Well new to me at least!

Some of you helped me out in my other thread when looking for one. Well I finally pulled the trigger and picked one up!

It's a 2002 4x4 QC LB auto. Single owner, garage kept majority of its life, never had a goose neck or 5th wheel (which is harder to find than you'd think up here). Came with a 2in leveling kit and 35's and a hypertech 'tuner' to fix the speedo. Other then that, she's all stock. I crawled under to check for any signs of a 53 and couldn't find anything, so I might have a mexican block, but I'm going to keep checking. I couldn't be happier! I originally wanted a manual, but the wife said, if I'm getting a new truck then she better at least be able to drive it. So rather then argue, I just said 'ok' and got lookin!

Anyways, wanted to start a thread here because, since it is stock and I'm planning on keeping this truck for the long haul, I wanted to do some mini write ups of the mods and what not I get done to her. As of now, here's the order I want to go in:

1. FUEL! and lots of it!

2. Gauges

3. Steering

4. Transmission

5. More power!

3 and 4 may get swapped around depending on what's needed more and my budget but that's the general order.

 

So to start, fuel... The stock injection pump was replaced by the dealer 50-60k miles ago so it should have some decent life left, and it looks like they moved the stock lift pump. I didn't track it down exactly, just looking fairly quickly, and couldn't find it mounted on the frame, did they do in tank LP's for 02's? I'd like to fatten up my fuel lines to 3/8s everywhere possible, also looking to go with the Fuel Boss, but not sure how that works if my LP is mounted in the back in tank if that's even a thing. Any ideas or experience with this? As of now I'm looking at getting the following for step 1.

FUEL BOSS ----- BIG LINE KIT ----- MOD FUEL MODULE

As far as fuel lines, the obvious is the big line kit from Vulcan but I figured I'd talk with Eric about getting lines replace as much stock line as possible. I also threw on the modified fuel module. I saw that as I was browsing their site and hadn't seen it before. Is that necessary at all? Keep in mind I'm just looking to have fuel flow as easily as possible through the truck. When more power rolls around I don't plan on going EXTREME, but would like lack of fuel to never be thought of again after this.

I'll leave at this for now but really looking forward to wrenching on this truck and getting her setup for the long haul!

20 minutes ago, TFaoro said:

No... trying a new steering damper first. So far I've had luck with no death wobble. Went with a Rancho and it's much better than the one that was on it.

 

If you put on the 09+ steering kit you'll need the leveling kit!

 

Tyler, here is what I put on my truck and it is for 3rd gen... http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Linkage-Upgrade-Fixes-Death-Mopar/dp/B0046NUOLM?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

 

I haven't seen the 4th gen mod, is that what you're running?

So now the question is can I run the 3rd gen steering kit with no leveling kit and 16in NON oem wheels with some offset?

2 hours ago, CSM said:

 

Tyler, here is what I put on my truck and it is for 3rd gen... http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Linkage-Upgrade-Fixes-Death-Mopar/dp/B0046NUOLM?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

 

I haven't seen the 4th gen mod, is that what you're running?

 

Same one. But if you look at where the stud sticks out of the pitman arm I'd bet money you've hit the rod that goes between the tires. I know I have on a 2" level. 

See the missing chip of paint?

 

 

2 hours ago, notlimah said:

So now the question is can I run the 3rd gen steering kit with no leveling kit and 16in NON oem wheels with some offset?

 

hmmm I'm thinking no based on that pic. I have the steering box brace on there now so it has the added bolt that's on the bottom of the pitman arm so I don't see it working. That would explain why there's a bend in the other steering kits.

17 minutes ago, notlimah said:

hmmm I'm thinking no based on that pic. I have the steering box brace on there now so it has the added bolt that's on the bottom of the pitman arm so I don't see it working. That would explain why there's a bend in the other steering kits.

Pictures of that?? I have the brace that holds the two frame rails together but I'm not sure what exactly you're talking about. 

http://www.vulcanperformance.com/Steering-Box-brace-for-94-02-4WD-p/sbb2.htm

 

You have to remove the bolt that holds the pitman arm on and replace it something like THIS which goes into the stabilizer.

 

Unless that replacement bolt is the same length or shorter I see it causing problems.

Yeah I've got that exact same brace.

The stud that hits isn't coming off the steering box though. It's the stud from the drag link that goes through the pitman arm. You can see it in my picture. It's the only stud sticking down.

Ohhh ok, I was thinking that pic was in a different spot.

 

I'll have to check mine and see if it sticks down there as far.

It probably does, but the shape of the lower bar is different on the 2nd gen setup. If you put an 09+ kit on it without a level and aren't careful it'll run into the bar.

Could you grind the bolt down to avoid hitting it?

 

Wouldn't the link CSM posted avoid that as well since it's the 03-08 version?

Edited March 30, 20169 yr by notlimah

1 hour ago, notlimah said:

Could you grind the bolt down to avoid hitting it?

 

Wouldn't the link CSM posted avoid that as well since it's the 03-08 version?

Maybe... but you're not going to get 2in cut off.

 

That is the 03-08 "upgrade", which is the 09+ factory steering.

