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@Third From Texas: Update on the trans fluid question. Got ahold of the CAT dealership this morning and turns out the transmission has OTR brand Full Synthetic ATF (Link Here). They said fine to top-off with any other full synthetic ATF - I asked specifically about Transynd or Mobil D/M and they said both should be fine. We will see how it goes.
Yeah, I need to pop the sample port open and pull a sample to find out exactly what's in mine. It's and A1R and has a red tint to it. I suspect it's ATF but want to be sure. General Disorder has the same truck as I have. It's coming up on 10k miles and I'm going to do a full service on the entire truck. $$$$$$$
My truck has about 7,000 miles on it now. The trans definitely has 15w40 in it. I just pulled a sample a few days ago - on the dip stick it looks nearly new. In the sample bottle it's a little darker than new oil would be. Very clean though.
congrats...... no magic white smoke.
@coachgeo Thanks for the suggestion. I originally checked the starter after reading about driveline issues. I thought the issues were primarily related to the three main bolts that affix the starter to the engine (not the flange bolts). That said, I've tracked down a local driveline shop and will bring both shafts in to get balanced. Out of curiosity do the drive line issues manifest themselves most often in the A0, A1 or A1R?
A0 and A1 4-wheel trucks have the issues.
same true with any steepish drive line angle. steeper angles are better at transmitting vibrations from one place to another is all.
I tried running some tubing down the fill port and only got about 3’ in before I hit something (either a screen or just a tight bend in the fill port) and couldn’t get the tubing down into the ATF reservoir.
I've been shopping solar MPPT devices for this. Some of them would seem to allow charging the house bank while on shore power/generator, or while running the main engine, automatically switching when needed. Ideally I'd like something that would handle inputs from the engine, plus solar, generator and shore power. So far I've only found some that will do 3 of the four, so I'm thinking of combining shore power and generator inputs with some kind of A/B interlock switch to prevent ever having both connected.
I'll keep folks updated on how it goes. The big unknown that I need to investigate is how the PMDS, Battery Bank and Starter are all wired. I think for the ACR to work it needs have a direct connection to the from the battery to the starter; if the positive cable goes through the PMDS then it neuters the efficacy of the isolation aspect of the ACR. The remote switch for the ACR appears to fit nicely in one of the existing dash rocker switch slots. I have a 24v electric winch which is the primary reason for the ACR.
