Grumpy Bear

700# vs 600#.

I had Pepper out and about today. Been about three weeks so it was like fresh eyes. Nasty you have me convinced. I'll keep the 700# springs and continue to work N2 and shims. Thanks for the help.

Drop 1.36 inches on rain on top of 24 inches of snow at 40F over two days! Roads are spanking clean the river high. Wonder if that means the boats off limits too. Pepper got some road time as did puppy and puppy pappy. All it good. All is forgiven.

It would be easier for me to remove the air dam that go on a diet I guess.

That was the steel truck. In what possible way could aluminum made that worse? Only part of that truck that is straight is the aluminum driveshaft!

Late 60's high school drivers education it was mandatory to watch IHP (Iowa) films called "Dead Right". Gore galore. Some from the accident site and some from the ER room. I saw worse in Getty's refinery fire and rescue training. They show a real bad one and anyone that didn't puke or pass out got to take EMT training; the rest go to Texas Fire School. Everyone gets trained. Yes that exposure will change you. That's the ******* intent! Today kids play video games worse that what that photo shows and learn that all those people killed get back up and played the game again. Then people wonder how a kid can walk into a school or church and open up in a crowd with automatic weapons? Desensitized ring any bells? It hurts no one to know that your 5000+ pound super fortress just isn't all that super. But at the end of the day everyone will still believe that their little self important life's 'places to be' is so much more so than public safety that's it justifies being twenty over the speed limit, passing in the no passing zones and following close enough to read the label in your "Fruit of the Looms" at 80 mph, texting and screaming in road rage that it's the guys obeying the law that are the problem. But hey, yea...lets worry about being PC. That's way more important. Love it or hate it. You will remember it. It ain't no video game. Yes I'm Grumpy.

Truthfully I didn't know anything about Viking until after I bought and installed the Kings. That said I am not disappointed. I'm in the tuning phase presently. Are the Viking re-buildable?

I'm pretty invested in these King's but find this information priceless. Would love to know what the factory spring rates were though. No idea why they think it should be such a big secret.

Interesting. My 6 cylinder RCSB with King coil overs is fitted with 700# springs. I had no idea and could find no one willing to tell me what stock was. Nice to have a ball park number. I'll feel less apprehensive about ordering their 600# spring. That's a big help brother. Love your truck and waiting to see your install. Happy Hemi Hunting.

How did you come to choose 750# units?

The PCM takes care of being more gentle and is proactive. A room full of tech's that don't know that is a dealership to avoid. Out of sync? Their saying' the computer gets confused? Like when you misplace your keys?

