1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[MTCK]

Pretty heavy! Still need to add spare tire, tools, wife, kid, dogs, camp chairs and beer. Expect to be around 10,500 with all the trimmings. Crazy how quickly things add up. Just realized you can't read the scale so it's 9800 with me so 9550 without me.

['63GENIII]

Sooooo. Are a set of bags in the future? Looks awesome and ready for some good family adventures!

[MTCK]

Thanks Chris. I don't think I'll need bags but we will see. Expect the front springs to settle a bit more, spare tire will be up front, and it's less than an inch difference right now. Fingers crossed. I got this super heavy rear spring pack with the intention of not using air bags.

[COS399]

Glad to see you got it going and can enjoy it before that white stuff shows up. Looks like a really nice set up. Enjoy.

['63GENIII]

Ooooh. Just noticed that light bar that you snuck onto the front bumper. Hows that work? Doesn't really stand out which I like. That has got to be pretty bright.
Might have to steal that idea!

On another note, I did some towing a few weekends ago and although the truck pulled fine, it lacked the "freight train" pull that Ive become accustomed to. Im wondering if a live tune or even a tune off of some data logging might be in order.

Im not sure if some of the timing was being pulled by the ECM due to the heat (109 ambient) or the engine temp on a few of the grades which hit around 210. Just curious what your L29 runs at temp wise and if you ever notice some timing being pulled out?

[MTCK]

Thanks guys. I started with a 160 degree thermostat, then went to 195 this past winter when I was having defrost problems. That's what is in it now and it never moves. Oil temp hangs between 210-220 (no cooler) transmission now lives 150-180. All this with the camper on and 75-80 outside and AC cranking.

The live tune is one of the better gains I've had on the truck. Drives like it should and the timing made a huge difference. Howell's "hot tune" was bone stock plus a couple degrees in the top end. If you want to do it PM me and I'll get you in touch with the guy. Honestly I never noticed a huge drop in power but have heard the stock L29 tune got real conservative even within normal operating temps. I'm sure thin 100+ degree air doesn't help either though.

[MTCK]

Light bar is a cheap knock off from Amazon. $90 all in shipped. It throws a ton of light but not very far down the road. Those big cannon focused beam led's are nice looking but huge $$$.

[Matt Man]

don't click the links could be spam or a virus.

[MTCK]

Ah bummer I needed a good deal on some new adidas shoes...

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by Matt Man

don't click the links could be spam or a virus.

There's gotta be a way to reverse download my tune onto the server that the spam came from. That way, their bot can run like crap too!

Originally Posted by MTCK

Ah bummer I needed a good deal on some new adidas shoes...

I was hoping it was some kind of encoded fuel maps that you were sharing!

Ill PM you regarding the guy you used for your tune. Thanks!

[jhama78]

Truck looks killer Marcus!! Glad to see it all come together for you. Cheers from the Marshall Islands!

[MTCK]

Thanks J-Rod! Stay cool down there. It's coming along. Lots of cleaning yet to do. Got some new steps mounted today that work with the camper's new, taller home.

[Dieselwrencher]

The camper looks at home back there! It is crazy how heavy a rig can get by the time you get all your goodies stuffed in it and ready to go.

[MTCK]

Maiden voyage was a success. Only went about 60 miles from home, but everything was full, roads were crap and the truck handled great. Even had good weather to boot.

[whitels1]

Looks like a beautiful place!

[crewcabshorty]

Nice job! Was wondering how you like the increase in tire size. I have a cucv with 4.56 s with 33 s on it , thinking about 35 s Thanks

[Dieselwrencher]

That looks like an awesome place to camp!

[MTCK]

Thanks guys, it was fun. I was most pleased with the suspension soaking up all the frost heaves at 60+ mph and I'm sure 10,000+ lbs. I think I may need to go to the slightly longer rear shackles as she has a pretty good sustained sag with the camper fully loaded.

The 35's work great with my current motor. I'm not sure I would go with bigger tires to reduce rpm with the old 350 (or I assume 6.2 in your case). Granted my truck is also probably a lot heavier than a CUCV. With no overdrive it could make sense. What do you use your truck for?

[crewcabshorty]

I have a 350 in the cucv. I am putting a 4l80 in it now and ready to buy tires. Any advice is appreciated .

[MTCK]

My truck is heavy and 350tbi was pretty tired. I bet 35's will work just fine. I honestly didn't notice a huge difference between the 33's and 35's but the big block is pretty healthy.

[MTCK]

Warn front receiver is on. It's beefy and looks great. Tucked richt up to the bottom of the bumper. I'm not sure I like the spare tire mount or not. It DOES fit, with about 1/2" between the tire and front of the hood. Light bar will be useless when in this configuration.

As a side note, the warn instructions say to remove the bumper and brackets together. No way. The bolts were way too short to work with the factory town hooks that I have, and required more spacer than the instructions show on two of the bolts. All in all it's a stout piece, and if I have trouble with this spare it won't be because of the hitch.

[MTCK]

A wheel spacer would give me more clearance, but just make an even longer moment arm on this poor wimpy spare tire carrier. I couldn't find a weaight rating so I'm just going to assume a 10-ply 35" tire on a steel wheel is good to go.

[MTCK]

You all can probably tell by this last photo that it's not summer anymore! Stinks that I need a headlight to work outside at 10 pm...

[MTCK]

Daylight version.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work! Why's the ground look wet? Is it that elusive rain stuff we don't see much anymore?