A brake fluid change is required every 30K miles. This is to change out fluid but to flush out debris and water contamination. But I do suggest about every 60K to 100K miles you break down the calipers and wheel cylinder and inspect for debris and rust.

The reason why you need to bleed the brake system often is that brake fluid is hydroscopic absorbs water) and reduces the boiling point of the brake fluid. So the next time your trying to hold back the heavy load on a steep grade and the brake heat up the brake fluid will start to boil and air bubbles will form. Once this occurs brake failure can and will happen! Wore out and water loaded brake fluid also causes the rubber parts to degrade and metal parts to rust. So this is why you need to bleed the system often and also need to inspect for damage parts and debris. Now bleeding will purge out the wore out fluid but it will not remove debris from the bottom of the wheel cylinders and calipers.

Bleeding the system is rather easy to do and only requires you have ample amount of DOT3 brake fluid available. Now since most people don't have a buddy or wife that is will to help bleed the brake out you can build a bleed jar.

Basically its a mayonnaise jar and piece of vinyl tubing. Poke a hole in the jar lid and slide the tubing into the jar till it touches the bottom of the jar. Add a small amount of brake fluid to the jar to cover the end of the tube. Start at the farthest wheel. (Rear Right, Rear Left, Front Right, Front Left) Then crack the bleeder fitting loose. Now start pumping the pedal. Engine does not need to be running to bleed the brake system. Press the pedal down firmly to the floor then release slowly to keep from sucking the fluid back from the jar. Keep checking the master cylinder reservoir. When nearly empty refill the reservoir and then move onto the other wheels. These go fast! Now all you got to do is bleed each wheel now till the fluid clears in the tubing.

As you can see the fluid does get rather dark and nasty looking like old engine oil in a matter of 28K miles. But after a completed brake fluid change the fluid looks like honey colored fluid.

Now I did suggest a complete tear down of the brake parts every 60K to 100K miles. I ran into several issues now with debris, dried brake fluid, binding of pistons, etc. This can all be prevented by just removing the calipers and wheel cylinders and dissembling, cleaning, inspection, re-assemble and bleed.

Calipers watch for binding pistons and debris in between the weather seal and the piston seal. But to check the pistons remove the caliper and dissemble, wash and dry them. With all seals removed the piston should fall to the bottom of the cylinder without force. If not take some fine sandpaper and lightly polish the pistons to remove any dried brake fluid or caked on debris. Check the piston often. Don't over do it!

Also check the slide pins at both ends of the caliper and re-grease as needed.

On from caliper be sure to check the piston seals if there has been any debris behind the weather boot. Take notice to the picture below. There is chunks of rubber missing from the seal this is cause from debris being caught between the piston and the seal. Pistons and seal can be purchased only through a Dodge dealer but they are not expensive.

With rear drum brakes basically remove the pins, rubber boots, and piston cups from the wheel cylinder and visually inspect the wheel cylinder for rust build up in the bottom. Check all rubber parts for damage. Replace and damaged parts including springs and other hardware.

I have seen the question asked a million times on other forums. It usually comes down to someone claiming to be an awesome mechanic stating that hydroboost brake boosters aren't rebuild-able/resealable or that they are so complicated if you took them apart you would never get them back together.

Well even though my hydroboost has been doing a great job keeping my undercarriage lubricated the constant top offs with power steering fluid and air in the system got pretty annoying. I decided that I would take a peek inside of it and possibly reseal it. I didn't plan to rebuild the unit as there are a couple specialized tools you either have to purchase or improvise.

First off when my power steering system wasn't low and had set for a bit to allow the air to work itself out the brakes worked fine. Once the hydrobooster saw air it was hard to push them and they had a tendency to jerk. So in other words my hydrobooster was functioning. Just leaking fluid and drawing air.

I started off by finding a kit. I purchased a MBM #50 kit that cost me $25 through piratejack brakes.

Next I flushed the system, not that it needed it because it went through powersteering fluid constantly.

