notlimah

Yea the batteries are probably 5 years old now, but I don't think the PO drove the truck much in that time so the truck sat a lot, so even though they're not that old, I sorta think that maybe be at least part of the problem. I know that this sort of thing leads straight to an air leak but it doesn't seem like it's being starved of fuel because it fires up nicely, just takes a little longer.

Could you grind the bolt down to avoid hitting it? Wouldn't the link CSM posted avoid that as well since it's the 03-08 version?

Ohhh ok, I was thinking that pic was in a different spot. I'll have to check mine and see if it sticks down there as far.

Well I'm full of problems today... I've been having a slight brake squeal. It only occurs under VERY light braking. What's recently been happening though is it'll squeak when at low speeds. Usually only below 30mph I can hear it and when driving straight. When turning it seems to go away and doesn't come back once wheels are straightened out again. I'm not sure if it happens once the brakes are applied and then once I've let off that they're not fully separating from the calipers or what. Any ideas?

http://www.vulcanperformance.com/Steering-Box-brace-for-94-02-4WD-p/sbb2.htm You have to remove the bolt that holds the pitman arm on and replace it something like THIS which goes into the stabilizer. Unless that replacement bolt is the same length or shorter I see it causing problems.

hmmm I'm thinking no based on that pic. I have the steering box brace on there now so it has the added bolt that's on the bottom of the pitman arm so I don't see it working. That would explain why there's a bend in the other steering kits.

That was the plan, but I also didn't want to make any assumptions based off todays start up since I sat with the key in the 'ON' position for a few minutes before starting. Maybe I'll park up hill again tomorrow and do a normal quick start up just to see if it does the same thing again or not. I'm planning on going through and checking to make sure things are tight before tomorrow. Going to double check the injector bolts, banjos on VP. I know for sure the bolts on LP are tightened to spec or more, my only concern is if I didn't get enough Loctite on it =\

So I've started to notice that in the morning my truck has hard a little harder time starting. By harder time I mean, just cranks a little longer then it typically would. We haven't had to cold of mornings (high 30's low 40's) but it used to be 1 second or less and it'd fire up. This morning it was 3-4 seconds and then she fired up. I did just change some things with the Smarty so the battery was on for a little longer then normal before actually cranking but this isn't the first time it's happened. My driveway is at an incline so engine bay is slightly higher then the tank. So I'm wondering... Could it be batteries? Before starts my needle is juuuuust above the lowest marker on the battery gauge Intake heater no working properly? I have noticed more white smoke then usual on cold start ups Fuel leak? Haven't seen any spots in the driveway, and the system definitely primes once the key gets to 'ON' typically see 5-10psi needle jump So what do ya guys got?!

So now the question is can I run the 3rd gen steering kit with no leveling kit and 16in NON oem wheels with some offset?

I think it's a take your pick situation here, or wherever it'll fit given your current layout. Mine have been fairly close to the firewall and up as high as I can zip tie them down securely. Basically directly above or above and left of the brake pedal.

Figured you would! Haha did you ever get ahold of DOR? The install looks really easy (now that I've had my epiphany) just gotta find the time to do it. I'm also thinking of taking off the leveling kit, I'm just not sure I can run my tires without it and not rub like a sob.

I'm not sure I wait a specific amount of time. Usually by the time I'm reinstalling whatever I had to use the 545 on, it's looking like its gelling/hardening so I don't worry about it. As long as it's something I can access fairly easily, I wouldn't worry about it. Worse come to worse you could always get in there and add more of you were to have a leak.

Thanks man! Yea the stock tranny is always a thought. The WOT runs were mainly just for testing purposes, definitely not something that happens even often, more like rarely. I haven't gotta about level 5 and don't plan too. I was even thinking of trying level 3 and tweaking the settings some from there. Or just trying MPG mode and seeing how that went.

