Brakes...general maintenance...
 

Do our Daks have the ****tiest brakes on the face of this Earth, or is just mine? I swear, I've locked up the front right several times, and both fronts once or twice. There is absolutely NO pedal feel in this boat. So i'm determined to solve this.

I'm going to be getting a few grand worth of work done to mine around my birthday, March. To improve feel, i'm looking at inspecting/rebuilding/replacing calipers and lines (are our lines rubber, metal, both?) To reduce face, i'm looking at drilled/slotted/both rotors and some better pads. All this is with new brake fluid too.

I'm doing general maintenance also. Plugs, dif fluids, transmission fluid (filter?), and an oil change. Is there anything funny I should know about the dif/transmission part? I know I nee the extra stuff because I have an LSD. I've never done the tranny/dif oils so if someone could link me to a how to, that would be nice.

Tires, alignment, and ball joints are going to all happen soon. I've been eying the General Grabber UHP's...my truck will never see anything but pavement and rainy roads. We get one or two snow flurries a year, so i'm not worried about anything but dry/wet performance.

(i'm exhausted so this may not make a whole lot of sense, i'll edit what I need to when i get some sleep.)

Drilled/slotted rotors eat pads faster, just an FYI. And no, it's not just ours...see a few threads down for my topic, and a few further for somebody elses....

lol I noticed those as I was posting. Do they eat them fast enough to outweigh the benefits?

On that I'm not sure. The drill/slotted are mainly to remove the heat faster- Good for sports cars, but "eh" on a truck.

I have a a pretty much overhalled brake system on my truck only thing I didnt do was master cylinder and rear drums other than that everything is new. In my truck my brakes rarely lock up its really hard to get it to unless the roads are covered in snow.

Yeah my breaks have some problems too, I have to do some work on them. I am going to start by replacing the annoying ass rear squeaking pads.

On the diff fluid change it's pretty simple. Get your self some diff fluid and a gasket, I just use black gasket maker but it's up to you. Then you have to open the diff cover, there is like 8 bolts or something like that, then you can use a flat head screw driver and pop the seal (be easy with the prying so you don't scar the cover or housing) make sure you have a pan under because once you break the seal on the cover the gear lube will pore out, try not to get any on you cuz it smells like crap ! Once the cover is off and fluid is drained out inspect things for any unusual looking wear or metal shavings in your oil, or chips off a gear, or bearing, and so on.

Then you need to take your time and clean up the cover and housing where the gasket sets, both surfaces need to be clean and free of oil or and crap left behind by the old gasket so the new gasket can make a good seal. I like to use a bit of rough sand paper and a flat head screw driver for big hunks, then wipe down with rags.

The rest is pretty painless, fit your gasket on your cover and make sure all the holes line up properly, I use a thin layer of black gasket maker just to hold the gasket on and the a second thin layer on the back side to help when you put it on the housing. Next take you cover with gasket and line up you holes and start putting you bolts back in, I put all my bolts in hand tight until I know everything is going to line up, then tighten down your bolts. You can let your gasket maker set up for a while but I never do, and it's never leaked on me. Anyway, once that's done take out your fill nut, usually a 1/4inch ratchet head fits in perfect, and fill it until the gear oil starts to come out of the fill hole, or just before. Put you fill plug back in and your done.

As for the trans fluid I don't know exactly because I haven't done mine yet. Are you planing to do the filter and fluid or just the fluid ?

On some there is a drain plug I believe and on others you have to take off the trans pan to drain the fluid and if your taking off the pan you can do the filter too since it's right there. I don't know how the Dakota's are but when I do mine I am going to just open the pan and toss in a new filter. Hope this helps you get an idea of what needs to be done, good luck !

Thanks Bam.

When doing your diff(I assume 2wd, you didnt mention 4), take off all but the top one or two bolts at the top. Loosen these like 2/3 the way, and THEN pop the diff cover off. Def make sure you have a pan under, and newspaper or something to protect your floor(if you care). I used Royal Purple Synthetics in my front, rear diffs, xfer case and trans(manual). No complaints. It has a LSD addative in it. Some people buy Castrol or whaterver reg fluid and add Lucas or a Mopar LSD addative. Whatever you want(and wallet permits). Note, there is a magnet on the bottom in the middle of your diff. It's job is to catch the little metal pieces. be sure to wipe this clean for 2 reasons; 1-see if there are any larger, bad pieces, 2-its just good practice, and will keep it catching the regular shavings from wear.

I don't buy gaskets generally either. I just use a red gasket material. Black, red, whatever as long as its made for oil applications and generally I go high heat for safety. (there is no need to coat both sides if you have a cork/rubber repl. gasket. Just makes the next time harder! :) You can use it to hold the new gasket in place...but not an issue unless you have a front diff-a wee bit tight!)

A note about fill that I don't listen to(always good to read the manual after you're done right? oops) They say in a few of the holes to fill just below the fill hole(might just be the manual trans.) But, it's a good idea to measure out what is supposed go in first, then fill more if needed.

I run my brakes stock(did pads w/a ceramic lifetime-autozone) and have minimal issues. Need to purge fluid soon tho. I do tow and umm...drive spiritedly...sometimes. I dont think drilled/slotted are worth while, but thats jsut me...they do look cool! I did paint my calipers and rotors... maybe that helped ;) Good luck...lots of knowledge around here!