dripley

the bolt was tight. i had to lean on it to break it loose. it did wear part of the bolt away. the casing of the alternator had to have a weak spot in it

i say worn thru because the threads on the bolt have cut grooves in metal of the case as it has passed thru it. i think you should be able to see them i this picture. ther are no grooves inside of the hole just the portion it passed thru.the lower inboard portion of the hole is folded down with grooves cut in it. evidently it has been going on for a long time. ill be interested in seeing if it has any core value now.

i left my keys in my truck friday night with the switch on and killed my batteries. got someone to jump me off and everything was fine until this morning. the truck barely turned over and would not start. had to get someone to jump me off agin. the batteries had 12 volts in them before the jump dropping to 7 when turning the switch to start. the alternator was putiing out 14.2 volts after starting. while i was looking around under the hood i noticed what you see in the picture. it appears the bolt on the mounting braket has worked its way thru the mounting point on the alternator. this aint normal is it? does anyone elses look like this? i guess its time for a new one. i have never worn out an alternator in this way before.

the outward appearance of the bar, ball joint included appeared the same. maybe ther is a differance inside of the joint. the moog had a grease fitting and the oe did not. ill just keep it grease and see what happens

if your rotor needs turning it is possible they might contact each other when the high spot goes past the pad. they should not be in constant contact though. there is nothing in the caliper to pull the pads off of the rotor like a return spring in drum brakes. your caliper might be sticking and need rebuilding if it is dragging. the bearing could be dried out and causing the noise also. when mine went the abs light came on but i dont remember wether the brake light came on. there was not a lot of movement in the wheel when i shook it either,. but the bearing was gone and when i replaced it all of the lights went out. problem solved when the other side went i had no warning, the abs and brake light came on and the bearing failed within 10 seconds. made for interseting driving that last half mile home. failure of that bearing was quite obvious the other was not. while coming out to OK 4 weeks ago my abs and brake light both came on. no codes were generated. it turned out that when i did my front brakes i did not properly attach the wire from the sensor to one of the brackets that hold it a way from the wheel and it rubbed thru the insulationto the wires. i got it away fron the wheel and every thing is ok until i get home to fix it. you could check your wires and be sure they are not cut or chafed somewhere. i would have to lean toward the wheel bearing, it will make noise and cause resistance to the wheel turning. it will cause the abs and the brake light to setif not reading the tone ring properly. on my 02 the brake light blinks when the parking brake is applied, but came on steady when the abs came on.

i put a moog on mine. a couple of the guys here remarked that the moog was beefier than the oem. the one i got was the same diameter and weight as my oem. it did the job but i was a little dissapointed that it appeared no differant than the oem except for the price. moog just over $100. glad it worked out for you.

i used a puller on my 02 and only succeeded in ripping the guts out of the the hub assembly. the outer portion of the hub stayed in the steering knuckle and i had to have it pressed out. getting the knouckle offf with that piece of the hub still in there was pita. another method is to loosen but not remove the 4 bolts holding the hub to the knuckle. with the socket and a short extension place the socket over the bolt head and wedge the other end against the axle and have someone turn the steering wheel slowly (engine runnig) and push them out a little at a time swapping bolts frequently. once it is broken loose a puller may get it the rest of the way. i did not try the puller on the second one. another way is to get a BFH and start wailling. a torch is helpful with this method. if the hub assembly is not forzen in there like mine was it is not that hard to do. just takes time.

good luck mr flynn

it would not take alot for me to miss the point. i dont know alot about gearing, but if i am seeing it right by adding another gear in front of first and a taller gear in the rear end the transmission would be physically stronger.

price went DOWN 2 cents today to 4.059 in OK. oh jhappy day.

ill be interested in how this works out for you. since i changed all my parts under there. does yours or anybody elses bump steer? mine has since it was new. not alot just enough to get your attention. it did get worse with age, but it is now gone completely.

just did mine at 220k for the first time. pulled to the right and a fair amount of play in the wheel. no death wbble though. drives better than new now.

from my view point my 1st gear has the engine turning 2k rpm at 7 mph which seems to be plenty low enough to pull my 13.5k 5th wheel. i just let the clutch out and it goes. i dont think i need anything lower than that. as far as od, my truck will pull the trailer in 6th on flat ground and slight inclines with no problem at half throttle though egt's get alittle high. i probably should have been using 5th instead. learned that here. od is great on the highway when you are not towing and want good fuel economy. if we change our diffs to what you suggest would that not cause us to loose the granny gear you speak of? the 1 to 1 in 5th would be gone also. i spend more time driving than towing so that does make a differance and i am glad i did not get a 4:10 rear end on mine. for my money i would rather have double over drive than one more lower gear. one more lower gear in reverse would not hurt my feelings though. just my .

