Another road trip in Patches....

[thrashingcows]

Guess I've been a bad influence on my soon to be Son-in-Law..

He decided recently that he wanted a 1st or maybe a 2nd gen so he has been trying to find one within his budget, and I have been looking as well. Well I sent him a link to a pair of 1st gen's about a 4.5hr drive from my place that I thought would be a good deal if they turned out to be decent trucks. He contacted the seller and they were still available so yesterday I hooked up my trailer and buzzed out there in Patches with him and my daughter to check them out.

This one is a 2wd auto and was being driven regularly up until last year and other than some dents and him wrecking the drivers door it was in pretty solid shape, think it has around 325K km's on it.

The other is a W350 Clubcab with a Getrag and 3.54 axles...been sitting for a couple years, another drivers door that is destroyed as well.

mileage is 587K km's and due to a bad starter does not run.

He brought it up out of the lower part of the farm and into his shop,

Then with his huge overhead crane just lifted the front of the truck up and then lifted the back with the Kubota and I backed under with my trailer,

Loaded and ready to go...

He got a screaming deal on both trucks IMO and we are going to get the chassis and drive train sorted out on the W350 then swap the body over from the 2wd, but in the mean time he'll be driving the 2wd.

 

[69.5CUDA]

looks like between the 2 theres one very solid clean truck, and the low milage on the 2wd id be keeping that engine

 

[thrashingcows]

Once we do the body and chassis swap around I'm not sure what his plans for the old 2wd will be...either keep it for spare parts, or put it together and sell it? I have the room for it to sit and be a spare parts trucks for him so that's not an issue and long term that's probably money in the bank for him....and maybe me too.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Thoughts on the Getrag? From my understanding it's widely hated, and the repair parts you're bound to need aren't terribly easy to find. We had a customer at the diesel place that had a very pretty '90 (picture the paramedics' truck from "Emergency!"--it was but a front-clip swap from being nearly identical) who never ceased to stop bitching about that transmission. Steve once said to me, "I don't think it's as bad as he says it is." Then he quickly added, "Then again, I don't put a thousand miles a week on one, either."

 

[69.5CUDA]

i was under the impression that the getrag was fine "IF" you did 1 or 2 specific upgrade parts to keep the rest of it from comming apart, something about a nut that could/would back off

all said i too would have opted for the 4wd dually...but the engine from the 2wd would go in it without a doubt....but id have to find maybe some old 70s stepside fenders for it..those F-glass units are always busted and UGLY...and never even looked good on them..hell a "pre-runner" flair would look slick as fuck too!

 

[thrashingcows]

Getrag is a decent transmission and got a bad reputation from a couple things...the biggest issue with them was the factory did not anticipate the heat they would generate when pulling and the OEM level for oil was about 1 quart to low. Thus they would heat up and cook the input shaft bearing. Then when they got rebuilt most shops didn't take the time to set up the preloads properly, just re-use the old shim pack, and then they would run either too tight or to loose and end up failing again.

With a quality rebuild and an extra quart of fluid they can be a very good transmission. But they do need to be shifted slow, no power shifting without ruining shift forks and top covers.

The 5th gear nut was a problem on the NV4500 in 2nd Gen's not the Getrag. Someone finally used their big brain and is now producing a replacement mainshaft with the 5th gear thread and nut with reverse thread...no more loosening off! Why no one thought of that earlier I don't understand but it seems so obvious now.

 

[thrashingcows]

I removed the wrecked door and tossed on one of my spares just to keep the weather out of the truck...

 

[69.5CUDA]

ahh yeah the nut on the 4500, i get them all mixxed up..cool somene finnaly made a new shaft

how the hell does one fuck up a door like that....last door i saw that ugly was on a ramcharegr that had been hit by a train

 

[b-body-bob]

Nice mirror.

 

[69.5CUDA]

the mirror SAVED the rest ofthe door

but seriously how does one fuck up a door that bad and NOT mangle the fender?!?!?!?!? or the cab or that whole side?!?!........

 

[Dr.Jass]

The 5th gear nut was a problem on the NV4500 in 2nd Gen's not the Getrag. Someone finally used their big brain and is now producing a replacement mainshaft with the 5th gear thread and nut with reverse thread...no more loosening off! Why no one thought of that earlier I don't understand but it seems so obvious now.

