so as some of you may or may not know, i traded the ol' black beast 02 to a guy in Florida for a 97 reg cab 2wd ST...Cummins of cousre :thumb1:and the day after i got er home it shat the trans...and finally after 5 weeks of waiting it's back together and runnin one million times faster than the 02 ever dreamed ofso here are some questions and observations i've had over the 70 someodd miles i've actually got to drive the thingis it normal for the 47RE to downshift back to first when you're on the brakes and goin about 5 or so MPH?is there a worse cup holder than the one that came on the 94-98 Dodges? i had a can of red bull in mine just now and i made a turn that had a slight bump in it and the damn can fell out of the holder, hit the gear shifter and spilled all over my right leg and my seats:banghead:say i was able to find a fairly decent condition SLT cab for cheap from a gasser 97, would i be able to put in the door panels and the steering column and be able to rig up power locks/windows and cruise and tilt?also, on the steering column, i have a good 20 degrees of play at center in my steering wheel, i called Mike and asked him about it and just as he was gonna tell me how he figured i could fix it, i entered a dead zone and dropped the call...so Mike, you can go ahead and type out your response here if you'd like bud :lol:oh last but not least, i'm gonna wash the dirty thing and throw up some pics of it here if y'all'd like to see it...if not i don't care haha

You got to post pics... Sector adjustment on top of the gear box. Loosen the nut and tighten the center allen stud. Do this in 1/8 turns and retry. Don't force the screw or over do the adjust or it might cause damage to the gear box...

i crawled under the front and had the wife cut the wheels lock to lock. i could see the sector shaft does not stay centered, in fact it moves quite a bit! i was looking at the PSC brace, but everyone says its a 4X4 piece. so i got BD's brace for 2wd(here in front of me waiting, for new gearbox and sway bar bushings).

Whats wrong with the cup holders!! JK, they are junk Only thing that might help is get a thick can cooler to stick the cans in so it might actually touch the sides of the cup holder. I tightened that screw way up on mine and it seemed to work but now I am thinking it was all in my head.

the play is not in my head, not at all, and when i switch from drivin my truck to say my mom's 09 Mustang, i tend to waaaay overcompensate in turns...i damn near wound up on the side of the road at least a few times.... for the cupholder, i'm gonna get my hands on one of these ASAP for my truck...had one on the 02 five speed and it was just amazing http://www.genosgarage.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CUP-SMOOTHIE-9497

So you got to drive around with the lid open on the center console all the time???

So you got to drive around with the lid open on the center console all the time???

EXACTLY what I was going to ask. Be better off just bolting something to the front of the console.

Oh and I meant the adjustment screw making a difference on my truck was in my head. I thought my steering was better because I adjusted it but lately it has become apparent that I still have the same amount of play as before. You do something to make it better and start thinking it HAS to be better! So then you drive with an illusion that it's better, even though it's not. Guesswho is on to something with this steering brace and I want to see what input he comes back with.

Same thing happens to me when I get in mom's car. Steering is so tight I have no room to do anything. In my truck I can lean over and open the glove box, dragging the steering wheel with me and the truck will still be going straight

---------- Post added at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 AM ----------

So I went out and stared at my cup holder for a while, I never drink in my truck so I never cared to mess with it but because you mentioned it I just had to find a solution. So here's what I have come up with. Get some vel cro tape, cut a little strip of it and stick it at the bottom of the cup holder, find a cup or something capable of holding a can but not tall enough to where you can't grab the can obviously, and put the other strip on the bottom of it. Stick it in get your redbull can and put it in and viola. If you need to shut cupholder, take cup out, hence the velcro thing.

Fix #2. Why does the cup fall out? Because the sides of the cupholder are cut out! So I put some tape across the sides so now the cup has no where to fall. I am not sure that fix will work very well but is better than before. Need something stronger than tape but has to be thin because the outside slides into the dash. Duck tape might be better than the electrical tape I used

Fix #3. Hmmmm

Mike, the smoothie cup holder allows the console to still shut...here's a pic of the one in my 02

http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv287/cmns2500/utf-8BSU1HMDAxOTgtMjAwOTA3MjEtMT-1.jpg

and ISX, i had thought about maybe getting some small strips of plastic and welding(read, burning) them into place or somethin?

and i actually washed the thing, here's a few picola's....

Nice truck! As for the cup holder that is interresting...

That truck is simply incredible! I love everything about it! :drool:As for the cup holders, I made a movie on them for those who might not know what these pieces of crap look like that make them such crap.

ha the bottom piece comes out? i'll be damned...i may try that...most cups i use are either route 44's from Sonic or the whatasized cup from whataburgerand thanks for the comments ISX...it is a pretty sweet truck

Mopar Mom says... "Come out and tear ours out for us..."

ISX, I think you missed your calling in life as a comedian!

Your all just jealous since you don't have a cupholder that is such a work of fine art! Still can't figure what's so funny, the thing is only usable if you take that bottom piece out, it snaps right back in. Actually that movie is cut in half, the other half was me putting the thing back in and me getting mad at it and.. Putting it back in is kinda like the snap ring on the silencer ring, sometimes it goes back in with 2 seconds, sometimes it takes 10 min, though it was always 2 seconds normally so I think I was just having a bad day

I can't help but think of closing the side of the cup holder as suggested... maybe a piece of thin plastic or metal. glued? screwed? with care to the side of the cupholder. Is there clearance for it to still close? Russ

I can't help but think of closing the side of the cup holder as suggested... maybe a piece of thin plastic or metal. glued? screwed? with care to the side of the cupholder. Is there clearance for it to still close? Russ

No clearance, I had electrical tape over it and it just barely cleared. Would have to be in between those 2 things rather than outside them.

What about finding a circle... a piece of plumbing pipe, a piece of plastic cup, a piece of sheet metal & fitting it to the inside.

What about finding a circle... a piece of plumbing pipe, a piece of plastic cup, a piece of sheet metal & fitting it to the inside.

Yeah that was idea #2. Probably the most plausible since, if you find the right size, it will be guaranteed to work.

Actually I got a wild idea... Drill a hole in each side a insert a stiff piece of wire... Kind of like old wire clothes hangers would work good... Can even paint it black to look nice... I might have to do it to Mom's truck...

My god! I think I can do one better than that even. Get a longer piece and drill 2 holes at a 45 and "bow" the wire so it goes up higher and holds a lot better.. If I only had a drill at my apartment. I will do it Friday night. Hmm I got a few more ideas now. I will just let you all wait and see

My god! I think I can do one better than that even. Get a longer piece and drill 2 holes at a 45 and "bow" the wire so it goes up higher and holds a lot better.. If I only had a drill at my apartment. I will do it Friday night. Hmm I got a few more ideas now. I will just let you all wait and see

Ummm... Vertical clearance? I guess I'll have to wait and see...