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So a minor update. Motor just rolled over 9k. Everything for the most part is still going great and i have located a 2500hd 4x4 frame so im thinking of doing a 4wd conversion sometime in the future. A small but important detail has come back to bite me in the ***. So during towards the end of the build i really needed my truck back on the road for work and i used a crankshaft from a 02 lq4 with the smaller rods in a pinch and did not get it balanced for the bigger gen4 rods. From day one it had a very tiny vibration from 1200-1700 rpm in park and a small shake at idle. When driving it was fine but i think the imbalance has taken its toll on bearings beacuse now when im crusing at 2k rpm it almost feels like the engine is missing. Hopefully by this weekend a proper crank will be on its way to me along with new bearings...
So a small update. Motor has 20k on it and still runs great. The truck somehow turned into a work/daily driver. My old work 1500 truck just wasnt able to keep up with the amount of lumber i haul sometimes and this one hauls anything i throw at it like its nothing. Motor still has a shake at 1.5k rpm but oil cleared up a long time ago. Im just gonna run it until the fall/winter when my business slows down and open the motor up and do what i need to do. Worst case scenario i just buy a junk 6.0 and rebuild it. The motor thats in it has payed for itself 10,000x times over this season so not really sweating it. You can bet your *** the next motor i build im gonna make sure the crank is balanced though..oh well **** happens you live and you learn... Many months ago i found a nice commercial grade ladder rack with 2 Weathergaurd tools boxes on CL for $400 so i grabbed them up and installed them. Never was a fan of the side mount tool boxes but these look pretty cool i think. The finish is a bit corroded on them when i get time i want to have them powder coated or Raptor lined black. The tires that i had on the truck were Nitto trail grapplers and they were way past due to be changed. I was originally going to get a set if 17inch rims with some 285/70/r17's. Last friday i found a set of 305/50/r20 Nitto Terra grapplers with Gear big block rims for $850 on CL. Seller said the tires had 5k on them and one of the rims has a bit of clear coat peeling but at the end of the day the truck is a work truck and good tires alone for a 2500hd are $1000. They are a bit bigger than i wanted to go and my acceleration has suffered a bit it feels like but the ride is way smoother than the mud tires. My old 0-60 time was about 8 seconds with the smaller tires i have yet to test these ones. Still gonna put a 3inch zone level lift on it since i do have to go offroad sometimes. Have also been looking at the Yukon Grizzly locker since my truck is 2wd. Once i find a POS 4wd on craigslist with a good frame and stuff im gonna convert it but all in good time. I do have a ? That has been bugging me i hope someone can enlighten me. So normally with my 4.10 gears when i cruise at 60mph in 4th my rpms are at 2k. Well on 2 or 3 seperate occasions i noticed while cruising at 60mph the rpms were at 1.5k and i could go up to 70mph until the rpms hit 2k. I have tried to replicate this but to no avail and like i said it has only been a handful of times. Would it be a tourqe converter problem or a speed sensor? The truck does have 300k miles on it but from what i can tell the trans shifts fine. Am i just an idiot or is this indicitave of a problem? Anyway thanks everyone.
A bit of clear coat peeling on this rim. Gonna do a bit of research and see if i cant re clearcoat it. Honestly im not really a fan of the machined face of the rims. Im going to try to Viynl wrap the faces gloss black to match the rest of the rim. Also those fake *** bead lock bolts look dumb gonna see if i cant paint them so they wont be so noticeable.
Edit: As you can see im a dumbass and put a dent in the rear lower part of the bed. Still havent forgiven myself. Best ladder rack ive ever owned. This thing is a frickin beast! Also my first experince with WeatherGaurd toolboxes and i can see why they are so expensive. They are built like tanks.
Ok I feel like an idiot. So last night had some rare down time and was re looming my wiring harness under the hood to make things look nicer. Had a random urge to crawl under the truck and clean a few ground wire contacts just for the hell of it. While under the truck i looked closely at the trans mount and it was totally shot. Like the rubber was gone and the tailshaft was resting on the crossmember..Replaced it tonite and the trans was cocked about an inch to the left. Had to use a ratchet strap to get it back in place. My vibration at 1500 rpm is 95% gone. If i rev to 1500 rpm i can feel a barely perceptable flutter and thats just cause i knew it was there before. I didnt think that was the issue because it would still vibrate in neutral so i ruled it out automatically without checking thoroughly... but i guess so..When i was putting the motor in the truck last year, i peaked under there and it looked like it was intact but what i thought was a block of rubber was the metal part of the mount covered in black grime. So to say the least i am very happy but i also feel stupid because of my oversight..my truck did that **** for a year because of a $20 part I ASSumed it was the crankshaft because it came out of an older lq4 and i didnt get it balanced.getting new motor mounts because those have been beat to **** for a year. Still going to open the motor up this fall and make sure everything is ok..also gonna take my spare 5.3 crank and have it balanced so it will be on the money and i will have peace of mind.
02-07-2019, 10:12 PM
If i rev to 1500 rpm i can feel a barely perceptable flutter and thats just cause i knew it was there before. I didnt think that was the issue because it would still vibrate in neutral so i ruled it out automatically without checking thoroughly... but i guess so..When i was putting the motor in the truck last year, i peaked under there and it looked like it was intact but what i thought was a block of rubber was the metal part of the mount covered in black grime. So to say the least i am very happy but i also feel stupid because of my oversight..my truck did that **** for a year because of a $20 part
I ASSumed it was the crankshaft because it came out of an older lq4 and i didnt get it balanced.getting new motor mounts because those have been beat to **** for a year. Still going to open the motor up this fall and make sure everything is ok..also gonna take my spare 5.3 crank and have it balanced so it will be on the money and i will have peace of mind. 
