Problem solved

Well, I learned something today. I have never seen one of these, but apparently this does exactly what I'm looking for. It is made to help olds with motorhomes combine the separate brake/turn functions on their fancy Newmar Mountain Aire's to combo brake/turn for the Jeeps they've been towing.



https://www.roadmasterinc.com/products/accessories/electrical/converter.php

https://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar-Wiring/Roadmaster/RM-732.html?feed=npn&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAvoqsBhB9EiwA9XTWGV****209of48-VfwiE7-XFlFiytlU1AKUVaNQ8cbeyrQWGmluMythoC6egQAvD_BwE

In my mind this will fix my problem. If it won't then on to Silvy's plan.

I'll report back.

We have officially crossed the threshold my friends; after almost a year this now a driving project! The State of Texas, well, Beto's Garage anyway, has deemed the Catastrophic Cummins worthy of sharing the road with the likes of you. I don't know if that's a testament to my mechanical ability or Texas' valuation of y'all's safety; but either way, look out amigos - we out there. All legal with real metal plates.



Now I can set out to extinguish lit idiot lights on the cluster, of which there are many, one by one. I will try to put several hundred miles on the engine before I worry about tuning and really start leaning on it. Hopefully a thousand miles or so will get the rings seated and clutch seasoned. I only had two very small leaks, one of which I fixed this evening (elbow on oil cooler to turbo). The other is diesel at the CP3, but I need CPjr to help me find it because a clear diesel drip requires at least 10-years-ago-level eyesight.

Speaking of CPjr, I much appreciate his contribution to the effort. He took up 3D printing as a hobby while on his internship. I was drawn to the technology and the many applications for it - and since he was bringing the printer home for Christmas I came up with some work for him.

This switch blank plug had been hogged out by PO or a big rocker switch - but I wanted to use the location to mount my Redrac brake controller. The plug blank is discontinued, and the old one was no use to me, so I downloaded a free modeling program and dusted off some long-time-forgotten CAD skills to come up with a suitable replacement.



One thing I learned; more prototyping leads to better final product. It felt like SpaceX around here; I was cranking out new versions for him to print every couple days. I settled on a final version and today he printed it in carbon fiber nylon for durability. I did all my dimensioning in inches and 'thou' because I speak English; but apparently the 3D printing world standard is mm. We got through it. I might have to get a new caliper, lol.



Sorry, I'm overly proud of that little gizmo so I have decided to dabble in this hobby myself. Now I've downloaded Fusion360 because it seems to be the most highly recommended modeling software. I believe the hobby license allows me to do projects without having to pay an arm and a leg. Well, the learning curve for it seems to be straight up. If any of you guys know of a good tutorial video series - please share a link. I only want to learn one program - is this the right one?



Next up: diagnosing two engine codes (including OVERBOOST which will fix itself with tuning, the other is cam sensor related, waiting on new Cummins sensor), airbag codes, ABS codes, and chingos of bulb warnings because I got tired of wiring and I'm just powering through the hyper flash for now. Oh, the little Brite-Lite thing fixed my brake light problem and @TxAg20, if it's clicking I'll never hear it over the racket - but thanks for looking out for me.

So until the next update:



I think I'll fold up the center seat organizer and see if MrsCP will make sitting in the middle great again. Damn I miss the 1980's. You youngsters will never know how much bucket seats and captain's chairs changed the game... and not for the better.

CP, you are the coolest poster on TexAgs. Awesome work!

AgToadie said:

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CP, you are the coolest poster on TexAgs. Awesome work!

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Whew. Glad I was able to quote before you came to your senses and edited.

Thank you for the compliment. Now, I will screenshot that and send it to everyone I know.

Centerpole90 said:

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You youngsters will never know how much bucket seats and captain's chairs changed the game... and not for the better.

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Great update!

GentrysMillTX10 said:

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Let's see an under hood picture now that it's all complete!

