cumminspower

thanks for the writeup. i am getting ready to install cab lights on mine too. my truck is black so i decided to go with the smoked recons. i think the factory amber ones look really ugly on black. are the measurments that you used the standard measurements on the late 2nd Gen trucks? I've got the template from the cab light kit from dodge but I know it doesn't work for the 2nd Gen's because it was for the 3rd gen body style. Still trying to decide how I want to measure the lights and get them centered.

Thanks. I appreciate the information. I will see if I can get it checked & make sure there isn't a problem.

Lately I've been wondering if possibly I've got a problem with my IAT sensor. I haven't gotten any codes but my grid heaters cycle at weird times & I also seem to be getting pretty bad gas mileage. 13-14mpg in town...Sometimes after I drive the truck for a while & it gets up to normal op. tmps I can shut it down, wait 5 minutes, start it back up & my grid heaters start cycling again....Shouldn't the intake manifold have already gotten warm enough that it wouldn't need to cycle the grid heaters again? I live in Alabama too, so it's not like it's cold or anything.... I've already pulled the IAT sensor out & checked it & cleaned it....It wasn't even dirty at all.....I'm just wondering if it might have a problem....Is it very common for one to have a problem & the truck not throw any codes at all?

I'm not real sure that the bushing is going to help any in this situation....I took it apart last night trying to find out where the popping noise is coming from & it's immediately beind the steering wheel under the plastic cover part & buried inside the steering column....when you put pressure on the wheel on top or bottom you can feel the column pop right here....I didn't really want to dig into the column that far so I stopped & put it back together...I was wondering if it could be a bearing or bushing that could be worn or loose in that area....

Lately my steering wheel has developed some movement in it up & down & a popping noise. If you press on top or bottom of steering wheel it makes a pop & moves slightly up and down. It's even gotten so loose that the steering column & wheel seem to rattle when you hit a bump in the road. Is there anything common that gets worn out in these steering columns that causes the steering wheel to have movement in it like that & a popping sound. The popping sounds like it's coming in the area directly beind the steering wheel....Thanks for any help or suggestions.

yeah, i'm pretty sure i had my key in the on position at the time because i was turning the front hubs back and forth. I guess that explains the error code. I went ahead and cleared it & it didn't come back. Thank you for the information. Mike

Over the weekend I had my truck jacked up and was spinning both the front tires trying to find a noise. Tonight when I checked my codes I had a P0500 speed sensor error code. I checked my manual and on the 02 the speed sensor is under the front wheel hubs. My question is would having the front wheels off the ground & spinning the tires make it throw this error code?

i put about 3 1/2" lift on the front on mine & I decided to go with the adjustable control arms. They are a little higher priced than other control arms but they make a it a lot easier to get your axle centered after you lift it. If you decide to make changes later & go even higher then you are ready because your control arms are adjustable. I bought mine from Rokman Offroad. They have a website. SSI also sells adjustable control arms but they want over a $1,000 for a set. I'm sure they are good, but that's kinda high if you ask me......

I was just wondering if you might have noticed any improvement after installing new injectors....I have the same weird tick in my truck & it's only noticeable under load around 1,500 rpm's....

how many miles you got on yours? i have an 02' also with 47re in it.....every once in a while i notice it doing some gear searching between 35-40mph.....i got a temp gague on it & it seems to happen after it gets up around 160 or so.......

thanks, it was kind of hard to tell how much room is left between the hood & the filter when closing it....i'm starting to see that it's helpful to have the heat shield since it gives it a flat platform to sit in & probably doesn't move around as much when not using one.....i think i will defintely get a heat shield before trying to install it again.....

I was a little disappointed this afternoon when I tried to install my new BHAF & it seemed like there wasn't enough space to close the hood.....I just got a Donaldson DuraLite off Vulcan Performance like a lot of folks are using.....Anybody have any idea how much space is usually left after installing the BHAF between the top of the filter & the hood.....It didn't really look like it fit to me & I definitely don't want any warping in the hood..... Also, does anybody have an idea if those bolts for the factory air box can be taken out from the bottom side.....I didn't really feel like removing my fender liner to find out if they could be taken out.....wasn't sure if anybody had their's removed.....I just wanted to be able to put them back later in case I went back to the factory box...Thanks... --- Update to the previous post... sorry, accidentally put this one in the wrong forum....

