Alexio Auditore

It's the abs light. The module keeps going out immediately after reinstalling despite having it repaired twice. Water pump was changed this summer too, and the previous summer before this one.(quality napa parts). Its a definite engine tone change. Only when its sat overnight or for a long while, and only does it as it hits operating temp for the first time. Kinda weird. My thought is a timing change, but just not sure why. No one else's does this huh?

Ya, I know it's a bit slow to respond. Its wierd that its gets as hot as it does first time it gets up to operating temp. But besides that, I'm taking it that your truck doesnt do that audible noise change in the morning?

So as long as I remember my truck has always done this, but I noticed this week when it starts to do it. And I'm curious if this is normal for everyone else. Start my truck in the morning and I jump on the freeway. The truck is still pretty cold, so I take it easy getting up to speed. As we all know, these truck rattle like crazy, but everyday, i hit a certain point driving into town where my trucks normal sound get quiet. It sounds smooth as can be all for about10 to 15 seconds, then immediately becomes rattling again.( those few seconds makes the truck sound amazingly smooth) So as I am headed to spokane, it does this normal noise reduction again, and i just looked at the coolant temp, and it's quite a bit hotter than it normally is. So i watch it probably get to about 210, the truck gets loud again, and the coolant gauge drops back to 180 quickly, then doesnt do this again till next morning. Stays around 190 the rest of the drive like its suppose to.(I've changed the thermostat before, but the truck noise has always done this as long as I remember. ) What do you guys think? Is it a timing change that occurs? I'm not worried about it, but I am curious. Truck has yet to explode. I have a video of it. It's hard to hear over my ridiculously loud fuel gauge, sorry, havent put a snubber on. But you'll hear it. 20191122_070513_1.mp4

When he took the plug out to show me he put enough fluid, it was clean. That's why I was kinda curious how much oil would go in these transmissions from the fill plug on level ground. Then I'll know exactly how much he put in. Lol I had to re-read that to get where you were coming from.

I've stuck with the red line for a while. Had the truck 7 years, it's worked fine for shifting before. I understand the shifting becomes more difficult in the cold, that hasnt changed. I'm just wanting to make sure my oil level is ok, because it seems different than it should. It is having a hard time going to 4th, and when I down shift to 2nd, it is now a bear to get into gear. I just want to know how many quarts are at the plug and the top pto bolt on level ground. I may just dump the 6 quarts I originally bought all into it, because I find it hard to believe it had a full quart in it unless the mechanic just did a more crappy job than I thought and didnt drain it all out. 260k miles thus far on the transmission, no failures yet. I'd only do the specific red line, amzoil, or the penz. That it calls for.

@IBMobile, he was gone when I went back the third time, got a job elsewhere I guess. Either way I should've said something to the owner, but I didnt.

Ya I agree with you @dripleyabout a full quart bquart left in the truck unless they didnt drain it all. I wish I would have just done it myself, and I will next time. That guy ticked me off with his attitude and not knowing his facts either. He wont care if his lack of know how ruined my transmission, but whatever. I think I'll just go in from the top, and add the extra quart. I know it was at least overflowing out of the fill hole because I had to take it in for a third time because the plug was loose and it was leaking from the PTO cover lol.

Hey, dont mean to start a new topic, but I have a question in regards to how much oil is in my 6 speed currently without draining it all. Like how much oil can you put in from the fill hole on level ground? What about bolt at top of the pto? Only asking because I had a shop( which does good work usually) drain and fill it. I would've done it myself but time is something I dont have a lot of. I bought the oil, 6 quarts redline, and when I got truck back, I had 2 quarts of oil still left. Was told it may have had left over oil still in? Sounded odd, but they said they would check it. Brought It back, and a mechanic i havent met there came in and got me to show me it was filled to top of fill hole. He was a ****** about it too, so I questioned him on how much oil these transmissions take and he said " I just fill it to the oil comes out the top, I dont know." Wow ok, so i informed him on how much they take from factory spec, because apparently I have a moron working on my truck, then asked him to over fill it, which he knew they sometimes do it on these trucks. (Again, i trust the head mechanic and they usually do a great job, but this guy was something else.) Anyway, i have a quart and a quarter still left over, and my truck isnt shifting into 4th and 5th smoothly at all. It's colder here now, which usually makes 3rd harder to shift into, but never had this kinda trouble with those gears. I do shift pretty slow, so it's not how fast i shift either. I feel like he didnt add enough oil, so I was gonna take the shifter off and add it through the top, I just want to make sure I dont put too much in there, especially if there was a quart still left in the truck when they drained it. Plan on putting in 6 quarts. Is there a way to check how much is in there currently?

If its leaking between the two pumps, then I might as well replace the steering pump then? Vaccuum pump holds pressure, but if I'm taking it apart, I might as well replace all vaccuum pump seals while I'm ahead.

