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'94 Dodge service truck DD/Tow rig build
- Thread starter Avery4jc
- Start date
TheBeast_88K5
Banned
Headliner looks great! 
Isn't a nice diy headliner great!?
Srsly, it looks factory good...
Isn't a nice diy headliner great!?
Srsly, it looks factory good...
The dodge has been treating me well. I daily drive it and it hasn't missed a beat.
I'm starting to slip the clutch under heavy acceleration or if I'm pulling my trailer up a grade and lay into it then it'll slip. I filed my taxes and my return is going to be enough to get a good clutch and flywheel from southbend. A guy I go to church with runs a big repair shop and said to just let him know and we can go down on a saturday and he'll let me use a lift and all his tools and we'll get the new flywheel and clutch put in.
Also, about 3 weeks ago I was out at some friend's house where I store my trailer to pick it up and long story short I buried this fat pig pretty deep in the mud trying to get back to my trailer. The stupid CAD woudn't engage and I couldn't get it into 4wd. It got dark and was an overall disaster to the point my friend had to pull me out with the tractor that night. During that process I broke my homemade CAD cable setup so I ordered the setup from 4x4 posi-lok which is what I should have done from the get-go. This is a really nice setup and the cable is much heavier duty than the one I was using. Hopefully once I get this put on everything will be cool again.
I'm starting to slip the clutch under heavy acceleration or if I'm pulling my trailer up a grade and lay into it then it'll slip. I filed my taxes and my return is going to be enough to get a good clutch and flywheel from southbend. A guy I go to church with runs a big repair shop and said to just let him know and we can go down on a saturday and he'll let me use a lift and all his tools and we'll get the new flywheel and clutch put in.
Also, about 3 weeks ago I was out at some friend's house where I store my trailer to pick it up and long story short I buried this fat pig pretty deep in the mud trying to get back to my trailer. The stupid CAD woudn't engage and I couldn't get it into 4wd. It got dark and was an overall disaster to the point my friend had to pull me out with the tractor that night. During that process I broke my homemade CAD cable setup so I ordered the setup from 4x4 posi-lok which is what I should have done from the get-go. This is a really nice setup and the cable is much heavier duty than the one I was using. Hopefully once I get this put on everything will be cool again.
I had one of those on my '92 Chevy Blazer K1500. Worked great AFTER the cable was finally adjusted right. I fuddled with it for months and it wouldn't work. Then a mechanic I knew who had put dozens of them in took pity on me and had it right in 5 minutes.
In my defense I was young and dumb.
In my defense I was young and dumb.
gotblazers
1/2 ton status
Congrats on your continued success 
Got Smoke?
1/2 ton status
You will love that Posi-Lok if you tow trailers often......the ability to do 4 low for backing is awesome! However, the only bad side is you need to anticipate needing 4WD ahead of time because if you get stuck you may not get the front tires to turn enough to engage.
Time to show some love to the dodge. It's still my daily driver and hasn't missed a beat.
Tomorrow it's getting ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar end links, sway bar bushings and the bigger MOOG track bar.
Hopefully it's a productive Saturday.
Tomorrow it's getting ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar end links, sway bar bushings and the bigger MOOG track bar.
Hopefully it's a productive Saturday.
DEMON44
Low-Tech Redneck
Why don't you upgrade to a 3rd.gen style trac bar.
I looked at it but the stuff I saw to do it was pretty expensive. This is the MOOG bar that has a bigger end on it and from some basic searches has performed well for everyone. I only put about 5k miles a year on this truck so it should last longer than I'll own it. 
DEMON44
Low-Tech Redneck
Ya that's not much mileage. Still don't expect good service life from that bar.
Well the day started good. I got the front end all pulled apart in no time flat but then my ball joint press said no thank you to these bigger ball joints.
It's a cheap one but has worked well for years on 10b ball joints and u-joints but it was no match for these.
So I ended up taking them to a shop around the corner and they pressed the old ones out and put the new ones in for $50. Well worth it and they did it while I waited.
So I came back home and got the front end back together, it's nice and tight and should feel a lot better now.
From that point it was basically all down hill. I couldn't get the sway bar links off and ended up having to just go through and cut it apart and then off the bar. No biggie since I'm replacing them with aftermarket ones. Then I removed the track bar and went to put the new one on and it wouldn't fit.
I wasted a bunch of time strapping the truck to the k10 to pull it into place as the axle was stationary on the jack stands and once we got it all aligned it wouldn't fall into the taper. Upon further inspection the taper is wrong!
I looked it up on MOOG's site and apparently 1/1/1994 through 2/7/1994 use one size taper and then EVERYTHING past 2/8/1994 uses another size. Freakin' screw you Dodge and your one month and seven day run on this size.
