BIG-BLACK-DODGE

Ya it's just the latch itself siezed. Both doors too... I played with it b4 but never had the latches so i left it alone. Found the latches on ebay for a good price. the nuts/bolts r rusted bad i can see so they might just snap off. I'll have to see if i want tgat to happen or not lol. I just can't remember how it fits in there. Will look at it in the AM and post some pics. I will fall in love with yhis truck once i get those doors fixed and some Chevy/Hummer leather seats installed! Lol still looking for some seats... My stockers are beyond brutal....well the drivers side anyways...

I will definately be putting a sleeve in there. I have a Rancho shock too and i thought it came with another sleeve when i bought it?? Not sure but i have a whole box of various sizes of spacers and sleves so i'll figure something out. So did you say you have the frame to frame steering stabilzer? Originally built by a Canadian I might add!!?

My truck sees off road every day. When the truck flexes i can hear the cab creek and squeek lol p.s-PULL TO THE RIGHT FIXED!!!! My tire on the right side had 30 psi in it... All the others had 52psi. I set them all at 56 psi. Still has a very slight pull but not like b4. The wandering is mostly because of that play in the steering wheel. I remember someone saying that did this front end swap that the steering brace was hardly needed anymore. I'd still like to get the DOR brace eventually. The old girl is getting better day by day. 614,000 km's on this beast and half are staight oil field/logging roads here in the Rockies. She's been around the block this girl! Lol it's actually more km's than that because it's had bigger tires since day one. Not sure what that is in miles but it's getting up there. P.p.s - i'm going to try and bolt that steering stabilizer back on and see what its like. Will report back.

My doors are siezed closed i don't think i can take the panel off till the door is open.

Lol ok i saw all of those i thought you were talking about something different. I'll order one up and put this mystery to rest weather they hold up or not. Stay tuned. Moparman1973, any chance that i will " fry" something else by cheaping out and trying one?

Yes normally i'm not to scared to work on something i've never touched before but this is steering and not something i want to have screw up on me at hwy speeds lol. i'll wait till others chime in and go from there.

I did a search but nothing came up. Anyway both my latches are siezed solid and the rear doors won't open on my 2002 2500. I have brand new mopar latches both left and right. Any tips on how to get at the old bolts with out wrecking my rear inside door panels? I am going to tear into it soon just looking for advice.

So you think they copied his and it might work? If u happen to find a picture of one that looks like a remake post it so i can check it out.

Rode slope will do it a bit too i think but this one pulls more than it should. Air pressures in tires will do it to so i will start there but i'm sure it still pulls. It just feels like i'm wrestling the truck at times. Like doing an upper body work out in the cab lol... as far as the steering boxes leaking after the "frame to frame brace" i have read where guys say that happened but it appears they don't know it had anything to do with the steering brace. Go on DOR's site he explains it well. For those of you having no steering box leaks/failures do any of you off road? I am always flexing the frame getting into a camp site or going to get fire wood or...???? So i could see why the DOR might be better for me. If you just drive paved or even gravel roads but never around the farm going through ditches etc then i'm sure the frame to frame steering brace would be fine. Incorrect, i have 16" wheels. They are offset though compared to stock and that helps with clearance too. That rebuild sounds interesting. Will look into it more. I'm ok with the 4.5 turns i just want the play gone. I thought there was a set screw type thing up top to take the play out of it? I have some reading to do...

Cool i check out rebuilding myself but does it change it to a tighter steering? Like 3 turns instead of 4.5 lock to lock? I'll read up on it. As for the steering brace i have always heard how it makes a huge difference. I like DOR's because it only attaches to one frame rail. Thet say that the other style that goes frim frame to frame will take out your steering box eventually and i have a friend that put one on and right away his steering box started leaking... DOR. Explains why/how it happens and it makes sense to me. As far as the track bar goes i just didn't want to spend that kind of money on this old beast for one bar lol. I bought the Napa one and i think it's guaranteed for life. Heard the 3rd gen style is the way to go though. Maybe later... Right now my big problem is it pulls to the right. My tires are new Duratracks ( 35"x16) and some people say certain tires pull to the right??? Not sure but the first thing i'm going to do is get that slop out of the steering box because it's brutal. It's not the original box i don't think. And even the steering shaft plays a roll so i'll look into a borgeson one. Fun to mod but i wish this stuff was cheaper.