i've had a unknown tick on mine since i've about 25,000 miles on it.....it kind of reminded me of the sound of a broken speedomoter......like you said you can hear a faint tick near the firewall around 1500 rpm's.....i've checked the valves on mine several times & exhaust manifold......i kind of gave up on it.....truck still drives great & doesn't seem to have any power issues....only thing i've always wondered about is i seem to get really bad gas mileage when just driving around town....probably only around 13-14mpg.....highway driving i seem to get around 17-18.....always wondered if it might be an injector issue, but i don't seem to get any rough idle or smoke at all unless it's on a cold start.....just figured i would stop worrying about it & just drive it... i was curious about something......does the onboard computer hold information like the max rpm's that have ever been reached on these trucks if that hasn't been cleared? i've always been interested in finding this out, but i figured you would have to have the dealer equipment to be able to pull that kind of information from it.....

cool....you've replaced yours before? can you just support the engine with a good jack & board or something & remove the engine mount bolt.....i was thinking about replacing mine with some better ones & see if it would cut down on some of the shaking.....

not trying to hijack the thread, but speaking on the subject of engine mounts.......how difficult is it to replace the engine mount inserts that are rubber? do you have to remove the engine mount bolt & lift the engine up to get to replace them?

ok, thanks. i was just curious about what you were hearing before you got yours fixed.....i am hearing a thud when i put my ear to my air box on mine so guess it's a good sound.....thud seems to get a little louder after the truck warms up but not a whole lot.....

don't mean to bring up an old thread, but i had a question about something you said.....you mentioned that you can tell if you have a problem with the valves if you put your ear up to the air intake & listen.....it's normal to hear more of a thud sound than a tick? is that correct?

I take that back....I reset that overhead console thing today & it said that it was getting about 17mpg....i guess it's not bad but not great either.....if it's actually giving an accurate reading..... --- Update to the previous post... sometime in 02' i think they got rid of the CAD....Mine doesn't have CAD & my front drive shaft turns all the time....I've heard some say that they've seen an improvement in gas mileage after taking their front drive shaft out.....would be interesting to know if it's true & how much of a difference it makes.....

thanks for the information. i've checked most of bolts except for the ones that are hard to get to behind the turbo & lines.....on the bolts they have these metal brackets that span in between all the bolts....must be something they started doing so the bolts can't move any....i removed the metal bracket on the back ones & tightened them up....only thing i have seen that bothers me is there seems to be oil leaking some around the valve cover gasket towards the back....kind of oily back there.....not sure if this could cause any problems but i guess i should get another gasket so it won't be leaking onto the exhaust manifold or engine towards the back....

wow...i'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with mine....we have farily warm temperatures around here & the best I can do on gas milelage is around 14mpg....i'm pretty light on the gas too....

I was just curious how it would perform here in the south. I want to put mine in but was still thinking it over. Here in Alabama, during the middle of summer, it usually gets up close to 100 F most days with high humidity. I don't spend much of my time driving at highway speeds. Lots of stop & go in traffic. Wasn't sure how correct the studies are, but I've seen some posts where they say the stock air box will keep the intake temps down more than the bhaf in certain cases.....the one problem i have with the stock air box is sometimes it doesn't seem to make a good seal & i see some dirt & residue making its way in around the filter edges & into the turbo.....

so, how does all that junk get built up around the evaporator even though it's inside the dash.....this seems to be the common failure point in chrysler AC systems.....mine went out after only 3 years....

How much does it really help to use the heat shield when running bhaf? Does it really help keep intake temps. down any lower than not using one at all?

I did find something kind of interesting.....I took the rocker arm off that I thought had a lot of play in it. The rocker arm shaft had some scoring going on around the bottom of the shaft where the rocker arm rubs against it.....I'm starting to think that it was getting in a bind at times.....I noticed that the shaft would bind up some when you would move it around inside the rocker arm.....I ordered another rocker arm shaft & it fits perfectly in the same rocker arm....no binding at all & feels smooth when turning it.....After putting everything back it doesn't have as much play in it anymore & the noise has quieted down.....I hope this takes care of it permanently.... --- Update to the previous post... those bottom bolts on the exhaust manifold seem like they are pretty hard to get to.....any tricks on getting to those bolts without taking a bunch of things apart to get to them.....are those brackets they put on there between manifold bolts just to keep them from working their way loose?

ok, thanks. I will be pull it out & check it first to see if it's wearing weird before doing anything.