Ok, i am getting tired of the way my truck breaks. Today i bled my breaks and put in motul fluid, but it still kinda sucks. One question is, how much shoudl i put into my stock axles before i should just put in a dana 60/14 bolt combo? Also, what is needed to swap in a dodge dana 60 front out of a 2500 truck? I know it woudl be about the same to put in a 14 bolt in the rear as it would cost to swap gears in my 9.25", and plus, my tires are wearing out anyway.

Now for question two, does my steering system look overly bent? you can see some yellow arrows on the arm, where it is slightly bent from when i snapped my alignment adjuster. So how bad does it look? and also how long can i go on this before i should replace it.. and how much different is the 1500, and the 2500 steering, so if i were to upgrade the steering on this axle, could i put the steering arms on the dana 60?

Q3) I get alittle bit of brake fluid on the bottom of the master cyl resivior, in the front, is that normal, it is normally just when i touch it. Or could it be alittle bit of why my truck doesent stop how i would like it to?

thanks. garrett

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The 1500, 2500 and 3500 steering linkages are identical. Been there done that. Yours does look bent.

As for swapping in a Gen II D60, it is all bolt in. Need to swap pinion yokes or the front portion of the drive shaft to use the larger universal.

As for the brakes, upgrade to stainless braided. I just swapped and I love the fact that there is feel inteh pedal, it no longer just goes to the floor and barely stops. I am using the set from EGR (DOT approved, kevlar reinforced teflon tube with stainless braided sleeve with anti-abrasion coils. Check the Tech section on my site for pics and contact info.

You should not have any brake fluid leaking.

yeah, i was over at egr last saturday, and saw those lines, they look nice. I picked up my brake fluid and speedbleeders from him. Just he gave me the wrong bleeders, so i need to get the right ones for the rear. So i guess it is just the rubber lines that cause my truck to have the brake pedal drop about 4" before anything happens. Also, is it worth it to swap in the dana 60, or shoudl i just beef up the dana 44? I also have an 8 lug 10 bolt in my garage, and i have thought about putting the c's out on the dana 44, but then, i dont know if it is really worth it. Also, how long can i go on the bent steering parts? I will be e-mailing out tonight though to get quotes on a replacment. When i got it alligned the shop told me it woudl be OK, just dont wheel it hard any more. And i never wheel my truck hard :rolleyes: i just use the 4 wheel drive.

thanks Garrett

the 60 is an easier fix, but it still has the crappy CAD and same size shafts (not yokes obviously) as your 44. Even has the same neck down near the splines. Howver, it is a popular swap and I can hook you up with a guy that can tell you what you need (and possibly provide teh custom seal spacers required) to go to 1.5" Moser shafts. You need Moser if you want to loose the CAD and go larger dia shafts since the Warn blanks are about 1" short.

Have you actually busted the 44 you have now? I replaced the factory unit bearings at 120,000 miles and one of the new ones in a parking lot (reversing with wheels turned...I think it was defective) I am only on my second set of u-joints also. I did bend my steering linkage though, hence my upgrade. I am running open diff, but with 4.56's and 35" SSRs. I do wheel it pretty hard for its size.

You should be ok on the street, but I would not really wheel it until that tierod gets replaced.You have a heavy truck that can easily bend it further under the right condition.

Ok, I am looking into the upgrade. I havent broken any of my d44 parts yet, i only have 77k on the truck. So does moser make alloy shafts for the d44? I am just trying ot decide how much money i want to put into this dana 44. Plus, i still havent upped the gears yet, and i have to replace the rear driveshaft when i put in the SYE kit, so i might as well put in a 14 bolt at the same time, since it will already have lower gears in it. plus, my tires are almost worn out, so it would be worth it to go to the 35" goodyear muds, on 16" rims now. Just seems cheaper to do it all at one time, so i dont keep re-doing stuff over and over. Also, does the dana 60 front lift up the truck at all? and if not, what cuases the 2500 trucks to be taller, just taller springs?

Also, i have been looking into some sort of overload system for over the rear springs, so i can put over 1000 lbs in the bed, without it being over sagged (thus the 14 bolt in the rear.. for the fullfloating). Woudl air bags be the way to go? and what happens on the trail when the truck is all flexxed up and there are airbags in the rear? I have also looked ino helwing overloads, but not too sure about them. I like how the air bags adjust. Also, while i am still running stock rear springs now, i do want to go to 4" lift alcan springs in the rear later (maybe taller depending on how i want it lifed) with extra arch to get rid of the factory blocks.

anyway, thanks

garrett

also, do you have any pics of how the steering stablizer is hooked up after the HD steering arms are put on? I have a rancho aftermarket one now, and also a rancho dual kit on my 77 that i could take off, and probabally put on this truck if i wanted to.

Garrett

I thought I might as well update this thread. Truck has 105k miles on it now. I finally replaced that bent drag link last weekend. Ended up going with a 1 ton chevy setup from wicked fab.
Pics (http://deerewagon.i8.com/images/steering/)

Truck drives alittle better without so much movement in the steering, and without worn out tie rod ends.

Oh, and those rear brake bleeders.. I never did replace them, and they let air in the lines. They are sitting in the glove box.. I;ll replace them one of these days.

Originally posted by GRMhick
I thought I might as well update this thread. Truck has 105k miles on it now. I finally replaced that bent drag link last weekend. Ended up going with a 1 ton chevy setup from wicked fab.
Pics (http://deerewagon.i8.com/images/steering/)

Truck drives alittle better without so much movement in the steering, and without worn out tie rod ends.

Oh, and those rear brake bleeders.. I never did replace them, and they let air in the lines. They are sitting in the glove box.. I;ll replace them one of these days.

Instead of just changing the rear wheel bleeders...just change the whole rear wheel cylinders. The rear wheel cylinders are like $10 each and most likely yours are leaking after 10 years. Try to also find some bigger rear wheel cylinders with a larger bore.

Originally posted by OzzyP


Instead of just changing the rear wheel bleeders...just change the whole rear wheel cylinders. The rear wheel cylinders are like $10 each and most likely yours are leaking after 10 years. Try to also find some bigger rear wheel cylinders with a larger bore.

Huh, not a bad idea. And they are $12.50 each at napa :flipoff2: But still.. the bleeder screws alone cost $8.

And its not 10 years old, its 7 years 10 months and 8 days olf fawlker :flipoff2:

For the steering swap to chevy 1-ton stuff. I will be doing a page shortly but here is very similar to what I did except I tapped my DOM rather than welding inserts in.

http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/steeringupgrade.php

It took me about 3 hours after all my prep was done and I have everything ready. IE tube cut and tapped to correct lenght and then I just removed all the stock steering and replaced it after reaming the knuckles and pitman arm.

This cost me much less than 2 of the stock TRE's and next time I replace my TRE's it will cost me less than 1 stock TRE. Plus my wobble is gone now too. I don't run a stabilizer anymore it hides things too much and I like the feel without it. I do have a SOLID STEEL Stabilizer (brace) and I find it is a night and day difference as well.