Yeah man I feel your pain, I went through the same thing with a cheap rebuild kit on my Duramax a few years back. Ended up losing oil pressure on a job site and had to have the whole turbo rebuilt by a shop because the kit didn't even come with good thrust washers. What finally worked for me was swapping over to a genuine Garrett core with OEM bearings and seals, cost more upfront but I haven't touched it since and I put over 40k miles on it towing heavy. Those eBay kits just don't have the right clearances and the seals are always Chinese rubber that hardens up fast in the heat. You gotta pay the extra hundred or so for a quality kit from a known supplier like DieselSite or just buy a factory rebuilt unit and call it done.

That's a ROUGH way to learn that lesson, having to pack up in the dark like that. DAC poles are a solid upgrade, they really hold up in nasty weather. Glad you got your kit sorted after that nightmare.

Honestly check out Dexter Russell or Victorinox, those hold up way better for the price.

Paint it black and anchor it down good, wind will flip that metal one easy.

My 1994 Silverado with 220k on the clock would disagree with that old timer. I tried synthetic once, maybe eight years ago, and within a month I had a rear main seal drip that was bad enough to leave spots in my driveway. Switched back to conventional and it dried right up. I think it depends on the engine and what seals are already worn, not just gasket quality. Yours might be fine but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.