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Sorry friend, didn't mean to blow past this request without replying. I just let a couple days get away from me. Before the rapid disassembly I didn't spend a lot of time looking around under the hood; I forgot how nestled and actually hidden the mill is in there.



I do want to compliment Diesel Power Source's compound kit. When I started assembling it on the stand I anticipated tons of fitment issues once I got ready to stick it under the hood. The exact opposite was the case, I went in like it was made to fit there. I'll grant this; it is absolutely packed - and it would or will be hell when I do have to fix something. However, I didn't spend a second repositioning anything but the air filter, which I had to lower on the intake pipe to get the hood to close. All in all the kit fit like a champ. Installing the turbos while the engine was on the stand made life easier, no doubt.

I pulled a vacuum on the AC Friday night, and it held well - so I charged it Saturday morning. Air conditioner works - that's a plus. Engine idle up ins't enabled. I can enable it with AlphaOBD, but first I have to ground a pin on the ECM. That's a down the road project.



Good heavens, there is sufficient rattle to everyone in the county know its running when sitting at idle. After all the work and worry, I'm a Nervous Nellie listening for every possible sound... of which there are many. I was convinced I had a throwout bearing problem until I searched 'dual disc G56' on YouTube. That must be why every Valair box, bag, and sheet of instructions had a red decal on it saying "DON'T CALL US AND TELL US THIS CLUTCH IS NOISY." lol. I guess that's just how they sound.

I'll be asking for some tips as we get into tuning; and I look forward to that because it's just a stocker as is. For instance: Will I need a boost fooler even after it's tuned? I know it's de-fueling now when it hits 40# - but will the tuning take that out or is a boost fooler still necessary?

We went up to the county livestock show grounds for our annual cleanup day. It is only a few miles from home - I've could have driven the backhoe and been there quicker than it took to load/unload on each end... but what's the fun in that? I do like the Redarc brake controller; it had plenty 'whoa' on my gooseneck with the gain about mid-range.



Lastly, If any of you feel froggy (I'm looking at you GentrysMill) all it takes is strolling over to the classifieds board...

https://texags.com/forums/50/topics/3437134

c'mon in, the water's fine. We can be '06 5.9 brethren. Less the rattling clutch.

We are danger close to a one year anniversary of this thread, so let's do a quick life update of the Cummins project. There is still no tuning or hot rodding to report; just plain ol' break-in driving. So far the Catastrophic Cummins has logged just a little over 500 miles with only one big scare. Status update:

Exterior - I got a new front windshield so Silvy can stop bagging on my old and busted one. I did limo tint in the rear window, 15% on side windows, and a 15% brow 2 inches below the AN1 line up front. I usually puss out on going past legal but I decided to live a little on this one. I considered limo all the way around but by buddy who did that says he's been stopped a couple times by our locals and I don't want the hassle. I'm still keeping an eye out for a Ranch Hand replacement brush guard to replace the baja bar. Also, mud flaps will go on soon. Here's what it looks like now:



Inside.... the air conditioner works - yuge plus! It also flooded the passenger floor before I dug the dirt dobbers out of the condensation drain. We had a pretty good cold snap during the county fair and I found out that I either have blend door or heater control valve issues. Don't worry, I survived. Since I may not need the heater again until 2025, I'm adding it to the list of 'stuff behind the dash that needs to be worked on'. That list also includes: troubleshooting the airbag light, swapping the light switch for one with a fog light function, re-soldering the dash tachometer chip to the circuit board, mounting a couple accessory switches, and a sound system upgrade. The wet floor definitely gave the interior aroma some funk - I was going resort to Black Ice for help but I was afraid I'd have to beat the pipeliners off with a stick so I'll just tough it out.

I can't say enough about how much I love this Edge CTS3 monitor. From the truck's PIDs I read speed, tach, fuel level, fuel rail pressure (Ks of psi), intake air temp, engine coolant temp, and boost. The exhaust gas temp, low fuel pressure (before CP3), engine oil pressure are read from other sensors I have added. I should have put one of these on my daily years ago. This screen is one of 3 totally programmable monitor screens. It will also read and reset trouble codes in the ECU.



