As much as my wallet would appreciate it if I would, I have not quit on this project yet. I finished picking cotton so I've had a little time to start wondering how the hell I got myself into this sh.. I mean, what part of the truck to work on next.

The engine is still on the stand, not a lot unlike how you saw it last. I did put away a lot of tools and organize a lot of parts and stuff that were stacking up behind the camera view; but you can't see that so you'll have to take my word for it. I need to put some oil in this soon so I don't screw up and forget. The engine builder said use whatever, but don't use synthetic for initial startup. I'm guessing that's to help seat the rings.



Most of my time has been working on the frame like I alluded to in my last post. I whacked the factory bed mount pillars off because they had already been but down not tall enough for my application. In their place, and keeping with my nature to use way too much metal for the application, I built these pillars and then an angle iron saddle to cradle the bed runners. This is borderline wasteful, I know, and I've used a good bit of the truck's placarded GVW to just haul the bed around, but I'm happy. Since the gooseneck mounted in the bed and not to the frame, I thought it was important to make sure the bed had something substantial to rest on.

Canyon, if you're reading this, I've moved on from Hamby scrap iron; that 3x5 tubing is Hutchmaster orange.



The order of operations is:

• finalize all bed mounting points
• install fuel tank
• install Air Dog and route fuel lines
• return to working in engine bay

What I don't want to do is be cutting/welding/adjusting over the plastic fuel tank; plus it gets really tight with the tank in there. So over the weekend I trial fit the bed and made sure that I liked everything. Then I'd remove the bed and proceed w/ final welding and spot painting before installing the tank.

Like I've said before, I work totally alone, so it's nice to have the equipment that allows me to do that. This kind of stuff takes a lot of patience since the pickup is DOA (no engine) and can't move itself into position - I have to move the bed to it. Getting the front toolbox of the skirted bed over the tires requires every inch of headroom in the doorway.



After a little pushing and lots of sweating, I had the bed in place. It was not perfect. Where I thought the bed would rest at the rear was actually a little low - so I will shim a big back there, but the most important thing was that my fabricated front mounts were spot on. The bed aligned perfectly with the bottom of the cab like I'd hoped. Using a digital level and later a string line, and using the door moldings and window as datum lines... the bed is aligned with the cab. *it looks a little wonky in this picture - because the camera as on 0.5x zoom and has a convex effect



She's got such a big booty.



I took the bed back off this evening for final welding. Now I need to really look at the wiring situation. I will probably share more of that here. The bed is completely pre-wired to a single plug - but I am thinking that doing it that way will wire then entire bed up as if it were a trailer. I need to re-read the CM website on wiring and check that. I don't want to have a bunch of codes related to taillights.

Anyway. Still at it. Hope to see some diesel smoke before the Ags are what? 4-0?

The pickup frame will buckle before the bed mounts fail, but that sumbeetch aint goin nowhere. It looks like we come from the same school of fabrication. Its either overbuilt or not built.

EskimoJoe said:

---

The pickup frame will buckle before the bed mounts fail, but that sumbeetch aint goin nowhere. It looks like we come from the same school of fabrication. Its either overbuilt or not built.

---

When in doubt.

Make it STOUT.

Got home from the Aggie game tonight and it's like Christmas at my house. And by Christmas, I mean I got online the other night and ordered myself a whole bunch of stuff and acted surprised when it showed up.

I think I got the wiring deciphered and should have the connectors I need here to wire the bed lights into a CM wiring adapter, and the proper plug for the trailer circuits. magnumtmp kindly reminded me to get some resistors for the LEDs to avoid the quick flash. I had seen the redarc controller and MTTANK's suggestion was just the urge I needed to give it a try.

I finally got the junkyard and found a passenger side battery tray (mine was cracked). $15. I saw a truck without a bed that it would be easy to cut the spare tire Xmemeber and winch out of…. I need a cordless cutoff saw to make that easy though. Slow progress, but progress!!

Not ded yet.

Awesome. Sounds like you are moving in the right direction.

