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Trucks...
- Thread starter James Hart
- Start date
20 year old truck handed from parents to son a decade ago within a hunting family... who knows
I hit Home Depot Monday night and got a couple nuts & washers. Hopefully I'll get a chance tonight to put it back together.
I have a question for Mike (and for anyone else with an opinion!)...
What oil do you use?
I've not cared in almost 2 decades and either bought whatever was cheapest at the parts store or more recently just had the oil change place use what they use. I've been reading up a lot over this last week and definitely want to go synthetic and specifically have drank the 'Royal Purple' brand koolaid. I'm placing an order for 6 quarts + their branded filter (as well as a 14" x 4" open element air filter) from Summit on Friday unless I find reason not to.
What oil do you use?
I've not cared in almost 2 decades and either bought whatever was cheapest at the parts store or more recently just had the oil change place use what they use. I've been reading up a lot over this last week and definitely want to go synthetic and specifically have drank the 'Royal Purple' brand koolaid. I'm placing an order for 6 quarts + their branded filter (as well as a 14" x 4" open element air filter) from Summit on Friday unless I find reason not to.
Whatever oil and whatever filter. Correct oil weight is more important than brand, imo & ime. I've never bought into the synthetic oil hype and probably never will. Conventional oil is fine for 99% of the cars/trucks on the road today and most weekend warrior hot rods.
Brad Penn is not synthetic, I buy it for under $5 a quart. I run it in a $15k sbc race engine without issue.
Is that something you mail order or buy locally? I've heard of it but never seen it anywhere around here. Does it have a high zinc content for flat tappet lifters? (although I imagine your engine is roller)
We ran a mix of Napa 20w-50 and SAE 30 in our 1500 hp 615 cube BBC and never had an issue with that, either. 7 quart wet sump with a plain old spin on filter.
My gear head / mech eng father instilled that in me... along with frequency. He lives by 'every 3 months or 3000 miles, whichever comes first'.
I'm still placing my order, and may continue with it for a few times... but will most likely resort back to hitting the local parts place for 'whatever and whatever' again shortly. The truck has EXTREMELY detailed maintenance records (down to the name of the tech who did the work) for it's first 120k miles. It's had a lot of 'repair' work in the last 50k and evidence of being maintained... but not documented.
Tim, I have a wix filter for the trans waiting to go in it... the previous owner had bought it in prep for making it his plow truck this winter if it didn't sell.
I don't buy the 3 months 3000 mile myth. Personally I go between 5 and 6000 miles for my own oil changes. Time to me means nothing. EFI engines run so much cleaner and more efficient than the carbureted junk of the 70's and early 80's, plus oil has come a long way since 1979. Most manufacturers today suggest 7500 miles between changes, I myself think that's a little too long.
Plus, we're talking about a small block chevy engine. They have pretty much the most bullet proof oiling system ever engineered. You could piss in the crankcase and it would still run.
Not sure how long he goes now, we don't ever talk... and when we did talk in the garage, it was late 70s early 80s
I'm reading the synthetic oil is good for 10k miles, and the RP brand filters (and a couple others) I've read up on claim 6k... I'm figuring planning my changes between 5 and 6k as well.
yeah, high on my priority list with this truck shopping/buying was that it have a small block chevy in it.
Sadly, I took my Dakota in today for what I thought might be a mild transmission problem, to be informed that it needs to be rebuilt for $1200. The shop is reputable, but I'm still not sure about it...the problem is mostly when the truck's cold, and not so bad that it's undriveable. I personally feel like I could probably drive on it for quite a while longer without failure, but I'm no transmission expert, and they know what they're talking about. Honestly, I was more worried about the health of the motor. So overall, pretty bummed out today.
$1200 isn't unreasonable to rebuild that trans, although I'm with norton on the "drive it until breaks" line of thinking. I drove my $300 Saturn with a slipping trans for 20,000 miles before some drunk in a Tahoe rear ended me and totaled my car. His insurance company gave me $2700 for it so it's all good.
I'm thinking about continuing to drive it...honestly, I'm pretty picky about my vehicles and pretty tuned into them, and I didn't even think the problem was that bad. It just shifts sort of sloppy and is hard to get into third gear when it's cold. It doesn't slip or slam gears, and the fluid looks good.