Soooo now I'm not sure what to do. I guess tomorrow I'll just toss the stock bar back on so I can drive it this week and go from there. I'll send this bar back and see if I can get the right one. Or do you guys think I'd be just as happy with an over the counter one at NAPA which I could get tomorrow and be done?
It's a cheap one but has worked well for years on 10b ball joints and u-joints but it was no match for these.
So I ended up taking them to a shop around the corner and they pressed the old ones out and put the new ones in for $50. Well worth it and they did it while I waited.
So I came back home and got the front end back together, it's nice and tight and should feel a lot better now.
From that point it was basically all down hill. I couldn't get the sway bar links off and ended up having to just go through and cut it apart and then off the bar. No biggie since I'm replacing them with aftermarket ones. Then I removed the track bar and went to put the new one on and it wouldn't fit.
I wasted a bunch of time strapping the truck to the k10 to pull it into place as the axle was stationary on the jack stands and once we got it all aligned it wouldn't fall into the taper. Upon further inspection the taper is wrong!
I looked it up on MOOG's site and apparently 1/1/1994 through 2/7/1994 use one size taper and then EVERYTHING past 2/8/1994 uses another size. Freakin' screw you Dodge and your one month and seven day run on this size.
Soooo now I'm not sure what to do. I guess tomorrow I'll just toss the stock bar back on so I can drive it this week and go from there. I'll send this bar back and see if I can get the right one. Or do you guys think I'd be just as happy with an over the counter one at NAPA which I could get tomorrow and be done?
Dude, just go grab a stock replacement track bar and get it back together. If the old one was shot, it will be better now with a new stock one and will last a while.
I just did what you are doing to my '01, and the stock original parts lasted nearly 200K. That is in a severe duty commercial towing application too. I'd just put new stock parts back into and roll, they will likely be fine for a long time.
I just did what you are doing to my '01, and the stock original parts lasted nearly 200K. That is in a severe duty commercial towing application too. I'd just put new stock parts back into and roll, they will likely be fine for a long time.
That's exactly what I did this afternoon. I was standing there thinking how even with all this crappy old stuff it still drove fine and for all I know this could be the original track bar so I ran down to NAPA and took advantage of their 20% off sale and bought their track bar.
So it's back on it's feet again with a new track bar and the sway bar bushings/new end links all installed.
Drives great compared to before, the steering really tightened up which is surprising since I didn't change any of those ends. I guess the worn ball joints were letting the knuckles move around to take up the slack.
I need to run it down and get it aligned to get the wheel back to center but it goes down the road nice and straight.
I'll get the control arm bushings put in next weekend.
So it's back on it's feet again with a new track bar and the sway bar bushings/new end links all installed.
Drives great compared to before, the steering really tightened up which is surprising since I didn't change any of those ends. I guess the worn ball joints were letting the knuckles move around to take up the slack.
I need to run it down and get it aligned to get the wheel back to center but it goes down the road nice and straight.
I'll get the control arm bushings put in next weekend.
spongeidys
1/2 ton status
i have to do ball joints on my 05 this week... really not looking forward to it..
spongeidys
1/2 ton status
Hope you have something better than the HF press!
i dont have anything yet... its gonna suck if i have to buy a good one.. hah
Honestly I'd just swing by a shop. Like I posted earlier I brought the knuckles and new ball joints into a shop around the corner and for $50 they pressed them all in and out while I waited. I drove home and slapped it all back together.
spongeidys
1/2 ton status
i might just do that.. for whatever reason i brain farted and thought the balljoints went into the axle c for some reason... makes much more sense now.. hah
*edit i looked it up.. and the ball joints are pressed into the c on the front end.. so that wont work... damn
Bringing this back up because I had some gift cards from Christmas from 3 different people to OSH and they were having a sale this weekend so I bought a set of tools to carry in the truck. I started looking at the "kits" but felt for the same money I could do better (for what I need at least) by piecing together from here and there.
Got a Craftsman pass through socket set in metric/standard, metric/standard wrench set (there's some small wrenches in a bag inside too), screwdrivers and some allen wrenches/pliers to get started. Should be handy to have when out and about instead of having to pull tools out of the garage all the time.
I also scored 4 CO2 tanks a couple weeks back so I'm going to mount one of them in the service body to have some air when need-be.
Got a Craftsman pass through socket set in metric/standard, metric/standard wrench set (there's some small wrenches in a bag inside too), screwdrivers and some allen wrenches/pliers to get started. Should be handy to have when out and about instead of having to pull tools out of the garage all the time.
I also scored 4 CO2 tanks a couple weeks back so I'm going to mount one of them in the service body to have some air when need-be.
chevysmithz71
1/2 ton status
Good plan with the tools. You have to fill all those cabinets with something
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