What Did You Do To Your 2ND GEN RAM Today?
Yeah, everything's the same from 94-02 across Dodge: the old Saginaw box. I may do a different pump this spring with new hoses and original PS oil. I have ATF in there now per Redhead's recommendations.
Trouble is, there's no new pumps out there. Everything is a remanufactured POS. I used to work with industrial pumping systems and the vanes need to be replaced to rebuild a pump, not just seals. Ever seen a rebuild kit with vanes? Nope. Just seals. And that won't do it. So it doesn't matter what brand you get: Autozone or Redhead. They are all crap.
Trouble is, there's no new pumps out there. Everything is a remanufactured POS. I used to work with industrial pumping systems and the vanes need to be replaced to rebuild a pump, not just seals. Ever seen a rebuild kit with vanes? Nope. Just seals. And that won't do it. So it doesn't matter what brand you get: Autozone or Redhead. They are all crap.
In my constant struggle with the steering, I finally swapped out the power steering ATF for real oil. Per Redhead's recommendation I used ATF initially but I wanted to get it back to Dodge spec, maybe even solve some of my issues with steering and dead (no return) feel. After swapping fluid, I did a ton of lock-to-lock turns with engine off to purge but it kept sucking in air somewhere. At least that's what it sounds like. When hard to the left, if I hold it there, there's a gurgling noise. Then all the way to the right the oil wants to pump out of the reservoir. It did this every time. After wearing myself out, I dropped the truck, threw the belt on, and went for a spin. The return is much better than before. Real PS oil is thicker than ATF and I think it has more force then? Anyway, the pump is still noisy but it feels better in the hand. The stupid pump was always leaking ATF from the pressure port so we'll see if it still leaks. I removed both lines and reinstalled. To flush, I capped the return port and used the return hose from the cooler to dump into a pan. It's still a little pink but I got most of the ATF out.
Did I get all the air out? Who knows. My arms are tired. Why does it always push oil going right? The ATF did that too. Who knows. Why does it always leak? I've reinstalled the pressure hose three times now. Why is there a weird sucking noise going left? Who knows. Why is it so hard to get good/stock steering? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
Stay tuned for another episode of:
AS THE WHEEL TURNS........
Did I get all the air out? Who knows. My arms are tired. Why does it always push oil going right? The ATF did that too. Who knows. Why does it always leak? I've reinstalled the pressure hose three times now. Why is there a weird sucking noise going left? Who knows. Why is it so hard to get good/stock steering? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
Stay tuned for another episode of:
AS THE WHEEL TURNS........
In my constant struggle with the steering, I finally swapped out the power steering ATF for real oil. Per Redhead's recommendation I used ATF initially but I wanted to get it back to Dodge spec, maybe even solve some of my issues with steering and dead (no return) feel. After swapping fluid, I did a ton of lock-to-lock turns with engine off to purge but it kept sucking in air somewhere. At least that's what it sounds like. When hard to the left, if I hold it there, there's a gurgling noise. Then all the way to the right the oil wants to pump out of the reservoir. It did this every time. After wearing myself out, I dropped the truck, threw the belt on, and went for a spin. The return is much better than before. Real PS oil is thicker than ATF and I think it has more force then? Anyway, the pump is still noisy but it feels better in the hand. The stupid pump was always leaking ATF from the pressure port so we'll see if it still leaks. I removed both lines and reinstalled. To flush, I capped the return port and used the return hose from the cooler to dump into a pan. It's still a little pink but I got most of the ATF out.
Did I get all the air out? Who knows. My arms are tired. Why does it always push oil going right? The ATF did that too. Who knows. Why does it always leak? I've reinstalled the pressure hose three times now. Why is there a weird sucking noise going left? Who knows. Why is it so hard to get good/stock steering? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
Stay tuned for another episode of:
AS THE WHEEL TURNS........
Did I get all the air out? Who knows. My arms are tired. Why does it always push oil going right? The ATF did that too. Who knows. Why does it always leak? I've reinstalled the pressure hose three times now. Why is there a weird sucking noise going left? Who knows. Why is it so hard to get good/stock steering? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
Stay tuned for another episode of:
AS THE WHEEL TURNS........
Just got my Hemifever tune installed and lovin' it so far. Right now I have 87 oct in the tank and have tried the 87 and 89 tuning settings. I didn't notice a lot of difference with the 87 tune, but the 89 has woke my truck from it's sleep. Not only is the power improved, it got rid of what I always felt were unnecessary downshifts at certain speeds/rpm's that felt like it was bogging the truck down instead of just getting up and going. It feels like what I would have expected a v10 to do all along. Can't wait to empty the tank (shouldn't take long) and play around with some other settings. All I can say is it was money well spent. Thanks Hemifever!
Fixed the plenum in the beater truck and installed a timing kit that I had laying around. Didn't do an aluminum plate, just shortened the bolts and kept the stock steel plate. Time will tell if it holds up or not. Also did some valve stem seals and valve cover gaskets cause they were leaking pretty bad.
Fixed the plenum in the beater truck and installed a timing kit that I had laying around. Didn't do an aluminum plate, just shortened the bolts and kept the stock steel plate. Time will tell if it holds up or not. Also did some valve stem seals and valve cover gaskets cause they were leaking pretty bad.