Ironforger

Update, I installed the Sachs 310178 shocks on the font of my 02 dodge 3500 independent suspension truck. I'm very pleased with the results. Nice feel, not too stiff, not too soft. Does not bounce or bobble. I I like these much better than the bilstien shocks (which are way too stiff). I'd like to point out that this particular sachs shock will fit 1994 - 2002 1500, 2500 and 3500 dodge trucks. I may sell the bilstiens if anyone interested. less than 2 years old, about 6000 miles on them.

Thanks Moparman! Are the Ranch 5100's soft? My priority is to find a good soft shock which allows the suspension to fully travel but dampens without bounce. As it is now, my Bilstein 4600's as so stiff that they actually impeded free movement of the suspension.

Awesome glad to hear your kidney is healing and looking better! You're doing the right thing exercising getting back into shape, it will help you overall when you go back in for the exploratory surgery. I'm sure the Doc's told you to drink plenty of water? How tall are you? 230lbs isn't too far out of range for a tall person but always good to lose a few.

I'm considering the Sachs 310 178 shocks for the front of my truck. I'm currently running the Bilstein 4600's but they are just too stiff. My truck is 2wd Independent front suspension, so I'm looking for a shock that will simply allow the suspension to travel and return in response to road conditions and dampen without bounce. AH64ID: Did you install the lift for handling purposes? or just to level it out? The back of my truck currently sits about 2 1/2" higher in the back compared to front. (Sitting on level concrete - measured front and back from the spot welded pinch seam (which runs straight along the bottom of our trucks) to level ground. I'm considering Top Gun's 2" level kit for the 2wd (They don't make a 1" kit for the 2wd). https://www.topguncustomz.com/2-inchleveling-kit-front-steel-1994-2017-dodge-ram-1500-2500-3500-2wd.html?Session_ID=e26dc85c34caea0c3cffdbe40d8fcac7

A couple years ago I got the bilstien yellow/blue shocks on special from Geno's garage "Shocktober" The rear is fine but I immediately noticed that the front was super stiff. I mean REAL hard. Like every bump was as if the truck had no suspension at all. BAM BAM BAM! I wanted to send them back but in my research I could not find any other bilstien variation for this truck . So was like "screw it" and I just left them on the truck. Fast forward one year now they are fine. It's like they broke in and now they are softer not super soft. Truck does not bounce. I've never heard of shocks breaking in, but that's what it's seems like. Next time around I am not going with bilstien. I know they have a huge following and great reputation but I like a soft ride without bounce.

Blueox01: I got the stainless hub covers from Prime Industries, inc. They are located in Virginia. Basically they are wheel cover supplier at the top of the supply chain, they supply products to various ebay vendors etc. The stuff on ebay is way more expensive. (like double the cost!) You can buy directly from prime industries. Dirt cheap. I paid like $17 each for the stainless hub covers shown on my wheels. They also have the matching stainless full wheel covers but like you I just chose to use only the center hub covers because I like the powder coated gun metal look on our 7 hole steel dually wheels. You can call them and order directly & pay with credit card. Here is a link to their pdf catalog: http://www.prime-industries.com/Catalogs/auto-hardware2010.pdf The part numbers for the hub covers I got are: Rear Hub Covers w/Adapter Ring: 58585-160GFD Front Hub Covers w/Adapter Ring 58583-160GFD

Who could forget "Nurse Diesel" from that Mel Brooks movie "High Anxiety"! Get well soon Moparman! I hope the procedure goes well today & speedy full recovery to you.

I'll get back to you on the Center cap detail. Gotta look it up, It's in my notes somewhere. Yes, you are right, the front bearings are sealed, but still that big void in there can trap dirt and water. I changed out my front wheel bearings a while back (They WOULD NOT come off. Had to cut them off of the spindle with a grinder cut-off wheel) While I was in there, noticed much dirt etc. I prefer the old school bearings personally, easy to maintain, clean and re-pack as necessary etc. When my bearings went bad, it was quite bizzare. I swear the noise was coming from the right front while I was turning left. It turned out the left side was bad! But at least I got new wheel bearings. I Did the rear too. Good to go!

That looks good. Do you know the brand and color code for that gun metal?, also, was it a single stage or 2 stage powder coat ?(first stage color, second stage gloss) I also had mine done in gun metal a few years ago (single stage, but me thinks I like your color better! Also, I got these aftermarket stainless hub covers from an online vendor which were fairly inexpensive. Prefer to keep water and dirt out of the center hub. Truck did not come with the originals, and they are WAYYYY to expensive to purchase oem.

Just saw this post. Hope you are doing ok. Been down that road with Leukemia treatments years ago. Many many surgeries & extended hospitalizations etc. Hospitals are no fun but I realized long ago that if I'm nice to the medical professionals (nice to all of them, not just the cute nurses ;o)) Then they are inclined to be nice to you (esp if you are sedated and your care is completely in their hands) ;o). But besides that, it sounds like you are doing the best you can to take care of yourself. Hang in there moparman! this is no big deal, like changing the oil and new radiator hoses! Keep us posted!

Hey guys, I've been looking for these wheels, hard to find. 7 slot holes, and slightly different offset from the pre-2000 2nd gens. I occasionally come across them on craigslist & ebay etc, but they are few and far between since they were only made for the 2000 - 2002 model year 3500 duallys. But alas I do find them! My question has to do with the factory coating. Does anyone know if the original factory coating for these 2000-2002 wheels was paint? or powder coat? Thanks!

Looks sweet man. I would love to ditch my 5600 too! You are obviously going through some great effort to do things right, frame off etc. From a pro welder point of view you got the right idea with the custom trans mounts but they are looking a bit weak to me & diamond plate is not meant for structural purposes, especially with the incredible torque we are making with these engines. PM me, I can help you out with this. You do NOT want these to fail, esp with all the awesome things and extensive work you have done to get this far.

