Underpowered & Underweight

The monster truck needed maintenance.

Normally, I change the oil, check/fill the fluids, and lube at 3000 miles. It’s a habit, even though I’m using synthetic and can go longer. In this case, nearly 5K. Problem is, it’s hot as shit in the evenings when I have time to do this.

No matter. Had to be done this week. Figured I’d knock out the oil, and deal with rotating the tires in the morning when it’s cooler. Besides, this was the first week back working the iron, and my arms and legs were sore. Maybe one more day.

It’s not all that hard to change the oil. You can crawl under the rig without it being on ramps. The oil drain plug and filter are right next to each other. Easy to service. While I was down there I got out the grease gun. Damn thing has zerks. I’m used to the sealed joint variety. Got it lubey-doobied.

Cleaned it out a bit. Then made a fateful decision; Fuggit, I’m already hot and sweaty, may as well knock out the rotations. Why not? I gots a cool electric impact!

Heh.

First thing I found out, right away, is my floor jack is 1.5 ton. Ok. The truck is 3.5. It groaned getting it up. My stands are 2 ton.

Second thing I found out was that my Ryobi 1/2″ impact wasn’t going to cut it whatsoever loosening the lugs. I had to get the breaker bar.

Those mags were a stone cold bitch to slide off that hub.

Oddly enough, the jack wasn’t struggling as much with the fronts.

Should’ve broken out the air tools. They don’t get tired. My battery only lasted one side before having to change it out. Getting the wheels back on was easier, and the Ryobi got the torque nearly perfect.

By the end of the project, I was wasted.

That said, after 6 quarts of oil, the beast seems happy. Man that V10 runs smooth. Only thing left is the air filter. It has one of these:

That’s a $70 K&N washable filter. I got a new one on order, plus the stuff to clean it, so I can have a clean one on rotation. Should have it Friday, before I head to the Girl’s.

I absolutely love this truck. I’m a Toyota snob by nature. But this thing has been as smooth and reliable as my Sequoia was. I’ve researched six ways from Sunday, and I can’t make the math work to trade it on a more gas thrifty truck or add a 4 cyl beater to the fleet. The only math that worked was for the Kawasaki.

In the not to distant future, I need to waddle to Harbor Freight and get heavier stands and a 3-ton jack. They aren’t inexpensive, whatsoever, but I need one before my 1.5 ton blows up.