On the scare: I changed the cam position sensor last week and when I did I found a few small metal flakes on the sensor. That was quite disappointing and I was pretty crushed. The more I thought about it and researched it though, I became convinced a shop built long block might have some metal in first couple oil changes. I changed the oil over the weekend (500 miles) and the magnetic drain plug did have just a few metal filings on it. I put the oil filter in a ziploc and this afternoon I carried over to my friend's shop and we cut it open. There wasn't much of anything in the filter - a sparkle every few folds of filter material with a red flake of paint here and there. Randy said it was fine, I should stop worrying about it and hammer down. So that's what I'll do. Coincidentally, I had just received some Blackstone Labs oil sample kits, so I mailed an oil sample off this morning for analysis.

While researching the Cummins Forum about a rattle in the cam gear drive (I was curious if this was making metal) I learned there is a process to quiet that. If you go back my walk around video you can clearly hear in front of the truck. According to CF and that video; you can silence that rattle by playing with the timing between the CP3 (piston pump) and the cam drive. That relationship isn't 'timed' in the traditional sense, but the interaction of the piston pump's timing can create pulse in the gear lash of the accessory drive. The idea is gradually changing the relationship between the two will bring that pulsing into synch with the gear drive. I will try this and report back.

The County Fair a couple weeks ago was the first look a lot of my buddies got of a running, driving CC. I received a lot of compliments - I wouldn't have thought a plain white run-of-the-mill 20 year old Dodge would garner much attention - but it did. Our little rural county really enjoys supporting our kids through the Fair. Even though my kids are gone - I enjoy helping out and serve as the swine committee co-chair amongst other responsibilities. Every year we try to have a feed one night to reward our crew and send off a few Senior year exhibitors. This thread has benefited from the occasional diversion, here's another one.

I kept my beer hidden, but accessible, under a few diet cokes -



Pig committee is responsible for organizing classes, checking weights, and validation tag numbers as pigs go in the ring. While we did that my buddy Mando's son was keeping us apprised of how the cook was going on dinner:



Small town life is definitely the life for me.



Swine committee dinner menu: you guessed it -



At the end of the night my chariot was ready take me home.



I'll be getting pretty busy on the farm for a while; but I'll try to drop reports if anything big happens.

RATHER BE CUMMIN THAN STROKIN

Long trip report with pictures.

tl/dr: Drove the project truck from one end of Texas to the other, back again, loaded both ways, and truck passed the test with flying colors. I'm proud of the accomplishment and consider the engine broken in. I feel comfortable now moving ahead with tuning.

When the panhandle was on fire I was planting and couldn't get away from the farm. I had hay to donate and contacted one of the relief groups about a donation - but understandably, I'm just so far from the disaster that transportation was a hurdle. Trucks running from central Texas were making quick turns so it made little sense to deadhead here, and I couldn't get away to haul it to a collection point nearer, so I just had to wait for the right time to help with what little I had to offer.

We finished planting cotton early last week - caught a good rain - and I found myself in need of at 54' rotary hoe. The closest new one I could find was in Abernathy. That's only about 3 hours from Canadian and a relatively small diversion in a 24hr trip - so I endeavored to make my donation after all. The big wrinkle was - I was dead set on trial by fire for the Catastrophic Cummins! Monday afternoon I made contact with South Plains Equipment, Tuesday morning I had a deal, and by Tuesday afternoon - without near enough thought or preparation - I was on the road.

That afternoon's drive was pretty stressful. I heard the faintest variations in sound, I felt the finest vibrations, and I was fixated on the Edge monitor, anticipating a disaster that never happened. I got to Abilene about 10:30 and woke up bit after 4; so a lot of Tuesday morning was in the dark. I got to see a herd of mulies very near the roadside (!) just out of Paducah, which was cool for me. We can pick up the action in Childress where I bought the most expensive fuel of the trip: $4.