Great info, good to hear feedback from someone experienced with the Edge products. I'll research further before dropping money on a tuner or injectors. Thanks! I'll look into the PacBrake setup. Good info. Thanks!

Thanks. I've researched a bit on the exhaust brakes, most of them replace the factory cast elbow. So that's simple. No modifications needed to the exhaust. Lots of great info in this thread. Much appreciated. So I think I'll get the 4" stainless diamond eye setup with muffler. It's actually about the same price or cheaper as the oem system replacement anyway and will never need to worry about it rusting out. Previous owner of my truck had it setup as a welding rig, straight pipe no muffler. It's just too loud and my neighbors hate me so I'm sure the diamond eye with muffler will be an improvement. Just a work truck. Not looking for bad-*** sound or performance. Tempted to get an edge comp or juice, but I need to learn more about the edge products.

Good info, thanks. I found this at summit racing: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dep-k4212s/overview/year/2002/make/dodge/model/ram-3500 Are you running an exhaust brake? I'd like to get an exhaust brake in the future, wondering if the above pipe setup will work without modifications if I decide to do an exhaust brake. Thanks!

How does your truck sound with this setup? I know most folks love the deep loud sound our trucks produce but I'm looking for something quiet without affecting performance. Thanks!

Just catching up on this thread. Glad you are safe, hoping the fires end soon. Rest when you can.

Thanks Mopar1973man! What are the steps / method for checking for AC noise from the alternator? I have a fairly good klein tool multimeter if necessary. I think I found Mopar1973man's video which explains how to test for AC noise:

I had this issue on my old 12 valve 1st gen 1990 wr 250 4x4 5.9. Thought it was the belt? wrong. Turned out it was the tensioner pulley bearing. Was always worse when it was damp or raining outside.

02 3500 5.9 ho Quad cab 6 speed 227k Ok, a couple of times recently I noticed a slight hesitation while attempting to accelerate. Happens when rpms are just above idle while I'm trying to accelerate from 2nd gear to 3rd gear. Feels kind of like a dead pedal but not completely. Points to ponder: - Issue seems to happen only if the truck is cold and I don't give it a chance to properly warm up - Seems fine once truck is warm. - it's not mis-firing or sputtering, more like the pedal is momentarily not completely responding. - I am NOT getting any cel or codes associated with this. - 2 weeks ago installed the timbo apps and calibrated it properly. (I had an intermittent dead pedal and codes 1693 & 0121. I don't recall today's issues happening before I changed the apps. Also, today's issue is not a profound actual dead pedal like the 0121 is. I cleared the 0121 after installing the timbo apps. Issue has not re-occurred. Wondering if today's issue is due to the ecu deliberately reducing fuel in relation to low engine temp and intake air temp? If my issue as described is normal expected behavior because I'm not letting the truck warm up before going, then would the mopar1973man high idle kit help me? Thanks!.

Great info. Too bad I didn't know about this 2 weeks ago, had the truck jacked up while greasing the U-joints. I'll try it next time! Yea, It's a limited slip.

Thanks guys, good info. It's great to compare with other trucks running 3.55 axle ratio. I assumed mine was 3.55 based on the dealer cut sheet for my vin# Would there be any details stamped on the actual gears? Didn't think to look last time I changed the differential lube, which was less than 10,000 miles ago. Now I'm tempted to pull the differential cover just to see! Too bad it's not quite time to change the lube. I used the good synthetic lube & I added the LSD friction modifier too. Previous owner had the truck setup as a welding rig. It's possible he changed the gears at some point. If anyone had to guess based on my engine speed / road speeds, what do you think my axle ratio may be? Maybe I should not consider the 245's after all.

Is your 02 a 5 speed? Here are my speeds & corresponding rpm's for my 02 3500 6 speed NV5600 & 3.55 gears 5th gear: 35 mph 1600 rpm 45 mph 2000 rpm 55 mph 2500 rpm 65 mph 3000 rpm 6th gear: 60 mph 2000 rpm 66 mph 2150 rpm 80 mph 2600 rpm Wondering what 245's would do for this? I kinda like the current spread shown above. Do you think I would see any improvement with 245's? Anyone here running 245's with a NV5600 6 speed and 3.55 axle ratio? I sold my 1990 W250 4x4 a few years back. It was a 5 speed, but not sure what the axle ratio was. I do recall I hated the transmission ratio spread. The ratio jump between 3rd and 4th was too much (revved high in 3rd,& revved low lugging/struggling in 4th). Although 4th gear was the 1:1 straight through ratio on that truck. I love the fact that I can putz around town in my 02 3500 6 speed NV5600 doing 35mph in 5th gear at 1600rpm without lugging.

Great thread. 02 3500 quad cab 2wd 6speed. 3.55's I have the factory size 235/85R16's . Glad I found this thread as It will soon be time for a set of 4 tires for the rear duallys. I may just try the 245's. I'm not even going to think about mpg's / economy at this point. (13 mpg last time I checked). I have a huge service body on the truck. Ridiculous wind drag. Planning to fabricate aerodynamic wings at some point. But I'm curious, do you think 3.73's would be worth considering? Not concerned about power, (I feel like the truck is way powerful as is without any mods, but considering an edge or quad in the future) but would 3.73's help my mpg's ? What would top speed be in 5th gear with the 3.73's? I try not to do any towing in 6th gear since I've read that towing in 6th is not a good idea with the NV5600 / high trans temps etc. Thanks

Great Thanks. I'll hit it hard with Bake Clean. I'll inspect the discharge tube & Intercooler as well.