Critique my list of upcoming upgrades

waldershrek

waldershrek

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Jun 6, 2010
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Last fall I put new tie rods, and track bar on and that helped some of my issues but I have a few more to iron out.

As soon as the weather gets nice I'll finish the rest of the "necessary" parts and then as funds allow I'll start the "fun" stuff. I'll list the parts I'm planning on doing here soon. Let me know how it looks.

1. Upper and lower ball joints - Plan on getting these from Napa. Napa chassis parts have always treated me good plus I have a connection and can get them pretty cheap and lifetime warranty.

2. End links - Napa

3. sway bar bushings - Napa

4. Steering damper - Napa

5. Steering brace - Ebay. Is there really a difference between the BD one
and the Ebay ones? The Ebay ones look pretty well built.

6. Isspro EV2 electric fuel pressure gauge - Ordering tonight from a sponsor.

7. New AFE dry filter and pre filter for my stage 2 intake. The old filter was dirty beyond cleaning.

8. Raptor fuel pump - Not sure where I'm gonna get it from.

9. Edge Comp Box - looking to get a used one

10. Wheels and tires eventually



I'm also looking to get rid of my stacks in favor of a dual setup out behind each tire. I like the sound and looks of them but there is just too many idiots around here with them. Plus it cuts down on bed space and I'm sick of **** touching them and burning/melting lol.
 
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Napa parts have always done well for me. My only suggestion would be to get a third gen adjustable track bar kit. I also put heim joint end links and dual steering stabilizer. The truck has 210,000 miles and cruise down the road like brand new. I get all of my parts from jacob at dieselautopower.com. He has the best prices, great selection and is awesome to del with.
 
The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason.. Ebay stuff is probably the same as BD's brace. But BD's brace is a thinner copy of the DSS brace. I'd look into XRF ball joints over the Napa brand. Steering links you really don't have many options, sadly. I'm going with the Dynatrac ball joints this time. Being able to rebuild them in the axle is appealing.
 
JacksonDog said:
My only suggestion would be to get a third gen adjustable track bar kit. I also put heim joint end links and dual steering stabilizer. The truck has 210,000 miles and cruise down the road like brand new.
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I put a new track bar on it last year. Looking back I should have upgraded to the third gen kit but I guess when the one that's on there craps out again I will. I worry with the heim joint end links the ride is going to get a little rougher. Am I just paranoid?

Lucky Jeff said:
The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason.. Ebay stuff is probably the same as BD's brace. But BD's brace is a thinner copy of the DSS brace. I'd look into XRF ball joints over the Napa brand. Steering links you really don't have many options, sadly. I'm going with the Dynatrac ball joints this time. Being able to rebuild them in the axle is appealing.
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Yeah that's what I'm afraid of. Who's a dealer for the XRF ball joints? I didn't see where they had their distributors listed online.

BgBlDodge said:
Thurenfabrication.com
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Foof! I better hit the lotto.
 
Just installed 2 of the $125 steering braces this past weekend, didn't see any problems, everything was proper about them and the price was right. EV2 guages are nice, all of mine are fine except my FP i have to give it a whack to get it to come back down from 40psi.
 
MasterLow said:
Just installed 2 of the $125 steering braces this past weekend, didn't see any problems, everything was proper about them and the price was right. EV2 guages are nice, all of mine are fine except my FP i have to give it a whack to get it to come back down from 40psi.
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Do you have a snubber?
 
My vote is for a Carli adjustable trac bar. It was a night and day difference in my truck. I also used the DSS stabilizer.
 
02HO4X4 said:
My vote is for a Carli adjustable trac bar. It was a night and day difference in my truck.
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I should have done something different with the track bar last year when I replaced it but I didn't. I replaced it with a Napa bar of the same style. If/when this one goes again I'm gonna replace for it good with a Carli or Thuren or maybe a third gen.
 
The weak link in the damn thing is that tie rod style joint on the one end. Worst design ever.
 
So the trac-bar controls the caster (or?) which would add to the tires wandering back and forth if the caster is negative?

I was wrong: "The track bar is used to control front axle side-toside movement."
 
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I love this notice in the Dodge manual under alignment... LOL

"CAUTION: Do not attempt to modify any suspension
or steering components by heating and bending."
 
4x4dually said:
I love this notice in the Dodge manual under alignment... LOL

"CAUTION: Do not attempt to modify any suspension
or steering components by heating and bending."
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Now you know that is there because somebody obviously tried it and probably put somebody's eye out.
 
This thread has me looking into the parts I need now. Mine steers like ass.

There are 6 or 7 different kinds and brands of track bars.....how the hell does one decide? The OEM is $180. The others are $350 - $400. Do OEM's suck that bad brand new?

So I can buy a 3rd gen adapter kit then get a 3rd gen OEM bar? Does that work worth a toss?
 
4x4dually said:
This thread has me looking into the parts I need now. Mine steers like ass.

There are 6 or 7 different kinds and brands of track bars.....how the hell does one decide? The OEM is $180. The others are $350 - $400. Do OEM's suck that bad brand new?

So I can buy a 3rd gen adapter kit then get a 3rd gen OEM bar? Does that work worth a toss?
Click to expand...

02HO4X4 said:
My vote is for a Carli adjustable trac bar. It was a night and day difference in my truck. I also used the DSS stabilizer.
Click to expand...

It felt like going from a covered wagon to an Esclade!
 
Thurens prices have jumped since I bought his stuff. But a 100k miles later its still just as tight and aligned as it was the day I put it on. And I run 35s and no steering dampener.
 
FML.....



So I installed the fuel pressure gauge and big line kit yesterday. So far I'm only getting 8lbs of pressure at idle and when I took it for a test drive getting up to speed on the highway it went as low as 2 psi. At first I thought it can't be right but I rechecked all the wiring and stuff and everything is correct.

The needle movement seems really jerky, that why I thought initially there was a problem. The other thing is that when I shut the truck off the needle stays as whatever psi it was at. I thought that was strange for an electric gauge. I could understand a mechanical gauge still having pressure in the line.

So keeping in mind the gauge is at 8 psi when the truck is off, I start the truck and the pressure drops to sero then comes back up jerking from 0 up to 8. I thought it would be smooth like a tach for example. Is this thing working right or am I really at such low pressure!? This is pissing me off.


Oh and just so we're clear on the setup I have the big line kit with the fuel pressure access in the 90 degree fitting right at the vp with a snubber and then the sensor.
 
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