Shelby/Dakota

Tore further into my front end last night. Radiator is drained and out(coolant looks decent for being old, no oil that I saw in it). Just need to get the clutch fan off and I should be ready to do the dowel pin. The reassemble and order the part to do hydroboost.

N. Besonderes

Tried using that diesel exhaust fluid stuff in my rig today. It all just immediately ran back out. Guess you have to have stacks.

-Niemand

Gunch

Ordered a set of SJ front springs over a week ago they lost one in transit .Got one today the other one should be here Monday.

KRB

It goes in the turbo.

Gunch

Looking at new spring I see the shim some people have said it messed up there handling .Is this something I should be worried about

oliver foster

What lift height are those SJ springs, Gunch?

The longer shackle we discussed on the phone will get you some of that back.

Gunch

. There 4” lift

Gunch

Yea I see what your saying now I never give the shackles a thought guess I’ll put them on with the shim and if it’s not right I’ll take it back off .

oliver foster

On my SJ 6 inch lifted '85 crew cab I left those angle plates on the springs, but added a 1/2 longer shackle to get back some of the axle's rotation.
On my 2 1/2 - 3 inch lifted W-250s I have no angle block on them. One has the stock length rear shackle the other one I am building now will have a 1/2 longer shackle.

A 4 inch lift would be questionable if that angle spring will help. The idea of it is to help the front driveshaft angle and length.
My recommendation is try it with the angle plate and the 1/2 longer shackle we discussed, but re-assemble it with your old U-bolts to test it out.
If you like it and the truck steers and handles well replace the U-bolts with new ones.

Without the angle block you might find you need a longer front driveshaft made.

Also check for clearance at the Cardigan joint on the front driveshaft. I have had to grind out some clearance on several of them so they don't bind when spinning. If you don't do this they will destroy the U-joint in them quickly.

Gunch

Sounds like a plan.I know that SJ get bad press but I’m impressed on how heavy the springs are.Being 3/8 thick plus compared to 1/4 factory ones and under 450.00 thought Id take a chance we’ll see if they hold up

oliver foster

I have been installing SJ springs on my Dodge trucks for over 20 years. I have had some settling occur of the drivers side front, but you get that with any spring as the drivers side has a battery, steering box / parts, the driver and 30+ gallons of fuel on that side.
That is the main reason for the "gangster lean" I see on lots of Dodge trucks.

On my '91.0 Poncho, I fixed the lean by pulling one leaf out of the REAR leaf pack on the passenger side to even out the rig left to right, both on the front and back.

thrashingcows

I polished up my aftermarket chrome grille last night....winter takes a pretty hard toll on it, it gets a brown and green hard crusty coating on it that requires either a HD mag polish, or some steel wool to clean it up. Also polished the rear bumper and door handles.

Then I climbed under the truck to try and see if I could find the weird drive line vibration/noise I have been getting. Nothing jumped out at me, but I did notice that I had a bit of a fuel leak, though it was just a loose clamp on the rubber section of fuel line but when I went to tighten it the hard fuel line actually fell out, it was just resting inside the rubber line with no clamp!! So fixed that and saw that my muffler was loose again, my old rusty and crusty cobbled together exhaust is getting very tired and needs to be replaced this spring. So patched that back up and will see if maybe the muffler floating around on the exhaust pipe was causing my odd noise.

u2slow

Swapped out the front michelins (D250) after developing a slow leak. Sidewalls were quite cracked... noticed they were dated 2002 and 2003. Moved up to some used 2011 Goodyears.

My LED headlights showed up from amazon. Its a kit with relays and the whole works. See if I can get those in before work on Tuesday.

thrashingcows

I don't mind running used tires, but I usually try and find ones under 7 year old to put on the truck, and will usually replace regardless by the time they hit 10 years.

peckens

Believe my Alternator finally quit on me as I am no longer charging. Installed an external regulator on a relay years ago. Checked my voltage at the relay, regulator, and alternator getting 12.08v. Even used my good spare reg with the same results.