Haven't done a whole lot to the nationalist. It developed a pull to the right when breaking. I rebled the brakes but it didn't quite come out of it. I did pads, rotors, and rubber lines earlier, so that left calipers. Swapped calipers from OFR (O effin Reillys) and still sorta pulled right. Late last week it just sorta came out of it. Weird.

Had tires put on a couple weeks ago and it had a vibration at around 50 mph. I took it back and had them recheck balance. They swear it's dead on. I gave them the benefit of the doubt since he has treated me right and has done good work. I swear it feels like a tire out of balance. I figured the 30 year old carrier bearing could be causing the issue as the vibration seems to be speed related regardless of gear and engine rpm. Swapped that out and still have a vibration. I guess i will have to take it to another shop. Side note - the neighbors all know what an air hammer sounds like now.

I ordered the Dakota Digital TPMS system earlier in the year. I had them install the sensors when they did tires. My 30 year old pickup now has TPMS.



Had another refrigerator go out weekend before last at one of the rentals. That makes 3 this year. We are out of spares and parts to fix it would take 4 days to arrive. The nationalist made a 175 mile round trip to get a new one that Sunday. Parts came in later in the week. I got the old unit going and after running it a couple of days, I pulled it around back to wheel it into the store room in our basement.



Since (1) I had the tractor out and (2) we are headed into fall and therefore need to empty the gas tank as it will most likely not come out of the basement until next spring, and (3) my son always gets to go on tractor drives around the neighborhood, my daughter got a turn to go on a tractor drive.

Guys I have kicked this can as far down the road as I can without making any REAL progress in a while. I have procrastinated because I felt like the minute I married the engine to the truck I would instantly regret not doing this or that when it was more accessible on the stand - but it's time. I was bachelor this weekend while MrsCP was visiting her mother and since I had the extra hour and all...

tl;dr - I put the engine back in the truck. I managed to NOT drop it.

First things first. I have to set the mood, so cue the best FB Marketplace find of 2022. I plug my sign in with my words to live by. It's the perfect day in the shop: cool temps, light breeze, phone not ringing.



Prepping the chassis to receive the engine means putting the body lift back in. I follow the method I learned on Youtube - 2x4 shim @ the rear cab body mounts, and a 4x4 block shim @ the front cabin body mounts. This lets the engine clear the front crossmember without the firewall cockblocking you. That's a hella body lift.



After all that work and effort, it's almost time to say goodbye to my badass engine stand. It was a key part of this project so far. I guarantee that I'd have dropped this engine if I'd tried the jinky 'hold it from the side with a Harbor Freight stand' method. That works great I'm sure, but I would have been THAT guy.



I know this is umpteen pics of this mill, sorry. I just hope I don't have it out again for a long time and I love the way it looks all clean and spiffed up.



You might be asking "Centerpole, that engine sure is big and heavy, and you said you work alone, is there any time that your butthole really puckered up??"

Yes. Right about now:



At one time I thought about getting a time lapse of setting the engine, but I thought 'oh, no, that'll take forever'. Not really. This part went surprisingly fast. My overhead trolley hoist goes east and west, and the truck us facing north; so inching the truck up to the engine and then under it took a couple minutes. Then it was a matter of just letting it down and inching forward after the pan cleared to hook the head up under the cowl. Finally, I just set the motor mounts in their cradles. I was surprised how little time it took.



I still had all day, so I started putting stuff together. Intake (I really want a Banks Monster Ram intake horn, but I'm not going to spend the $ on that right now), air conditioner compressor, power steering pump, dipstick, running the wiring harness, letting the cab back down, sitting and admiring my work - I was having fun again!

One lesson learned. I took a million pictures as I disassembled the truck - Thank God. I spent half the day on my phone making sure I put everything back just like it was - it would have been very hard without those pics; I likely would have had to borrow my buddy's '06 for a day to compare. Also, labeling every part I could and bagging them with descriptive labels helped A LOT.



It was probably about this time that I sent this snap to all of my friends. All 3 of them: Silvy, my kids, and some random who quick added me. I guess I'm hard of hearing because it doesn't seem like I have the music turned up so loud when I'm in the shop.



