dripley

I actually found the bearing I used. still in the bed of the truck from the clutch install. Just looking at the pictures it appears I used a Timken or the National. Their "pictures" are the same if that means anything. Looks very much like the bearing Katoom showed in his pictures on CF next to the SKF. There is a groove around the inside of the bearing. They all appear to have one in the pictures.

Anything that will catch the fuel. I use my oil change pan. Bump as needed

My first was plastic and my current one is porcelain, my 215# self cant tell a difference. They both held up fine.

All good solid advice. I hardly use mine and it probably needs a good going over.

My other bearing was in pieces and I did not try to compare them. This is the bearing I think I got, a little pricier than I remember but still half the cost.http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,2002,ram+2500+pickup,8.0l+v10,1384769,transmission-manual,clutch+release+bearing,1968. it is the SKF listed. It would be good to swap the cap and not give them any reason not to take them back. The plastic tip serves another purpose. That is to protect the slave rod from wearing thru the the clutch fork. That metal on metal would not be good. I have pulled my slave a couple times and they are easy to reinstall after the tabs are broken.

I am the last person who would want to pull the tranny unless there is no other option. I had none, the bearing was gone. I also use an SKF bearing but mine was only about $45. I believe Katooms was a lot more which leads me to believe there is more than one line of SKF. Since I replaced the old clutch with the SB I will never know how long it would have lasted. Katoom will have to correct me if I am wrong but yes to pull the tranny back is pretty much the same as dropping the tranny except you might see the issue and be able to fix it without getting the tranny completely out of the way and removing the TC.. Some time savings I guess. Auto zone letting you try the hydros and returning them for a refund if it does not work blows my mind. But if they are willing that is good way to eliminate the hydros as the issue. I would darn sure try them and you can eliminate that as an issue.

Like I said earlier that might have been the reason that my throw out bearing went at 70k. There was little to no grease in the input tube.And what was there was crudded up like Katoom mentions. It might have been the reason my clutch was so grabby, but it did not improve with the new throw out bearing and grease. It was not until later in the life of the clutch that I felt it was binding. As far as replacing the hydros, welcome to personal choice time. It is your time and your money. Judging from what I experienced I would say pull the tranny and that is the last thing I would want to do. Another thought is it possible you put the clutch fork on backwards? It is very easy to do. I have read that can cause this issue. When mine went I thought it was possible I had but the man that installed my SB told me it was in there right.

I have never bought used so dont know if they will offer a warranty. Ask them and see. They might even have a last year model or 2 that you could negotiate even better terms on. Mine stays in parks all the time, more of a second house for me, so 40 gallon tank is all I ever need and then I only keep maybe 10 gallons in it for emergency's. it is a nice unit for sure, just be sure that 35' is not to much hanging off the rear for where you plan to take it. With my 5th wheel at 35' I only have 30' off the back of the truck and the pivot point is 4' inside the bed. Much easier to maneuver in my opinion. It still takes up alot of real estate.

Ow is your fuel pressure when it starts stuttering?

Voltage regulator? My 02 is thru the PCM but I dont know about the 96.

My Cardinal listed for $54k new. I paid somewhere around 41 or 42k for it. After living in it for the past 10 years I would be lucky to sell it for 5 grand. I could probably get a decent trade in if I bought a new again but that aint happening. I would probably just sell it for whatever and search out someone who did the same and did not use theirs as much as I did mine and find a good deal. While W&F is right about the depreciation of them, Killer is also right that most of them just sit. So used is not a bad way to go.

Here is my 2 cents worth. My hydros are Auto zone master and rock auto slave replaced over the years. The master has seen the oe, the Valair, and the SB. The slave has seen the Valair and the SB. The resevoir and hose have seen them all. The oe clutch worked fine for its entire life; The Valair was just grabby the whole time it was in the truck. I will have to take part of the blame for its early demise but not the grabbyness. The SB is a touch grabby but does not compare to the Valair. The SB engaged low to the floor after install but is starting to settle out a little higher and closer to where the oe was. The valair always engaged higher and near its end was very high. After having the SB I am much happier with it than the Valair. Just my opinion and experience. I have seen many folks have the opposite of mine. Not sure the hydros dictate where the clutch engages though they do contribute.

If I pug mine in it has started fine down in the single digits without the grids. We dont see temps that low around my neck of woods very often. Even with the temps that low my water temp shows about 79*F on start. The old Cummins has no problem with that. Mike has had some issues with speed sensor installs, mainly the front ones and I have read in the past of others having issues with them not functioning properly. I think it has to do with the distance the are installed from the tone ring. Not sure how to over come that. That could be part of the problem. I am not sure the HO part will make a difference but the auto part might. It would be worth a try and it dont cost a dime. The worst it would do is have a hissy fit looking for input from the auto. Have to see if others more enlightened have anything to add to that. I look at my 02 as the culmination of many years of perfecting a beautiful piece of highly performing, engineered marvel. Then I wake up and look at my to do list for the truck.

