The Automotive Thread

I've always heard RAM was the million mile motor in the fifity thousand mile truck.

 

Back in the day, I heard that you buy a GM (GMC, Chevy) truck to go to church, a Ford to go to work and a Dodge to go to Pull your trailer. I think all Diesels now are pretty much crap and I am not too sure that gasoline trucks are any better.

 

The sweet spot for the Duramax is a 2007 with an EGR delete and a stock EFI tune - the original design suffered from massive injector problems - I made a lot of money doing them under warranty.

up until 2011 they also had hit or miss head gasket issues, from 2011 onward they have high pressure fuel system problems, mainly the pump grenades inside of itself and sends metal and ceramic throughout the high pressure side - no way to clean it so it’s replace everything - which last I heard was 20k or so worth of parts/labor on the new models.

The old models had a true Allison transmission, they are the selling point, very few issues and they last for fucking ever. The new models have an “Allison”, it’s not designed, built or tested by them. GM payed a massive amount of money to use the Allison name.

I’d buy an 06-07 model no problem, but then again I know how to fix them when they break.

For everyone else? Buy a Dodge with the Cummins.

 

Let me clarify a little bit on my Duramax rant a few days ago: I was in the middle of replacing the EGR valve on my '08 2500 work truck, and it seems that Chevy/ Isuzu (the Duramax is an Isuzu engineered engine) took a page out of the Mercedes/BMW/ shitty Eurocar playbook and made it to where you have to remove a bunch of other components to access one thing.
Also, the high-pressure A/C hose literally blew up ON me. It sounded like a gunshot, and it felt like I got slapped in the chest. This was without the engine running; it just chose that exact moment to fail.

It's been years since I had to replace the injectors on an LB7, but if you are in that shitty situation, be sure to replace the injector cups as well.

As much as I am a Ford diesel fan, I have ZERO complaints about the Cummins engine EXCEPT for the emission controls it (and all other diesels) are saddled with. Dodge/ Ram actually has really good drivetrain components, but they have shitty electronics controlling everything.

Let me put it this way: Go to a construction site/ oil field. See how many trucks are GM.
End of story. GM makes great gas engines, probably the best. But they are not now, nor have they ever been, a good diesel manufacturer.
Just so no one calls bullshit on me, Dodge doesn't make their own diesels, and it wasn't until about ten years ago that Ford made their own.

I think that's a funny quote. I've gotten the opportunity to drive all three of those diesels, and here is my take: The fastest diesel trucks I've ever driven have all been Powerstrokes, either 6.4s or 6.7s. I'm talking about trucks that could SMOKE 37" tires from a rolling start.
EDIT: Yes, they were tuned.

Cummins will pull anything you want without complaint. But they aren't fast.

Duramax: Just stay in the right-hand lane, and let the other drivers by.

 

so @dixiebandit69 , what's your take on modern diesels? Say 2018-ish and newer? Seems like a lot of magazine reviews say the Ford is the workhorse but will beat your kidneys up. The RAM is now the Cadillac and the GMC/Chevy's are lacking in the interior dept (not counting the 2023's that are coming out)

 

I have been a passenger in a 2019 F350, and my god it was the best riding truck i have ever been in. I have mostly driven rode in the 2000's work truck nothing newer. I can see why people use these as daily drivers.

 

I remember the AC line blowing on my parents 94 Taurus station wagon, i was doing something in the driveway. Yea, it sounded like a gun/bomb went off in the garage.

Yea, around here i dont think i see any GM/Chev trucks used in work sites. It is all Fords/Dodges probably a 60/40 split.

 

Nettdata driving school?

 

The finger out the window is perfect

 

Hell no! Not anymore!

I hadn't responded to this because I wanted to be finished with this stage of the project when I answered.
I didn't use the product that @Flat_Rate mentioned, because I'm too cheap. I used a Chevy Astro van steering shaft; this is an old upgrade that the F-Body guys had been doing for decades.
The steering shaft off of an Astro van has U-joints on both ends, and fits MANY GM cars and trucks. Here's the catch: The steering column/ gearbox is clocked differently on the Astro, so while the shaft will bolt right in, the ends are 90 degrees off from the cars and trucks.
You fix this by removing one of the U-joint yokes and reinstalling it 90 degrees off.

