From owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Fri Oct 3 22:16:00 2003 From: diesel-benz-digest diesel-benz-digest Saturday, October 4 2003 Volume 01 : Number 1237 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles Derick Amburgey Digest Coordinator Contents: Re: [db] Re: [offtopic] Anyone live near Richmond Virginia?? [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover Re: [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover RE: [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover [db] BFG Traction T/As Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 08:35:14 -0400 From: "Jim Hoffman" Subject: Re: [db] Re: [offtopic] Anyone live near Richmond Virginia?? Thanks for the input Kevin!! It's greatly appreciated. I knew about the cavitation... A friend of mine has an older F-250 and is very serious about maintaining the coolant and using the addative. I'm sure he will *encourage* me to do it right. ;) Fly by wire... That's OK... The ones that scare me are the new vette's that are supposedly ALL fly by wire... including steering! That scares me! Hmmmmm..... 12 quarts EVERY 3k miles.... That's one that will cause some concern... I'm VERY forgetfull changing the oil... it will typically get to 5-6k before I get around to changing it... And that's never caused me any engine problems in my other diesels. And I DON'T take my cars to the quickie change places. Maybe I'd have to start :( But all-in-all.... I still want one!! ;) Thanks again! Jim/ > On Tue, Sep 30, 2003 at 06:43:08PM -0400, Jim Hoffman wrote: > > That's the ONLY reason I consider it... A machine of that size and > > it will get almost the MPG's that my minivan gets... ;) > > Well, now that you piqued my curiosity, I had a lookie. I have it's pickup > brother, so here's a few comments: > - powerstrokes are fly by wire. No cable attaching the gas pedal to the > engine, just wires off a rheostat (and wires off an "off idle" sensor). > - powerstrokes are very fussy as to what coolant is used. coolant must have > an anticavitation additive in it, or else it will perforate the cylinder > linings. This is a Very Bad Thing. > - powerstrokes are very fussy as to what oil is used. Oil needs to have an > antifoaming agent due to the way the injector pump operates. (Yes, Delo > 400 meets the spec, and my PSD runs fine on it). The injectors use oil > pressure in a mechanism something like a hydraulic jack (i.e. the oil side > is about seven times the size of the fuel size), so the fuel gets injected > at EXTREMELY high pressures into the cylinders. The upsides are: > - engine is amazingly efficient (my 203k mile powerstroke with > automatic, four wheel drive, and a DRY weight of 6670 manages 21 mpg > dead stock, no chip, no exhaust mods) > - engine will stop running if oil pressure goes away, most likely > before bottom end damage happens > - if you run it out of gas, injectors do NOT need to be bled > downsides are: > - you are changing 12 quarts of oil every 3000 miles, and if you go > the synthetic route (amsoil, etc), the oil is NOT certified for > extended drain intervals unless you monitor and add anti-foaming > agent > - oil on its way out will cause it to run like garbage (note, not like > a garbage truck, like GARBAGE). The Ford books list an oil change > as a "try this" if the customer complains about rough running. > - the transmission in that monster is a 4R100, which is much better than my > E4OD. Regardless, it will beat itself to death if you don't lock it out > of overdrive around town. It will also get real fussy if you don't take > care of it. The stock cooler is inadequate if you tow anything bigger than > a road bicycle. > - the 6 ply tires are probably underrated - it's a 3/4 ton truck, so should > probably have 8 ply (load range D), which is what it came with. > - this truck has a straight axle in the front (which is less of a pain to > work on than the TTB front mine is), but the hubs aren't full manual as > they appear to be - there is a "LOCK" position and an "AUTO" position. The > auto position allows the truck to decide to lock the hubs or not. The lock > position is for when you disagree with the computer unlocking the hubs at > a certain time. The downside is you can't do 2WD in Low Range > > That said, my truck hauls serious ass. Monday night on the way up to napa had > me racing a v6 accord on hwy 29, and he lost badly. It squeals tires if you are > on it at all going around a corner. Burying the speedometer happens easily and > effortlessly. People get out of my way with enough speed that they must think > I am hauling the apocalypse. And my truck is slower than this excursion. The > excursion has an intercooler, and has somewhere in the neighborhood of 520 > ft-lbs of torque. This is not your father's oldsmobile :) > > I love my truck (just lahk it sez on my pappy's key ring ), but if you're > interested in these things, you