Pretty sure that shaft's been available for quite awhile. I remember Art bitching about the cost of it way back when I was still at Kurtz, but adding "On the plus side, I won't have to go with a 5600."

 

[thrashingcows]

Yup no damage to the door jam or the cab...the new door I put on went on fine, everything lined up almost perfect!

Well the reverse threaded mainshaft must have come out within the last 10 years because I know it was not availble when I converted my NV4500 from 2wd to 4wd back in 2013, and I had to replace the mainshaft for the conversion and rebuild. I searched high and low for a solid repair or option to keep that 5th gear nut in place and did not come across any mainshaft with a reverse thread.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I may be 100% wrong on that. I worked there until late 2014, but I don't attempt to retain much when it comes to truck stuff.

 

[thrashingcows]

Well yesterday we got my son-in-laws 93 W350 clubcab into the shop, wheel nuts cracked loose then up on the lift to crawl around and check things out. Going to need a bunch of work but vast majority is just maintenance stuff that is typically left undone.

I tore apart one of the front hubs since I've never dealt with a dually before and was unsure how the spacers worked on the front. Well turns out we are going to either need to find another front axle, SRW unit, or get SRW front hubs and outer axle shafts to make this axle a SRW unit.

Plan is to swap the body from his 2wd truck onto this chassis and keep everything SRW.

 

[69.5CUDA]

whats the issue?..im not seeing it

 

[thrashingcows]

whats the issue?..im not seeing it

The dually hubs are extended out about 2" to make up for the off set dually rims. To try and run a regular wheel on that hub would have it sitting out past the fender side and look ridiculous. So we need SRW hubs, maybe spindles and outer axle stubs to make the conversion.

 

[thrashingcows]

Well after looking into the price of new/used hubs and the other parts required to swap from DRW to SRW on the front axle we decided that it would be cheaper to just find another front axle. Started looking around online and finally came across a guy selling a 92 reg cab W250 roller that had mostly been stripped of motor/getrag wiring, interior etc for cheaper than what most people wanted for just one axle. So hooked up patches to my trailer yesterday and did a 1350Km, 20hr day to go get it.

Guy had a winch on his 4runner so we used that to drag it up onto the trailer....

All loaded up and ready to go...

He asked if I wanted this green box as well...it has one rusty side and one really good side...I said absolutely since I can just cut off and save that good box side!

Great deal overall since not only do we get the axles, but there are a bunch of other parts that he needs for his truck. It has good aftermarket front springs, his OEM's are so worn and dearched the rear spring shackle is resting against the underside of the frame!

 

[Dr.Jass]

I was under the impression that the axle and spindles were the same; the difference is in the hub/rotor/spacer assembly. Then again, I don't screw around with trucks so that could be 100% wrong.

 

[69.5CUDA]

as was i doc, but ive not played much with the duelly 4wd stuff
screemin deal you got there cow

now..why the hell havnt you welded a reciever onto your trailer right there with the spare?..then you can just pack a winch in the truck...those HF "badlands" winches are SOLID units and worth more than the asking price so long as you get anything 9k+...and if you add a eye to the tail end you can use a snatch block to drag stuff off the trailer too!

 

[thrashingcows]

I was under the impression that the axle and spindles were the same; the difference is in the hub/rotor/spacer assembly. Then again, I don't screw around with trucks so that could be 100% wrong.

Yes the axle, and after doing some measurements, and the spindles are the same. The difference is just in the dually hub itself. So now that we have the SRW hubs it will be an easy swap.

as was i doc, but ive not played much with the duelly 4wd stuff
screemin deal you got there cow

now..why the hell havnt you welded a reciever onto your trailer right there with the spare?..then you can just pack a winch in the truck...those HF "badlands" winches are SOLID units and worth more than the asking price so long as you get anything 9k+...and if you add a eye to the tail end you can use a snatch block to drag stuff off the trailer too!

I have everything to do just that, I bought a 12K lbs winch many moons ago but have never used it, I have spare reviever hitch parts and metal just not high on my priority list to be honest. I also always carry a 10 ton chain hoist that works awesome....just slow and tedious...but it has always been able to drag anything and everything up onto the trailer.

Hadn't thought of a reviever on the back of the trailer to get things off...that is a handy idea I think.