Chevy Silverado Dirtymax Build

uscg2008

Explorer
So I finally got around to replacing some worn out items, as well as doing some much needed maintenance items. :Mechanic:

First I started off my replacing my fuel filter with a CAT fuel filter and adapter


And then I ran into a problem..... the adapter would not spin all the way onto the filter housing

After some research I found out I'm one of the few lucky ones that had a defective fuel filter housing from the factory. The threads on it were cast oblong making it impossible to thread the billet adapter onto the metal housing. So another order from XDP and I had a new one on the way
New one with the adapter on


And all installed

Next was changing out my leaking transfer case output seal

And while I had the driveshaft out I decided change out the rear u-joint

It was pretty seized up and rusted so I replaced it

And after that I got to changing my trans fluid and filter

And God knows when the previous owner changed it out because this is what the fluid looked like

I also changed the gear oil in all the diffs and the transfer case with some AFE gear oil. After that I moved onto finding out where the problem I was having with the front. I had been noticing some squeaking and vibrations coming from the front. It ended up being the right hub. It was worn and had a bunch of play in it. You can see the wear mark on the top of the dust shield. luckily my cousin is a diesel mech with plenty of big boy impact sockets, so with plenty of break free and "heat wrench" we got the old one off and new one on.
So we stopped for some late lunch. We went to some random street at 2pm for some street tacos, which i freaking love. You know the place is good when it has a line all day long.
After a mess of pastor and aside tacos it was back to work. I have had a leaking steering box for a while now and recently i have been having a lot of play in the steering wheel.
So the output shaft from the box to the steering wheel shaft was worn. Also there was a dent next to the pitman arm output shaft.... god knows where that came from. But, it cause the pitman arm out put shaft seal to be pushed up and thats where it was leaking from.

So with the pitman arm switched over to the new box we installed it, which went in smoothly. That was nice but when i went to hook up the two hard lines not so much.... It took me a hour to get them on :mad:. I had a hard time getting the lines and the B-nuts to line up perfectly at the same time to get the threads started. And, with there being little room to work in the wrench throw was not very much so it took forever to get them tightened down once i did get them started. So, after some scrapped arms i got it all in.

On a side note rock auto said that the old one had to be clean when returned so i could get my core charge refund. This is after i scrapped a bunch of gunk off of it.
Before i used a little purple power cleaner and power washer back at my shop while on duty
After cleaning it up
 

uscg2008

Explorer
Continued....
After that it was on to another replacement item. As some of you know a free flowing turbo down pipe can help with turbo spool, lower EGTs and slightly better MPGs...not to mention a little bump in the HP. So, the Duramax is notorious for having an extremely pinched and restricted down pipe from the factory. Looking to help the spool faster and work better with the other mods that I have done, I put in an order for a PPE 3" down pipe.

It even came with some nice heat wrap. Getting that old pipe out was a pain in the a**. I had to removed the heat shields from the down pipe and turbo, as well as unbolt the CAT and move that out of the way.

Here you can really see how restrictive the stock pipe is compared to the aftermarket pipe.


After a couple bloody knuckles and some cut up arms we got it in. And let me tell you I actually do notice how much faster the turbo spools up when I go to merge onto the freeway or go to pass someone. The turbo is a little louder too, but that is something i can live with i don't mind listening to that thing whistle. :smiley_drive::truck:
 
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locrwln

Expedition Leader
Nice work. I don't remember having the same problems when I replaced my steering box. I had to replace mine because I buggered the shaft up when I went to replace the pitman arm. I used a redhead steering box. Now you got me thinking about the down pipe...
.
Jack
 

uscg2008

Explorer
Ya i don't know what was going on with those two hardlines. I think if I would have taken that intercooler tube out of the way it would have been a lot easier, I was just trying to do it without removing to many things. I was looking at getting the same box you got I could justify spending that much more money when I was already buying all the other parts and fluids.


You should get that down pipe it's worth the little bit of money and effort for sure. :sombrero:
 

uscg2008

Explorer

Had a full load of decomposed granite, that will probably be the most weight in the bed this truck will ever see. Estimated over 2000lbs as it was close to 2/3 of a cubic yard of DG. Does have me thinking about airbags and daystar cradles like I had in my taco...:eek::elkgrin:
 

uscg2008

Explorer
Upgraded my phone mount. I got tired of my phone falling off of the mount while out off-roading or hunting. And I will be upgrading my radio head unit soon so I needed something out of the way of that.


 

uscg2008

Explorer
Picked something up this weekend. I know it's not really "expo or overland" but it will def get the rest of the family out and exploring more now.



This one is the most excited

And she loves " her room"

 
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uscg2008

Explorer
So this happened the other day while I was towing the trailer back to the storage lot. Luckily I was only going like 30 mph when I started to fell a vibration.
I think one of the snap rings either rusted out or broke letting one of the bearing cups fall out. So I pulled the drive shaft and limped into a YMCA parking lot on front wheel drive. I was fortunate enough to only be 3 miles from my house, so I had my wife come get me. Went and got a new ujoint and tools.

Got it about 99% back together, then broke my c clamp

So I mounted the drive shaft and used a massive zip tie to just make sure that the snap ring wouldn't fall out again till I could get to work.

Went and took the trailer back and headed into work so I could put it into a vice and get that last snap ring all the way in. I had to clean out the race for the snap ring since it was damaged. But, I managed to get it in all the way. Glad to have a massive vice at work. Almost had to put it on the 20 ton press
 

uscg2008

Explorer
Ya I noticed that. I think photobucket is trying to **** people over for $400 to use their site and post photos to forums. Anyone else use anything else
 

frojoe

Adventurer
Use Imgur! Check out my thread to see the pics.. however many uploads, view/clicks, and whatever resolution you want to upload.
 

uscg2008

Explorer
So I guess I had a tapatalk account but never used it. I will from now on though.
Here are the pics
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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

uscg2008

Explorer
Took a short weekend trip to Camp Pendleton with the family. This was our maiden voyage with the new trailer.
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Loved going for an evening bike ride
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She loves her "room". Just hanging out watching her iPad as we wound down for the night.
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Headed down for the day at the beach the next day
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I built her a nice stick fort for her toys and she hulk smashes it
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Cooling down in the AC before some of my family showed up to hang out.
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Then she gave us a drumbeat
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We packed up and headed home this morning. It was a fun quick weekend trip, and was a good shakedown run since we forgot some stuff. Only took about 35-40 mins to set up and about the same to break it back down.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

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