This is about where I ended up. I started to hook up the exhaust but then thought better of it because I believe that will interfere with putting the transmission in. I will need some help for that; I can't do that alone. I was pleased everything seemed to fit as well as it did. The turbos cleared the battery box with room to spare; that had been a concern. I promise I'm going to replace those faded headlights, but I was saving that as a reward to myself for getting some major work done. Maybe soon.



I was very happy with the stance once I got weight back on the suspension. I replaced the front springs so I expect a little bit of settling and I think the weight of the bed will put me just about where I want to be when it's all assembled. The Alcoas just do it for me. I let one of the fronts flop over on the concrete this morning and scratched it. I'll need to sand it back out and then polish it again - but I did't let that ruin my day; a little swearing helped.



Busy week coming up; don't expect to get much done. However, l will be in College Station to meet some good friends who make the Veteran's Day Military Appreciation game every year. SO if any of you thread regulars are there with your family come by and have a beer. We are right in front of the Heep Center on west campus, Lot 67 - look for the Short Bus with the tap on the side.

It is so hard to digest all the coaching search stuff on Texags for hours a day and still get work done in the shop, but I'm down for it.

Yesterday, I gave the G56 the degreaser/oven cleaner treatment and got it shining like a new penny. This evening I stuck it in the truck. That last part took a bit of work - and I anticipated it would - but it was made much easier when I relented and loosened the cab mounts to put some blocks under it again. That let me do the ol' straight in approach vs the sneak attack from underneath that the big bell housing requires.





I also hooked up all the exhaust while I was under there. Now I will recheck all the motor mounts, wiring, and fuel plumbing. I will probably put a manual oil pressure gauge on and remove the fan belt in the next few days and do the initial startup with a quick (few seconds) run before I put water in it. That way I can work out any major leaks or issues without having the radiator in the way. I want to make sure I have oil pressure and that I'm getting oil to the turbos before I get too far.

This is a gentle reminder, Amigos, to be real careful what you sign up for. I was quite sure of myself when I posted at the beginning of the week that I was going to do A, B, then C was fire the engine up... and of course none of that went as planned. I got all the plumbing done and hooked up all the wiring - but when I started to purge the low pressure fuel lines, I hit the key and - nothing, nada, no AirDog roaring to life.

I've checked all my connections and grounds, and think I'm good there, but I'm finding myself disadvantaged not having had a 3rd gen before. When I search for 'dead PCM' I find all sorts of info for resetting the PCM with a combination of shutting the door, latching the seat belt, pulling a fuse, closing the hood (I don't even have the hood on!) - but I'm not certain That's my problem. I am not sure my PCM is even on the CAN. I have tried to establish communication with the PCM with both my Edge monitor and this Bosch code reader with the the same results - nobody answering the phone.



I figure my next step is to find out what pins should be hot at the main harness connector and make are there is power to the PCM. I have checked all over the vehicle and measured voltages between the grounds and a positive battery post - the block, chassis, everything is grounded.

If it means anything to you 3rd gen guys I do have a slow blink of the security lamp below the speedometer. If I push the key to the start position with the clutch depressed - I can hear a starter relay click under the dash, but the engine does not turn over. I don't know if that a starter thing or relay thing or computer thing. This might be one starter relay away from being a 'crank, no-start' condition.

I'm not screaming for help yet, but open to suggestions. And for clarification - the AirDog should start running when you turn the ignition on, correct? Before START.

I used to Tailgate with Richard and the "Corner Crew" right there next to that tailgate when I was In school. I haven't been there since 19 but now my buddies got the spot from Richard. I'll have to say hi next time I'm down there. I've really enjoyed watching your build.

The only time I ran into a security lockout on a Cummins was when a buddy and I didn't properly uninstall a programmer on one truck before installing it on another, both '04's . The truck we took it off of was fine, but the truck we tried to install it on locked us out, I remember the code being the same as the PCM failure. We took the programmer to a dealer who erased the previous trucks VIN from the programmer and all was well.

