dieseldon

Dang, I would have put those in if I knew there was such a thing on the job I just did! Another brilliant dodge design! Thanks for sharing!

Well, I decided to tackle the passenger side today, while still a PITA, POS, it was much easier the second time around, knowing what's involved and what to expect. Only took a couple hours when there's not a lot of trial and error, and already made/have the right size cups for press. Also went straight to the bottle jack to break loose the knuckle, definitely would have broken something if I just used the steering wheel like some videos showed lol! Now that it's lathered in anti- seize should be a piece of cake next time 😂

Well I got one side done a couple days ago, my advice, if you haven't done this before and don't know the history of vehicle like myself and have ANY disposable income, pay or trick someone else to do it! I've done a fair bit of basic suspension work in my 30+ yrs. of prior professional auto body, but I was reminded why we sub'd out most suspension work out as a general rule, complete different skill set and complete different tool box, dirty, nasty, pain in the a$$, etc, etc! I didn't want knurled one's either, the one's I ordered from rock auto CLEARLY showed non knurled, too bad you can't actually speak to a human there. After some investigation at some local parts stores it seems it's almost impossible to get both non knurled? FYI, Spicer discontinued as of Jan. Feb. of this year. I ended up taking several days so far working a little at a time up to this point partially because of heat and because of pain. I rented a ball joint press and of course it doesn't have the right size cups, I had a piece of pipe lying around that was really close to the right size, I just ended up grinding the threads out, (1/4in on long, all on short) with a die grinder and carbide bit. The top one is for taking out,(receiving) short one was for pressing, should have been a tad longer, but that's what I had. This is the best YouTube video I've found on the best way to do this job with the proper tools, if you have a couple grand lying around or plan on doing this for a living, worth watching regardless. Not sure which was worse, getting the hub to break loose or the ball joints? I'm fairly sure this is the first time on my truck and it was a SOB from start to finish!! I am pretty sure mine was stuck worse than most for some reason, I've heard anything from falling out after pulling bolts to pretty dang stuck, mine was fused solid, proceed at your own risk! After watching some videos and trying the socket extension/steering wheel hack with no luck it finally cracked loose with a seven ton jaw puller on the axle and a six ton hydraulic jack between hub and track bar bracket, and extension on other side, also leaving my track bar bracket bent and ruined extension! Then pressing joints in and out, my fairly new snap-on half inch impact gun with 165psi barley touched it, ended up using breaker bar and four ft. pipe, BFH, air hammer. Can't wait to do the other side!!

Are you saying you're willing to donate your time for educational purposes 😉 Unfortunately I have more time on my hands than money. Also on the 4x4 I guess it doesn't help that the upper ball joint isn't load bearing and just acts as a king pin?, and then some bean counter thought it would be a great idea to actually decrease the mass of the lower one starting in 2000?

Thanks for the tips!! Well I found some ac Delco "pro" ball joints at Rock auto for $54, #45D0108 and 2288, maybe the same as yours but with inflation?? I think I'll go this route. O'Reilly wanted over$100 for the same ones! Question, besides the u-joints, anything else I might/probably run into with this job (first time Dana axle for me) seals, bandages, ,etc.?? Thanks!

I don't mind hearing that at all unless it's just a fluke? At 250k it would probably be the last ball joints I ever bought. After watching that EMF video if your knuckles not prepared right or wore out, or joints put in crooked there's gonna be problems. The whole thing makes me queezy! Maybe I shouldn't have watched, ignorance is bliss?

Yeah I hear you, I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on those EMF's at that price, it'd be easier if I drove the truck hard all the time, but it's mainly my camper hauler, then the way things are going here in Idaho with everyone and their aunt moving here there's not going to be anywhere left to camp!! (Is there a thread here to discuss this, lol? !!) Then there's that part of me that wants to do the best job possible within reason.

Good to know, but I was referring to the EMF ball joints and if anyone has any experience with them, between u-joints and ball joints and?? Again I really recommend any Dana axle owners to check out their YouTube video, there's a lot that can go wrong with those knuckles, and knuckle preparation that I never even considered. Their explainations seems pretty sound. For a extra $100 or so vs Napa's joints it would seem like a no brainer? Unless you're replacing sleeves every year or?? My "boat" (break out another thousand!

Thanks for all the replies! Oh, decisions, decisions! I just watched that EMF youtube video titled "EMF dodge ram steering issues and how to fix" A lot of good info and a lot to consider on these front ends, even if you don't use them. Also it's probably the time to change u-joints, crap, how much is THIS job going to cost?!!😭 It would be nice to hear from someone who's installed and has experience with them.

Well I think it's time to replace my front axle knuckle ball joints 😞 Hopefully someone can shine a light on which ones held up or not. Local napa has some in stock, napa premium, lifetime, whatever that means? who makes them? They're pretty proud of them for $100 apiece although I'm sure there's more expensive ones but that's about as much as I want to pay. I know Spicer is a good brand, been looking for the #708047 upper and lower kit but I'm having trouble finding any in stock or discontinued. Thanks for any help!

