Help with a 1st generation

[LVarhaul]

Hello TDR. I have been a member for about 3 years and never have posted. I bought a 1989 W350 auto. It has a mason dump for a body. I am looking for help because the truck is rough, and I am not really mechanical incline. I am looking for someone in Northern NJ who might be able to guide me with repairs or tell me I am waisting my time. The truck runs but it has rust and the death wobble in the front end. I would like to make the truck dependable and somewhat nice to look at. Any help would be grateful.

 

[stakedd]

just ask away. the best mechanics in the word started off on something just like you have. carful though I started and now I cant stop.

 

[1stgen4evr]

Three years and first post. That must be a record of some kind. You can get all the advise you could ever need here. Most of the first genners are pretty handy with wrenches. May not have started with that in mind but with a truck as old as all of ours are, you will certainly be involved with repairs.



Easy on the eye you say, well thank goodness for paint. Women and trucks get a lot of help from that. Unless your truck has been in a garage all its life, it would be ready for paint anyway.



The death wobble is curable as is all the other ills. Where to start? Working on these truck is sorta like slicing balony. Don't matter where you cut, you still got balony. Seriously, go slow and find good body repair parts and you can wind up with a truck to be proud of. Total cost (unless you go into serious power mods) will be miles away from a new truck.



Dependable will be relative to the condition of the engine as much as anything else and the Cummins is famous for long life. Be sure that it is good to go and build the rest around it. Remember that a Ramcharger is the same with fenders and interior stuff.



Go for it.



What is a mason dump?



James

 

[therabbittree]

I second that a 1st gen is better any how hehe. . a mason dump is a dump body that is all steel and has a head ache over hang... normally 1 -2 yard capacity at water level - 1- 2 foot sides. . around here in ny about every 1 ton dump has one its rare to see a dumping flat bed or rack body.

later

deo

 

[Headshot zod]

I'm up in northern NJ (Bergen County). Anything can be fixed with time and money. The question is how much of each do you have. I thought death wobble was with 2nd gen's. I may be able to help you assess the situation. Can you take pics with a digital camera and post them here. That would help quite a bit and then everybody can chime in.

 

[LVarhaul]

I am not sure if you would call it a death wobble. It's the tracking, it drifts. I have replaced the steering box, drag link, new tires, and new steering shaft. It has been in an alignment shop, but they said it is on. When step on it hard, it will blow out black smoke. I am not sure if the smoke screw has been touched or if injectors are going. I will try and upload some pictures.

I guess what I am going for is to make the truck something I am proud of, clean up the engine area, and make it dependable. I would like to save it, and still use it for side work.

The truck was orginally a municiple work truck. It has only 63,000 miles on it, but they were tough ones. It was worked hard and put away without any care.

Before I put alot of money out, I want to know if the truck is able to be saved.

Any help will be great.

 

[PToombs]

Did you check the little box just above the steering box on the shaft? It is known to wear out and cause problems. The smoke could be caused by an air leak at the inlet tube, or the turbo could be getting bad. Have you checked the air filter? To check the turbo, pull the inlet hose, grab nut in inlet and see how much play there is. In and out is ok, side to side is not. Good luck!

 

[1stgen4evr]

and new steering shaft.



Is that a Borgsen shaft? Check the pot joint that PToombs mentioned. There can be quite a lot of drift if that worn out. Most alignment shops don't even know about it.



step on it hard, it will blow out black smoke.



Geeze, do you realize how much money these guys will spend to get their truck to do that. But seriously, it should be making a good bit of power when it is blowing smoke. Check all the turbo tubing and rubber joints for leaks. Look into the possibility of guages for all this stuff so you can tell what the boost is/isn't. And you could have a bad turbo.



if you would call it a death wobble.



You can bet that if it does it, you will call it death wobble. They can be so bad that you think it is a dog shaking water out of its fur.



I doubt there is a problem with the injectors. If the truck fires up quickly, and doesn't miss as it warms up, you can pretty much say that the pump and injectors are ok. Change the fuel filter and put a dose of quality fuel conditioner in the canister for a direct slug of conditioner in the pump and injectors if you suspect a problem there. If you have not changed the filter, do it now and see what the result is. The filter is the first thing to do when performance isn't up to par.



63,000 miles on it, but they were tough ones



Maybe it isn't broke in good yet. I have seen at least one cummins that was ruined in 90k miles but it was from a disconnected flex joint in the turbo piping allowing constant crud in the intake. The owner is a real @!@#$%^&*. Normally the cummins will take about any abuse that is thrown at it as long as it gets clean air clean oil and clean fuel.



I will say again, you can make a nice dependable truck that will run a long time. Don't get in a hurry and work you way along one thing at the time. These guys will coach you on anything you run into.



James

 

[LVarhaul]

I have taken the truck to a mechanic to check the truck over to see if it is worth starting the body work. As soon as I hear from him, I am going to start asking a thousand and one questions. I appreciate all of your help thanks

 

[LVarhaul]

I was wondering about changing the wiring harness on my 89. I am getting ready to put some new fenders and door shells on and while the truck is apart. I thought I would do the wiring harness. I can't seem to find a complete harness plug replace set up. Any suggestions.