Rebirth of Monster Mudder

I worked all through college, but I was on the 13+ year plan... I was married and having kids, so school came 3rd in line and my wife at the time was in college as well... she went full time and graduated, then decided she didn't need me anymore.... I finally finished my Comsci degree when a company I was working for wanted me to get it done so they could officially put me in charge of the team I'd been running for 3 years. They picked up the 40k tab at College of Charleston and I did nothing but work 50 to 60 hours a week and took a full load of classes for a year and a half. I had it figured out to a class what grade I had to make to graduate and be within the minimum GPA for the degree and college to graduate. I already had 15 years of work experience in coding. I still have 15k in loans I'm paying back and used up all of my GI bill as well.

The program my son is in costs 39k, he has gotten some of the costs reduced because of his 2 years of diesel in votech and college classes he has already taken at TCC for business. He is using loans, and will pay 10k out of his pocket as well to get his associates degree there. He will be doing the 4 days a week at night for the next 5 months, then the rest is online classes and will graduate next November.

Called stroud safety a few minutes ago and guess the guy I need to talk too is on vacation this week, told me to call back next Monday.
 
Boy will I be glad when fall starts to rear it's head.... Just a tad warm and humid out to be working on a truck. Got quite a bit accomplished tonight. Unhooked and rerouted the transmission lines and tied them, the fuel lines and water line up and further out of the way from where the front driveshaft will be.

Worked on getting the 4x4 shifter hole cut out, had to heat and bend the shifter handle in two places to get it where it wouldn't hit my leg and could move freely. I may need to trim just a tad more floor once the trans is sitting on the mount, but it's close to where it needs to be now.

Tied up all of the wires under the dash and along the floor of the cab and under the truck.

Set the fuel pressure of the new pump

Got the front driveshaft modified today, had them add 1 1/2" in length and switch it back to my 1410 slip joint and they turned down the 205's yoke so it would fit the seal on my 241. Mounted the magnet wheel onto the shaft and put the yoke on the 241.

Got the inner and outer fenders back on the truck.

Need to pull the OD housing tomorrow and when the shaft gets here, get it torn down and replace the output shaft and get it reassembled and reinstalled. Then the reassembly begins.

Shifter before
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Shifter after
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Removed the OD section from the trans tonight from under the truck and when the output shaft arrived, we broke the section down and got the new shaft put on it and it all put back together and back under the truck. Then had to go haul hay. Put the dually and 40' trailer to work hauling a bit of weight. Had 18 big round bales on the first load at about 18k lbs and 17 on the second load. Think I have enough hay for the winter now with the 4 bales left from last year and the 15 I bought sunday. At least I hope I do.

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Am I crazy? The right one looks like the billet output, but the left one has assembly grease all over it. It looks like it's gotten hot before too.
 
The one on the right is the new billet one, the other one has assembly grease on it because I had put it back in the truck after rebuilding the OD unit end of last week to try and make last Saturday's race.
 
NakeDiesel said:
The one on the right is the new billet one, the other one has assembly grease on it because I had put it back in the truck after rebuilding the OD unit end of last week to try and make last Saturday's race.
Click to expand...

:bang That makes sense.
 
Ended up not getting out to the shop till after 7pm tonight, but got the transfer case mounted, cross member in and the mount attached. Both drive shafts in, ujoint shields and a driveshaft loop on each shaft.

Tomorrow need to get fluids in the transmission and transfer case, then I can get the truck started and top off the transmission. Also need to build a mount for the driveshaft speed sensor, mount the second rear driveshaft loop with an inch spacer from the frame and figure out the second front loop.

Then it's testing time....
 
Be sure to put a line pressure gauge on there, even if it's temporary and then tie the TV lever to wherever it needs to be to get your desired line pressure. Depending on your power level, it really should be kept above 170 psi and preferably around 200 psi, it'll probably take about 90% TV position to achieve that much pressure with converter locked on your 47re pump and valvebody setup.

I've never built a tranny for a mud truck, so you might be able to get by with less pressure, but pump wear and cruising fluid temp aren't a concern on a race truck so give it all the pressure it wants!
 
Yep, plan on putting my pressure gauge on it and getting it adjusted tonight. I ran my 400 at 170 psi and it seemed to work good there other than the converter. Only time I had clutch problems was when I had a pump issue and lower pressure.
 
Big Blue24 said:
Be sure to put a line pressure gauge on there, even if it's temporary and then tie the TV lever to wherever it needs to be to get your desired line pressure. Depending on your power level, it really should be kept above 170 psi and preferably around 200 psi, it'll probably take about 90% TV position to achieve that much pressure with converter locked on your 47re pump and valvebody setup.

I've never built a tranny for a mud truck, so you might be able to get by with less pressure, but pump wear and cruising fluid temp aren't a concern on a race truck so give it all the pressure it wants!
Click to expand...

Will,
What port to you typically measure off of? And do you do it at cruising and also WOT? Locked and unlocked?
 
NakeDiesel said:
Yep, plan on putting my pressure gauge on it and getting it adjusted tonight. I ran my 400 at 170 psi and it seemed to work good there other than the converter. Only time I had clutch problems was when I had a pump issue pump pressure


Low pump pressure may be what your calling your convertor issue. I don't think 170 psi is enough. I ran a aftermarket pump and mine made 250# . Not only does this give you lots more holding power but it effects the way the convertor couples......

