Good news and BAD? news:
GOOD NEWS: I ran to the NAPA store and bought a simple female/female union and just bypassed the regulator. Walla, very nice steering and no more air problems. While I was down there i also (maybe?) discovered why the front tires didn't want to air up the same as the rear axles using the CTIS on recovery at Ft. Hood. There are a couple of brackets bolted to the top of the axle holding the brake lines before the rubber section goes to the wheels. The bolts were out of both of these. Am I right in guessing the axle housing is pressurized by air and was leaking out of these two open bolt holes?
BAD NEWS: I appeared to have the common leak on the transmission filter and was planning to just replace the filter (assuming the leak was coming from that gasket since the oil was leaking off of the filter canister below it). However, today (while test driving my new power steering around the farm) I noticed that the small leak had gotten much bigger. Upon closer inspection, the fluid is coming from the lower radiator hose (which is right over the tranny filter housing) but UNFORTUNTELY it didn't look like coolant but rather thin oil.
So, I cracked the petcock on the radiator hoping to find clean, green coolant but - sure enough - it was the same thin oily dark stuff. After letting the truck cool (and coolant settle) I would get just an ounce or so of oil and then it would turn to nice green coolant. I'm assuming that the two seperate pretty quickly by weight apparently with the oil being heavier. But, as soon as you start it and the coolant pressures up, it is definintely not green - just looks like thin, fairly clean oil - dripping out of the radiator via a cracked lower radiator hose.
My (mostly uninformed) guess is that I have a leaking (failed) internal transmission cooler in the radiator. If I'm looking at the TM's correctly, the transmission fluid (which is still 15w40 from uncle sam) goes through the external filter then through the external transmission cooler then through the internal cooler (inside the radiator) and then back to the transmission. Or, maybe it's the other direction but that's the circuit.
I've only driven the truck maybe 20 miles and no highway miles and it still seems to be shifting just fine (thank goodness). The engine oil level appears to be unchanged and the engine oil still looks and smells very new & clean and uncontaminated. And, the engine runs absolutely perfectly - smooth as a kitten - and no smoking or anything whatsoever.
The transmission fluid (on the other hand) is just barely on the dipstick. I'll admit I didn't check it when we recovered it because it seemed to shift just fine. As to what the transmission fluid looks like, I can't tell from the stick.
Anyone here have a good grasp of the transmission coolant systems on these trucks as well as the radiator? Would I assume that the pressure of the transmission fluid pump is greater than the coolant pressure and, therefore, the transmission fluid (15w40) is leaking into the antifreeze instead of the other way around (hence the low tranny fluid level)? The transmission is still shifting just fine too - I had no symptoms of this at all - YET. Of course, the extra coolant fluid is probably just overflowing out and I haven't noticed it.
So, PART ONE: Do you experts think I'm diagnosing my problem correctly and
PART TWO: What to do about it?
If that IS the problem I'm wondering if I might be able to just bypass the internal cooler and re-route the coolant lines direct to the external cooler? I will be switching over to Transynd Dex III when I refill the tranny and I understand that results in cooler transmission fluid. Also, I'll probably never run this on the highway much or do any trailer towing as this is really just a farm toy. Basically my questions is - does anyone know if the internal transmission cooler is absolutely necessary or just extra insurance? Of course, having the transmission fluid guage will really help here as I guess I can try it and find out what that does to the temps.
Thanks for any help, suggestions and/or advice.
Ross