Removing the brake hydrobooster is frustrating because of course it requires you to remove 4 nuts and the pedal rod from under the dash. The pedal rod is held on by a washer and clip. The 3 out of the 4 nuts were quickly removed using a 3/8 air ratchet, swivel, extensions, and a 15mm deep socket. The last one was removed using a ratchet, short extension, and a deep 15mm socket.

Of course there are 2 15mm holding the master cylinder to the hydrobooster. Two pipe fittings 16mm (power steering), and a hose that is held on by a clamp (also power steering).

Afterwards I had to remove two plastic line holders from the brake lines to allow them to move a bit. Then I merely slid the master cylinder off it's studs and moved it to the side being careful not to bend the brake lines. I found this gave me the benefit of not having to bleed the brakes and bench bleed the master.

At this point carefully manipulated the hydrobooster out of the truck.

Once on the floor I placed it on a rubbermaid container lid to catch any fluid that spilled out once opened. I removed 2 15mm nuts that held on the adapter plate that bolts to the master cylinder. At this point a star retainer, spring, rod, and plastic washer will come out. The star retainer will come off by itself but the spring, rod, and plastic washer assembly should remain as one piece.

Next I removed the 5 3/8" bolts that held the casings together. It took very little persuasion to separate the case halves. It is important to note at this point I remembered I had forgot to apply the brakes 10 times with the engine off to de-pressurize the booster. Not such a big deal cause I had no intentions of removing the gas canister on the booster anyway. Once the halves began to come apart the spool valve fell out. Not a big deal as it can only go back in one way. Oddly enough I found the check valve was missing and in the back of the casing. I noticed matching marks on the check valve and housing right behind the fork on the pedal rod. I am still not sure what happened here, cause the booster seemed to work. All parts were accounted for so I moved on to resealing it.

I removed the original figure eight seal that sits between the two housings. Comparing the new and the old as well as looking at marks on the housing it would seem this was my problem seal. The old seal was considerably thinner, probably due to shrinking. The new seal can be pushed into place with fingers.

Next I used some small hooks that I had to fish the piston seal out of the piston bore without damaging the bore. Pay attention to the orientation of the piston seal when removing it. Once again the new seal can be installed simply by fishing it in there and working it in with your fingers.

I now reinstalled the check valve and the spool valve. I connected the pedal rod to the spool valve and reinserted the piston into it's bore.

Just as before press the housings back together, this shouldn't take anymore than hand force. Reinstall the 5 3/8" bolts and snug them down. Back on the other side of things reinsert the spring, rod, and washer assembly. Place the star retainer back on the rod making sure to have the curved points toward the inside.

Reinstall the master cylinder adapter over this, it will retain the spring assembly. Tighten the 15mm nuts.

After that it is pretty much reverse of removal. Place the hydrobooster back in the truck. Tighten the 4 15mm nuts under the dash that retain it to the firewall. Reinstall the pedal rod, washer, and clip. Back under the hood reconnect the power steering lines, and master cylinder.

Top off the system with power steering fluid and work the wheel back and forth, lock to lock while pressing the brake pedal. It will feel funny at first but it will tighten up as the fluid gets to it. You may hear strange noises due to the air in the system but don't worry the air will work it's way out after sitting for a bit.

I have yet to notice a leak. Took her on a trip around the neighborhood for a bit after degreasing everything and haven't noticed anything new. My brakes even feel stronger. Hopefully this helps someone not spend $200 over a simple leak.

Here’s the chart to know how much to put in different size tires.  If yours is a dually, then you have to use the motorhome chart… haha

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/tirechartmap.htm

So long story short, you can balance your own tires for $.75!

I changed my rear wheel cylinders out yesterday since I had the day off for school. Since I had the camera on hand I snapped some shots to let other members see how easy it since. I bet there are a few people that have read about these and thought, "that might be too hard for me" when in fact it couldn't be farther from the truth.

You will need at least the following:

• 10 mm tubing wrench
• brake tool
• Hammers (small and large)
• slip pliers
• 3/8" ratchet with 1/2" socket and 3" ext.