Lock up may be good in your application. But I say you end up back with a modified t brake 400. I run my glide now at 300psi
Click to expand...
 
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Got the truck filled up with fluids and took it for a test run. Getting some weird behavior. I tested pressures on the accumulator port and reading didn't look right. They read way lower than I expected. 50 to 60 in first at idle, then up to 150 psi at 2k rpm. Drove it a bit in the pasture and couldn't get it to lockup in 2nd gear. Couldn't foot brake the truck at all in 1st gear, just pushed right through my manual brakes. Seemed to shift ok going from 1st to 2nd to 3rd at WOT, but coming back to the house, shifted into 3rd just crusing and it acted like it shifted to 1st gear.

Called Will at PDD and talked to him, checked the shifter linkage and detent location in each gear and it was spot on from the way I adjusted it. Also moved the pressure gauge from the accumulator port to the governor port and ran another test. 1st at idle was up a bit, at 2k rpm it bounced from 150 to 175 psi, going to 2nd and 3rd, it didn't read pressure at all. I did find that the converter would lock in 3rd gear.

Tried OD on the first outing, but didn't try it on the 2nd outing. Didn't get it to go into OD on the first outing.

Sent Will a message since it was after hours there and waiting to hear if I need to tear into the VB or trans to troubleshoot the issues.

I did finish building the mount for the driveline speed sensor and got it hooked up, need to test the Data logger tomorrow to make sure it's all working correctly.

Also got my stroud trans blanket, a shifter boot (was smaller than i thought it would be) and my shifter knob today. The knob was successfully installed....

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Got the truck filled up with fluids and took it for a test run. Getting some weird behavior. I tested pressures on the accumulator port and reading didn't look right. They read way lower than I expected. 50 to 60 in first at idle, then up to 150 psi at 2k rpm. Drove it a bit in the pasture and couldn't get it to lockup in 2nd gear. Couldn't foot brake the truck at all in 1st gear, just pushed right through my manual brakes. Seemed to shift ok going from 1st to 2nd to 3rd at WOT, but coming back to the house, shifted into 3rd just crusing and it acted like it shifted to 1st gear.

Called Will at PDD and talked to him, checked the shifter linkage and detent location in each gear and it was spot on from the way I adjusted it. Also moved the pressure gauge from the accumulator port to the governor port and ran another test. 1st at idle was up a bit, at 2k rpm it bounced from 150 to 175 psi, going to 2nd and 3rd, it didn't read pressure at all. I did find that the converter would lock in 3rd gear.

Tried OD on the first outing, but didn't try it on the 2nd outing. Didn't get it to go into OD on the first outing.

Sent Will a message since it was after hours there and waiting to hear if I need to tear into the VB or trans to troubleshoot the issues.

I did finish building the mount for the driveline speed sensor and got it hooked up, need to test the Data logger tomorrow to make sure it's all working correctly.

Also got my stroud trans blanket, a shifter boot (was smaller than i thought it would be) and my shifter knob today. The knob was successfully installed....

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Just realized looking at the book, I tapped into the reverse port on the trans and not the governor port.... Will get out to the shop early in the morning and move the pressure gauge to the right port and test it again.
 
Ok, took the truck out to test it after switching ports to test the pressures.

idle 1st 90psi
idle 2nd 80psi
idle 3rd 75psi

1st 2000 150psi
2nd 2000 150psi
3rd 2000 150psi

never saw it reach 175psi while driving it.

shifts seem a little sluggish.

it doesn't lockup in 2nd gear that I can feel, I can feel it lockup in 3rd gear.

converter seems to be too tight, can't spool it up on the brake at all, just pushes me through them. Don't know if its because I have a manual master cylinder or the converter is too tight. Guess I can rip the stand along power steering pump off today, and swap in my vacuum pump / master cylinder setup back to run the hydro boost setup again.
 
I'd definitely recommend the hydroboost setup. It'll make those crappy stock brakes hold a lot on the line. With my last converter (looser), I could get 35-40psi on the line before it'd break a bit.

It sounds like you've got some other issues too though. When I shift gears, I'd guess it shifts within a tenth of a second. And it feels even faster when locked.
 
yeah, will try and sneak out to the shop today during business hours and try to get the brakes system swapped around. Need to run into the parts store and get another big bottle of brake fluid and another caliper, might as well switch it out while I'm at it and get rid of the small leak at the back.

The shifts aren't crisp at all, there is a full second to 3 seconds between me shifting and feeling the trans shift.
 
Well, we made some last minute vb changes yesterday and I got the truck back together around midnight last night trying to get lockup in 2nd gear working. It didn't work.......at all. Truck ran light **** during my run, shifts were real sluggish. Only made the one run and scratched my other two classes as it wasn't worth it doing more to the trans. The oil smelled hot on the dipstick, but didn't look burnt. I couldn't get any of the kids to taste it and give me a report on it's flavor.

Going to get the trucks unloaded in the morning and get mine washed and back into the shop so I can drop the pan and take a gander and figure out if I'm pulling the whole transmission or just undoing the mod to the VB we did last night. May pull it anyway just to check the clutches and seals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SqdKYtl848
 
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