell them to help finance getting something else. I also got 4 early 99 split shots ( Someone beat me to the driver side Bank ) and a spare Injection control module. I read about having work done to the injection control module to get some power gains. Any one know if that is a worth while mod? I don't want a race truck, I want to pull my 5th wheel up I-70 at a speed somewhat close to the speed limit.

casadejohnson wrote:I have a spare in my glove box along with a spare speed sensor. If you have not done so already, check to see if all of your recall's have been taken care of. I bought a new Cam sensor but had not yet installed it when I took my truck in for a cruise control recall. While it was there they took care of a couple other recall issues one of which got me a new Cam sensor. Now I have a new one on the truck and a new spare in the glove box. Might be worth looking into it just to get a backup sensor on Fords dime.

I'll look into the speed sensor.

I just had the cruise control recall done, they didn't do any others, so I'm assuming that's it. I got a letter soon after I registered the truck, regarding the cruise control recall.