hex0rz

The oreilly guy was saying the same thing. Said should have kept the old pressure switches or whatever they were.

I wonder then... yesterday I drove to work on the brake switch I screwed up. We did have icy roads, but I couldn't accept the idea that the truck couldn't handle it like it did. I wouldn't even be on the accelerator and the truck just wanted to go sideways on me. Like I got on the brakes or accelerated hard and the rear end almost sent me right into the creek. It happened several times until I got into the highway where it was pavement. I was thinking maybe the ABS was being affected by it. But I don't remember how the system works. Im just rear wheel ABS.

I installed the one I screwed up, last night. Dunno if it was because of me or not but the lights seemed to come on a bit late after applying the pedal. Bought another one today at O'Reilly's and did it the correct way. Seem to be like it should and come on sooner. What does the switch control? Instructions talk of ABS, etc. Wondering if it will affect anything else except the lights? There's 3 contacts inside the switch and close a circuit depending on plunger depth. 6 terminals. There's gotta be more to them than just the brake lights.

Got a brake switch in yesterday to replace the OEM unit. The brake lights were stuck on, one night and killed my batteries. Before I read the instructions, I looked at the switch. I rotated the lever on the outside not thinking anything of it. Then I read the instructions... Supposedly by doing that before installing the switch it's no good. But I took it apart afterwards and don't understand why? Anyone know what's up? It just looks like an adjustable plunger. The internals are not complicated or sensitive. What gives.

I thought about diesel, because almost everything I use is diesel. Use 55 gallon drums to store off road. Would keep things fresh. But this would be more maintenance for me too. I was planning on a 1000 gallon tank for my storage needs. Renting the tank sounds better than owning it too. I'll end up paying an electrician for the transfer switch install, etc. I have to see if I can some other stuff done too, so that I can back feed to my well also. I have a wood stove. We have adapted to using it in outages. We also run a 5kw portable generator to power the house for certain things. But the way my property is set up from the previous owners, I can't run my well pump. We could almost virtually do everything else one at a time, but no water. We have had to go days without power before also. So while portable generator gets us by short term, I'm looking for a more reliable solution. Unfortunately we don't have our 5th wheel anymore, so limping through a situation with that doesn't exist anymore. We are rural and closest town is 20 minutes from us. Fuel storage is a factor for us. Whether propane, diesel or gasoline. We've thought about it in terms of unsteady times during fluctuating prices from a terrorist attack to a natural disaster or economic. The other thing that I seem to have to consider is the generators run cycle. Sounds like manufacturers don't like seeing their generators run 24/7 for an extended period?

First, let me just say, I miss talking to you guys. My life has changed so much in the last several years. It's difficult for me to get much time to do anything leisurely anymore. But when i see a necessity, here I am. Make me feel guilty sometimes to ask questions on here. I don't want to give the impression in abusing you guys as a resource. ? Although I have wondered, there's nowhere I feel like I can turn to except you guys, where I can certainly respect your opinions more than anyone elses. Recently, we have gone through a spat of winter snow storms. Started last Friday and has snowed every day since then except Wednesday. We have accumulated so much snow in such a short period of time that we have lost power several times for several hours at a time. It's caused me to look harder at a standby generator to get through these patches of outages. My wife is a stay at home mom now with our one year old. It wouldn't bother me to live without power, but now I have a family at home to think about. So ive been trying to do some research and figure out what brand of generator to buy and what fuel source to decide on. Initially I was thinking of a generac with a propane setup as I want to install a propane furnace at some point also. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter? I think I want to get something around the 20kw range so we can continue on through the outage without a single thought of throttling back to conserve power.

I replaced the rear diff sensor. Wondering if the computer needs reset by disconnecting the batteries? Seems like it has been coming on less and less now. Only seems to come on when I hit any bumps, but then turns back off. I've suddenly encountered a brake light switch problem now also. ? Killed my batteries because the brake lights were on for so long. I ordered a new switch and shimmed the pedal to keep the plunger down further using duct tape. I read that the brake switch can cause the same problems? I guess we'll see. The next thing to try is the transmission speed sensor or the ABS module.

