I hadn't played with the truck too much over the last few months, until this week.
the day before i left for baja almost 2 years ago, i figured out my front axle was bad, the pinion bearings were shot. Then i neglected it because i didnt have the money to deal with it. i finally pulled the cover to look inside and there were 1/4" sized pieces of teeth laying in the bottom, and the pinion had shifted forward and gouged the carrier.
so last month i picked up a 1996 3500 axle on Craigslist for $275. the seller swore it was 4.10.
i was all ready to start the swap, when i pulled the cover, counted the teeth, its 3.54. short story, the seller bold face lied to me. I learned my lesson, to pull the cover and count the teeth. Im now trying to sell that axle
after a few weeks i found another axle for $400. i could tell by the pictures it was a 2000+ with the newer brakes. cool, should all bolt in...right?
at this point for me $400 is alot of money, so it realy has been a drag.
years ago i bought a 3" Rough Country lift kit that was missing the lift springs. i paid $100 and got the 1/2" longer tubular control arms with the bushings and a sway bar drop bracket and extended bump stops.
as i got ready to install the arms i discovered i lost or was missing 1/2 the bushings. did a little research and the RC ones are trash anyway. so i spent $65 on all new Energy Suspension bushings for the uppers and lowers. I had to cut/trim them down a bit to narrow them, then i put the sleeves in the lathe and narrowed them too. my 4 year old daughter thought greasing them was the coolest thing ("looks like Play Dough!!")
of course one of the bushings was missing from the new UPS shipment, so that ordeal took 2 weeks.
that gets us up to 3 days ago, its 100* at my house and i wrestled that 500# axle into place alone with 2 floor jacks in my gravel driveway. that was a workout. Saturday was my big push to get the truck done.
i noticed when i picked up the 2000 axle that it was missing the newer style tie rod. i thought "who cares, guys run the new style tie rods on the old axle, should be fine to do the inverse." WRONG
the 2000 axle has the newer style sway bar mounts. they interfere with the inverted Y tie rod arrangement.
Im excited for the new brakes, 1/4" bigger in diameter with 2 piston calipers, and you can easily swap over to the 3rd gen rotors/pads that are 1" bigger diameter.
so far the only hiccup on the brakes has been hunting down new banjo bolts. the old single piston calipers have M10 1.5 bolts, the new 2 piston calipers are 3/8-24. Auto parts stores had trouble looking up banjo bolts, so here is a pic of the part number for reference. today i bled the brakes and everything seems good.
so NOW...... im waiting for payday to buy a 4th gen tire rod set up. Mopar sells the entire set up, ball joint to ball joint with drag link, assembled for <$300
it bolts into 2000 and up 4x4 trucks. the width of the tie rod changed, and the taper at the ball joints changed. so i also need to change my pitman arm.
so after i acquire the new super beefy tie rod set up, and a pitman arm, i hope to be on the road.
im running 2" coil spacers, and i plan to buy a drop pitman arm for 3-5" of lift. if anyone knows why this wont work please speak up.
i hope this enlightens you!