Here is my non-factory rag-joint (I can tell it has been replace because it is no longer riveted together; trust me, I've replaced enough of these in my day.).


Here's the top joint, which is basically like half of a U-joint. If you take one apart, you'll see what I mean.

Unlike the F-Bodies and others, the distance between the steering column output stub and the gearbox input is too long for an Astro shaft. But that's not going to stop me. I cut one half of the Astro shaft in half, and welded an extension in place. I apologize for not taking a picture of the Astro shaft before I started modifying it, but it just looks like a little driveshaft.
The holes drilled in the steel tubing I used for the extension are for rosette welds to add additional support. You wouldn't want this breaking.

Just as a point of reference, this is how short the two ends of the Astro steering shaft are from one another on a C10.

Here is the completed shaft; note that the U-joints are clocked 90 degrees from how they normally would be. This does not cause a problem for a steering shaft. If you did this on a drive shaft, you would have terrible vibration issues.


More to come...

 

Okay, now onto the next steps.

While the Astro shaft does "fit" on many older GM vehicles, it has a different mounting point on the steering column side. The factory Suburban/ C10 shaft has a bolt that goes straight through it, while the Astro shaft has a pinch-bolt that goes on the outer edge. The original output shaft has one side recessed a little bit, but that is not enough to allow for the pinch-bolt. So you will have to grind a little bit of a recess to allow it through.
It took me about thirty seconds.



Here's the whole thing installed. I've been driving it around for a couple of days, and it feels great. As far as how much slop/ play I have in the steering wheel I have now @Fiveslide , I'd guess about 1/16 of a turn until it starts affecting steering.


Next on the list: I'm going to install 6-lug, 17" wheels on it, so I can have better tires. This thing currently has 15" wheels/ tires, and the tire choices for 15" IS SHIT.
I am not spending one dollar on a 15" tire.

I currently have about three complete sets of 245/75R17 tires at my shop that I've accumulated over the years at my last employer (used, but good).
The wheel adapters just came in today. There are a lot of 5-lug to 6-lug adapters available, but I think this one is superior because it has 6 supporting bolts instead of the five that most have.

 

Dodge will discontinue the Challenger and Charger next year.


https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comme...rger/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

 

Interesting. Off the top of my head i can't remember what else they sell besides the caravan.

Edit: i was wrong, i thought they brought back the Caravan, it is just the Charger, Challenger, Durango.

 

I thought they were just discontinuing the V8's? Going to forced induction V6's, hybrid and SRT Electric?

 

Probably a dumb question but why don't automakers pair a generator with the electric motors? That would seem to bypass the infrastructure issues by running the generator to charge the batteries and cut the amount of fuel used by a ton (not scientifically tested, just my random thought) while removing anyone's (mine) complaints about spending hours charging rather than 20 mins fueling up. Is that a thing that could work and still help the transition to electric or is my mind just making up stupid shit?

 

Most electric cars (and hybrids) will use regenerative braking to do this. So, if you're coming down the mountains, you're going to get your batteries recharged. But, the force it takes for the turning wheels to recharge the battery is great enough that it does act as a brake. So, to set up the generator idea, you're making the car work harder . . . which will use up the batteries faster.

 

Even a gas/diesel powered generator that kicks on to top up the batteries? I figured that would just increase range while only burning a small amount of fuel compared to a typical hybrid that uses a smaller gas engine with a small electric motor. Granted, I'm no mechanic and didn't stay at a holiday inn express last night. It was just a thought I had about mitigating the range issues with EV's.

 

You just described a hybrid car.

 

I think essentially you lose anything you gain (and why there aren't perpetual motion motors) - if you have diesel generator that's powerful enough to charge your batteries, you've added losses that make the batteries drain faster, so there's no range gain. Maybe you've added weight, maybe there are other inefficiencies.