I think I could use a new truck... Seems like anytime I get in to drive my truck anymore, a gremlin has to come out of it. Winter decided to rear its ugly head and the switch got flipped. Suddenly, I'm getting DUMPED on with snow. No way im driving the little passat. So I jump in the truck, drive it to work yesterday morning. Now I get a little show on my dash of my speedo dancing around and the ABS and brake like coming on. It'll come on, turn off. Back and forth. I ordered a speed sensor for the transmission and rear diff. Which one could it be? Or is it something else?

Yep, all over my head now, lol.

I wouldn't even know how to begin to do that... iirc, the ecm is not easy to get to. I was afraid of that being the case also... I wish that was the route I took from the beginning. But I also read the mechanical pumps went without their problems also..

The plug that you connect the trigger to from the ecm, yes. It was 2v.

Hi everyone, long time no talk. Ive resurrected this post. Funny how time passes and you forget what's transpired. Ive forgotten way too much... Well, suffice to say, this issue came back to haunt me again! This time, nothing I tried solved the problem. I spent a couple hours out on the truck troubleshooting it. Without really understanding what the problem was, I wasn't able to gain much ground on it. Eventually, after going through several different posts on the web, I narrowed it down. If I had remembered this post, it would not have taken so long. Ha... Well, lo and behold, it turns out my issues have all along been from too low voltage from the ECM to trigger the relay. Tested the connection and only got about 2v. If I bypassed it and hot wired everything else, the pump would run. Eventually I found ibmobile article on wiring the trigger wire to the fuel relay in the PDC. I took the black wire from the trigger and grounded it and then took the tan wire and stuck it in terminal 87 of the fuel relay. If I understand it correctly, I need a relay for the relay? Im not exactly sure what I need to accomplish with his article as the lift pump already has a relay. Regardless, when I switch the key to ON, the lift pump runs. When I start the truck then turn it off, the pump doesn't run. If I bump the key, it doesn't do a prime, but stays running. I guess for now it'll work? Can I get away with doing it setup like this for now? How can I get it back to doing a prime with the key to ON and not run until I start the truck? Im willing to deal with the way it is now, but I would hate for it to run while I'm sitting somewhere in the truck with the ignition on and the engine not running.

Got a brand, part number? Napa said the kit I got from them was the only listing for my vehicle.

On my previous thread, I listed various issues I was having with my steering system. Fast forward, now I have replaced all my components on the system. New ball joints, warrantied out the steering linkages. Replaced the steering box, not a red head though. I even have a steering box brace on order to just give it that much more help in ensuring it'll stay together longer. The last thing I have to tackle is my control arms. I started yesterday with the lower. Took one off and it was a BEAR! The caster cam bolt was seized and had to use a sawzall to cut it out. Then the hunt for replacements started. Sure wish I would have just ordered some sooner! I ended up getting a kit from napa, but it was the wrong size?! The cam and bolt were too big. Not having much luck finding a kit. Has anyone had to replace them before? I ordered a set from rock auto, but it does not say anything about the size and maybe a specific application. Im concerned it won't be the right one. The more and more I think about this, I'm almost wishing I would have just done aftermarket arms with adjustable heims.

I went ahead and ordered new control arms. Didn't do the replacement bushings as I read that they can be a real pita. Going to warranty out my moog steering components also. After these two things, the only thing left will be the steering box. My sway bar end links could use replacement also, but not sure if this really makes a difference in what im experiencing.

So it's just re meshing the teeth into a less worn out spot?

A new ignition switch and lock cylinder was the fix. What a night and day difference it made. Keys are sharp!

I tried the center steer adjustment yesterday. I tightened it up quite a bit. The Allen, head, that is. But the slop hasn't disappeared. I turned it about a full turn. Didn't want to go much more as I don't know what to expect. It didn't remove any steering wheel slop. When I move the steering wheel, it starts in the input to the steering box. Does anyone think this should be fixed through the pre load adjustment entailed in the TSB? Im starting to think it's stemming from a bad box? I guess this thread is evolving into more than one issue...

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1997/05-03-97/05-03-97_p27.htm It was onn the truck when I got it. So I have no idea. I tried to Google it but didn't come up with anything. Take the wheel off, goes on the hub face where the wheel mounts to. I dunno who carried them in order to facilitate this. I'll try and dig more.

