Ford OBS 7.3 manual trans or 1998-2003 manual trans 4x4 for overlanding? F250 or F350
- Thread starter jonb96150
- Start date
Well, worst case scenario happened! Tensioner pulley came apart in Saline Valley, CA. A very remote part of Death Valley. On an 80 mile dirt road accessed by snow covered passes on either end. No cell service.
Started squealing a few miles away from Saline Valley warm springs, and came apart about an hour later. I mistakenly figured it was the belt as changing the belt has stopped squealing for thousands of miles after I bought the truck.
It was dark and cold and with a flashlight I struggled with replacing the belt for an hour before I realized there was no sheave on the tensioner pulley. Being new to serpentine belts, and in the dark, the shiny part left left of the tensioner pulley did not catch my attention. When I realized the sheave was gone, the enormity of the situation hit. Over 50 miles from pavement, with about 10 miles over a 7000' pass in up to 8" of snow on a very remote dirt road. And no water pump. Holy crap!
It took me 16 hours to drive 10 miles as I could only get about 1/2 to 3/4 miles before boiling over. And then shut down the engine and cool off. Wondering how many starts I was going to get out of the batteries with no alternator. Repeat for 16 hours until a Park Service guy came by. He radioed into San Bernadino and we arranged for a 4x4 flatbed tow truck to rescue me. I was told to expect a $2200.00 bill. Holy Crap!
3 hours later I was in about 8" of snow and pouring snow over the engine to speed up the cooling when he showed up. He had to continue a half mile to find a spot to turn around and winch me onto the deck. I thought we might have to chain up but he had aired way down and we only spun tires a couple times.
In a couple hours and $1600.00 later he dropped me off at the Bishop, CA ford store where they replaced the tensioner pulley, and I had them replace the idler pulley as well.
Totally self inflicted as I neglected to replace those relatively cheap rotating elements as a matter of course upon buying a truck with 160k on it. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
So I am going to get this pulley that can replace the a/c compressor:
http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=971212&cc=1124783&jsn=471&jsn=471&jsn=471
I'm going to start sourcing replacements for other rotating parts, but I can't carry them all, so probably just the smaller ones.
An expensive lesson to be sure. After over 25 years of remote solo overlanding this is the biggest fail so far. And ironically, the only reason the Park Ser. guy was on that road was because someone had abandoned a house cat at Saline Valley hot springs and he was transporting it to the Bishop SPCA. I made a $50.00 donation to that SPCA for that cat as he saved me untold drama trying to get back to Big Pine with no water pump or alternator.
So all you folks with serpentine belts, take a cue from my ignorance and either replace rotating elements or carry spares, and of course a belt. You lose one pulley or accessory and you are hosed.
Thanks again for the good info contributed by the OBS guys earlier in this thread.
Jonb
!
Started squealing a few miles away from Saline Valley warm springs, and came apart about an hour later. I mistakenly figured it was the belt as changing the belt has stopped squealing for thousands of miles after I bought the truck.
It was dark and cold and with a flashlight I struggled with replacing the belt for an hour before I realized there was no sheave on the tensioner pulley. Being new to serpentine belts, and in the dark, the shiny part left left of the tensioner pulley did not catch my attention. When I realized the sheave was gone, the enormity of the situation hit. Over 50 miles from pavement, with about 10 miles over a 7000' pass in up to 8" of snow on a very remote dirt road. And no water pump. Holy crap!
It took me 16 hours to drive 10 miles as I could only get about 1/2 to 3/4 miles before boiling over. And then shut down the engine and cool off. Wondering how many starts I was going to get out of the batteries with no alternator. Repeat for 16 hours until a Park Service guy came by. He radioed into San Bernadino and we arranged for a 4x4 flatbed tow truck to rescue me. I was told to expect a $2200.00 bill. Holy Crap!
3 hours later I was in about 8" of snow and pouring snow over the engine to speed up the cooling when he showed up. He had to continue a half mile to find a spot to turn around and winch me onto the deck. I thought we might have to chain up but he had aired way down and we only spun tires a couple times.
In a couple hours and $1600.00 later he dropped me off at the Bishop, CA ford store where they replaced the tensioner pulley, and I had them replace the idler pulley as well.
Totally self inflicted as I neglected to replace those relatively cheap rotating elements as a matter of course upon buying a truck with 160k on it. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
So I am going to get this pulley that can replace the a/c compressor:
http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=971212&cc=1124783&jsn=471&jsn=471&jsn=471
I'm going to start sourcing replacements for other rotating parts, but I can't carry them all, so probably just the smaller ones.
An expensive lesson to be sure. After over 25 years of remote solo overlanding this is the biggest fail so far. And ironically, the only reason the Park Ser. guy was on that road was because someone had abandoned a house cat at Saline Valley hot springs and he was transporting it to the Bishop SPCA. I made a $50.00 donation to that SPCA for that cat as he saved me untold drama trying to get back to Big Pine with no water pump or alternator.
So all you folks with serpentine belts, take a cue from my ignorance and either replace rotating elements or carry spares, and of course a belt. You lose one pulley or accessory and you are hosed.
Thanks again for the good info contributed by the OBS guys earlier in this thread.
Jonb
!
Nathaniel0712
Observer
Awesome truck. I had one just like it in white. 335,000 on the original engine AND e40D - It was babied. The only thing I hated was the TTB 50. I tracked down a 91 F350 with the 460 and a rotted frame for 800 bucks. Sold the engine and tranny for $800, rebuilt the Dana 60 which had king pins and used the F-350 springs and blocks. That thing rode SO much better and would have been even better with the shackle reversal kit from PMF - great source for these trucks btw. The shackle reversal kit will also give you the option to swap in super duty front and rear axles - giving you option of a Dana 50 or 60 SFA. These axles tend to be cheaper as they are more plentiful however your bolt pattern will change, hence the need to change front and rear and you loose the rebuildable front wheel bearings. Since the OBS only has rear abs you don't need to worry about ABS readings on the front axle. I sadly replaced that truck with a 2000 F350 PSD (also over 300K) and now a super clean F250 with the ZF6 from Texas which I absolutely love. I miss that OBS though.
Maiden Voyage to the U.P> after the Swap
Looked pretty ************
Working as my plow steed in Chicago, This is why I could do the shackle reversal!
And the replacement, still isn't an OBS
Maiden Voyage to the U.P> after the Swap
Looked pretty ************
Working as my plow steed in Chicago, This is why I could do the shackle reversal!
And the replacement, still isn't an OBS