The_Hammer

No lever.

Apparently it was an option.

I have a 96’ Ram 2500 4x4 with 4-wheel ABS. The ABS system hasn’t worked in quite some time which is fine by me as the last time it kicked in I almost went through a stop sign and into an another truck. The problem I’m having is the rear brakes will lock up with relatively light pressure. So far I have: • Inspected the rear brakes and checked the adjustment, nothing was wrong. • Replaced the front calipers, pads, and brake lines. • Installed a new master cylinder • Thoroughly bleed the entire system. I’ve had this happen before on a different truck (non-ABS) and the culprit was a malfuncting combination valve. The problem is I have yet to find a replacement for my truck. I’m also wondering if the ABS unit could have an internal leak which would cause this issue? Any ideas?

I need to replace my junk mirrors. They shake so much while driving down the highway that they’re pretty much useless.

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.

I finally got some new shoes on my truck awhile back. I also got rid of the stacks and installed a 5th wheel. Once I get caught up on some bills I’m going to Monstaline it. I still don’t have a top dash in it yet and some of the small parts from the interior were lost in the flood.

@Mopar1973Man I have a friend that lives in Nevada and the fires there are getting really close to his home. Last year we were all drowning down here and this year y’all are frying up there. A little balance should would be nice. @dripley Won’t be rebuilding any time soon now that we’re full-time living in our RV. I’m going to build a cover for it where the old house was so it will be protected. We’ll have a beautiful view of the river just like our old house did but will be able to move it on out if the river decides to get frisky. It’s been over a year since we sat by the river, grilled some hot dogs, and just relaxed. It’s nice to start feeling like us again.

It’s been awhile since I’ve visited the forum and wanted to stop by and say hi. Not a whole lot has changed in our world, still recovering from Harvey and trying to get our heads right. Tore down our old house last week which was definitely bittersweet but needed to be done. Still enjoying living in the RV and are really glad we got it. So how have y’all been doing?

That was my thought as well. Amazon is going to be my go to for sure. There are only a couple of places that carry RV supplies and they’re damn proud of them too.

We purchased the unit used and “as is” from a consignment dealer named PPL. I believe the only thing that is still covered is the roof, which has a 12 year warranty that is transferable. I haven’t heard of a single RV repair shop anywhere around here that does work in a reasonable amount of time so I will be doing any repairs myself. I confirmed that the roof is actually EPDM and not TPO like I first thought. Dicor is the brand of self leveling lap sealant the OEM used around all of the roof vents. The roof is a little dirty so I’m not sure which tone of white was used but it didn’t matter as the only color I could find locally was bright white lol. We have a lot of rain coming this weekend so I wanted to hurry up and make sure everything was sealed up nice and tight. I made sure my shoes were clean before I got up there. The last thing I need to do is poke a bunch of little holes in the roof lol. I didn’t think about using something like a yoga mat, it’s a great idea! The front cap is completely painted so it will be receiving a nice wax job in the near future. The layout of this thing is phenomenal! At first we didn’t want an island in the kitchen but we ended up really liking it in here. I’m going to build a carport to park the unit under before summer which will really help to protect it. We aren’t going to be towing it around much, at least not for right now. It’s our full-time home since our stick house was severely damaged by all of last years flooding so we’re actually just happy to finally be back home.

@015point9 Thanks for all of the advice, it’s greatly appreciated! Upon inspecting the roof I noticed a few small cracks in the calking around the vent fans. It’s not all the way through yet but I’m going to clean the area with denatured alcohol and apply some Dicor Ultra Sealant which is made for TPO roofing. The first night went great. Waking up and seeing the river again was an awesome feeling, especially after being displaced for 5 months.

Thanks for the info. The first thing I’m doing is washing the roof with an appropriate TPO roof cleaner then after it’s dry wiping it down 303 protectant. A little later on we’re building a covered roof to keep it under.