UPDATE TIME! Alright well not much has been happening as far as wrenching on the truck. Things have been busy so the only tinkering I've been able to do is with the (borrowed) Smarty. So far I've I tried on Catcher 3 and 5 and ended up staying with 5. It definitely livens the truck up quite a bit over stock and drops the power to kick it at very little throttle input. That in turn has made the truck a lot more easier (and fun) to drive. I think this has actually caused to truck to shift smoother from 3rd LU to 4th and 4th LU. It's also nice because I was a very low throttle input driver unless merging with traffic and things so this has really made the truck a pleasure to drive! I also got a 2 dollar turnbuckle from Home Depot and threw it on there and on my (very rare) WOT throttle runs I was seeing just shy of 30psi and never below 17psi. All in all the Smarty is a great little box! Next on the agenda is the DOR track bar. If you didn't already know, I like (read: HAVE) too plan things out before I start wrenching on the truck in order to keep my time out there as short as possible and so I can avert any problems. Needless to say and embarrassingly so, the DOR track bar install finally dawned on me to be real simple. For some reason in my mind I had visualize the bracket being mounted on the truck on the other side of the cross member making the instructions seem really confusing. After finally getting under the truck and holding the bracket up there and reading the instructions I finally realized that I was wrong (DUH) and that the instructions did in fact, make perfect sense. ANYWAYS, I just need to get a drill bit and hole saw so I can drill the holes and mount her up. I'll do my best to take as many pics as I can so I can hopefully help someone avoid the same confusion as me! Well that's all for now, hopefully my next post will be with pics of a track bar installed!

I think with a mechanical gauge you can get away with just running either a snubber or needle valve. It won't hurt running both though. I personally only run a needle valve, and see very minor needle swing if any. I could always close the needle valve a little more to get rid of it if I wanted. I'm also a big fan of 545. Diesel won't eat away at it and I feel more confident in the liquid creating a more solid barrier then the tape but that's just my opinion and ymmv. BUT, that 545 is expensive and if you already got it, might as well use it!

So if you cracked open 4 injectors when it was running and the engine made no change that definitely sounds like air in the system somewhere. Now trying to isolate the problem is a bit tougher. Could start with a bucket test to rule out the tank being the issue. If the problems still there then the problem is from the lift pump forward.

So the 03-09 kits fit our trucks? Do you have a link to the one you got on amazon? I've seen your alignment article, it's real slick. I might have to try that out.

How big a difference does that kit make? I was looking at DOR's but close to a grand for that is pretty steep!

Could it be a camshaft position sensor on the fritz or going bad? Just spit balling here, but sounds like you've covered all the typical things and it checks out good so it's like what else ya know!? As far as your codes, mine will show those regularly with the same things as you. What's weird though is when checking codes prior to starting with the hypertech tuner deal, it would show those codes. When checking with my OBDlink mx or with Tyler's Smarty, no codes would show. So it may be just the scan tool your using but I tend to trust the OBDlink and Smarty more then the hypertech.

Oh man Itotally get it! I'd do the same exact thing, just made me chuckle when I read it! Ha!

I love the fact this is even coming up is cause the gf is gonna be driving! Good forward thinking man!

Nice video! I was jamming out to the tunes as well. I gotta say though, that smudge or whatever it was was driving me nuts! Hahahah I kept thinking it was in my screen and I couldn't get it off! Really awesome stuff though! One of these days I really want to dig into one of these engines like this.

Thats exactly what I was thinking haha!

Ahhh ok that makes a little more sense. So I can't remember if you said you were getting fuel to the rails or not. Might as well crack open the suction line on the VP and bleed that to make sure then go through the following. Make sure to have the injector lines backed off 2-4 turns, but not completely off. Bump the starter, if/when FUEL ONLY is coming out of an injector, tighten it down while fuel is still coming out. Eventually you'll go to bump it and it'll probably start, or at least start then die. From there you can snug the injector bolts up a little more to prevent fuel from going everywhere (I tuck shop rags underneath) but once the truck starts and stays running, get in there and tighten those down quick to keep the fuel mess down. If for some reason bumping it isn't getting fuel to the rail, just crank and hold the starter for 10-15 seconds and fuel should make it then. With this method the truck will probably try and start but die. Once that happens put your injection line bolts just to the point where you can feel resistance by hand. This way should still bleed air and cause as little fuel spray as possible. Both my trucks primed differently so that's why I mention both bumping and cranking.

That's the best way to see things man. No point in focusing on what's wrong when you have plenty of good things going on right in front of you!