6.0 powerstroke rebuild.

Rot Box said:

Very nice, I need to do my park brake pads as well sooner than later. I was under the impression the hubs had to come off to do them is that not the case?

Click to expand...

Nope. Just have to turn the adjusters from the back side. FYI, moving the adjuster wheel down moves the shoes toward the drum (tighter). They are also the same, Driver and Passenger. The adjusters are turned 180 from side to side which was nice.

New pads, shoes and rotors on. E-brake is functional now yay.


Hopefully I can get the new radiator and hoses installed today and the oil cooler backflushed.

Got the oil cooler flushed, hoses and radiator replaced. I got a ton of debris out of the oil cooler.

You have to remove the egr cooler plate which is difficult. If you don't have one of these icon bit drivers, I recommend you get one. I use it all the time.


Oil cooler cap directly under the turbo.


I tried flushing with just the hose and got a little debris.


Then I added some compressed air at 30psi with this setup.



Bumping the air seemed to get the best result. I got 4 flushes with about this much debris using compressed air.


Most of this is iron. Some sand colored flakes.
Once it was running clean I replaced the radiator. The old one weighed about 10 lbs more than the new. Likely sediment and dirt built up.


Bulletproof diesel includes the tool for removing the trans cooler lines. I thought that was an awesome extra and wish more companies did this. Here's the tool number in care anyone needs it in the future.



Got it all buttoned up and refilled with Rotella ELC coolant.

I think I have an air bubble, it only took 5 gallons of di water and coolant. I'll drive it some more and see if the air works it's way out. Hopefully this will improve my oil/coolant temps and get me a few more years with the truck.

Have put about 100 miles on it so far. Highest coolant temp was 200 going over Suncrest in 90 degree heat. That is about 10 degrees cooler than before. The oil temp is much better now too. Largest delta has been 3 degrees where before it was 10-20. I'll see how much better it does pulling my camp trailer later this month. Looks like it was a worthy upgrade/maintenance item.

Next on the list of maint items. The seam sealant on the cab has been peeling for about a year. I got up there after washing it an noticed the sealant had separated from the cab and had let water under it and I had some rust starting. So I pealed up the sealant and started sanding/ wire wheeling. This is what I got to.

Here is my question for the body guys, what product should I use to seal it and should I put down a coat of rust converter first, then seal, then paint?

My “better” way I’d do it;

•2k primer sealer
•Seam sealer (maybe thinned a bit so it self-levels)
•2k primer sealer
•2k base coats
•2k clear coats

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But given the age of the truck and the fact that it’s on the roof and other variables, what I would actually recommend is;

•2k primer sealer
•thinned seam sealer
•single stage
•done

STAG said:

My “better” way I’d do it;

•2k primer sealer
•Seam sealer (maybe thinned a bit so it self-levels)
•2k primer sealer
•2k base coats
•2k clear coats

___

But given the age of the truck and the fact that it’s on the roof and other variables, what I would actually recommend is;

•2k primer sealer
•thinned seam sealer
•single stage
•done

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That's pretty much what I was thinking. I do have a paint bubble on the rear passenger door so if I'm going to get the paint sprayer out, I might as well cover that too. But like you say, it's an old poop brown work truck, if I decide to keep it another 10 years I'll likely paint it a better color anyway. Maybe Lunar rock to match my girl truck

Still working on cutting/chiseling/grinding/wire brushing all the old sealant out of the roof channels. If I never do this again it will be too soon.

Pulled the trailer home yesterday in 98 degree heat and traffic. Hottest the coolant got was 210 and the largest oil/coolant delta was 8 degrees. Looks like the oil cool cooler flush was successful.

After @SLC97SR5 posted his headlight restoration I had to try it. I ordered the Sylvania kit from Amazon and went to work last night. Pretty awesome results for $25 and an hour of elbow grease.

Before



After



I installed Morimoto 2 Stroke LED bulbs a couple years ago and they were a big improvement. This should only add to that.

Just got back from my annual "hard tow" trip. Trailer weighed approx. 8Klbs and I had 1K lbs in the bed. Truck pulled Scipio hill at 65 mph at the top. Coolant temp never passed 220 and oil never exceeded 230. That is the best this truck has ever pulled. I was only limited by EGT on every hill. The A/C also worked better. The kicker is pulling up Beaver canyon. It's slow and there is a 9% grade after a hairpin corner at 9200ft of elevation. That usually gets everything pretty hot. Not an issue now. I should have replaced the radiator a long time ago.

I still have the paint issues to fix and I think I need a tune with more boost after the new turbo and the cooling system upgrades. The highest boost I saw on this pull was 25 psi. I think the O-ringed heads will handle quite a bit more, especially now that I can keep temps in check.

I think this old tow rig will stick around a few more years.