Nekkedbob

The only time that I have had that happen was with a 76 Toyota land cruiser. Everything on it checked out including the alignment and the tech suggested that I run a slight more toe in which cured the problem for at least 150k miles when I sold it.

most auto part stores have hinge pin sets. You have to support the door and grind off the top of the pin with a dremel and knock it out the bottom and if the bushing are still there get them out, replace the bushings and drive the pin in. Hardest part is to support the door, I hung mine from a rafter so it had no chance to fall and I made sure to only do one at a time.

Check your hinges, that looks like mine before I rebuilt the hinge pins and bushing.

As a old truck driver that was taught to shift without the clutch, if it is done right it will not hurt one bit. Now that that was said if it is done right you can shift a non synchro box with no gear clash or rattle or a synchro box with effort of 2 fingers. As to RPM matching it depends on my state of mine if I blip the throttle between shifts. From 2nd to 3rd tends to be the slowest shift for me. If you do get the RPM matched your trans will almost fall into the next gear with both a up shift or a down shift. When RPM matching is done correctly I have very seldom found a trans the takes more then two fingers to shift it. I do live and die by the tach and if you pay attention to when you pull it out of gear and what the RPM is in the next gear that will give you a good idea what the percentage of drop to watch for. A good way to practice is to shift early like 1700 and only use 2 fingers. The higher the RPM the more precise that you have to be.

Both of my lower latches were rusted when I got mine. I was planning on replacing them that summer because of holes (2 years ago) so I didn't care about them but I did want them to work. I used lots of rust remover (wd40 ,crc and yes diesel fuel ) and after a week of soaking numerous times a day and yes you can remove the inside door panel when the door is closed I placed a 2x4 against the bottom of the door and went after it with a small dead blow and both came loose. I was able to get both open and operable with out and damage and used them for another 6 months.

As I remember from reading T.S.B.s the 12v was installed until Dec. 97 as 98s and the 24v production started Jan 98.

Just a F.Y.I when I started trucking in the 80s you could get front disc brakes from most OTR manufactures. Unlike our trucks a big rigs carries most of its weight over the rear so most of the braking is from the rear. Not that you can do this any more but we would remove the front brakes on some of our trucks to save weight and reduce maintenance but we very seldom uncoupled from our trailers.

I have had mine for the last two years and have the same problem with the calibration. I have been to CA. from WI. and back twice and only once or twice has it been closer then 3 mpg off plus or minus. Around town I cant get it any closer then 5 mpg over what it is really getting. The voltage reading sounds about right, I have seen as high as 14.4 in the winter and as low as 13.6 in the summer. What you are seeing is the battery temp sensor doing its job.

This my be wrong but someone that steals vehicles most likely are not mechanics and if they are they more then likely worthless ones. A thief wants a vehicle that will start so they can get away as soon as possible and not to have to trouble shoot one that wont start. As someone that "moved " many vehicles in his youth ( 60s and 70s) the vehicles were very easy to do with a piece of wire and a screwdriver in just a few seconds. To tell the absolute truth if they want your truck enough they will get it, all you can hope for is to slow them down so they catch or give up and go on to a easier one

I was playing around with mine today and that will still through a code. I just pull the relay on mine when I park mine in questionable places but I have a scangage mounted on my dash so I just delete the code

As I recall there is a rebuilder that will rebuild a 4500 with brass syncros so you don't need the Castrol. I was searching about 2 years ago but I cant remember how I found it and haven't looked since.

On my 98 I had a rotor warp when I got to CA last year so I went around and asked if they had a in-the-vehicle brake machine. I eventually found one and they just pulled the tire and the caliper and turned the rotor on the truck. I don't remember how much it was but it was worth it to me because I was camping and didn't have any way to press the studs out and then get it to them.

I was a field service tech and drove my own vehicles and they usually made at least 300k before I sold them. I found that using the cheapest pads would not ruin the rotors and since I did this I only replaced one rotor on a truck that collapsed at 380k from rust. They might wear out a little faster but they are cheap and easy to change and they save you the price of turning or replacement if you pay attention and don't let them get down to metal.

It could be a remote start. I found one in my old dodge caravan when I bought it. I took the kick panel off and found the box. I wrote down the numbers and name and found it on the web. I now have a working fob and how to program it. Its great to have remote start on these cold days.