My first 5th wheel was a Dutchman. It was a good unit. Me and the wife lived in it for near 7 years. The only problem it gave me was the fridge went out after 5 years or so. This one was completely open underneath and would stand temps in mid 20's ok. The water tank we never really had to use since we stayed RV parks all the time, but as i remember it was not exposed like the gray and black water tanks. It does sound like you know what you can afford and want. So you have to go where your heart tells to go. Do look at several as suggested and never think about paying more than 75% of the sticker.

Welcome and that is great looking truck. I dont think the ECM's are vin locked. Too may people have swapped them to do the same test. It does need to be from a very similar truck to work, year, tranny, and such.The closer to the same the better. They do need a vin # for programming a blank ECM. I agree the grids have to be working to start that cold. Mine are disconnected and when gets to about 20*f mine does not enjoy starting. No way mine would start at -35* C or F. I have no codes for them being disconnected either. Maybe some other issue with them? I have set a n over boost once with my comp, cleared it and it never came back, not sure why. You could try clearing the codes and see what comes back to be sure some are not old. Again welcome.

I put the ADII 165 on mine about 6 years ago. About 8 months ago it started popping fuses. AD sent me a new one with few questions asked and it has run fine since. If I read the sticker on it right it had a build date of late 2014. Just still have that nagging thought about them in my head.

At 5500 feet the ground is still a mile below your feet. That was strange sensation looking at my feet and the ground so far away. Everything is still very small but a bit larger than it was when we jumped. In a tandem jump the deploy a drogue chute that stabilizes you and slow you down to only 100 mph. when we jumped we were 2.5 miles in the air so even though the ground got closer there just was not any sensation of it rushing up. It is hard to explain you just need to go do it.

You wont be sorry. I dont know about NODAK but there are skydiving places all over the SE. Especially in Florida.

After watching so many bumper pulls swaying down the highway I opted for a 5th wheel. One for overall length and the other for stability. I know a lot of those I saw swaying were probably not loaded right or what ever, but that is what made me go with the fifth wheel. I also dont need much in the bed for how I travel. I have 35 footer now that is much to big for just me, but since it is all but paid off I will live with it a couple more years and then down size maybe.

I dont even know what my rear brakes are doing. I changed the oe's out at near 300k and they still had pad left on them. The backing plates were rusting out and I figured it was time. As far as the Hammer's problem I dont know.

I know most of saw stories on the the pilot that landed the passenger plane in the Hudson river, his name alludes at the moment. It did that take a lot of skill with a lot of luck to put that thing in the water as perfect as he did. Have any of you ever listened to the radio communications recording of the event? If you listen to it you would never know what he is getting ready to do. That man had his head screwed on tight. On another note. Working in construction has given me the opportunity to stand on the edge of many tall buildings. i cant deny when standing on the edge that I have a real nervous tightness in my gut about falling off. A few of the buildings were tall enough you are just going to die when you hit. But most of what I work are just tall enough to put you in a wheel chair or bed for the rest of your life. I think that is my biggest fear of falling. So with that being said, a few years ago I was in Florida with some of the family and we went skydiving. Did a tandem jump from 13,500 feet. I was pretty good with it but cant say I did not have some apprehension about the whole thing. My turn came and the guy I was strapped to drug me to the door. He was only 5' 4"versus me at 6' 4" so if I stood he would have been hanging off my back. I did not look down at that moment just kept staring straight out the door. Out we went and when we got stabilized I looked down and we were so high that the perception of height was very distorted and that feeling I had standing on building was not there. Matter of fact if it had not been for the wind rushing by you would have never know you were falling. The ground is so far a way you can"t tell at first that you are falling. He pulls the ripcord at about 5500 feet so we just fell over a mile in less that 60 seconds. even under canopy i never had that strange feeling of falling. Both side of that story get my adrenaline pumping. Best 150 bucks I ever spent. I highly recommend it.

Been thru both of those. A combination of loose credit and ignorance..

i am not sure where you will be camping but if it is in any sub freezing weather you will want an enclosed under belly and possibly heated. Mine has this though i have barely used the tank heaters, but I have never frozen up except in my first 5th wheel. An exposed under belly and single digit weather do go together well and thawing out brown icicles is no fun.

Now I owe $147 and to correct the above, i will pay it off 4 years and 8 months early.

I financed my last 5th wheel for 15 years + what i owed on the first one. That was a big mistake. I have not even tried to figure what that ended up costing me in the long haul. But last year I took every extra dime I had and right now I only owe 1 full payment and about $150. I will pay it off 3 years and 8 months early. Oh happy day. My interest rate back in 05 was 8%. adds up fast.