1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[MTCK]

Cam specs:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=589&sb=2

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Hey Kacy, I still owe you cam specs.

I finally got tired of taking my crappy radiator in and out to have the shop fix the latest leak it sprung. So I went to Napa and got a part number NR 2071 Napa brand radiator coming. No more spectra Chinese radiator! They only wanted $50 for freight and the price was right.

Imagine my surprise when I picked it up today and it was a spectra CU774. Same freaking part number. This one is made in Japan though and survived the trip over the pond much better with no dings. So I thought Larry had one from Canada, and now I have China and Japan covered.

That is awesome! Ya, all three of my CU774’s were made in Canada, eh. You probably remember the story of my Suburban during the 8.1L swap where I got 3 CU774’s and each were beat to smithereens in the same spots thanks to their pisspoor packing. Even the last one I got as a freebie from the Spectra rep needed work. Hopefully the made in Japan CU774’s are better quality than the Canuck radiators. The last one I got still needed work as the upper radiator port was so close to the side tank pinch weld you couldn’t slide a hose clamp on it. I had to have a radiator shop to some tweaking to make it work. Outside of that and the shipping woes, Spectra usually builds top notch goods! We reworked one of the other CU774's I had left over and it is now in Rob's K5.3 Blazer albeit it may be too much radiator as now the little 5.3 struggles to get up to temperature

The truck is looking good Markus! Glad to see you are putting it to work

[sweetk30]

with out scanning this massive thread MTCK how did you like those 255/85/16 tires ?

were they squirrely on the road ? seem o.k. handling ? what did you think ?

I am thinking of this size for 1 of my trucks .

[MTCK]

Larry, I remember your woes well! It’s not fair to blame all the problems with my first Chinese on its origin. It got beat up in shipping, run into by a house sitter before installation, and has been repaired 3 times at the local rad shop. I was just over the whack-a-mole with the leaks. The new version looks very solid.

As far as the 255/85R16’s they were great on my V3500. Now they are great on my K30 in the summer. They tracked well in slush and rain, had enough sipes to be good on snow and ice, and wear pretty well. I’d do an ST Maxx in that size if I was buying a new pair for the K30. Those have been solid on the V3500 and we put them on all our work trucks with good results.

[sweetk30]

thanks buddy on the tire info .

ebay has there sale again with discount tire .

i just got 4 255/85/16 bfg mud km2 tires to my door for 804.00

[Myers horsepower]

Originally Posted by MTCK

I always wonder will this aftermarket part work with that one? If the question is will the 16k B&W receiver hitch work with an ord 2.5" one ton flip kid, the answer is yes with a tiny bit of flapper wheel clearancing on the middle mount.

do you happen to have the B&W hitch part # that you used? I see on their web sight they have two #'s listed.

[MTCK]

That’s a screaming deal on tires! Here’s what I believe is the part number? Let me know if not.

[sweetk30]

truck is a roller now . time for driveline install.

[MTCK]

Looks real good! Is that a 4” shackle flip?

[sweetk30]

yep . off road design .

coming out tho as with this truck its going to sit to high for my end goal .

[Myers horsepower]

MTCK
thanks for the info on the B&W

[MTCK]

Finally got some maintenance pulled on the big truck. I installed the new radiator, harmonic balancer, and did an oil change. I lose about 5 gallons of coolant every time I do that move, and frankly I’m tired of it. Old radiator is going in the trash.

[MTCK]

I also installed my new longer shackles from ORD. I’m a little worried about my pinion angle now. If it vibrates I will get some shims and move the axle forward a hair all at the same time.

DOT&PF has recently started salting the roads more frequently during snow events close to freezing. It is tough on all our rigs and I’m bummed at how much surface rust the v3500 has on it’s underbelly. Oh well that’s what I get for driving them...

[MTCK]

My math says I can get the camper out of the tent with these pizza cutters installed.

[Dieselwrencher]

I feel your pain on driving them in winter. I made the mistake of driving my 72 half of the winter of 17. Save that radiator and take it to a metal recycling yard. You might be able to get $20 (or more) rather than nothing. Those in camper jacks sure can be sketch city can't they? The manufacturers don't want them in very high trucks as far as I could tell. We did see some new in bed campers at a camping show this winter. The jacks were electric and would auto level but that camper was $55k. Yikes!

[watahyahknow]

he might use it as a trade in and get more for the radiator as a core

[MTCK]

$55k without the truck! Before I found this used Hallmark I had accepted the fact I was going to have to spend $30-40k on a new FWC or Phoenix pop up. Crazy what the market will bear.

The camper jacks are straight up scary. Mine are electric and I blew a fuse or something and had to lower two of them manually. I’m glad they are electric! It took forever. I need to figure out a better way both to go in and out of my tent and to remove the camper from the truck. I think Larry is on to something with just leaving it installed.

Unfortunately I’m in BFE AK and there will be no core, no scrap, no recycling. I will get some satisfaction chucking it into a dumpster. Not sure anyone would want to recycle that fine chinesium material anyway...

Here we be at the end of the day. Still need to hook up lights fill water etc. the longer shackle leveled the truck but I need to play with the zero rate to get the tire centered in the wheel well and probably shim the pinion down.

[MTCK]

488 miles over a few passes with a pretty stiff headwind and pulled down 9.3 mpg (gps miles). New radiator leaks around the weld between the filler neck and end tank. The weld there has an obvious thin spot and it weeps right before your eyes. I’ll go do battle with Napa when I get home. No obvious shipping damage. This looks like poor craftsmanship or QA/QC. I’m done with Spectra. Aluminum aftermarket next?

[watahyahknow]

darnit another half days work replacing a radiator shot to h@ll

[Dieselwrencher]

That sucks to hear on the radiator! I've used a few ebay aluminum radiators with good luck. Champion were the brand of 2 of them. Your mileage is pretty good. I could show you a pic of the last camper jack situation I was in. I'm so glad that POS is out of my life.

[COS399]

Nice looking rig/set up you got going there.

[Greenlee]

I feel your pain trying to find a good original style radiator. I went to O’Reilly’s a few years ago and they brought out one of those cheap looking plastic and aluminum ones, and I thought that can’t be for my truck! Actually, I ended up getting one and it has been flawless. The truck runs cooler that it did with old radiator.

I love the camper!

[400/400]

Looking good!

Road salt is sure hard on vehicles.

I’ve got 45,000 miles on my parts house radiator with plastic tanks and no issues (“knock on wood”). Also seems to cool just fine in summer heat even when towing. I’ve got a 190 degree thermostat in my 400 and haven’t seen it go past 205 degrees on the gage when pulling on a 80+ degree day.

Do you notice any “clocking” of the steering wheel when loaded with the camper or trailer?

[68Timber]

All the crappy radiators being sold, seems like opportunity for someone to make one better. Hope it doesn’t spoil your trip.

[MTCK]

It’s been forever and a day since I updated. The radiator kept on dripping. Napa kindly offered to order me another one and take mine back, but would be without any radiator for 4-6 weeks while they ordered it from.... overseas. I told them to... I can’t really say. Took the new radiator over to the radiator shop and for the first time since I swapped the L29 in TWO YEARS AGO, it doesn’t leak. Our summer is too short to miss out on two months waiting for parts.

I’m going to try to embed a couple videos so folks can hear it run and work.

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