The parts came from several places: rear main and gasket set from rockauto, oil pump from Oreilly's (melling), clutch kit and flywheel (sachs) from rockauto, motor mounts napa, transmission mount rockauto, tie rods rockauto, shocks from skyjacker (M95s), hubs (Timken) rockauto, calipers napa, cloyes t-set napa, water pump napa, gasket kit napa, coolant walmart, t-stat napa, hoses napa, front gasket kit napa, door handles (billet all AMI), door seal rockauto, key cylinders rockauto, and alarm from some online retailer (excalibur).

There, I think that is everything I've done to my truck since February of this year. It's been busy! And this is all on weekends or days off. I have installed it all myself or with help except the hubs that a shop did quick. I know I'm missing something too. My philosophy is my truck has lasted 17 years thus far, why put on parts that are cheaper than stock? I have made it a priority to replace with OEM or better if possible. She's at over 205k and still rolling as my daily driver since 2001. So I have to use quality parts. And it's still cheaper than a new payment.

There's something big going bad, either a diff or t-case as I have a buzzing vibration that is driving me nuts. Can't figure it out. Shops don't feel it. Just monday I did the new tie rods and that didn't help the steering. So looks like that's not done yet.

I replaced everything that was bad or had too many miles on it. The rear main was leaking pretty bad for years. Once in there, do the oil pump. New gaskets all around. The timing set was because the internet said so. If I were you, I wouldn't do it. It did nothing for my truck. And the old chain had the standard slop you see on youtube. But once in there, you gotta do the water pump, gaskets, t-stat, coolant, hoses, etc. At this age and mileage, to keep it going another 100k, it all has to be done.

 

Usually I put a wrench on the belt tensioner and pull the belt tight while I break the nut loose. Occasionally I've needed a tool to hold the fan clutch.
Is there really a need to tighten the fan nut back with a wrench. I've always just spun it back on by hand and the rotation of the motor seems to tighten it down pretty good.

 

I got a 36mm open end Husky wrench at Home depot $4.00

 

Thanks for all the support!
Got some room to work with now! Water pump's out, radiator hoses out, t-stat and other stuff are out of the way now. And, the alternator and air compressor are moved out of the way. So I'm ready to replace some stuff!
But I only ordered 5 things! I thought I'd be getting a bunch of replacement parts! It seems like I'm forgetting some stuff too.

I ordered a water pump, t-stat, upper and lower rad hoses and a small by-pass hose. All from Rock Auto, all AC Delco.
Is there anything I'm possibly forgetting to replace? I'm not too worried about the money so much as I'm worried I'll miss something! Then maybe have to go back in and do it again! I was thinking about a fan clutch maybe? Or a thermo housing. Brackets or gaskets?
Also, I forgot to ask about the t-stat! Crap! And there were like 3 diff temps! So I got the 195 I think. Or 192 maybe, but it was in the 190's.

So, now about the radiator. Does it need a new one? I think it needs a new radiator. When I bought the truck a couple 3 months ago, it had this muddy looking swamp water crap in the radiator! It really freaked me out, badly! I ended up flushing it out with a garden hose bout 50 times till it finally cleared up.
I was really hoping I could possibly flush out just the engine somehow? I wanted to do it without going through the nasty a** radiator and these old hoses. I think I can flush, starting at the thermo housing now that everything's out of the way, but I'm not too sure where it's supposed to drain back out.

Again, thanks for all the replies, guidance and info! I couldn't have found anywhere better for what I needed than right here! So again, really appreciate it!

 

The muddy looking water in the radiator was most likely a leak stopping fluid or pellets. If it's not leaking or plugged I wouldn't replace. You can use something like the link below to flush your whole coolant system once you have it all put back together.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/16817507?...&wl13=&veh=sem

I'd also do the timing chain if you are that far into it.

 

Ok. So flush after its back together. With some flush like Prestone in that link. Got it! Still wish I could flush the engine with the hose somehow while I got all the stuff off.
I did notice the hose on the left side, going to the firewall, at what I assume is the heater core's return or send port, that hose is cut about half way down and has a "Tee" right there in the hose, with a cap that you can unscrew.
This Tee has a big ol brass fitting and seems way more heavy duty than the ones Prestone use in their flush kit for like 7 bucks or so.
I wonder if I should use it for something! Seems like its in good shape, but i'm not sure. I guess I can use it to flush with maybe? Send water towards the heater core from there, or the other way towards the engine maybe? Man I wish I knew more about this truck! I really want to make sure I do the best that can be done to it!

Oh, and yes, I should do the timing chain while there? You feel good about that? I guess that wouldn't hurt anything. And at least I'd know when it was installed last after I did it. Like a baseline. Does anyone know of a quality brand of timing chain kit for our 5.9L motors?
Thanks.

 

I wanted to see about the fan clutch replacement and if it's wise to skip it or to replace it. The fan clutch people say you should always replace your fan clutch when doing your water pump. Hmm.
But maybe that's a good rule of thumb.
The 3 options at Rock Auto are GPD, Hayden and Four Seasons. All three say "severe duty" and the last 2 say "maximum cooling"? Whatever that stuff means. And they all say counter clockwise or reverse rotation.
Any one of them seem better than the others?
Thanks!

 

If you weren't having fan issues previously, don't bother with the fan clutch. They generally last pretty much forever anyway. It's a 'rarely fails' part.

Timing chain and gears, along with front crank seal would be a REAL good idea. You aren't going to get any closer than you are right now. Seven more bolts, and there it is. Need a puller for the harmonic balancer though. (can rent one from most any of the big-chain parts stores.)

With everything apart, just stick a hose in one of the coolant ports for the water pump. Circulate water thru there till it comes out the other side clean. It'll make the flush that much more effective, with less crap to worry about.

Change your oil as well. (filter too please.)

Install the t-fitting in the outlet hose from heater core, as close to the heater core as you can get. Makes getting all the air out of the heater core a breeze. (start engine, loosen cap, when it stops spitting air, close it up.)

 

Well, you're about half way to the timing chain but it gets a lot worse. It may sound easy enough with just "six bolts, seal, etc." but that added another day to my work. Removing and replacing balancer was NOT fun and praying you line up the new chain, installed the seal correctly, didn't mess up the pan gasket on timing cover, etc, etc, there's a lot more bolts to remove and mess up, I just don't think it's necessary. For starters, the chain isn't going anywhere and plus the new one doesn't help anything. Mine had zero improvement to it. Just being the caution side to this idea. If you want to keep going, by all means. But water pumps are one thing, timing set is a whole nother job.

 

Mine probably had 25 degrees, or more, of crank rotation, before the camshaft started to move. That's a LOT. The morse style chains are very prone to stretching, and any truck that is close to, or over, 100K miles, likely has the chain stretched WELL beyond where the factory recommends replacement. On my truck, timing chain was done on its lonesome. It was the only change made to the motor, aside from an oil change.... and it made a MAJOR difference in how mine ran.

If ya trash the oil pan gasket, RTV will solve the issue. I did mine in less than two hours.