Alarming rattle can noise from under truck

[Scott6]

68 is checked in Park - not N as the old stuff.
Set it on level ground and after first fill just let it idle for as long as you want and top off to the desired fluid level.
Doesnt matter for the last couple ounces. Within the min-max range is fine.

yea I guess it flows fluid in park as well, it does cool down in park. I swear the manual says neutral still, I’ll check on that to be sure. Interesting.

 

[Ozymandias]

Yeah that was a main advantage from the 68 over the 48 that it flows fluid all the time.

 

[DavidC]

I drain the trans. and TC on my 47. I initially start out at 6 quarts or until it is at least showing on the dip stick. If I loosen the valve body and drain over night I start at 10.

 

[Scott6]

I got the new BD flexplate in. I went under the truck to put it in and noticed my oil pan is leaking (no drips) from under the crack seal plate I pulled off. It tore up the pan gasket when I did the main sea so I replaced that part of the gasket with gasket maker. So that sucks. I might need to drain the oil again and pull the oil pan to replace the gasket now, damn.

However, I went back and tightened up the pan nuts, I had forgotten to come back and hit them with a hand wrench, I just put them in with my little Milwaukee m12 impact. They did tighten quite a bit more so I’ll see if any oil is leaking tomorrow and make a decision on pulling the pan or moving forward with reassembly.

 

[Scott6]

I check this morning before work, no leaks after tightening it down, but I don’t think it’s worth the risk. I think about an hour labor to drain, pull the pan to swap the gasket and refill. I also got my hands on the spare tool used to center the cam and seal plate so I’ll pull that and make sure it’s done right as well.

I can’t imagine pulling the pan while the trans is in the truck. I’ll buy and brand new 5gal bucket to save the new oil I just filled with.

 

[DavidC]

You may want to check the freeze plugs back there. If you can change them to brass from the steel Cummins uses. I never really checked it out but have read what a PIA they are to get to.

 

[Scott6]

Funny you mention that, I was toying with the idea of the fleece coolant bypass kit, but it’s so damn expensive for basically nothing.

Boy, you pop of the trans and it snowballs fast.

 

[Scott6]

Well, can’t get the pan off and I broke it loose already. I’m gonna put the trans in, and then lift the motor up high enough to pull it. I started to, but I’m leery of doing it without the trans holding it in place. crap.. live and learn.

I also was not happy with the rear main seal. I got a oem Cummins from Genos. It did not come with the metal tool ring thing. So I wasn’t happy with eyeballing it center and the depth. Also it seemed loose compared to what was on there. I grabbed a felpro from autozone for 30$. The tool made install super easy and it was nice and snug like the original.


Here’s the new flex plate installed:

 

[Signal73]

I’d pull the bellhousing adapter before lifting the motor, much less work as your truck sits now. You can also try and jack the frame and let the axle droop.

 

[Scott6]

Got it off. I actually found it easier with the trans on the truck. When I was lifting the motor without the trans attached was feeling sketchy, With the trans in, and the trans support black in place (but trans unbolted) it tilted up and back nicely and the pan cake right out without pulling the pickup tube.

it’s all back on and sealed up good now. I have a million small things to put back on, but I should have it running tomorrow. For now it’s time to clean up and take my wife out.

 

[DavidC]

Sure turned into a project. Good luck on the startup.

 

[Scott6]

All right, today before the super bowl I got it all finished. No leaks, shifts properly, no slipping and most importantly no rattle noise. Actually it sounds smoother overall so that’s cool. It didn’t take as much trans fluid as I expected, I put around 13-14 quarts in it a little at a time with idling, shifting and some driving between checks until it was hot and full. So I guess there was a lot more in the case that didn’t escape while it was sitting out. Not I have 1.75 extra gallon jugs of Mopar atf+4.

Thanks for the support all, couldn’t have done it without you.

New oil and filter
New Rear main seal
New pan gasket
New billet flex plate
Neds trans fluid
New trans filter set
New trans pan with drain plug
2/4 shaft u-joints replaced
New fuel filter
Rotated tires
Bleed new break fluid into the system
And a hand full of small things along the way.