As I drove farther and farther from home my anxiety multiplied. My safety net was shrinking away behind me, and even though I had commitments from buddies to bail me out if this all went south - they were now more than a day away, and I was in truck that still felt like a stranger. Sure, I had totally disassembled & reassembled it over the last year, but we were on a trip, loaded, greater than all the miles we'd driven together around home. The risk of waiting on the side of the highway with a few diet cokes and pretzels outside Winters or Wellington for help a day way was real. Seeing the sunrise near the Red River was real boost - I was close and for the first time I felt like was going to make it.



As I neared Canadian the damage met my nostrils before it I saw the burn scars. There is no escaping, or mistaking, the burnt smell and it permeates everything. As I rolled into town on 83 I couldn't miss what I was looking for: a collection yard behind the feed store with a mountain of hay, neatly organized by type and size.



Jim made quick work of getting me unloaded. He was one of the volunteers working the yard and he's from Arkansas. I don't know how long he's there for but he had also come a long way to give his time and effort. The stacks of donated hay and good will of the volunteer effort contrasted with the scorched earth we were standing on made it a surreal setting.





I could have stayed and visited with Jim for a while, and since I'd successfully completed leg one of my journey, I kind of wanted to - but I had to get on because someone else was rolling in to do their part. I was very happy to add my little bit to the pile; I hope some survivor cow appreciates the taste of South Texas. Speaking of - as a border rat I'll admit to snickering when I hear about how good Allsup's burritos are. I fancy myself a pretty good judge of breakfast tacos, and when in Rome and all....



Not bad Allsup's. I mean, if you don't have Whataburger, or a vieja who makes her own tortillas, you do what you can, right? 8/10. Would eat again.

I felt like a race car leaving town without the hay onboard. I paralleled the fire's track a long way out of town and eventually it faded off in the distance and I made my way to Abernathy. South Plains didn't tarry getting me loaded. A little tweak here and there with a big wheel loader and I was putting chains on in no time. This was going to be a pleasure to haul compared to the parachute-like load of hay.





The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I couldn't, or didn't, maintain the 80mph speed limit on I10. I drove a lot of 60, 65, & 70. The hay was an ass whipping, no doubt, and direct is your friend on some of those hills. 4th gear came in handy once or twice. I can only build 40 pounds of boost. I believe that is largely due to the factory tuning; but even when I had it mashed to the floor EGTs were well under 1200*. Mostly 1000*-1120*. I never saw any smoke but there is a little soot on the bed. For all the fuel I burned, and it was a metric crap ton of it, that is not a surprise. However, the compounds do a great job of managing that and also helping me keep it in 6th and some boost up when running under 2k rpms. So far I am very happy with that upgrade and can't wait to get some tuning to take advantage of them. That said - for anyone not familiar with the G56 transmission - gear rollover noise is REAL. It's a good thing I was prepared and knew what to expect, otherwise I would have probably cut the trip short at the first good hill. We flat-landers don't hear it that often, but pulling a hill of getting a load up to speed in the lower rpm band is a gut check with a G56.

When I was standing in the yard in Canadian I checked to see how far I was from home. 755 mi.



Later I got curious; what if I'd just got back on 83 and headed north, then driven the same distance that direction as I was from home? The answer: just into North Dakota.



If I had done that - and added about 240 miles to it - I could have gone from Canadian to ACTUAL Canada. Texas is a big state - I should know - I've seen a big part of it in the last couple days.

That was a memorable, productive trip. I was pretty hush - hush about what I was doing when I left, for fear that it wouldn't end well and I'd be embarrassed for such a foolhardy undertaking. But the CC didn't let me down and as we got farther south I felt pretty proud of the work I'd done on this project. It may blow up soon - but I will always have this trip to point to as a win. Until the next update...