Getting ready for a long cruise

[gchemist]

Wow!! Post pictures from your trip!
She'll get you there and back!!

[olblue81]

We made it safe and sound to Iowa today. So far the only issues with the truck are a burnt out headlight, a load of bad fuel the made the engine ping and the fuel guage is swinging back and forth with the fuel sloshing.

Anyone know what causes that? When I switch tanks now, the needle pops past full and springs wildly and then settles at full. Driving down the road it bobs up and down. Before it would smoothly go to full and be steady down the road.

[flamingbig10]

it might be the sender

[silvereagle07]

Cool thread! Glad you made it to Iowa with little trouble. How was the ride with the lowered altitude? I agree with flamingbig10 on the sender. It could be sulfur build up on the sender card giving a bad reading. You cold try to add some Chevron Techron fuel additive to clear it up. Got any pics of the trip?

[olblue81]

silvereagle07- the ride is great with the new suspension. The shocks are from DJM and are a little firm but I don't mind them. I bet with some miles they'll soften a bit but it's not bad. The seat foam is flat under the driver's butt so that probably doesn't help, lol.

We were supposed to leave for Iowa on Friday morning and get there mid-late afternoon Saturday which would leave time for me to get the truck shined up and go on the cruise portion of the Cruise to the Woods. As it was we didn't leave until Saturday morning because of issues getting the shackle bushings out and replaced and also as I tried to put the rear axle back on the springs I found the driveshaft was too long by about 1/4". In all my research of dropping the truck, I have never heard of anyone saying that the shaft was too long and needed to be shortened. I double checked and it appears as though the front spring location was the same between the DJM hangers and the stockers. But regardless I spent Thursday night deciding whether to go and get the shaft shortened and delay departure for a day knowing I would only make it to the show for the last hour or two if everything went well. Friday 8 am I found a shop 1.5 hours away that would do the shaft while I waited. 4:40 on Friday afternoon the shaft was in the truck and I was on my way to get it aligned when I called the shop and they said they had one in the bay and mine couldn't get done till Saturday. In fact Saturday at 8 am the truck went to the alignment shop and we didn't leave until it was done at 9:30. With a couple hours of stops for food and fuel, we didn't make Fargo until 11:30 local. On the road again at 7 the next day we rolled into Fort Dodge in time to grab my door prize for longest haul and walk around the show for an hour and a half. Only grabbed one photo with my camera on the trip down-
The truck entering Iowa

And a couple on the fairgrounds-

All dirty from the rain on the way down


The tailgate and driver's side of the truck are dotted with engine oil cause the front seal is leaking. I added a couple quarts on the way down so it's manageable at least. I'll have to put that on the list of stuff to fix. Changed a headlight today but still confused about the fuel guage. It happens on both tanks, so I doubt it's the senders because both senders would have to fail at the same time. I'm guessing it's in the new switch that I installed on the dash, but that's only a guess.