Vehicle: Sylvia
Category: 2nd Generation
Date Added: 2018-06-17

Sylvia

 

Finally got the 4" Silverline exhaust put on today. I only bought it 3 months ago but being I'm paid to fix other people's piles I have a difficult time convincing myself to fix my own. The exhaust was badly needed since the front of the resonator was rotted off and tone was annoyingly loud.

 

Next I need to rebuild the steering axle with new ball joints and tie rods.

11 hours ago, 04Mach1 said:

Finally got the 4" Silverline exhaust put on today.

 

Got to ask is it stainless or aluminized? Straight piped or muffled? 

 

11 hours ago, 04Mach1 said:

Next I need to rebuild the steering axle with new ball joints and tie rods.

1

 

Ball joint I would suggest staying away from Moog. I'm using AC Delco Ball joint currently and just about to cross 200k miles on them. As for the tie rod ends, I got NAPA parts there. I highly suggest you take it in for alignment afterward even though it just toe setting its worth it. 

10 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

Got to ask is it stainless or aluminized? Straight piped or muffled? 

 

 

Ball joint I would suggest staying away from Moog. I'm using AC Delco Ball joint currently and just about to cross 200k miles on them. As for the tie rod ends, I got NAPA parts there. I highly suggest you take it in for alignment afterward even though it just toe setting its worth it. 

Stainless pipe and muffler. 

 

As for the front end parts I'll most likely get Napa for everything since the shop is a independently owned Napa Truck Service Center and I pay wholesale. Think I'll add hub bearings to the list too. Hearing some squeaking and growling from the right front. My steering is in sad shape and becoming a lot of work to drive. I'm pretty sure all steering components are original to the truck with almost 173,000 on the clock.

46 minutes ago, 04Mach1 said:

Hearing some squeaking and growling from the right front.

 

Get after that... Not long left on those bearings. I've had one fail in a mere few miles and tire was leaning in against the brakes. 

 

46 minutes ago, 04Mach1 said:

My steering is in sad shape and becoming a lot of work to drive.

 

Yeah do the tie rods and the ball joints you might toss in a track bar too (suggested if it moving at all).

 

46 minutes ago, 04Mach1 said:

I'm pretty sure all steering components are original to the truck with almost 173,000 on the clock.

 

Ummm... I just changed my tie rods for the first time at 335k miles. The trick to long life is stock sized tires. Ball joints are going to make 200k miles. The steering box was replaced at 338k miles as well input shaft seal failed (rust). Track bar typically go 150-200k miles for me. Brakes are 180k to 200k miles. 

 

Edited June 26, 20186 yr by Mopar1973Man

11 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

Get after that... Not long left on those bearings. I've had one fail in a mere few miles and tire was leaning in against the brakes. 

 

 

Yeah do the tie rods and the ball joints you might toss in a track bar too (suggested if it moving at all).

 

 

Ummm... I just changed my tie rods for the first time at 335k miles. The trick to long life is stock sized tires. Ball joints are going to make 200k miles. The steering box was replaced at 338k miles as well input shaft seal failed (rust). Track bar typically go 150-200k miles for me. Brakes are 180k to 200k miles. 

 

I was also planning on doing the track bar too.

 

The truck has always had 265/75R16 since new which is why life span was a little shorter. Age probably is some of the factor too.

A little vid I shot last night showing the constant adjustment needed to go straight. 

 

 

51 minutes ago, 04Mach1 said:

I was also planning on doing the track bar too.

 

The truck has always had 265/75R16 since new which is why life span was a little shorter. Age probably is some of the factor too.

A little vid I shot last night showing the constant adjustment needed to go straight. 

 

 

i hope the initial rotations are not indicative are what you have to do to go straight. Surely that was pulling on to the roadway.

13 minutes ago, dripley said:

i hope the initial rotations are not indicative are what you have to do to go straight. Surely that was pulling on to the roadway.

 

Lol... No I was turning a corner at the beginning.

Have you ever adjusted your steering box?

29 minutes ago, 04Mach1 said:

 

Lol... No I was turning a corner at the beginning.

 

A little vid I shot last night showing the constant adjustment needed to go straight. 

 

 

My truck has had 265 75r 16's it's whole life. Came stock on it. It was an option offered for them on mine. Door sticker says 245 on it.

17 minutes ago, dripley said:

Have you ever adjusted your steering box?

 

 I don't know why the video posted again. Any way I did adjust the steering box a couple of months ago which helped. I just got a little play in a lot of parts causing the loose steering. I got the truck when she was 10 years old after being used on a farm or ranch in Brighton, CO for those 10 years. I'm sure life wasn't easy on it before I got it. It still had the original Michelin tires until I pulled them off at 105,000 miles because of weather rot in 2013. Then after I bought it spent another 6 years as a daily commuter in Denver traffic before finally getting the easy life in little ol' Grants, NM where I moved back to last year.

We'll I bought $900 worth of parts for the front axle today. Hopefully we'll slow down at the shop so I'll have some time to swap parts.

 

Spicer Ball Joints - The local Napa store was giving me the run around on ordering the lifetime warranty ones so I said screw it and went with something else I trust.

 

Moog DS800981A Steering Linkage - went with this kit because I have installed on a few older 3rd gens and was impressed with the quality of steering. Plus it's lifetime warranty. Alignment is covered since I bought lifetime alignment service long ago at Firestone. 

 

Moog DS1413 Track Bar - Lifetime warranty and readily available. A peice of cake to replace if it does fail.

 

SKF Hub Assemblies - The most expensive parts of this job. I have the best luck out of SKF bearings so I didn't even look at other brands.