i would have to agree. a big thankyou to mike everyone here.

ammo is a little pricey at 3,000 rounds a minute. but it would be fun:hyper:

was 4.01 this morning wwhen i got to work. it is now 4.08. working at a loves travel center in Hooker OK. uot in the panhandle.

pulling for ya. whers the party gonna be.

i installed a moog on mine. but when laid side by side i saw no differance in the two. will just have to see if it lasts. i had 220k on the oe. probably wore out before that.

i pull a 13.5k 5th wheel wiith my 02. the first year i had the trailer it was stock and pulled it fine. yours should have more than enough power to pull 10k. my truck has 3.54 rear end and will pull it in 6th gear. i only pull 4 time a year and just changed my clutch at 220k. theres something wrong in the drive train somewhere.

i like easy breazy. havent seen much of that lately. i was having to turn my wheel about 30* left to correct unless the road was crowned to the left, then icould hold it straight. but on flat ground it pulled to the right a little. that was the first time i ever had tires wear out on both outside and inside of the tire unless they were under inflated. i really had to think about going into a turn. it seemed you had to steer into the turn before you got to it. anyway, it seemed you had alot of movement in the track bar. the moog i bought wasnt but a little over 100 bucks. it came with a greasable joint but other than that it was not that much differant from the oem. i have read since then that factory sealed might have been a better way to go. only time will tell for me. the track bar is easy breezy:hyper: to replace. think i had to use a pickle fork to get that one loose. it would be a good place to start. you could do the upper and lowers with out an alignment. i dont think they were to bad price wise, but they are the hardest to replace my steering wheel now sits 0* on flat ground and about 5*on a crowned highway. my beloved haynes manual says on idependant front steering an up and down movement of .020 is acceptable but it make no statement on movement with the solid front axle. --- Update to the previous post... iread the tech bulliten attached to the part description and it said some up and down movement with the lower ball joint disconnected would be normal. the pictures show it could move 1/4" or more. i am sure there must some tolerance in up and downn movement but i cant seem to find it anywhere. mine were sloppy you could move them up and down just by over coming the weight of the tire

if your wheel moves up and down or in and out in nc it will not pass safety inspection. when i did mine it moved up and down near a quarter of an inch of more. never read any thing that said up and down movement was ok. it seems to me that would be hard on the supesion to have play in the ball joints like that. the video was nice though to see wht kind of movement you have. the track bar looked like it was moving a fair amount. could not tell about the 2 at the wheels. i could see some movement, but i dont know what is normal. I am by far no expert on the front end, i just figured since i was in there i would replace every thing and be done with it. the alighment shop i took it to told me it was all bad and the way it was driving i had to a agree. are you having other problems besides pulling?

i just got thru with mine. it was pulling to the right some and the tires were wearing on the outsides like they were under inflated even though i kept 80 psi in them. also had a lot of slop in the steering, and she bump steered alot. never experienced the death wobble i have read about. you can check the upper and lower ball joints by jacking the weel of the ground and place a bar of some sort under the tire and pry up on it. if the wheel moves up and down they are gone.as far as the tie rod ends i could not tell by looking at them or pulling on them. not sure what the proper method is, i just felt that had a lot to do with the slop in the sterring. i replaced the tie rod ends, ball joints, drag link, track bar, pretty much every thing. i also installed a steering stabilizer. the steering is better than new right now and i hope it stays that way for a long time. i am sure i have seen a write up on this somewhere in here, not sure where.the work was not to difficult. i had alot of trouble with the lowerball joints. they had to be beaten out of the yoke beings the press kit i bought did not have a cup the right size to press it out with. you could probably make one. i believe you could do it in a days time probably less since i think you are somewhat mechanchly inclined:lmao2:. i had to do mine on 2 differant trips home and kinda lost track of the time i had in it. the only special tools i needed was the press kit( got mine at advance auto $150 minus 20% discount that day) and i used a pitman arm puller to pop of the the tie rod ends and such. you will need an alighnment afterwards unless you are that good or lucky. my truck had 220k on it and i figured it was time to change all of it while i was under there.

welcome from nc. hickory to be precise. what part are you from?you will like it here. lots of good info and people.

not me, but wtf is it?

my wife has an 06 Dakota, hope its not next. checked oriellys,advance, and auto zone. could not get napa to come up. oriellys $41.99 and auto zone $52.99. alittle more than i remembered though.