toughtoy4x4

Mike, I saw that you had remarked on Cummins Forum to someone else about to buy an "upgrade" pump (Redhead, I believe) and you suggested a rebuild first. Do you happen to have a part number and a good source for the correct rebuild kit for our steering gearbox? There are so many out there and I would like to get the right one the first time. BTW, mine is an '01 2500 with 296K miles and it wanders a bit even with replaced/upgraded track bar; box brace, and ball joints and end links. I even have the 3rd Gen steering linkage upgrade. Thanks.

You may want to check the adjusting sleeve for the track bar and make sure it's tight. Also, be sure the track bar connections are tight. That's where I've experienced most of my steering "pops".

I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with. I've actually been shopping for a dash replacement on eBay, Amazon, and most of the online MOPAR parts dealers. The stealership wants more than $1500.00! It appears there are only two aftermarket manufacturers of our dashes and both are using ABS. According to my research so far, one of the manufacturers has all the factory mounting holes and the other doesn't.

Ladder frames aren't bolted together for a reason. You would imagine that vibration and frame flex from normal operation will eventually erode the holes he drilled for the bolts. I see he went with good sized bolts but unless he significantly reinforced the holes and used bushings in the frame member to prevent crushing, that frame member is gonna move and create stresses in other parts of the frame. Depending on how long that truck is operational, I'll bet he starts seeing cracks after a while.

First, I agree with the suggestions about checking your pressure with a test gauge. I use one to verify pressure readings when they begin to deviate from normal. The two things I've noticed about pressure fluctuations with my Raptor RP-100 are that they are related to fuel level or junk in the fuel line. In reading your posts, I didn't see whether you had disconnected the fuel inlet line from the pump. On mine, there is a small, steel mesh filter in the inlet side of the pump. After about a year of running, my pressures were beginning to drop on WOT. They were fine idling or cruising. I replaced the fuel filter on the side of my engine to no avail. I then pulled the fuel line going into the inlet side of the pump and discovered that the mesh filter was full of small bits of stuff. I cleaned it out and my WOT pressure returned to normal (>10 PSI) with only about 4 PSI drop from cruising pressure. I added a Donaldson filter between the tank and the pump after that and I haven't seen that particular problem since. One other pressure drop I've noticed is when I run the tank down to nrely empty. The pressure readings drop significantly when I'm into the throttle until I get down to town to fuel up. After that, no more issues. Hope these comments help!