Yes very easy install. Took me about 1.5 hrs but that's me crawling around on the driveway runing back and forth for tools ( shop not totally built yet) very straight forward install. Just have 3 nuts to take off and the steering dampner. I am going to probably change the steering box next or read up and see if i can tighten it up maybe. I think i read somewhere that you can put the newer style steering box in that only has 3 turns lock to lock instead of 4.5. That would make it feel like a brand new truck i bet. I will put a D.O.R steering brace in last because i feel that is kind of a band aid fix. It is supposed to make a big difference from what i'm told. As for the needle grease i'll put some in then maybe a dab if silicone where the hole is. When you get yours installed grab it on the left side close to the TRE and give it a good shake and see if u hear a little clunking noise.

Oh and another thing i didn't mension is i disconnected the TRE and i beat the living hell out off that bearing!!! Lol after it came off i though there's no way that bearing will still be good but it was tight! I ended up puttingbit back on and got another 20,000 out of it before i had to change it.

Not sure the brand but they are offset for sure compared to stock. The TRE's are very close to my mangled up vacking plates though! Lol yes i will get some new nuts for them dor sure. That's my old steering. NOTE it is/was the lastest updated steering for my truck. (2002 Ram 2500) I have the steering damper off right now. I shouldbe able to bolt it up easy but i'll need a sleeve because the bolt on that new steering is smaller in diameter. This is the bew steering setup. Fits very close to my dust shields. But mine are bent a bit and i need new ones. This is the new steering installed. It seems as though the ball joont studs don't have much grease in them??? I will bump some in with a needle greaser since these r none greasable. I was able to grab the passenger side tie rod and u can hear a slight noise like there is a bit of play. We'll see if that goes away when I grease them. On the last pic here u can see when the wheels are turned to the right i believe the clearance is very close to the sway bar link. I forget how close the stock one is. My truck gas the 2" leveling springs. I think the extra height helps this swap work compared to if i had a stock truck height. ??? Ok so i took it for a drive late last night. I just put it as close to the way the other steering was set up as I could and even though it was off quite a bit by the time I road tested it WOW what a difference !!! It feels like a sports car now ha ha . I honestly thought at first it wasn't going to make much of a difference but it makes a big difference and also I find my suspension seems a lot softer now like as if the bumps were getting transferred into the steering before, rather than the suspension??? I don't feel every little bump now. It still wanders though and I think it's because of my steering box, there seems to be about an inch and a half of movement in the steering before the wheel starts to turn when the truck is shut off I think it should be a lot tighter than that . I took it in for an alignment and after test driving it again it still feels like my suspension just works better everything is just plain and simple better but the truck still pulls to the right and now I have to research that because I think I heard somewhere that second gens were famous for this. Anyway I'm done posting for a while I feel as though I've kind of hijack this thread ha ha. I am really curious to hear the OP's findings with his steering upgrade. One last thing I will say is my old steering was definitely worn on its way out so I wonder how my truck would have felt had I just put the stock steering back in it??? I guess I'll never know now LOL Either way this steering I have now is just so much beefier and looks so much more durable.

When i did my bearings i tried the piwer steering method and not a chance! So i put the bolts in with as much thread as i could. Put an old socket and extension and a big heavy sledge type hammer and gave a bunch of good whacks! Then i used map gas in a little propane torch set up and heat the whole bearing wear it meets the hub or knuckle. Then hammer some more. I eventually had to us a fat chisel to get it to budge!! Once it broke free a bit i worked it out evenly with yhe hammer. When it was a 1/4" out i sprayed the heck out of it with Mopar penetrating fluid and the pounded back on. Just kept working it and eventually it came off! When i put the new bearing back on i put never sieze on the face of it as well as the bolts as well as the rotor where it meets the bearing. Next time u go to pull it apart it will be easy. I screwed up my backing plate slightly but was able to reuse. If they would have had some in stock at the local dealer i would have put new ones on. I was able to bend it back and make it work.

Last picture is what clearance i have with the stock steering. All washed up and ready to install at 9:15 pm lol goes in for an alignment at 7:00am. i never thought to order new castle nuts... Oh well we don't use salt on the roads here so they don't look too bad. Stay tuned...

I just got my kit in. Holy cow are they big compared to the stock set up!!!! Actually my truck had the latest update in it but compared to that this new one is huge !!! I'll take some pictures of my tie rod clearance before and after as well as the kit itself. Hot off the press! Lol was just made a couple months ago. She's got some beef to her!!!

I've got skyjacker 2 inch levelling springs that I got from Summit racing I believe, and it seemed to level it pretty close but I have one extra leaf in the back of my truck . The front sits just slightly lower than the back so when I do load the back up everything so it's nice and level perfect. Mine is a 2002 ram 2500 diesel with the camper Springs.