 

[DavidC]

All right, today before the super bowl I got it all finished. No leaks, shifts properly, no slipping and most importantly no rattle noise. Actually it sounds smoother overall so that’s cool. It didn’t take as much trans fluid as I expected, I put around 13-14 quarts in it a little at a time with idling, shifting and some driving between checks until it was hot and full. So I guess there was a lot more in the case that didn’t escape while it was sitting out. Not I have 1.75 extra gallon jugs of Mopar atf+4.

Thanks for the support all, couldn’t have done it without you.

New oil and filter
New Rear main seal
New pan gasket
New billet flex plate
Neds trans fluid
New trans filter set
New trans pan with drain plug
2/4 shaft u-joints replaced
New fuel filter
Rotated tires
Bleed new break fluid into the system
And a hand full of small things along the way.

I'm wore out just reading about all of the work. Great job Scott.

 

[Scott6]

update on this. It's been a while, I have since towed my 5th wheel for about 70-80 hours across a hand full of trips, no issues! The truck has been pulling great, trans feels as good as new. Including my wife towing WOT passing rigs like their standing still.

I did apparently break one trans pan bolt head off, because well, there's one broke under there and a slight film around that corner of the pan. I'll deal with that at some point. Need to back out the broke bolt stud, so fun. When I check the trans fluid it has never needed any so it's not leaking much at all.

The output seal on the transfer case is still leaking... not Idea from where. It's out leaking at the seal, but there is a little bit of fresh ATF slung up under the tunnel from the drive shaft spinning it.


anywho.. all is well, thanks again

 

[Wayne M.]

I just caught this one now. Sheesh that’s a big job! And great work! You didn’t seem to get rattled. Excellent.

 

[Tuesdak]

The output seal on the transfer case is still leaking... not Idea from where. It's out leaking at the seal, but there is a little bit of fresh ATF slung up under the tunnel from the drive shaft spinning it.

So it's not the seal. There is a steel plug in the end of the yoke that can leak. Looks like a seal leak and all. I went through several seals until they put RTV on the yoke plug of my 2003 2WD. YMMV.

 

[Scott6]

So it's not the seal. There is a steel plug in the end of the yoke that can leak. Looks like a seal leak and all. I went through several seals until they put RTV on the yoke plug of my 2003 2WD. YMMV.

ohh that sounds easy enough, I saw someone mention a plug before but I could not see one in there.. ill have to go take a better look.

and yea, the seal a boot are nice and clean now but there is still ATF spun all over the place.


Update: Yea man, there is a little dimple in there, I had no idea Gonna clean it up later and put some RTV on it. Thanks!

 

[Scott6]

Umm actually no, I don’t have a plug or dimple on mine. But not that I’m really looking at it, it goes look like that’s where it’s leaking from. How weird. You would think that price would be solid not two part.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Umm actually no, I don’t have a plug or dimple on mine. But not that I’m really looking at it, it goes look like that’s where it’s leaking from. How weird. You would think that price would be solid not two part.

I also have a slow leak on the transfer case like you, and figured it was the seal, which I already replaced, still small leak.. I'm going to have to look at this closer given what you are seeing as well. I did find a very minor scratch on the yoke where it goes through the seal, but I cleaned it up with some 1500 grit and got it less that 0.001".. I thought that could account for the minor leakage, but now not so sure. Yes, seems really odd for that to be 2 part fabrication, and some kind of apparent press fit together.

 

[Scott6]

Updates, the yoke still leaks, but even over 150k later the diff and trans have never been low at service time. And my under side in that area is rust proof lol.


Trans is still holding well. I noticed some every so slight shift flares on our last 18hr tow, admitted we were using 6th a lot more than I normally do. We had a long drive home and were sick as dogs, I just hit “D” drive and mashed it home. Im considering an upgraded VB now just to help it last longer, no pressure codes yet.

I tried 3 times to extract the bolt in the pan I broke, every service since lol, no dice. But a little extra RTV in the area and it hasn’t leaked yet. At this point it’s just gonna be like that until I replace it with a built tow trans