royta

1) My rear brake drums are so worn that I need to loosen the shoe adjustment wheel in order to slide the drums off. Applying the brakes also causes my truck to pull to the right. IIRC, this even occurred prior to when I replaced my front rotors and calipers, so I don't think it is a bound up caliper problem. Also, my front pads are wearing evenly left to right. When it comes time to replace the front pads again, I will be changing the rear drums and shoes. Any recommendations for drum manufacturers?

2) DSS, how much of an improvement? solidsteel.biz or solidsteel.ca? Which was the first? Is it better to go through a distributor for better pricing? My truck does seem to slightly wander, but perhaps I'll wait until I take care of #3 below before pulling the plug on a DSS.

3) My front tires wear like crap. The lugs taper from the front to the rear. In other words, the front of the lug is high and it tapers down to the rear of the lug. There is approximately a 1/4" difference between the height across the lug. There is no side to side cupping. I guess a trip to the alignment shop is in order, and hopefully they will find the worn parts.

4) I was thinking about replacing my injectors. I am the second owner of the vehicle and I'm betting these are the original injectors. The best fuel economy I am able to get is around 17 mpg. This is on the freeway with absolutely no stop and go. I'll drive 65 mph on the 75 mph limit freeway, and 55 or 60 on the 65 mph highway. I'm wondering if new injectors might improve my fuel mileage. When driving out to ATK at Promontory, I'll put over 130 miles on the truck round trip, so fuel economy is a big concern for me. Most of the time, I am doing this drive 5 days a week. I'm running 265/75-16's and am thinking about getting 285/75-16's when it's time for tires again. However, I don't know if they will fit properly on the stock 6.5" wide steel wheels. A pic of my truck a week or so after putting the service body on it, and also when it still had 235/85-16's, is shown below. My dad's 3/4 ton, 4WD, manual trans '90 (obviously with no club cab), in similar ladder rack and service body attire, averaged 17 mpg in November of 1989 when we pulled a camp trailer from Yreka, CA to Rangely, CO for a hunting trip. I can't imagine that I should be limited to 17 mpg when the truck is only loaded to around 8500 pounds.




FYI - My truck currently has around 188,600 miles on it.


Thanks for the suggestions.

fahlguy

I would say yes to the DSS, I did it on My 2001 3/4 4X4 with 40K on it and it made an improvement. I just bought a 96 EXT Cab 2500 4X4 with a 161K on her, it had all new ball joints and tie-rod ends. I had a ton of play in the steering wheel. I just put the DSS on and the steering is nice an tight. It still wanders, but the trac bar is junk. I waiting on my new one from Don Thuren (www.thurenfabrication.com)


Hope this helps.

Bill

clc

I, too, would say yes to DSS. Even if your steering box shaft tight it will help some by reducing flexion of the steering box mount and it will extend the life of your steering box bearings. Pay close attention to aligning the DSS when you put it on so you don't side load the bearings in the steering box.

xtoyz17

Subscribed for brale pulling, I've been chasing that for a year.