I have read more than one post where they have failed but i agree most are positive posts. that "Wells Ve" tps uses a magnet or something and sounds like it would be the best but i read a post of them failing too... Never know what to believe on the net... i just talked to NAPA and they say the AUTO tps's are different than the Standard trany's??? That's the first i have heard about them being different.

I believe its that po121 ? It's the low voltage tps code or something like that. My engine light comes on but usually after i shut the truck off for the night and start it up the next day engine light goes off. Comes back on when i get the dead pedal. Ya apparently they had these cheap tps's and guys were having nothing but problems but i read a post where someone said they updated the part number ( to the one i posted) and it fixed what ever issue they were having.??? I should buy it and just see what happens. Will this tps just stop working all together or will it just keep getting worse? I read on blue chip diesel's site to just tap the pedal and that does bring it back to life pretty quick. I just priced one out at Dodge and it's around $750 Canadian. So I went to Napa and they want 536.00 with a three-year warranty. The one off eBay is under $30 Canadian shipped to my door . Lol The dodge dealer also has an ALLIANT (i think) end it is around $250. I think the Timbo APPS is around 300 cnd. I think I will go ahead and order the $30 TPS just so I know for myself but in the meantime if somebody has an experience with them I would love to hear it.

I just ordered the kit today and it'll be installed tonight. I have a 2002 RAM 2500 4x4 Diesel with Skyjacker 2" soft ride leveling springs and bilstien shocks. aftermarket 16" wheels ( not sure on the back spacing) has 35" duratracks and driving this truck i'm sure I look like a scene from the Dukes of Hazard where the steering wheel is going back and forth just to keep the vehicle straight! Lol l new xrf ball joints, new wheel bearings ranch steering stabilizer etc. No play in my TRE's but they are easyvto move by hand. I have read a ton of literature on the swap and I was convinced but then I thought I started reading something about people were backing up and snapping tie rod ends off ??? I couldn't pinpoint if this was from a bad tire rod that Mopar how to change up number for or what ??? Anyway I'm going to give it a try and watch it like a hawk and I'll report back with my findings. I heard guys saying that they even leave their steering stabilizer off because it actually seems better ???? I will leave it off at first and try it and then I will instal it and give honest feedback . I am in Alberta Canada right in the Rocky Mountains so I have every type of terrain to try it in as well as smooth hwy's. Looking forward to hearing the OP's findings with this as well. The kit I ordered was part number 52122362AL from Dodge. I think they have Ah Al etc but i have the newest updated part number. Will report back shortly.

I keep getting intermittent "dead pedal" i just flap the pedal a few times and it comes back to life. Then engine light comes on and i get the code come up for it too when i do the "key thing". Lol Anyway it has been happening more frequently so I am going to buy a new APPS TPS sensor. I know all about the timbo apps as well the WELLS ve tps but I keep seeing these ones on eBay for $20 US free shipping. Read a few reviews and people are saying they're not having any problems with the new or updated version. The part number I'm looking at is GEGT7610-172 and the brand is ISUMO. Does anybody have any real world testing with these to prove whether they work or if they don't?? For the cost I figured I could buy two of them in case one failed and I could even keep the stock one in the glove box since it isn't totally done yet I just don't want to be left stranded somewhere because of it. I have heard bad things about the Timbo GPS is as well as the WELLS s VE tps. I don't know who to believe hopefully somebody here can give me a good review thanks. PS – I thought I already put a post talking about this a while back but I can't seem to find it so sorry in advance if I have double posted .

Not sure on injector o-rings and where's the cross over tube? I have an oil sample bottle and going to send it away to see if i'm getting fuel in my oil. Banjo at back of head doesn't seem wet but i want to try and give it a tightening first before i do the other things. i have a factory installed in tank pump and there is two hoses that just hose clamp onto the steel fuel lines then farther up there are two more hoses that hose clamp on... I don't like the idea of all those hose clamps but i did replace all hoses with new hose and clamps when i did the fuel pump. Yes it definitley seems like the fuel is leaking back.

I have this same issue. I don't feel any wetness at back of the head and i tried to get a wrench on it one day then i gave up. I'll try again.. What size wrech do i need do u remember? I will try that first then i'll clean my batter posts again. I have cleaned them in the past and it seems like it started better with no stumble. I still think it's air leak or something because if i go out on a cold morning and start the truck then shut it off right away, come back 2 hrs later and try n start and it fires right up no hickup or stumble.

I almost think the smoke is healthy or something... Lol i had a bit of a health issue with my gut and everytime i go out and sit around a campfire that achy gut goes away.... Stress reliever??? Lol