should know what you're getting yourself into. > > K > > -- > Kevin Pekarek > Redwood City, CA (near San Francisco) and > Los Osos, CA (near San Luis Obispo) > 85 190D (601, 5spd) > 96 F250 XL Off Road 4x4 (7.3 PSD, E4OD) > - -- Jim Hoffman Oconomowoc WI '39 Allis Model B '53 Ford Golden Jubilee '?? Bolens Huskie Gardener ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 10:59:37 -0500 From: "Black, Waylon" Subject: [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover While driving to work yesterday, I hit a bump and the car developed a vibration. At first I thought of a busted cord in a tire until I noticed that it was worse on takeoff and the 1-2 shift. Driveshaft related. This morning I removed the shield to inspect the driveshaft. The carrier bearing has separated from it's rubber mounting. Is this unit replaceable? I've heard stories of how 300 SD driveshafts have to be flown to CA for an extreme makeovers because no driveshaft companies will/can do them. It looks like a pretty simple 2 piece driveshaft - anyone have some experience working on/with these. Thanks, Waylon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 14:36:16 -0700 From: john meister Subject: Re: [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover should be a dealer or rusty part... give one or the other a call... john Black, Waylon wrote: > While driving to work yesterday, I hit a bump and the car developed a > vibration. At first I thought of a busted cord in a tire until I noticed > that it was worse on takeoff and the 1-2 shift. Driveshaft related. This > morning I removed the shield to inspect the driveshaft. The carrier bearing > has separated from it's rubber mounting. Is this unit replaceable? I've > heard stories of how 300 SD driveshafts have to be flown to CA for an > extreme makeovers because no driveshaft companies will/can do them. It looks > like a pretty simple 2 piece driveshaft - anyone have some experience > working on/with these. > > Thanks, > Waylon > - -- - ----------------------------- Oh well, I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess -Red Green http://www.redgreen.com/ - ------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... Jesus, don't leave life without him, please! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 20:39:11 -0500 From: "Sam Williams" <1sam-at-io.com> Subject: RE: [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover Waylon, Yes it's replaceable. A dirty but not particularly difficult job. Replace the front and rear rubber couplings as well as carrier bearing and carrier bearing mount. You remove the shaft, taking care to mark both parts of the shaft before you separate them so it will be balanced when you reassemble. Replace parts and put it all back together. You will be pleased with how smoothly the car runs after your troubles. Sam - -----Original Message----- From: owner-diesel-benz-at-digest.net [mailto:owner-diesel-benz-at-digest.net] On Behalf Of Black, Waylon Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 11:00 AM To: 'diesel-benz-at-digest.net' Subject: [db] 1983 300 SD driveshaft may need an extreme makeover While driving to work yesterday, I hit a bump and the car developed a vibration. At first I thought of a busted cord in a tire until I noticed that it was worse on takeoff and the 1-2 shift. Driveshaft related. This morning I removed the shield to inspect the driveshaft. The carrier bearing has separated from it's rubber mounting. Is this unit replaceable? I've heard stories of how 300 SD driveshafts have to be flown to CA for an extreme makeovers because no driveshaft companies will/can do them. It looks like a pretty simple 2 piece driveshaft - anyone have some experience working on/with these. Thanks, Waylon ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 22:16:19 -0700 From: john meister Subject: [db] BFG Traction T/As Got the BFG Traction T/A's today... speedo is right on the money. ride is slightly better then the Michelin's. tires are quiet, but on some stretches of road there is a bit of noise, could be quieter then the MXV4s. the price was right about $59/tire... got $100 trade in on my michelin's. Have 30 days to decide if I like these, if I don't like them when the stereo is off or I'm not on a conference call I'll try the Dunlop SP Sport A2's that Mike recommended... the guy at discount tires had tested these new BFG's against the Dunlop and one other tire and said they were better in every area. I think these tires will work well on wet roads... will know for sure in a couple of days. :) john - -- - ----------------------------- Oh well, I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess -Red Green http://www.redgreen.com/ - ------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... Jesus, don't leave life without him, please! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #1237 **********************************