Here they are (angelic music playing softly as I stare at them) Napa 37337 one tone wheel cylinders. They cost 8.97 a piece and like a fine Italian sports car, "Made in Italy"

First, remove wheel, this was easy,but I don't live in the rust belt

Second, remove drum

Third, you only have to remove the forward spring to get the wheel cylinder out

I didn't get a picture of the removal of the wheel cylinder, pretty easy two 1/2" bolts and she comes right out.

Fourth, compare the two and they are dimensional close

There are three measurements and specifications for an alignment.  Caster, camber, and toe.  You can google those terms for information, but this article will outline a procedure to adjust toe.  Our trucks have a caster angle set which should be appropriate and as long as the control arm bushings are in good repair the angle should not change.  Some like adding additional caster using the cams present in the rear mounts of the control arms.  Camber is not adjustable on our trucks without special offset ball joints, and also should not need changed unless something is very out of whack or you are customizing your truck for a specific and rare application.  

Positive toe, with the wheels fronts pointing slightly inward, creates some stability in the steering and is generally desired.  Negative toe, is generally bad and can create some touchy or downright dangerous handling.  However, there are some guys who like a small amount of negative toe when towing heavy loads where the truck will squat.  The reason for this is on early 3rd gen and older trucks, the steering linkage used a Y type link system (see figure 1) that will change the toe as a function of ride height.  The newer trucks, or ones like mine that have an HD steering upgrade kit (see figure 2 & 3) the toe will not change as a function of ride height.  If you haven't upgraded the steering to an HD type, I highly recommend it.  

Traditionally, many automotive manuals specified a toe angle in fractions of an inch with the intention for the mechanic to measure the toe at a specific point like on the front and rear of the tires.  However, now they use degrees and give a specified angle.  For our 2nd Gen Trucks, the OEM spec for steering toe is 0.10 degrees of total toe.  Total toe is defined as the total angle of toe.  Seems simple, right?  So if the spec is 0.10 degrees of total toe, the right and left tire would be toed in at half that angle, at 0.05 degrees of toe (0.50 + 0.50 = 0.10).  This is an important definition, so as to not put double or half the toe required.  

Professional shops use a light & laser system to measure the angles quickly and accurately.  I used a Longacre wheel alignment kit, though you can make a similar kit with metal plates.  For $60 delivered to my door, the Longacre plates were too easy to pass up.  The system is essentially a plate and two tape measures.  If you make your own, use two tape measures of the exact same brand and type.  It will save you a lot of hassle.  Also, if you can get tapes that have fine (1/16th or better) measurements up to 10 ft it will be helpful.  The Longacre tapes have the fine measurements necessary to their full 10 ft length.  

Figure 1 Light Duty Steering Linkage

Figure 2 Heavy Duty Steering Linkage

Figure 3 Heavy Duty Steering Linkage

Alignment Procedure

1. Pull the truck straight ahead into the work area on a level hard surface.  Don't use dirt. Don't turn the wheel. You want the tires to be straight and not twisted.  
   1. Note: if it is WAY out of whack, turn the wheel until the passenger side tire is straight and then straighten the steering wheel with the upper sleeve (see part 4 on figure 2).  Then jack up the passenger tire and get the drivers side tire eyeball close by adjusting the tie rod adjustment sleeve (see part 2 on above figure 2).  
2. Set the plates against the tires so that they are even and not uneven due to lettering or the usual bulge at the base of the tire.  You may need to air the tire up some or play with the angle of the plates to make the bulge at the base of the tire minimal. 
3. Set up your tape measures and calculate the difference between the front and rear tape.  I was very careful to keep the same amount of tension on each tape (two handed ordeal) and read off the measurements (see figure 4 & 5)
4. Subtract the back from the front and compare to the attached tables
5. Adjust the tie rod adjustment sleeve in or out towards your target measurement. 
6. Pull the truck ahead several feet to unload the twist in the tires (if you have big adjustments you can lift up the drivers side with a jack and dial in a big adjustment before returning to do fine adjustment)
7. Keep measuring, adjusting, and pulling the truck ahead until it is aligned and the numbers are within spec.  
8. Lastly, recheck the steering wheel center, and fine adjust if necessary and tighten it all up. 

