Dead Pedal and a very unsettling trip home

[JeepBuilder]

I will order the gaskets Monday. I looked today and dry as a bone. But I trust the groups wisdom here and will change them. JR the truck came out of Seattle to me two years ago. I live in the Idaho Panhandle about 40 miles from Canada. The truck has not seen hardly any salt. So my covers should be in great shape. I quite driving it in winter because the de-icer is extremely aggressive to sheet metal. I can see mild corrosion on my frame from just a few trips from two winters ago. I had planned to paint the frame and undercoat the body. I ran out of summer. I think Monday I will start all the repairs. Good thing I have another daily driver. Thank you all for all the advice.

 

[NIsaacs]

In short, yes you will. When those leaks show up is the only question. It's generally a combination of time (engine hours) and heat cycles. The tappet cover gasket gets hard and brittle with time and heat cycles. Gasket tension eventually decreases as the gasket hardens and shrinks until a leak forms. This leak can be as small as a few drops to completely dumping the entire sump in a matter of minutes once a section of the gasket pushes out under oil pressure. It's not alot of work and even less money since you will already be into the VP.

I don't know your location but you mentioned salt. I've seen a couple of these covers that were in bad condition. They aren't very thick and can be compromised from the elements. Be sure to have a good look at the exterior including the gasket surface. As has been stated it's not a job you want to do over again.

I agree, and once they shrink enough, the gasket cracks. Mine was hard as a rock. Note the crack at the bottom, right at the edge of the concrete slab. I also tossed the styrofoam sound panel, it was trashed out. I also think it holds the heat in.

 

[JeepBuilder]

Thanks for posting that. Looks about ready to let go. My parts store used to be open on Sundays. They started closing after covid. So I have to wait till tomorrow to get them on the way. It won't take but half a day to get them. I am most definitely doing them now.
Our first snow is falling this morning. It is not sticking but that is going to change soon. All this repair work is totally worth it. Especially when we are sitting in the camper at a river eating chocolate chip cookies.

 

[JeepBuilder]

Well I guess winter is here. It was 1 degree this morning. And 6 inches of snow fell Thursday. That was fast. So question on my injection pump I removed. Since the pump has the trademark Chrysler bar code decals on it, is it a safe assumption that is it original to the truck?
Here is a picture..

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If it is original than it is pretty much not a surprise that it may need replacing. I am getting after several repairs. The Tappet cover had rust on the outside edge under some of the old (and brittle) gasket. So I hit it with a scotchbrite pad on a air sander and got rid of most of the corrosion. I then painted a good coat of high zinc frame paint on it from Eastwood. The inside looked new of course.

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I had to weld on a replacement stud that holds the foam cover. I elected to save it and put it back. If it blocks any heat from the vP44, than that can't be a bad thing. I also tossed the idea of using a felpro gasket. After reading in a few different forums that it leaked after install, I ordered a cummins one from Geno's. Granted most of the reports of leaks were from improper use of sealant. I will be putting mine on dry as intended. With the 3m weatherstripping glue to secure it to the tappet cover of course.

So digging deeper into the truck, I pulled a very leaky vacuum pump and power steering pump. I have a new high flow Borgeson PS pump that I bought a couple years ago when I lost assist in the cold. I was able to save the OEM pump by a screen clean and a switch to Redline fluid. Mays well put in the new Borgeson pump now. In also installed the Pete Gould gear and electric vacuum pump seal and O rings. I found my front half coupler is highly worn. I read that this will shear eventually and cause a loss of steering and brake assist. Not good. It took a bit to machine up the bits to pull it and the front gear from the shaft. The SS pusher post I made was to soft, and got expanded from all the pressure and it now a permanent fixture in the coupler. Pete Gould at fixinrams.com has new couplers for 66 bucks. I'm calling for one tomorrow.

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The vacuum pump will get new vanes (also coming from Geno's) and the new coupler. I honed the internals lightly with the finest hone I had. Just to clean it up. It looks great. The rotor shaft I put in a lathe and gave it a quick polish with red scotchbrite. So I will have a fresh hopefully non-leaking pump. My truck was leaving a puddle everywhere I parked. The tappet cover had no leaks. But it was brittle as heck.

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So I am waiting on a few parts and some redline fluids. I sealed up and shot blasted some of the aluminum parts. Then coated them with a matte clear cerakote coating. No white corrosion now. So this down time is getting a reman VP44, with a stealth cover add on, a vacuum pump rebuild, new PS pump, new intake air temp sensor, Tappet cover gasket, lower steering collar bushing, new APPS unit, new fluidampr, and probably another thing or two. I also turned up the FASS pump to 14.5-15 PSI. So I am curious about the vP44 I took out. It appears original?

 

[JeepBuilder]

Well the Dodgemahal runs once again. it even sounds better. Maybe that is the Fluidampr working. I replaced the VP44 with a tuner ready unit from Oregon Fuel injection, rebuilt the vacuum pump, changed to a Borgeson high flow PS pump, and resealed the tappet cover with a Cummins gasket. Also a new APPS from Geno's. Put on the Fluidamper, And an oil and filter change. I did not do the lower column bushing, or the intake air temp sensor. I have an improvement for the column bushing. I will do those later. So hopefully I have cured my dead pedal. Later today the wife and I are going to drive the truck up to Priest Lake to get a coffee. Then the truck will sit till spring. No road salt for it.
So I learned a little trick for the power steering. Last time I worked on it, I lost assist in very cold weather. At the forums suggestion I cleaned the screen found behind the pressure port and switched to Redline fluid. It worked but... Bleeding it was a royal pain. Even using the front off the ground and slowly rotating lock to lock as the manual says I kept blowing tons of expensive Redline all over the place. This time with a completely new pump I lost not one drop. I built a line to go from the pressure port to one of the returns. I plugged the second return. Then I filled the empty pump with Redline and using a 3/8 hex bolt in a cordless drill, I ran the pump to fill it and prime the circuit. Quickly plugging the ports for the trip to the truck, I swapped the lines on. I got the truck started after bleeding the IP lines. I lost no fluid and only had to add about 1 cup to bring it to level. I never lifted the front either. Just a couple slow turns driving and all done. Last time it was a repeated fluid shower. This time perfect.
The shaft has a hex cut into it. A 3/8 hex head bolt fit perfect. My old pump to show this.

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The wife just walked by and said.... Hot diggity Dodge. Yep... I'd say so.