 

Spicer Axle U-joints- I'm already there so might as well replace the oe originals. Went with Spicer because I have the best luck with their u-joints on class 8 rigs.

 

 

8 hours ago, 04Mach1 said:

Spicer Ball Joints - The local Napa store was giving me the run around on ordering the lifetime warranty ones so I said screw it and went with something else I trust.

 

Might ask @Me78569 on how long his Spicer ball joints lasted. I can say less than a year. 

 

As for Moog lifetime warranty they are no longer American made. Basically China junk why they are now lifetime warranty.

On 6/25/2018 at 8:19 AM, Mopar1973Man said:

Ball joint I would suggest staying away from Moog.

 

There was a reason why I said what I did... Moog is no longer a quality product. Too many people end up replacing quickly afterwards. 

6 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

Might ask @Me78569 on how long his Spicer ball joints lasted. I can say less than a year. 

 

As for Moog lifetime warranty they are no longer American made. Basically China junk why they are now lifetime warranty.

 

There was a reason why I said what I did... Moog is no longer a quality product. Too many people end up replacing quickly afterwards. 

 

The Spicer ball joints I got are the same thing as I would get in the Mopar box if I went to the dealer. Your oem's lasted 200k according to a post above.

 

As for Moog I have installed their steering linkage kit on some of my customers trucks. None of them have any complaints yet but only time and miles will tell. The 07 5.9 3500 I built the engine for that I posted about has roughly 30k miles in the Moog steering linkage and is still tight. The Spicer ball joints in that same truck with 30k miles on them are still tight. I know I'm stating 3rd gen but there are not many differences to a 2nd gen when it comes to steering issues.

 

The truth is foreign iron and labor is cheap so pretty much any part you buy now days is not going to be the quality our trucks were built with 20 years ago. Pretty much all suspension components are China junk now. I even see China on a lot of genuine Cummins parts coming out now for even the V16 industrial engines.

Do you have the part #s for the Spicer ball joints you used?  Just wondering if they are the same ones that @Me78569 used. I looked at the same and they were very economical. That scared me a little. I put Moog on mine about 7 years ago and they have held up well. I got them before Federal Mogul bought Moog.

2 hours ago, dripley said:

Do you have the part #s for the Spicer ball joints you used?  Just wondering if they are the same ones that @Me78569 used. I looked at the same and they were very economical. That scared me a little. I put Moog on mine about 7 years ago and they have held up well. I got them before Federal Mogul bought Moog.

 

Part number 708047. Cost was $60 a side. Got them from one of our suppliers in Albuquerque. Hopefully the Spicer ball joints don't bite me in the a$$. They've done well in the 3rd gen Ram's and Ford's I've installed them in so far. The Forest Service puts hard miles on their F-550 fire trucks especially now with the fire season we've been having, so I've been doing a ton of ball joints in them using Spicer.

 

I was gonna get Napa Lifetime warranty ball joints but they kept bringing me knurled ball joints. I don't want or need knurled units at this time. They started giving me the run-around with ordering the ball joints I wanted so I just said what the heck and went with my second choice. My local Napa has proven to me time and time again they don't have the "know how" Napa advertised.

 

 

11 hours ago, 04Mach1 said:

 

Part number 708047. Cost was $60 a side. Got them from one of our suppliers in Albuquerque. Hopefully the Spicer ball joints don't bite me in the a$$. They've done well in the 3rd gen Ram's and Ford's I've installed them in so far. The Forest Service puts hard miles on their F-550 fire trucks especially now with the fire season we've been having, so I've been doing a ton of ball joints in them using Spicer.

 

I was gonna get Napa Lifetime warranty ball joints but they kept bringing me knurled ball joints. I don't want or need knurled units at this time. They started giving me the run-around with ordering the ball joints I wanted so I just said what the heck and went with my second choice. My local Napa has proven to me time and time again they don't have the "know how" Napa advertised.

 

 

That is the same ones I saw at Dennys Driveshafts and I believe that's where @Me78569 got his. I would have to defer to him to be sure. The 2000 to 2002's love to eat some ball joints.

I got mine from dennys drive shaft.  

 

Lasted ~20k oem spicer PN

8 hours ago, Me78569 said:

I got mine from dennys drive shaft.  

 

Lasted ~20k oem spicer PN

Fingers crossed that my Spicer's last a while.  

 

Ball joints for these trucks seem to be a crap shoot. Researching this forum and others there was not one definite good ball joint that will last for 2000-2002. One person would say this bj is the best, the next would say they only got 10,000 miles out of that same bj. I just gave up decided I would go with my gut feeling.

 

Almost seems like it would be simpler to swap in a different Dana 60 front from a different year or make of truck. If it weren't for the Cummins engine I would probably never have owned a Dodge anything. My old '78 F150 with a Dana 44 front has almost 600k miles on it's original everything except brakes, clutch, engine, and u-joints. The steering is still tight with all 1978 original parts. It's even been worked harder than I'll ever work the Dodge's I own.

Edited June 29, 20186 yr by 04Mach1

I remember one short time member who said, "I wanted a Cummins, its not my fault a Doge came wrapped around it". I bought my first one in 96 with a V10 in it. It blew up with 165k on it and thats how I got into the 02 I have now. While I have had some electrical issues that were pricey the mechanical end has held up surprisingly well. At least better than expected. 446k and still running a fair amount of OE stuff. I have not been disappointed for the long haul. All of the manufacturers have had there issues. 

 

I do agree with you on crap shooting ball joints. 

Edited June 29, 20186 yr by dripley