Figure 4 

Figure 5

How to setup your plates

Longacre plates, home made plates, or whatever, you need to know the distance between the two tape measures.  Measure it and use the table attached to find the correct r value.  Then measure with the tape measures between the plates.  It is that simple.  

Notes:

• Your tie rod adjustment sleeve may be stiff.  I replaced my entire linkage with the HD kit, but you may need to do a lot of fiddling with the sleeve with some penetrating oil and working it back and forth to get it free.  Several techniques I didn't try were to use a bolt slightly larger than the gap on the tie rod to separate it, then remove and clean it then reassemble, get an expensive set of tie rod sleeve adjustment tools, or to use a lot of BIG wrenches and pipe wrenches.  
• There is a key way/slot inside the sleeve between the two ends of the tie rod to keep them aligned and straight.  
• See the HD steering article for more HD details. 

Tables are attached. 

Wheel Alignment Tables.pdf

This is probably the most used piece of equipment on my truck. I use the Jacobs exhaust brake to do about 90% of all my braking on the highway, city streets, and off-road. My service brake pads are still factory pads and I've got over 180K+ on the clock. The brake shoes have got 25% left. It's a vast savings to the brakes. I finally replaced my brake pads all the way around the the truck at 187K. I didn't need to replace rotors just had the turned. Now for the next 200K miles.

Sorry to say the Jacobs Exhaust Brake doesn't exactly has the diesel rumble when you use this style of exhaust brake. But you do get a hissing noise from the exhaust pipe.

There is a bonus to the Jacobs exhaust brake. You can active it on a cold winter morning and get the pyrometer well above 350°F within a few seconds after starting it in the morning. If you use my high idle mod you can warm up a engine even quicker.

I purchased the Jacobs Exhaust Brake from a Dodge Dealer in Lewiston, Idaho for $800.00

Here is a few more videos... Watch them... I sub titled them with the function I'm doing. You'll find out I rarely ever touch the service brake pedal and why my stock brake pads lasted to 187K miles. In the first video here is coming to a stop from highway speeds of 55-60 MPH using mostly my Jacobs Exhaust Brake. You'll see the subtitles of me gearing down and using the Jacobs exhaust brake (or jaking).

This video is of leaving the mountain up around McCall, ID which is a 7% grade that is very windy with turn marked for 25 MPH. You'll see how I manage to keep control of the vehicle speed without using any brake pedal all but heavy use of the Jacobs exhaust brake.

It takes a little bit of time to learn how to use you Jacobs exhaust brake as a primary braking unit. There is other thing to consider is your following distance and how fast you can decelerate using only the Jacobs exhaust brake. Once you learn how fast and how much braking force a Jacobs exhaust brake has by itself combined with your service brakes they are a wonderful duo. You'll have enough braking force to actually bark the rear tires coming to a stop.

Another trick is to add a second switch to your transmission stick so you have the switch right there with your thumb. If hooked up right you can have instant braking power from the Jacobs exhaust brake at the flip of a switch without the 3 second wait.

You can use this Spreadsheet to change the Gear ratio and tire size on your Cummins powered Truck  You will see the typical peak power RPMS in green on the chart.

To use this tool, enter your Trucks values into the Yellow Highlighted Fields.  

Tire Size is inputted into Field B5-D5

Truck type should be inputted to match the truck ( not useful yet) Options are "4wd Quad" "2wd Quad" "4wd Single" "2wd Single"

Tire Type can be Offroad or Road ( not useful yet)

Truck Weight can be any value ( not useful yet)

Rear End Ratio can be any value

Trans Type can be any trans from fields A:22 - H:22 **Spelling is critical** Use "47re" if you have a 48re

Transfer Case can be "High" or "Low" for range select, Use this to edit the MPH values per gear.

High can be any value to define Transfer case gearing

Low can be any value to define Transfer case gearing

Download HERE: mopar1973man gearing calc.xlsx

This Spreadsheet will cover rear end gears of any custom amount, trannys listed are nv4550, nv5600, 47re, 48re, g56, 68rfe, as69rc.  Thsi will so you the comparison between the gearing, tire size and tranny.