So I had an interesting development occur recently. In the TSB outlined for the center steer adjustment, another TSB was mentioned. In the following TSB it was an exhaustive process to cover aspects of steering issues. 27 pages worth actually! While I brushed off several of the things listed, I will still consider them if necessary. But one of the things, which was toward the end of the article, caught my attention. Once I read it through, I had a very vivid flashback of something I did several years ago. On the front passenger side, there was a 3.5mm shim on the hub. I never thought about it much and thought maybe somebody put it there for something relating to the wheel. Lo and behold, I found the shim as I never threw it out. I stuck the shim back on and took it for a drive. Maybe im experiencing a placebo effect, but on that drive, it was amazing. Night and day! Im still not going to hold my breath, but hopefully it's a step in the right direction. Im still going to adjust the center steer and see what that does...

Seems like everytime I try and give this truck any love or attention she gets all crazy on me. We make up eventually and it can get wild, but sometimes she loses her stuff. Oh wait, we're talking about trucks? So I was trying to continue to work on it, performing the center steering adjustment, when the key would no longer turn, in the ignition! I feel like I've tried everything to get the dang thing to turn but it just doesn't seem to want to happen. I took the ignition switch assembly off the column and tried to work on it that way. Still, to no avail, I cant get the key to turn. With a little more research, I tried to get the lock cylinder out. But it appears the only way to do that is to get the key to turn! Mainly, im trying to accomplish getting the lock cylinder out of the ignition switch so I can maybe preserve the ignition switch. I put both, the ignition switch and lock cylinder on order from rock auto, since I have no idea if I'll ever get the two separated. Anyone have any tricks on how to maybe get the cylinder to turn or separated from the ignition switch? I put the key in a vice and tried turning it that way and was worried i was going to break it in the cylinder. Ive tried using various sprays and beating the key into the cylinder with a hammer. Ive tried an article on wiki to get a little more abstract. Im not a locksmith by any means so im probably missing something...

Drove the truck some more. Not satisfied with the way it handles. Felt like the steering was even looser. Going down the road, it wants to wander and follow any groove in the road and takes quite a bit of input in the steering wheel to correct it. I can saw the wheel back and forth down the road and feel when the tires respond. The steering wheel has about an 1/8th of turn of play for this. Beyond this, when driving, it comes out to the equivalent of turning the wheel by 1/4 when it wants to wander and follow something. Im going to try the steering box center adjustment as ive never done that before and the symptoms listed in the TSB seem to align with what I have. Im thinking about taking the truck in for an alignment to see if i need to get something put back into spec. Ive still gotta check the trailing arms and bushings to make sure they're good. Been reading up on the caster adjustment and curious to see what the alignment shop says it's at.

Finally got the ball joints done. Bought a harbor freight press kit. I essentially broke it with the first joint. It was still somewhat functional, but had to macgyver it greatly to get it to keep working. First side took me forever to do. Learning curve was steep. My spindles are similar to the early 2nd gens. Then getting the right configuration with limited parts, etc. What a fiasco... sometimes I wonder why I still do this stuff. Second side took me virtually no time st all to get done. Hate the old style hub and axle setup... Anyways, old ball joints were definitely worn out. Im gonna have to do this as s process of elimination. I'll drive the truck and see how the ball joints affected the truck and then go from there.

I'll check the control arms and track bar. Track bar got replaced a couple years ago. Unfortunately, I'm one of those guys in a rock and hard space. Would love to spend big money bombing my truck. But that adulting part doesn't allow me... so I have to go with my best judgement and meet somewhere in the middle. Wheel bearings and hubs are good. Replaced bearings a few years ago or less. Replacing ball joints for a few reasons. One, to know it's been finally done. Two rule it out as a symptom, three, approx 265k miles of wear and tear on them. They show it. What is this over center adjustment? I'd the only result just a tightening of the internals? Never heard of this. What's blue top? I'll try and get a quick video of the box if I can.

With my recent frequent usage of driving the truck, the frequency of times the pump not priming or not running has practically diminished to nothing. I have yet to encounter a time now, recently where it has not primed or ran. I. Just. Don't. Get. It. ?