Letting things go as you have is the quickest way to make a good reliable vehicle not worth fixing ( junk). Short of rust or a wreck most repairs are not that big of a deal if caught early. I have spent most of my working career behind the wheel in not only big rigs but mostly on my own private cars and pickups and they were not sold until they hit 300k( most of my employers would not believe that the were reliable and after so long I would just buy another vehicle) and still reliable at that point because they were maintained and repaired before they got bad enough to leave me stranded. The big question is do you like to work on your truck or is it a headache to deal with. If you don't a 2nd gen might not be worth keeping but if you do then you will know what has been done and what is needed. I always go with what I have kept up verses a newer truck because you don't really know how well it has been taken care of or if new what the manufacturer did not test completely leading to warranty problems that there is no real fix( the famous statement THEY ALL DO THAT ).

It is not a dummy gauge but the dash assy. is not high quality gauge set. What you see in mopar1973mans video is the voltage regulator on the back of the dash assy that has gone bad or a high resistance ground to the dash. The biggest problem with our dash is it takes a analog signal from the sensor and converts it to digital in the ECM and or PCM and then decodes it back to a analog value for the gauge set and if tolerances are not kept very small (meaning more expensive ) you get just what we see. This is the biggest reason for the aftermarket gauge industry is that mfgs. put gauges that barely qualify as a useful gauge. Why do you think that you cannot find any accuracy specs for there stuff and they don't put but very few markings other "operating range". Many years ago I found the accuracy spec for speedometers ( I wish I could remember where ) from the D.O.T. and they only need to be within +or - 10 percent.

My gauge tracks as a pressure gauge ( pressure is at the top of the operating range when cold ,drops as it warms up and goes up and down in its range with the RPM although it doesn't have any graduations that are usable other then operating range) My last dodge v10 did what yours does except mine would drop to the bottom of the operating range when going down the road for no reason. I installed a tee at the oil pressure sender and put a mechanical gauge on it .I was pleasantly surprised it had 60 psi when cold and 35 when hot at 250k miles. I had changed the sender twice with no change. I never did change the dash and it was still doing it when I sold it 7 years later with the oil pressure gauge in the A pillar

Just a FYI trailer tires ( ST ) are only speed rated at 65 MPH per a goodyear rep that I got to talk to. I was wondering why I was loosing a tire at least once a year on my trip to Ca. that I could do in 2.5 days from Wi. Since I have slowed down from 70MPH to about 62 MPH I have not lost a tire in 3 years. When I was running car tires on my trailer (tire shops have refused to install car tires on my trailer but if I just brought the rims in there it was on problem )I have run at more then 90 MPH for hours and never lost tire except from age. For the last 8 years I have towed a trailer that is load rated at 3000lbs and never loaded it more then 2000lbs and always inflated then to the max pressure And I think that I might be able to actually wear out a set now.

They crack from age. Check the date code and see when they were made. Most tire sellers can decode it for you. I have unknowingly purchased tires that had sat in the warehouse for years and they started to crack within 1 year and when I had them replaced them I mention it to them so they decoded it and they were 6 years old.

About 20 years ago fords used a electric fan in front of the condenser and the stock belt driven fan on the motor. As I recall the electric fan had no shroud and only came on when the A.C. was on to solve the very same problem.

On my 98 the trailer wiring is made into the harness and just has a connector in the back about dead center built into the harness that goes between the tail lights. All I had to do was by the trailer plug with a short harness for a dodge that reaches to the back. If you use there set up you can even get a brake controller that plugs in under the dash and not have to tap into any wires or run any. As I recall the plug and brake controller can be ordered at U-Haul or NAPA.

I have 3 different battery tenders that I use ( one is on a small toy hauler that is only used once a year and 2 that I use in my motorcycles during winter storage)and they work great. I don't see the need for one if your batteries are in good shape and you drive it at least once a month. I don't drive my truck during the winter but I do start it and hi-idle it up to temp at least every 30 days and at 10 degrees I have never had a problem.

The only thing that I would worry about is with that low RPM you are hammering the drive train pretty good. One of my friends has the same setup on a 12v and has knocked out 5th gear 4 times and from my research the low RPM was the cause. Some where I remember reading from Dodge that you should not pull at 1500 RPM or less and even on flat land at 70 MPH you are pulling it fairly hard, compare your EGTs and boost on both double over and over and you will see the difference. With your setup I would only use it to split gears but not 5th

Just a FYI I have received three of these notices (about one every other day) and thought that I would chime in. Like said I read every day but don't post unless I see the need. Thanks for keeping this website and this forum alive.

This is something that I have wondered about because it was a big problem back with the 855 cummins with the pressure pump back in the 70s and 80s when I was a owner/operator and we were told that on any down hill run to put your foot onto it about every 30 sec. as to not to run the pump dry. I have not had any long down hill runs to check mine but I have wondered about this with our trucks. For this reason I have not taken the route through Denver on my yearly trip from Wi. to NV. because there is a down hill run that is so steep that I don't touch the accelerator for about 65 miles with my trailer behind me.