Coming from the heavy mining, construction and ag equipment side of the world this is a common "Must Do" procedure on all dry brake pads be it drum or disc but you all most likely do not know that it should be done on ALL vehicles with drum or disc brakes.

There are different ways of doing it but all have the same results. rather than typing it out I will just post up a couple different procedures. Enjoy and hopefully you all learned something new and hopefully it will lead to safer braking for everyones sake.

If one looks it up there are tons of videos and info on it. I see posts of weak brakes and other brake issues but never see this brought up.

Coming from the heavy equipment side of the world failing to do this can lead to decreased braking efficiency up to and over 30-40% and I have seen it many many times on scrapers.

http://aftermarket.federalmogul.com/en-US/Technical/Documents/Brake%20Pad%20and%20Shoe%20Break-In%20Procedure.pdf

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/tech-tip-brake-burnishing-procedures-for-new-brake-pads-or-shoes/

At Bendix, we highly recommend that new pads and shoes be broken in properly.

After every brake job the technician should first confirm that he has a good brake pedal by gently stroking the pedal to move the wheel cylinders and caliper pistons back out to the normal position. After confirming a good pedal, the follow burnish procedure should be used during the test drive:

30/30/30 Burnish Procedure

• Perform 30 stops from 30 miles per hour with a 30-second cooling interval between stops. These stops will be performed at a decelerating rate of 12 feet per second or less. This means that it should be a gentle easy stop.

• The 30/30/30 Burnish Procedure beds the pads and shoes into the rotor and drums. It also deposits the necessary friction transfer to the rotors and drums for optimum brake performance.

• Following this procedure also assures that your customer will have excellent brake performance from the first time he or she drives the car after brake service has been performed. You should not depend on your customer to break in the brake job. The only way to assure that it is done correctly is to incorporate it into your brake job test drive.

Remember, proper burnishing assures a long lasting, high performing, noise free brake job!

Courtesy of Bendix by Honeywell.

For more information and brake tips, visit www.bendixbrakes.com.

This article is going to be about proper final ratio to the ground and the effects. 

OPTIMAL FINAL RATIO TO THE GROUND

3.55:1 to 3.73:1

Remember when you have 3.55 axle gears you cannot swap to a larger tire without a huge impact on EGT's and loss of power. Cummins engines are not designed to be cruising at highway speeds at low RPMs. True 3.73 final ratio will be roughly 2,100 RPMs at about 65 MPH. Even what I'm set up for with my own truck with 245/75 R16 is a 3.69:1 final ratio. I'll be using the stock tire size of most trucks which was 31-inch tires. I highly suggest you take a moment and plug in the tires size and gear ratio into this gear ratio calculator.

Lower than 3.55 final ratio you find that EGT's are much much higher and the cruising RPM is too low. The engine will struggle to make power and accelerate without pushing EGTs higher yet. When you fall into the 3.55 to 3.73 realm the truck runs cooler EGT, coolant and, transmission temperature-wise. 

Being most of my local highway speeds out here is 65 MPH I opted to reach down towards 3.73 for towing and highway use. This places me at roughly 2,000 RPMs at 66 MPH. This was done by using 245/75 R16 tires on 3.55 axle gears which will produce a 3.69:1 final ratio. If your want to run any oversized tires larger than a 31-inch tire which is either 235/85 R16 or 265/75 R16 then you'll be required to have 4.10 gears. There is no way to get around this problem.

You have to remember I'm not just basing this on my personal vehicle but all the vehicles I've ever worked on. For example, I had a member from the forum here come to my place asking for me to build him a Quadzilla tune. He's running 35-inch tires on 3.55 gears which produced a final ratio of 3.38:1. His EGT's were high with 100 HP injectors and even an updated turbo. After even building the tune and managing to cut about 150-200*F of EGT's out it still was barely cruising at 1,600 at 65 MPH. Way too low you should never be that low cruising at highway speeds. Anytime this member rolled into the throttle a little bit the EGT's jumped fast past 1,000*F no problem. Again the final ratio is just too tall and the engine is struggling. This was even seen in the engine load number which is almost 30% to 40% at 65 MPH.