Yeah, thanks as usual I read too fast and skip critical info. Warm in neutral is 10-13% Still, cold in gear it reaches close to 40 sitting still, maybe why it stalls? P.S. what's a cream crackered injector? 😂 Hey JoeMcaz, I used to live in levittown, haven't heard that in a long time! I was in 3rd-4th grade, I'm 59 now, you do the math. I've been in Idaho since mid '70s, all I remember is living by a park that had a creek going through and in spring it would flood to about a quarter mi wide. And the wild spring cleaning that was like a yard sale at every other house, only they were throwing stuff away. Oh yeah, and the same house only different colors as far as the eye can see 😉

Sorry about this hijack but I read through this since I have a similar issue that has never been resolved, (since I bought last year) my 02 auto has been stalling out when I put into gear , (only when cold) since purchased and a few things caught my attention. In beginning of this post moparman asked about engine load, and said it should be around 7-10%? I find that interesting in the fact that mine sits well above 20 when warm. (In gear) I've posted this before and seems no one ever blinked and eye? Can anyone tell me if this is too exsessive ?? Is this because of too tight converter? I've pretty much resigned myself to accept stalling unless I hold the brakes and throttle up a bit, hold it for 5 sec or so then drive it normally. Seems likely that it has to be converter too tight? Funny how the guy I bought it from said he learned to live with it after trans rebuild, then I call the shop that did the job and they say they've never heard of such a thing! Maybe never heard of Google? Though admittedly not a lot of info on the subject, it is "a thing". I suppose as long as it's not hurting anything I'll just live with until....? Any thoughts, thanks! @JoeMcaz, hopefully you got yours figured out!

You never know, gotta make things interesting!

Well, just decided to put a new alternator in, (oem reman?) Tests .03 now but still reaching 100*, will have to do.

Thanks for the help, probably won't mess with it again till he gets another day off next week.

So, we got .06 on alternator test which I guess is past marginal? The thing is though that alternator is still getting hot for no apparent reason! Heater grids disconnected, it's not smoking hot but still reaching 160* F in 5 minutes, crazy! Any ideas what they sam heck could cause that? PCM? A short somewhere? He had it tested at parts store and said it was perfectly fine as far as charging, and bearings seem to be fine. He's tempted to put a different alternator in, but ?? I'd throw mine in there but at the moment we're in different towns. I'm assuming parts store might frown on testing one of theirs to see if it gets hot, LOL!

Thanks for the info, so that means whatever happened there was some life left in the ecm, or the truck might still be up in no man's land. Anyone know if these trucks can be connected to expensive equipment and diagnose complete health of electric system or is it just a guessing game? Thanks again for any input!

Still curious, does anyone know what the ECM controls besides grid heaters and electric lift pump? If he's got a mechanical lift pump and manual heater switch, does he even need it? Does it have anything to do with the VP for instance? Thanks

Yeah, I can see someone's put a different alternator in, not sure what kind? Did you have issues with the wts lamp and grid heater afterwards? Again, not sure if grid heater got stuck on and messed with alternator or other way around? And then the real expensive part is the unknown ecm/pcm?!! All these parts together would almost total that truck!

So, a little confusing reading some old posts, some say any cheap dvm can do the job, others suggest you need a high dollar fluke or equal?? Am I missing something? Volts ac, not millivolts? I also have this old cat meter my Dad gave to me years ago, old cummins mechanic, wish he was still around. Also do you disconnect power to the battery, the breaker most of us have before testing? Not sure but it does seem like he was having some screwed up volt readings before this happened?? Maybe those grids were messing with alternator, just wish we knew what messed with what, in what order!? Did you just power those grids with a random 12v ignition on power wire, or constant power from fuse box, a fused wire? Thanks again!

Not sure if this update means anything? He says he got a little shock last time he touched the alternator bracket. Maybe the bracket needs a ground? Does anyone have a good link to the alternator ac test, (with cheap dvm?) Were to set dial, what to disconnect, with pictures,etc. ?? Or should we just pull and have tested? Just hate to have someone do something I should know how to do by now. Here's my dvm, not sure what settings to use or how/ were to test. If I'm guessing, set it to this? Hz mv, ac? Are we looking for volts or amps? Did I mention I'm electrically challenged?? Thanks for any help!

Brand new batteries, seems unlikely? Thanks for suggestion!

So, went camping with son this weekend and his 98.5 had some problems we're trying to figure out. Went for a short drive and smelled smoke, turned off truck and looked under hood, alternator was smoking! Alternator was hot as hell! Fidled around a bit with the connector coming out of it and he thought they were possibly touching each other? One definitely was showing bare wire at connector. Any how, after messing with those wires he turned truck back on and alternator seemed operate at least cool to touch , problem is now no WTS lamp and grid heater not working. We did get it started in morning but below freezing and it wasn't happy! Didn't think about it at the time but probably no fuel pump either. He has a mechanical belt driven one or probably would have been stuck in the middle of nowhere! We're back in town now trying to figure out, reading threw forums and what not, sounds like possible ecm issue? Bad ground somewhere? Alternator took out ecm? Son just updating me: He states before trip something was draining his new batteries, Now say's he just unplugged ecm to inspect connector, plugged back in and reset apps, now WTS lamp coming on and grid heater works!? Say's WTS is a little delayed. Question, what all does the ecm operate? Since he does have the mechanical pump can he rig something up to manually turn on the grid heater if in fact the ecm is dying? Is there a way to actually test the ecm?, (We're both electrically challenged) I did the wt ground mod on his a while ago but never checked ac noise before or after, not positive how to do that, need to check mine too! I know, he needs to get on here and join forum too! Sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated! Alternator? Grounds? Ecm going out? All the above?? Thanks!

Already have one of those, (kenwood) and it sounds like crap, I dunno, maybe you need to spend more than $500 these days to have something sound decent??