I'm not positive if it applies to Dodge, but my '05 Duramax is evidently very sensitive to aftermarket accessories affecting the truck computers. I went to change power settings on the tuner one day and it got hung up on the upload setting. After 30 mins I looked it up and they recommend pulling the fuse on aftermarket accessories before changing tunes, failure to do so could wreck the ECM. When it never finished loading, I finally worked up the courage to unplug the tuner and try to start the truck, luckily it was fine. Anyway, something to watch for.

This thread has inspired me to try and fix up an old dodge. My in-laws have a 93 extended cab 250. It's been used, but it has potential. They don't use it anymore. It needs more body work than anything.

AgsMnn said:

---

This thread has inspired me to try and fix up an old dodge. My in-laws have a 93 extended cab 250. It's been used, but it has potential. They don't use it anymore. It needs more body work than anything.

---

This thread has reminded me that I will never work on a truck that has a computer in it.

AgsMnn said:

---

This thread has inspired me to try and fix up an old dodge. My in-laws have a 93 extended cab 250. It's been used, but it has potential. They don't use it anymore. It needs more body work than anything.

---

You are drawing the wrong inspiration from this thread!! This thread should inspire you to appreciate your savings account and things that go vroom when you turn the key! That said I can't wait to follow your first-gen build with a mechanical (yeah, I'm jealous today) Cummins. /thumbsup

That said, I'll eventually figure something out. I suspect it's not near as tragic as I'm imagining in my mind. I ordered a couple things to help me poke around the CAN bus more methodically (including an outdated android tablet to run alphaOBD), and I'm hoping that helps me sort things out - bad ground, bad comms, or something else.

I can't work on it this weekend - because I'm with family and Thankful for so much today - including this little community of kindred spirits I've enjoyed for almost 20 years. Hope you all have a great one!!

Nothing major to report. As suspected the ECM is not on the bus. I don't know exactly why, but I suspect it is related to grounding. This was not an issue before the tear-down and I have no reason to think there has been some catastrophic failure of the ECM; so I will start with the simple stuff first: checking grounds/wiring.

I will say, for those of you who have Rams, this alphaOBD is pretty cool stuff. It's a $49 app on Google play store. Even on the older thrid-gens there is a lot that can be customized/monitored. I bought a cheap Android tablet and OBDmx Bluetooth adapter. I can get in the body module, instrument module and the like, but can't access the engine control module as of now.

I know the wiring is good on the AirDog because I can command the body control module to activate the fuel pump relay, and the AirDog roars to life. As suspected- the ECM is not commanding it to purge.



You can select any individual bulb on the truck and manually illuminate it. That would have been VERY handy when I was identifying all the bed wiring.

I was watching a manual oil pressure gauge and I saw signs of life a couple seconds into the spin, so I just stayed on it and finally the ECU green-lit the fuel flow. Once it was running I was getting 75# on the manual gauge. I pulled the feed lines off the turbos and got a few drops of oil so they're good. A keen eye will spot a pretty good fuel leak on the driver's side. That's return fuel; methinks I left something loose on the filter delete block.

Mission accomplished. Now I'll resume assembly. I'm going to sleep good tonight.

ETA - the front end is not that jacked up, the camera was filming wide angle mode, so it looks like ricer camber.

The ECU issue was, of course, pretty simple. Once I zeroed in on loss of comms or power to the ECU and not some security system lock out (I got distracted by the blinking security light lamp which will actually flash for LOTS of reasons) I looked for the most obvious culprit - the firewall connector where the engine harness hooks into the chassis harness.

After disconnecting them and inspecting all the pins, I set the key to run, then climbed up there and manhandled the connection pretty good. Didn't take long for things to start making noise: fuel solenoid, fuel pump, relays clicking in the chassis module... So obvious.

Quote:

---

Glad to see it exit paperweight mode.

---

You and me both! I've spent so much time on the Cummins Forum, where you hear everybody's problems, I was about get really down. You know, as handy as the internet is - it can be a distraction. This is a good case in point because I let one clue lead me way down another path based on other's posters experiences with their trucks. It really was right in front of me the whole time.

