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My work/tow rig... (constant changes)

Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Gravy said:
What kinda HP can that 4 banger produce reliably?
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There's one guy that is running twin turbos, bigger injectors and injection pump mods in a Ford truck that is putting out 500 HP and it's perfectly reliable. I've heard of another one in a dragster ( :oops: )that's putting out much more. I'm more focused on how much torque it'll make.... who cares about HP! ;)


BlueWolfFab said:
Throw a set of helper airbags on in the rear and she'll handle any camper you've been looking at
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That's the plan, air bags and possibly a larger anti-sway bar up front.
 
Gravy

Gravy

Ant Anstead of Dirtbikes
Supporting Member
Location
The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
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Gravy

Gravy

Ant Anstead of Dirtbikes
Supporting Member
Location
The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
The reason I was mentioning the diesel version of that truck as a better swap candidate is they have a terrible resale value---good for you
and you won't have to swap gauges (Tacho specifically) and they have Hydroboost... a very nice feature if you're running boost and want your brakes to work.


I'm super excited to see how this sucker turns out!
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Gravy said:
The reason I was mentioning the diesel version of that truck as a better swap candidate is they have a terrible resale value---good for you
and you won't have to swap gauges (Tacho specifically) and they have Hydroboost... a very nice feature if you're running boost and want your brakes to work.


I'm super excited to see how this sucker turns out!
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Yeah, I've looked but 6.5 trucks are rare these days. I looked at one not long ago, but the ad was very misleading and it was a letdown.

I'm not too worried about the tach, the tach in this truck has the redline starting at 4,500 IIRC? Its way low and should work with the Isuzu engine without swapping. The alternator on the 4BD1T actually has a vacuum pump built into the back of it, so you still have a vacuum source for the brake booster! Pretty rad!
 
Gravy

Gravy

Ant Anstead of Dirtbikes
Supporting Member
Location
The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Nice! well I'm impressed with your foresight. I'm trying my darndest to play devil's advocate and poke some holes in your bucket but you seem to have thought it through pretty thoroughly Mr.
is that dezall internally balanced? or have like a harmonic / fluid damper. Hard to tell from your photo.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Gravy said:
Nice! well I'm impressed with your foresight. I'm trying my darndest to play devil's advocate and poke some holes in your bucket but you seem to have thought it through pretty thoroughly Mr.
is that dezall internally balanced? or have like a harmonic / fluid damper. Hard to tell from your photo.
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X-D

It helps that I'm not the first person to play with these things. There are still some issues with fitment that will need to be addressed. The front diff sits where the oil pan needs to go, but a 2" diff drop resolves that. Even then, the oil pan is still close so the engine (trans & t-case) will need to move 1-2" to the passenger side.

Internally balanced, no balancers falling apart like they do on the 6.5's.

Check this out.... the video is HORRIBLE, but it's they guy with the twin turbo 4BD1T. Looks & sounds amazing!
 
mesha

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
This will be an awesome project! I could never talk myself into doing that much work for a tow rig.
 
Jared

Jared

Formerly DeadEye J
Location
Ogden, UT
You do need to get back to work....

A JKU or Willy's isn't really heavy hauling and any decent 3/4 ton truck should handle it fine with a good trailer and brake setup. A Vortec 454 isn't going to win any races up the hills, but it will get you there every time. The expense of poor MPG's towing 6-8 times per year isn't much to worry about.... maybe a few hundred bucks a year? Hard to put a value on cool factor, or I-built-this factor though.

Good luck, which ever direction you decide to go!
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
mesha said:
This will be an awesome project! I could never talk myself into doing that much work for a tow rig.
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^This^ for me but I also daily my “tow rig” so that obviously adds requirements.

That being said I appreciate your creativity, Gregory.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Jared said:
You do need to get back to work....

A JKU or Willy's isn't really heavy hauling and any decent 3/4 ton truck should handle it fine with a good trailer and brake setup. A Vortec 454 isn't going to win any races up the hills, but it will get you there every time. The expense of poor MPG's towing 6-8 times per year isn't much to worry about.... maybe a few hundred bucks a year? Hard to put a value on cool factor, or I-built-this factor though.

Good luck, which ever direction you decide to go!
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I'm ready to get back to work, that's the bad part... corporate is being a pain in my a$$.

I still want to be able to tow and bring a slide-in truck camper, so that's a decent load. I agree that a 454 Vortec would do the job, I was thinking about swapping a GM 6.0 LQ4 or LQ9 into this truck, but for the amount of effort and cost that doesn't make much sense either. I really need a tow rig that isn't a project or hodge-podge of parts. Factory drivetrains are more reliable, but I get tempted with 'what if's' too often.

Where I'm at now, I'm thinking I'll sell the Isuzu diesel engine, the '95 GMC and look for a '99+ GM 2500... a 6.0 and 4L80e would be sufficient.


xj_nate said:
^This^ for me but I also daily my “tow rig” so that obviously adds requirements.

That being said I appreciate your creativity, Gregory.
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Creativity is great, factory reliability is betterer.

I don't need to daily drive my tow rig, which is nice. But we have done that, my wife daily drove our Dodge diesel 1 ton 4 door back when diesel was $5/gallon... we burned a lot of money! :rolleyes:
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
I put a set of used/new wheels and tires on the GMC today, the BFGoodrich AT's that were on it were very dry rotted and I was worried that one of them was going to blow out soon.... I didn't care for the look of the steel wheels either.

I found a set of factory aluminum wheels from a Chevy with 265/70/16 Michelin E-rated tires. They don't have a ton of tread, but enough for this truck.

The BFG's the came off were 245/75/16's and are a good 2" shorter. We will see what this does for the overall gearing, may be a bad move for towing with the taller tire. The Michelins ride much smoother and don't rub anywhere.


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At this point my plan for this truck is to keep it around for a few months, fix some minor things here and there and possibly use it for towing the Willys to Moab during Jeep Safari. It's always nice to have a pickup, on Saturday we bought a 5 piece bedroom furniture set and hauled it home, then today I took a trip to the dump. Come Spring or Summer I hope to upgrade to a newer GM 3/4 ton.
 
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