Just talking to myself and making mental notes. Relax. I'm crazy and you already know that. In a perfect world a cylinder is round and taper free when at temperature and all things properly torqued. Tis handy if you’re trying to seal cylinder pressure. Means a gapless round ring nicely sealed to the ring land provides leak free sealing that assures maximum power and minimum blow by. Just lovely. What conditions would that be I wonder? Besides the forgoing mentioned? A ring that is round at proper piston clearance and preload whose end gaps are such as to be gas tight at operating temperatures and pressures. Whose side clearance is such as to provide adequate back pressure sealing and yet not so loose as to assist in pressure flutter. (Different than RPM based flutter.) Sounds pretty conditional. It is. It also means those conditions, considering unavoidable wear are in fact finite. It additionally means there is a set of conditions where operation is as perfect as it is likely to get. Those would be the conditions of normal operation. Ring gap and side clearance being at minimum at full operations temperatures and pressures. Piston clearance assisting in stable operations based on like conditions. As much as we would like to believe these conditions are not met at either full load nor during the warmup process. Meaning ideal rest in the heart of operations. Fully warmed at moderate loads. What could that possibly mean? Lowest leakage rates occur during full warm and lightly loaded conditions. Funny thing. These are also the conditions for minimum wear! High cylinder pressures increase pressure back loading of the compression rings. Both top and second. That shouldn’t be hard to imagine. Press a lawn mower blade with greater force against a grinding wheel and material is removed at a greater rate. Logic 101. The harder you put your foot in it the higher the cylinder pressure the faster she wears out. The faster the parts rub together the faster they wear out as well. Analogous to RPM. Rub your hands together rapidly and you will get the idea. Pressure and speed increase heat in addition to wear. Increased heat lowers lubrication effectiveness. Heat is not only generated by speed and load but a failure to remove heat exacerbates the condition. Read that radiator issues or silly high water (thermostat) or lube oil temperatures. Longevity of ring life therefore hinges on some pretty basic concepts. 1.) Easy on cylinder loading. 2.) Moderate RPM. 3.) Reasonable water temperatures 4.) Reasonable oil temperatures. 5.) Good oil flow 6.) Good oil filtration 7.) Good oil changed at reasonable intervals. Odd or not these same principles apply to low water content in the oil and low oil mist carryover into the inlet system via PCV systems. Now here some sick humor. In a time when the EPA and manufactures goals are pushing operating conditions to practical limits for the sake of economy and emissions, operators are pushing limits of lubrication and cooling past, and in the opposite direction of all reasonable and practical limits of durability. And then we complain. Now that’s insanely funny. Well I’m not laughing. These things are not cheap and I’m not rich. 1.) I drive easy on the pedal and more so until warmed up. 2.) I plan my trips such that I have no need for speed 3.) I measure and monitor water, and oil temperatures and pressures and when needed: 4.) I installed a more reasonable thermostat. 5.) Lowered Oil temperatures. (cooler on the table). 6.) Use efficient filtration. 7.) Use great oil 8.) Change more often than ‘normal’. Whatever that is. Has it paid off? Oh yea. In my last six NEW vehicles I’ve logged one million miles with zero dollars spent in non-routine maintenance. Not quite as well buying used. I hadn’t any initial control over their operating conditions or maintenance. When I learn to keep a body rust free for longer than 20 years I’ll double these numbers. IF I live that long. Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Why would I care? My wallet is flush.

Me 2.

There's a giveaway.

How hard does this dead horse need beating before we understand that hangnails and the common cold are not AFM related? Before you know it TPMS failures and baldness will be "AFM related".

We caught up on snow fall in the last ten days and now have an excess above what is normal. Pepper isn’t going anywhere and neither did my thread on the idea of one truck per person for life. Thing is, there is allot of winter left and while Pepper may be in lock down my mind isn’t. It’s a curse. I’ll dot the landscape with the journeys of my thoughts…..about Pepper. There’s this thing people do when they get a new vehicle they call making it their own. Except it isn’t actually getting that done. It makes it like everyone else. Like a tattoo or a nose ring. Baggy pants and ‘victory beards’ when there is nothing to win. If everyone has it, it isn’t really unique, is it? There is a good deal of parts swapping on the ‘rumor mill’ theory. Consumer Reviews say blah-blah-blah so everyone ditches whatever it is that didn’t get a million likes to buy something that did. It may be good for the economy of someone, just not mine. I like stock unless stock isn’t getting it done. Thing is, I won’t know if I ditch it before it reveals itself. Like the stock Bridgestone All Season reviews say are junk in the rain, noisy and wear out looking at them. My experience is quite good with them. Quite, great wet braking traction and wearing like iron. Will I try something else? Likely. Just not before I squeeze all the goodies out of this set. Amazing what effect a great alignment, proper inflation and rotation have on longevity and performance. There are some things I will and have changed, like rust proofing, mud flaps and clear bras and UV/IR window tint. Things where later is always too late. Don’t waste the lessons of a life’s experience. I don’t tend to change things that take away from functionality, comfort, efficiency, durability or reliability. But I will change in a New York second a part that shows itself to be hindering any of the preceding or one that seems designed to waste my money to line another’s pockets. I didn’t buy the thing to be a slot machine for the merchants whose bank is my wallet. I bought it to enjoy and to drive and yes, that may mean I buy something that isn’t a functional winner just because I like it. I don’t pretend to dislike it for ‘cause’ to gain approval and I don’t change a thing to another’s liking. Seems a good number of people come to a forum for just that reason. They all end up looking the same. Is it summer yet? Poor Pepper.

Weather man is calling for a week of snow so me and the pup drove down to Starved Rock Park and back. Gave Pepper a bath and put her back in hibernation until the salt ferries are gone again.

53,000 miles now. Still 26mpg ish life time. 28 average summer 24 average winter. Highs over 31 mpg on state roads.