Also, on Saturday - Go Pokes, Pistols Firing, Pistols Up or whatever we are supposed to say - BTHO tu!

The good ole wiggle test. Earlier this year we were troubleshooting an electrical issue in the shop and one of the diagnostic steps in the CIH tech manual was to perform a wiggle test on the harness and connectors. Usually the tech manuals will say something like "check for continuity between connector XXX and connector XXX".

Also, praying Gundy and the team has one more miracle left in them this weekend. We would love to send those conference wreckers out with a loss. GO POKES!

I know this reads like a Facebook feed keeping this updated, but hey, I'm turning wrenches to the right now. Someday I won't be around and y'all can bump my threads and say "He didn't do much, but he sure was proud of the stupid sh*t he did do." lol. Sorry, I'm not planning on going anywhere soon; so, you're stuck with more truck pics for a while. In all seriousness though, I may be in need of an intervention. I don't know where I went from building a 'warmed up stock' truck to full restoration of 17yo farm truck, but here I am. I go down the darndest rabbit holes and end up on eBay or MoparOverstock ordering some obscure part.

On to the progress: As of my last post I had the engine running. Since then, the transfer case and driveshafts have gone in, new clutch master/slave cylinders, and a bunch of wiring. Once I had all the 'hard to reach' stuff done I felt safe working up front. "Look at me, I'm an airplane" there are ultralights out there with smaller propellers.



My goodness that intercooler looks massive without the front valence in place. I was burning the midnight oil this night,



Today, I put on radiator hoses and intercooler boots. This is supposed to be fun, right? Sometimes, I tickle myself.



With water in, I ran the engine and re-checked the oil to make it didn't look like chocolate milk. I also watched the radiator to make sure it didn't look like a gyser. Remember, this engine is only as good as the shop that built it! I also surrendered to my OCD, and pulled the valve cover to convince myself that all rattling was healthy and not a wandering tappet. Everything was okay. Disregard the guy in the comments saying I have a bad oil pump. Oil pressure is good and all the rockers are oiling well.



Outside under her own power.



Y'all know I work in a barnyard, right? I was sweeping the shop and next thing I know all the replacements heifers are out checking my work.


A few more shots from my photoshoot this beautiful evening. Next up is flatbed stuff and the interior trims. At some time, I have to get the darn Rhino Liner off the front bumper. I am not looking forward to that.

> Makes wife buy Alcoa wheels
> Still has busted to **** windshield

Patience Padiwon.

There is lesson in this for you, young newlywed.

Added another big piece over the weekend - now I can see it starting to come together!



I don't think I've shared it here - but this Ford sold on FB locally about 2 years ago. I saved the images of it because I loved the look and the stance; truth be known, I guess it inspired this build. I won't be far off the mark.



An afternoon shakedown drive was uneventful after the shipping oil burned off the hot end of the turbos. That prompted the 'stop and look' but they were just getting seasoned. I haven't leaned on it at all, and probably won't for a bit while the rings seat - but I can already tell that he turbo whistle is going to be addicting. I probably need to actually attach the bed before I drive it too much. I forget it's just sitting on there.



I had long been searching for a way to remove the rhino lining from the front bumper. I've dabbled with a couple techniques I found online but they were all tedious and worked half azzed - so Saturday evening my buddy and developed an alternative method. Whatever carcinogens we released were quickly neutralized with adequate amounts of beer.



I wasn't too hungover to get on a ladder Sunday and change the shop marquee. This is me in a nutshell:



Today I called and got it listed on my schedule of insurance - If I get the hood on this week it's off to the lick-n-stick down the road for inspection and then I'll make sure it fits through the Whataburger drive-thru.

We're far from done. Now that it's a 'driving project', we can talk tuning and getting rid of codes. The instrument panel looks like the National Christmas Tree. For tuning, my plan is to go the EFI Live route from https://www.5-9diesel.com He seems to be the crowd favorite over on Cummins Forum and specializes in 3rd gens; so I figure it's a good place to start.

Merry Christmas everyone. I don't know how MrsCP is going to fit it under the tree - but it feels like Santa stopped by early this year.