Black Beauty Build Thread

Red Sleeper said:
Understood.

The steering shock helps more than I imagined. My dads 04 CR 4wd was starting to get some signs of death wobble with stock tires. (Whole front end needs rebuilding, parts on the bench)
Changed the shock and noticed a huge difference! Going to get by for another month until we can spend a Sunday rebuilding.

Nice bumper choice. Where are your new headlight housings?


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Lol yep they're on the list. Those dang headlights are just pricey, but I really need new ones. Soon.




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Started in on it this evening.
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Went ahead and bought a new radiator also since it was so plugged up. Also found my a/c leak in one of the hoses to the evaporator. So gonna replace some a/c parts while I'm at it.


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Replace the dryer while you're at it. How many miles on the truck again?

I just did my dryer, evaporator core, and heater core while my HVAC box was out. All new o-rings and it holds a strong 26 in/hg. Going to pay someone with a scale to add the freon.
 
Red Sleeper said:
Replace the dryer while you're at it. How many miles on the truck again?

I just did my dryer, evaporator core, and heater core while my HVAC box was out. All new o-rings and it holds a strong 26 in/hg. Going to pay someone with a scale to add the freon.
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Yes sir got the liquid line set and the line with the orifice tube in it and a dryer as well. About 204k miles on the truck. Thought about replacing the compressor and condenser but geez pocket book is already hurting so going to try and hold off a bit longer on those if I can. At least once I get it filled now hopefully I have no other leaks and I won't be having to keep spending money on freon lol.
 
Compressors seem to really last on these trucks. You should be fine for a while. I would keep the condenser unless it starts to leak.

My shop manuals state that a 04 takes 6oz of oil. FYI.
 
Thx. Not sure how to tell how much oil is left in the system? Should I take off the compressor and try to drain it or blow through the hose connection?


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Oh my have I expressed how I F'ing hate those little springs clamps. Worked about two hours tonight just getting two of them off of the coolant hoses for the transmission cooler.


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I have never had much luck attempting to drain oil from the compressor and measure the amount. It usually gets all over the place, making an oily mess. 4 pieces to the system. Dryer, evaporator, condenser, compressor. 6oz / 4pcs = 1.5oz per component. Weather that's right or not, I've always used this as a general rule of thumb on any AC system.

I'd rather have a little more oil than not enough. However, too much oil and you will sacrifice cooling capacity.

Are you talking about the constant tension spring clamps? Similar to what is on the upper/lower radiator hoses? There is a special plier for those clamps. Makes life much easier.
 
Changing the dryer, evaporator, and orfice tube? How much oil did you get out when you recovered the refrigerant from the truck? Because how much oil recovered is part of figuring how much oil goes back in. I'd put at least 2 oz of pag oil back in. Most components like evaporator or condenser are 2oz of needed and most lines are 1 oz a piece. So just a wild guess you'll probably be ok with 3 oz if oil when you go to charge it back up.
 
Red Sleeper said:
I have never had much luck attempting to drain oil from the compressor and measure the amount. It usually gets all over the place, making an oily mess. 4 pieces to the system. Dryer, evaporator, condenser, compressor. 6oz / 4pcs = 1.5oz per component. Weather that's right or not, I've always used this as a general rule of thumb on any AC system.

I'd rather have a little more oil than not enough. However, too much oil and you will sacrifice cooling capacity.

Are you talking about the constant tension spring clamps? Similar to what is on the upper/lower radiator hoses? There is a special plier for those clamps. Makes life much easier.
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My friend says he has the special pliers to I'll give those a go.


dixon700 said:
Changing the dryer, evaporator, and orfice tube? How much oil did you get out when you recovered the refrigerant from the truck? Because how much oil recovered is part of figuring how much oil goes back in. I'd put at least 2 oz of pag oil back in. Most components like evaporator or condenser are 2oz of needed and most lines are 1 oz a piece. So just a wild guess you'll probably be ok with 3 oz if oil when you go to charge it back up.
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dryer, orifice tube, liquid lines, not evaporator. The recovery didn't really go as a recovery should have. The rubber line had the tiniest hole and then when I started moving it around it let go to atmosphere.


Seems the concensus is 3oz so I'll go with that.
 
I took that pos of my truck years ago ! Replaced the factory cooler on the radiator with a 6.0 cooler and been chugging along just fine ever since .
 
spooled05 said:
I took that pos of my truck years ago ! Replaced the factory cooler on the radiator with a 6.0 cooler and been chugging along just fine ever since .
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Well I've contemplated it but not sure if the factory cooler can keep up without the heat exchanged and then I would need new lines etc. I don't really have time to mess with that right now.


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Reason for the heat exchanger is to bring your transmission fluid up to temperature in colder climates. Over the years I have read if several members on here bypassing the heat exchangers on these trucks. Folks residing in Texas. When installing a coolant bypass on my 05, I also bypassed this heat exchanger.

Your transmission cooler will keep up no problem. In fact, there is thermostat in the cooler itself to bypass the fluid from the cooler and back to the transmission until you reach a certain temperature. (175* seems to ring a bell)

Now your hose problem, that sucks. Looks like the same setup my 05 had. Did you try a different dealer?
 
Red Sleeper said:
Reason for the heat exchanger is to bring your transmission fluid up to temperature in colder climates. Over the years I have read if several members on here bypassing the heat exchangers on these trucks. Folks residing in Texas. When installing a coolant bypass on my 05, I also bypassed this heat exchanger.

Your transmission cooler will keep up no problem. In fact, there is thermostat in the cooler itself to bypass the fluid from the cooler and back to the transmission until you reach a certain temperature. (175* seems to ring a bell)

Now your hose problem, that sucks. Looks like the same setup my 05 had. Did you try a different dealer?
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Well I might bypass it one of these days since I mostly reside in Texas. I do take trips to Colorado but I could always brake boost to bring up the trans temp lol.

On the thermostat in the transcooler I took it out and flipped it around to where it cannot bypass the cooler and must always run through it.

I didn't try a different dealer, I just ended up running some generic 5/8" heater hose and making loops large enough to not kink. It works out ok for now until I change something up I guess.

I also drilled out the check ball in the transmission line while I was at it. Now I just need to get the trans temp sensor installed.


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Well everything's good now except the thermostat on the transmission cooler is leaking. Gonna pull it out and try to see if I can cram some right stuff in it to fix it.


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The little factory cooler on the radiator will not keep up that's why I removed it and used a trans cooler of a 6.0 ford , it works awesome and is easy to find and pretty cheap
 
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spooled05 said:
The little factory cooler on the radiator will not keep up that's why I removed it and used a trans cooler of a 6.0 ford , it works awesome and is easy to find and pretty cheap
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Yeah I actually use to have one but sold it; maybe I'll keep my eyes open for one.

Well the o-ring on the plug was bad so I replaced it with two a/c o-rings since that was all I had. I think I stopped most of the leak. A few more heat cycles will tell.


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So its still leaking, dodge doesn't sell the o-ring. Does anyone know what size the o-ring is for the plug on the trans cooler thermostat?
 
I experienced the same issue. Ended up removing the thermostat, machining a plug from aluminum, and welded it up. Stopped my leak.
 
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