Crazy stretch of warm fairly dry weather resulted in a road trip of about 325 miles which laid down a nice fine layer of road salt dust. We need a good hard rain. This called for a total wash upside down, inside out and backward. Rex does the wheels. Looks like my winter mileage is going to hover around 24 mpg. I'm actually good with that even though it's dragging the life time average down a bit. Is it spring yet?

Barry I almost hate to post and spoil the flow of your thread. I find it most delightful. Something about the way you craft a missive perhaps or your willingness to continue when most others would have cashed in and moved on. Almost like you delight in the next challenge. Your fearlessness is amazing. Thank you for sharing you journey with your baby. Hope I'm still reading your column when you have a million miles on her.

Pepper is hibernating. She does this like a chipmunk. A day or two a month when it's dry enough and salt free she gets up, stretches her legs, wipes her face, gets a drink and goes back to bed. Rex and I both are going mad.

This block heater thing is going to be a much longer term project than I thought. Getting a peak inside the PCM code is being passively discouraged. Now there's a surprise. Patients grasshopper, patients. Well that doesn't prevent other forms of address. http://www.ipsco.org/Custom Services/Remote thermostat housing 133.htm Wish I had seen this before I installed the Jet and limited my options. Summit and Jegs have similar items for sale that utilize the good old SBC Stant thermostats.

I hear an Echo in here...an echo in here....in here....here

I'm trying to think of an example where that might be true and am coming up empty. The squeeze on the families buying power is just as prevalent in non manufactured goods and services. It doesn't cost one red cent more to design a thing right as it does wrong. The cost of heat treat is the same for 62 RC and it is for 55 RC. The cost of steels and alloys properly selected are a wash. Fit and finish is head a shoulders above 1950 levels as is motor life spans. However the 4-5-6 clutch packs in the 6L80E is a great example of stupid is as stupid does. The design is flawed. The apply piston fails to support the clutch discs fully. The cost of the properly designed parts from the aftermarket are cheaper retail than the flawed design factory original replacements. Cost to the consumer is not the issue. Greed is the issue. US buying power is down 40% since 1960. Inflation has out stripped earnings as steady and as slowly as a Boa eating a rat for five decades plus. that is not the result of anyone's necessity. Just plain old greed. Frogs boiled slowly don't notice their dying but can be convinced their not in danger by their own gullible senses.

Fram commercials. Yea, I remember those. That was awhile ago. ( a rant) This emissions and mileage thing has been a frog jumping half way to the wall of dependability/reliability for quite some time. Metallurgic technology advances haven't moved as rapidly as the destructive forces of heat and heat seems to be Detroit's favorite tool and with sound scientific cause. It lowers Nox and viscosity. Keeping the current technology alive and well is a combination, as you've learned, of controlling the quality of the fluids used to cool and lubricate. How long they are pressed for service, how clean they are kept and most importantly the temperatures they are allowed to suffer. That last ones primary lever is load. If you need to load it more than heat says prudent then add a cooler or two. Lower a thermostat setting. Add a fan. (rant done) True story. I run a 2005 HD Electra on 40W. I also added twin coolers that hold oil temperatures to 90F plus ambient. The cam chain tension assembly in these has a know planned failure of 35,000 miles. The factory recommends 50W and preplacement of tensioners and chains every 30K. Cost about one grand. This is an example of a planned failure for profits sake. If you ignore this he chain fouls the backing plate pulling debris into the off drive main bearing and BOOM!!. I ran mine 45K and when pulled down for inspection the tensioners still had 95% + of their original thickness left. In fact I gave permission to replace any other parts not found to be inside new manufacturing tolerance. (this is a top end tear down if you don't allow pushrod cutting and I didn't) Yep a blank check to a dealership. Not a singe part was replaced other than gaskets and tension assembly. A factory HD TC88 will run between 240 and 310F bulk oil temperature on a 90 F day depending on how hard your hammering it. I run 190 F on that same day no matter what. I did the Dragon on a 95F day in third gear never exceeding 40 mph under as much throttle as grip would allow and never broke 200F. The two other bikes with me were both over 300F. Deals Gap 318 curves in 11 miles. Heat is a killer even with great oil.