Now to compare this member to my own truck now with +150 HP injectors, Quadzilla, smallish HX35/40 Turbo, 245/75 R16 tires. EGT's are at least another 200 to 250*F lower compared to this member. Engine load is 13% to 18%, cruising at 65 MPH will be right about 1,950 RPM. My 65 MPH cruising EGT's is roughly 550*F. Which proper gear ratio this combo has even allowed me to exceed my old high mark of 27.2 MPG and surpass it at 28.04 MPG. A proper ratio will reduce rolling resistance on the engine. Even running the interstate here in Idaho at 80 MPH will just the RPM to 2,450 roughly. Still optimal and will not impact MPG's much. 

So if you really want to keep your oversized tire and that off-road look you going to find out that gear swaps are not cheap. I've had another member ask me to help him get the power up and EGT's down on his truck but he had 37-inch tires and 3.55 gears. This produced a final ratio of 3.00:1. Again the member had installed twin turbos hoping to fix the high EGT's. Didn't help. Now after talking to him and finding out he was not going to give up his 37-inch tires this means that he needed to swap both front and rear gears for 4.10 gears. This cost him close to $4,000 to correct this issue. After swapping to 4.10 gears this brought him back to 3.55:1 to final ratio. So be aware if you really want to keep your tire size or look then it might be rather expensive to correct. 

This article to show the final ratio of 3.55 gears and 4.10 gears with different tire sizes. This is needed for tuning purposes for optimal EGT's and reducing stress on the drivetrain. Excessive low ratios will cause transmission damage and excessive EGT's. The Green sizes are good to use. The red sizes shouldn't be used and transmission damage will occur. Excessive EGT's will be another problem as well. Optimally for most daily drivers out there, a 3.73 final ratio is best. Like Beast is set up with 3.55 gears in the axles and 245/75 R16 places me at a 3.69:1 final ratio to the ground. The lowest you want to go is 3.55 which is the stock tire size. Any other tire size large will result in transmission damage and high EGT's. The highest ratio you would want to do is the 4.10 final but I know of one member that is running 245/75 R16 with 4.10 gears and is a towing monster! Very low EGT's and little stress on the transmission.

The final ratios with 3.55 gears with...

28 Inch = 4.01

235/65 R16 - 28.0 Inch = 4.01

29 Inch = 3.87

235/70 R16 - 29.0 Inch = 3.88

30 Inch = 3.57

215/85 R16 - 30.4 Inch = 3.70

245/75 R16 - 30.5 Inch = 3.69

31 Inch = 3.62

265/75 R16 - 31.6 Inch = 3.55

235/85 R16 - 31.7 Inch = 3.54

32 Inch = 3.51

285/75 R16 - 32.8 Inch = 3.42

33 Inch = 3.40

295/75 R16 - 33.4 Inch = 3.36

34 Inch = 3.30

315/75 R16 - 34.6 Inch = 3.25

35 Inch = 3.21

35 x 12.50 R16 - 35.0 Inch = 3.21

36 Inch = 3.12

37 Inch = 3.04

37 x 12.50 R16 - 37.0 Inch = 3.04

Anything lower than a 3.55 ratio will start creating high EGT's and no amount of turbos and tuning will fix a bad final ratio. 

The final ratio for 4.10 gears with... 

28 Inch = 4.63

235/65 R16 - 28.0 Inch = 4.63

29 Inch = 4.47

235/70 R16 - 29.0 Inch = 4.48

30 Inch = 4.33

215/85 R16 - 30.4 Inch = 4.27

245/75 R16 - 30.5 Inch = 4.26

31 Inch = 4.19

265/75 R16 - 31.6 Inch = 4.10

235/85 R16 - 31.7 Inch = 4.09

32 Inch = 4.06

285/75 R16 - 32.8 Inch = 3.95

33 Inch = 3.93

295/75 R16 - 33.4 Inch = 3.88

34 Inch = 3.82

315/75 R16 - 34.6 Inch = 3.75

35 Inch = 3.71

35 x 12.50 R16 - 35.0 Inch = 3.71

36 Inch = 3.60

37 Inch = 3.51

37 x 12.50 R16 - 37.0 Inch = 3.51