Tie rods done, ball joints done, front u joints and brakes done. I still need to do the axel seal on passenger side. I have the seal, but it doesnt look like the original one in there. And the one I looked at on torque kings website (the whole kit) looks smaller than what napa gave me. Has anyone replaced there seal with a napa one and was it just different looking than stock? Also the powersteering pump is leaking l, and I'm not sure from what fitting or if its between the vacuum and steering pump. Would it be best to just replace the whole pump, or reseal it?

Tie rods are in, trackbar replaced, and things keep piling up. I have to keep and eye on the tierod, its doesnt have the curve my stock one had, and seems to get real close to the diff. Cover. Does anyone know if the bilstein 5100 stabilizer will fit the second gen dodge? It looks just like the one I pulled off my truck today. Its attached differently compared to my dad's 99, his is u-bolted to the tierod, while mine goes into it. Also, the shaft coming from the steering box to the pitman arm is loose, which probably means I'm going to be doing the redhead quicker than I wanted. When I do that, should I get the steering brace also? This sucks, my front end will literally be torn apart and rebuilt by the time I'm done.(axel seals and ball joints next, plus front brakes.) No oversized tires, no crazy driving or off roading, just a piece of crap front end prone to failure, and a hole in my wallet

I'm looking at these. What do you guys think? Otherwise, maybe Napas more expensive brand? Why is Rock Auto much cheaper than the autoparts ones?

Arent Carli's 3rd gen and up? Were the napas the cheaper ones they have or more expensive ?

So I thought I'd give an update. I went with moog for tierod and drag link. Finally getting around to installing, just difficult when i work and have to go to parents to work on it because of living in an apartment, so I spend a couple hours working on it here and there. I decided to check the ball joints since front end is in the air, and to my wonderful surprise, they have play (lateral) on driver upper and much worse on passenger, both upper and lower. I definitely see some of the wear on the passenger tire especially. When it rains, it pours I guess. What ball joints do you guys recommend? Spicer? Synergy? Raybestos? I don't want to be replacing these often. I've heard some aftermarket ones are bigger than stock, and require reaming them out, which I dont want to do.

When I had a no bus a couple years ago, it was my intake grid relays, would've never guessed that, I took it somewhere because I have no electrical experience. I was fortunate that they found it pretty quickly, otherwise it would be expensive to have them look for something for hours and find nothing..

This might be helpful for you. Could just be a guess, but do you have any vacuum leaks? That can cause excessive blowby too.

Ya, I know what you mean, but my front end was rebuilt just before i bought the truck with 180k miles, with greasable tierod ends, no over sized tires ( actually had 235s on it for a while) I grease it, I dont have a lift, its mainly highway miles, and I'm now at 256k miles, with bad tie rod ends and other problems( suchbis life) No garuntee the moog will do much better, and I may not go that route. I'm just tired of cheap crap, NAPA is just like any other auto parts store, they care less about quality parts, they just want my money. I may get OEM tie rods still, havent yet decided. No matter what route I go, I'll be getting taken advantage of one way or another, be it expensive parts, or lifetime warranty cheap parts. USA made or not, no garuntee it will be better than what else is out there. But what can you do but try it one way and hope for the best.

Wheb you shortened the drag link, you just cut an inch off or did you have to do any welding? Any other fab work? @dripley did you do just the track bar? I have one also on the dodge, seems to have worked ok, but its bigger than my stock one and shifted the truck a bit. Had to adjust the steering wheel actually.

https://www.xtremediesel.com/moog-ds800981a-tie-rod-assembly What about something like this for the 01? Anybody do moog parts at all? @Bojon, is this the one you used? It's for 2009 and up tho

Does the first link you posted require a bit of fabricating? Or bolt right up

@01cummins4ever Are the Luke's links sealed up pretty well.? Here in north idaho ,they put about as much salt on the road as is contained in the Dead Sea. Its ridiculous. If it isnt, it will wear out pretty quick up here unfortunately

That's the direction I'm leaning .https://lukeslink.com/products/dodge-ram-lukes-link-tie-rod-end-kit-1994-2002-4-pack I bought a moog t.b. a few years ago through o' rileys, it needs to be replaced again, but its lifetime warranty. I would do the Luke's link for the track bar, but I guess you cant with the moog product. @Evan, some of the links you shared were third gen correct? I only ask because my brother just replaced his whole front end for a pretty penny, and his truck is a third gen, 2003 or 04. Runs 265s like me(his are K.O.2s though) does mostly freeway driving. Thank you guys this far for all the input. I appreciate it.

Lukes says its guaranteed for the life of the truck. That sounds like lifetime warranty to me, but is it.......

So Luke's links replace the joints, but what your talking about is just getting something to replace the whole thing? Not just the jointsm

What's the difference between Luke's links and napa replacement? Wouldn't Luke's maybe be better quality? Not that I wouldn't use a auto parts brand, I'm just tired of cheap crap that doesnt last.