The_Hammer

I would just do hydro assist. After that your only wear item (steering wise) will be the tie rod.

How would you suggest that I go about diagnosing it?

35's are as big as I'm going to go so ball joints shouldn't be an issue. The steering gears on these trucks are marginal at best with factory tires which is why I'm doing the hydraulic assist.

@Mopar1973Man I n0t b3 be3ry $mUrt an iZ DurNt LurN 2 WeL

Issue: The rear brakes on my 96' Ram 2500 4x4 will lock up when coming to a fairly hard stop and overall braking performance is poor. Details: The brake pedal will slowly sink to the floor when held down. I replaced the master cylinder last year and everything was working fine up until the rear brakes started locking up. Once they started locking up I noticed the pedal would slowly sink when held down. There are no leaks anywhere and the reservoir stays full. The rear brakes are properly adjusted, the shoes are not worn or contaminated with oil (no seal leaks), and the drums are smooth with minimal wear. The front brake pads and rotors are in excellent condition. My gauge cluster is missing some bulb holders so I don't know if my ABS light would be on or not. I'm leaning towards it being an issue with the proportioning valve as it feels like the rear brakes are doing the majority of the work. Are these valves repairable or is replacement the only option?

This is correct. Oversized tires do put a lot of extra strain on the steering components. A 12V Cummins by itself weighs ~1100 lbs dry, then add in all of the accessories, front axle, heavy replacement bumper, and you've got a lot of weight on the front tires. Now add in the extra contact area of a 35x12.50 and you're asking a lot from the factory steering. I run 35x12.50's with the T steering and without a steering stabilizer it drives great. I will still be adding hydraulic assist come spring to take the strain off of my steering gear.

The thing that concerns me about replacing everything with used factory parts is how long will it last before this happens again? There are times when I wish I would have done a Fummins 😂

I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. Ideally I want a permanent fix and I think that’s going to require a lot of custom work.

@dripley The rest of what’s broke on my truck can’t be bought new 🤦🏻‍♂️

I am completely disgusted with the interior in my 96’ Ram 2500 as everything is just falling apart. I still don’t have a top dash, the kick panel under the steering column broke and fell off, the bezel that goes around the steering column cracked and fell off, the glove box door hinges broke, the overhead pushbutton lights broke, the hand holds on the door panels are cracked, and the HVAC control unit is cracked. Did I manage to get the truck with the single worst interior on the planet? I’m about ready to gut this garbage out and start from scratch.

@04Mach1 It's a known issue with the AFM (Active Fuel Management) lifters. This engine would still be running strong if not for that garbage.

I haven't had a top dash in my 96' for over 2 years now. I had to rebuild most of the bottom dash with fiberglass because it was falling apart and now my damn glove box door hinges are broken. The latest thing to start giving me problems are the door panels I'm about to the point where I want to build my own complete dash and use Autometer gauges. I can't believe there is pretty much zero aftermarket support (except for the top dash) for the trucks who have the crappiest interiors of damn near any vehicle ever made.

My wife's 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 developed a misfire on cylinder #1 which was accompanied by a strange chirping sound. I set up a dial indicator on the rockers to check the lift and sure enough the intake on cylinder #1 was about half of what it should be. This is what I found after tearing the engine down. There were no spun bearings so the only machine work needed is to have the crank journals ground and the heads resurfaced. I am deleting the AFM/DOD garbage from this engine. I already have a new non-afm cam, lifters, lifter trays, valley plate, various bolts and gaskets, and the ECM has been flashed with the correct factory tune so I won't have any dtc codes to deal with. The pistons and rods are still fine so I'm just going to replace the rings and lightly hone the cylinders. There is no discernible wear in the cylinders and the compression was 145-160 across all cylinders. For those who have dealt with this I can now say.....

I like it! Lol.