Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Hello all. I recently picked up my first Cummins truck. I have always been a fan of the Gen one trucks and of the simplicity of the 12 valve engines. I have several diesel machines around, Mitsubishi 3cyl powered Toro mower, Kubota 2cyl tractor, Yanmar 1cyl Generator, Yanmar 3cyl powered John Deere. But this is my first diesel truck... and I love it. Oh that sweet 12 valve music!
I'm not sure how many miles it has since the odometer stopped at 106k. The previous owner claims that it stopped working on him about 20K ago. I'm not so sure that is the complete truth. But the interior is in good shape, the engine is clean and when I picked it up it had no leaks.
The story of getting the truck is pretty entertaining. I had been looking for a crew cab truck out west that I could bring back home. Being from Kentucky, it is hard to find trucks of any vintage that are decent. Most are rust buckets. Just so happened, I found two trucks at the same time. One is an '84 C30 3+3 454 manual, the other is this Cummins. So I worked out a deal to fly into Dallas and pick up the C30 and drive it about 200 miles to where the W250 was located... then I loaded the C30 on a heavy duty car dolly and headed east for about 850 miles. Not sure if that decision was more brave or dumb. Regardless, I made it home almost completely without any issues. I did have to stop about half way home and unload/reload the C30 on the dolly. That truck is HEAVY and it was was only about 2 inches off center but it was really wearing hard on that sides dolly tire. Of course the rear drive shaft was unhooked so that was a hassle but I reloaded it and kept on trucking. Including picking up the dually truck I drove just over a 1000 miles in 25 hours. Averaged about 12mpg hauling 8000 pounds behind me running 65 with OD turned off the entire way. Man was I happy to get home.
Anyway, since I've been home I've drove a few hundred miles and have repaired a few items:
Odometer – replaced the gear and now the od works! Yay, no guessing at how many miles I put on a tank.
Oil pressure gauge – the factory gauge was acting funny, the sender broke as I was trying to remove it so I just ran a mechanical gauge. I like numbers so this is much better.
Radiator - I found a slight leak, the radiator shop tried to clean it they opened up several more pinholes so now she has a brand new radiator.
Water pump - Luckily for me it started to seep at the same time as I found the radiator issue so I replaced it.
KDP - Figured while I have the front opened up I would check/fix the KDP, including new front crank seal and gear case cover gasket.
General - I replaced all fluids and filters. I really don't like the factory fuel filter location. Might be upgrading at the next filter change interval.
Rear axle - The pinion seal and one hub seal were leaking so I ordered up some seals. Pulled the one hub off and found that the outer bearing race had been severally spun in the hub. Someone had booty-fab repaired it by grinding the old race down to about 1/2" width and putting it back in the hub as a spacer then they put a new bearing in on top of it. It worked I guess since I drove it 1000 miles like that. Of course I'm going to replace the hub.
Future upgrades:
Engine - maybe nothing at least not for a while. It is stock with no pump tuning (which is unheard of) and it had no issues pulling the 8000 pounds from Dallas. I’m pulling a 4000 pound rock crawler on a 2000 pound trailer with a 1000 pound popup behind that.
Exhaust - it is straight piped and dumped in front of the rear tire. I'm not a fan of it. I want to run 4" straight but all the way out to behind the rear axle.
Trans (A518) - It doesn't have the auxiliary cooler under the bed so I will add another very large cooler (i'm thinking honda civic radiator, j/k). I am ordering a larger pan with the cooling tubes, drain plug and temp bung. Of course fresh fluid and filter will be installed. Also the OD is wired straight to a toggle switch right now. I'm thinking of doing the AC pressure switch mod so that when I'm not towing it can engage somewhat automatically.
Gauges – I have already added oil pressure, but still plan to add a trans temp.
Body – the body is solid minus one small spot on the drivers fender. Also the bed sides are solid however the bed inside is rough with a lot of rust holes. So if I have trouble getting rid of the chevy dually, I might be putting the flat bed from the C30 on it. I really like cab lights and west coast style mirrors, so they might be added also.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
I'm not sure how many miles it has since the odometer stopped at 106k. The previous owner claims that it stopped working on him about 20K ago. I'm not so sure that is the complete truth. But the interior is in good shape, the engine is clean and when I picked it up it had no leaks.
The story of getting the truck is pretty entertaining. I had been looking for a crew cab truck out west that I could bring back home. Being from Kentucky, it is hard to find trucks of any vintage that are decent. Most are rust buckets. Just so happened, I found two trucks at the same time. One is an '84 C30 3+3 454 manual, the other is this Cummins. So I worked out a deal to fly into Dallas and pick up the C30 and drive it about 200 miles to where the W250 was located... then I loaded the C30 on a heavy duty car dolly and headed east for about 850 miles. Not sure if that decision was more brave or dumb. Regardless, I made it home almost completely without any issues. I did have to stop about half way home and unload/reload the C30 on the dolly. That truck is HEAVY and it was was only about 2 inches off center but it was really wearing hard on that sides dolly tire. Of course the rear drive shaft was unhooked so that was a hassle but I reloaded it and kept on trucking. Including picking up the dually truck I drove just over a 1000 miles in 25 hours. Averaged about 12mpg hauling 8000 pounds behind me running 65 with OD turned off the entire way. Man was I happy to get home.
Anyway, since I've been home I've drove a few hundred miles and have repaired a few items:
Odometer – replaced the gear and now the od works! Yay, no guessing at how many miles I put on a tank.
Oil pressure gauge – the factory gauge was acting funny, the sender broke as I was trying to remove it so I just ran a mechanical gauge. I like numbers so this is much better.
Radiator - I found a slight leak, the radiator shop tried to clean it they opened up several more pinholes so now she has a brand new radiator.
Water pump - Luckily for me it started to seep at the same time as I found the radiator issue so I replaced it.
KDP - Figured while I have the front opened up I would check/fix the KDP, including new front crank seal and gear case cover gasket.
General - I replaced all fluids and filters. I really don't like the factory fuel filter location. Might be upgrading at the next filter change interval.
Rear axle - The pinion seal and one hub seal were leaking so I ordered up some seals. Pulled the one hub off and found that the outer bearing race had been severally spun in the hub. Someone had booty-fab repaired it by grinding the old race down to about 1/2" width and putting it back in the hub as a spacer then they put a new bearing in on top of it. It worked I guess since I drove it 1000 miles like that. Of course I'm going to replace the hub.
Future upgrades:
Engine - maybe nothing at least not for a while. It is stock with no pump tuning (which is unheard of) and it had no issues pulling the 8000 pounds from Dallas. I’m pulling a 4000 pound rock crawler on a 2000 pound trailer with a 1000 pound popup behind that.
Exhaust - it is straight piped and dumped in front of the rear tire. I'm not a fan of it. I want to run 4" straight but all the way out to behind the rear axle.
Trans (A518) - It doesn't have the auxiliary cooler under the bed so I will add another very large cooler (i'm thinking honda civic radiator, j/k). I am ordering a larger pan with the cooling tubes, drain plug and temp bung. Of course fresh fluid and filter will be installed. Also the OD is wired straight to a toggle switch right now. I'm thinking of doing the AC pressure switch mod so that when I'm not towing it can engage somewhat automatically.
Gauges – I have already added oil pressure, but still plan to add a trans temp.
Body – the body is solid minus one small spot on the drivers fender. Also the bed sides are solid however the bed inside is rough with a lot of rust holes. So if I have trouble getting rid of the chevy dually, I might be putting the flat bed from the C30 on it. I really like cab lights and west coast style mirrors, so they might be added also.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Enjoy!