The 03-08 came with a Y style just like the late 2nd gens.

You could cut it off.  I need to look for scratches on mine...  

11 minutes ago, CSM said:

You could cut it off.  I need to look for scratches on mine...  

 HAHA mad you worried about something 

2 hours ago, TFaoro said:

 HAHA mad you worried about something 

 

A little...  Least I don't gots that death wobbly yet.  I may try the newer pitman arm when I get my steering box rebuilt. 

34 minutes ago, CSM said:

 

A little...  Least I don't gots that death wobbly yet.  I may try the newer pitman arm when I get my steering box rebuilt. 

I think it's fixed though  Didn't do it on the patch it normally tries!

3 hours ago, TFaoro said:

I think it's fixed though  Didn't do it on the patch it normally tries!

 

Perhaps it was too tight, so to speak.  It just needed broken in and some loose parts?

Alright so I have some updates followed by a couple new questions and concerns.

 

Firstly I added the rear storage bin that I took out of my other truck! 

 

 

I forgot how nice it was to have the extra room under there! I got my tool box sold so next it'll be bed liner so cover up the scratchs and surface rust, after rust seal of course. 

 

I have a be a couple new things that have recently developed.

 

First one being my fuel gauge seems to be stuck on full. I'm at just shy of 100 miles on this tank and it hasn't budged. I did put the smarty on mpg mode but I doubt it's help me that much. It's worked since I reinstalled my module so I know it works but it started acting up after I topped off the tank, followed by 2stroke, so I'm wondering if I wondered if I over filled it a bit and got the float stuck. I got under and beat on the tank a bit but I'm not sure how low on fuel I am so it could be causing it to stay stuck because it didn't work. Any other things to look for?

 

Secondly, just tonight while I was crawling around underneath the truck beating the tank I noticed what looked like water at first coming from a front frame piece. Popped the hood and I had dried specks of coolant. My overfill bottle was REALLY full, well above the full marker, and my radiator cap had come loose. I drained the overfill bottle down to a normal level and obviously tightend back the cap. Was this just caused by the over filled bottle? Or could it be my cap going bad? I haven't had overheating issues and the whole radiator was replaced not long ago. Running the pink coolant currently. 

 

Sorry for the lengthy post!!

Ok so back for an update, or really of what's to come.

 

I got my new battery cables from custombatterycables.com and they look great! Looking forward to never having to worry about the battery cable issue again. 

 

 

Also looking to get my DOR track bar installed.... finally! 

 

Anyways more to come early next week! 

Alright well my brother and I tackled the install of the DOR track bar. It definitely turned out to be more difficult then we planned but overall, job done. Here's the details.

 

So getting the stock track bar out is fairly straight forward. Took a few good whacks to get the stock ball joint end out but after that smooth sailing. 

 

 

The difference between the two without heim on the DOR yet.

 

Well we got the bracket in place and had the top 5in bolt down through the cross member and that's when we realized that the bolt that replaced the stock ball joint end was missing! 

 

 

At this point (after we searched the garage) we were getting close to calling it a day and having to get the part from DOR. I decided to attempt to email Danny at DOR and see if he could overnight me the parts. In the meantime we headed to Ace to get a bolt for temp use so we could at least get holes drilled. 

 

By by the time we got to Ace Danny had already emailed me back (there's that famous terrible customer service right?! WRONG!) and he said to get a 3/4x2.5in GR8 bolt with a couple washers and lock nut. We'd have to drill out the frame and bracket to 3/4 but we'd have a stronger setup. 

 

So we drilled out the frame mount which really wasn't that much material to take out. Then the bracket, which was a little tougher because it's a slotted hole, but a step drill got the job done. It wasn't the prettiest but it got the job done and the 3/4in bolt is BEEFY!

 

 

From here it it was pretty smooth sailing. We got the 2 holes drilled through the crossmember (red arrow) with a 3/4in hole on the side showing and 1/2in on the forward portion. We moved the brake line up above the bracket (blue arrow), re drilled a 1/4in hole and the screw is already self taping so straight forward. We did wrap some rubber around the brake line near the the two bolts just in case but it shouldn't be an issue. Either way, I'll be checking it when I check the bolts for tightness every 5k or so.

 

 

Next up we finally installed the track bar itself. We attempted to installed it with the heim joint seals... no go. It could've been possible to get them installed if we filed down part of the bracket but it adds around 1.3mm PER seal.

 

 

Stacked together you can see just how much extra space you need. So after the day we'd had we decided to say screw it and install it without it. It went in no problem without the seals.

 

 

All ill in all, if I hadn't of lost the bolt the install would've gone a lot quicker. Once installed my steering wheel was about 90* off so we had to adjust the upper steering link to get that straightend out. 

 

The he truck feels a lot better. The only play I have now is from the stock steering box (which will hopefully be replaced in the near future) and my busted tie rod ends. If you're looking for a new track bar I'd say go with DOR! I've had nothing but a good experience with them despite what people tend to say about them.

Edited May 25, 20168 yr by notlimah

Nice.  I really like that bracket.  Its a lot better than the 3rd gen mount I have.