Sorry to make another thread on this, but I can't find my other ones. But anyways, 3 1/2 weeks later, my 0-3" Thuren Fabrication trackbar arrived. When I opened the box I was kind of suprised, it doesn't really look as pretty as the one in the picture. It also looks like very homemade and custom. When he said he made them, I didn't think he personally was making them, anyways I guess the looks are neither here nor there. The trackbar itself is defiantly an upgrade. IT looks to be about twice as thick as the existing stock one on my truck, so thats pretty exciting. Can't wait to get it installed. Then once that's installed, I can finally get the allignment and safe the lifes of these tires. I'll let you guys know how installation goes, and I will also post pictures up of the trackbar installed on the truck.

 

Man, it did take a while to get it to you. As long as it works great then I guess that's all that matters. It'll definitely be good to prolong the life of your tires, cuz they ain't cheap.Good luck with the install.

 

Thanks bro! Yeah I'm excited to get her in there. I'm just goin to have my mechanic do it for me tomorrow (12-6-07). He does a lot for me, so I kind of want to give him the business. He's also going to do a complete tranny flush and filter change on the truck as well while he's in there. I have been wanting to do the tranny for awhile, it's starting to get a little choppy in shifting from 2nd-3rd so I'd like to address that before any damage happens. I may also have him change the differential oils too, not sure yet though. Now that these tires seem to be good in the winter conditions, I'll get the trackbar in, and then have the tires balanced and rotated, then get the allignment. Then, LONGTUBE HEADERS w/ the y-pipe for x-mas[8D]. I'm so psyched!!

 

Yeah, your definitely the most outgoing Dodger around here, LOL. If you change your fluids, what brand are you going to use? I may use you as a guinea pig because I want to change mine as well, but with these ball joints being a PITA, I can't waste too much more time before the new year to wrap up my goals for the truck.

 

HAHA! Well I'm not entirely sure what my mechanic will be using, but we agreed on synthetic oil for the tranny flush. When I go to pick it up today, I'll ask him what brand he used, and I'll let you know man!

 

Alright, got the truck back today with the new thuren fabricaton 0-3" trackbar in, and it worked great! The only problem is that the steering wheel is so ****ed up right now haha. She needs an allignment badly, I cant afford one till monday though. The steering wheelliterally is a whole 1/2 turn off to make it straigt, its rediculous! Anyways, he also did the tranny and filter change/flush toda. Cost a damn bitch, but was worth it. He used "Valvoline ATF-4" for the tranny oil. So it was synthetic. Sadly, he gave me bad news though. He thinks my tranny wont last much longer, but I think he kind fo exaggertated. I mean, I was just being nice getting the flushdone, it wasnt that be4. But he said there was a lot of metal shavings in the oil when he dropped the pan (not good lol). He also said the filter hadnt been changed in a long time and that the magnet had been compltely submerged with gook, so it wasnt even magnetting metal shavings anymore. So Im glad i got the synthetic oil in thee, and got the new filter and the magnet cleaned up. The tranny seems very strong though, I dont know what hes talking about, but either way, hope she lasts as long as possible. The point of the flush was to prolong it, thats all. Other than that, just need the allignment, and the turck should be mint again!

 

I know what you mean about the Thuren Trackbars being kinda "Homemade looking". I too waited quite a long time for mine, and I am pretty dissapointed with mine. It's defenetely not the professional peice I was looking for. The rotational joint on the frame end was welded on so crooked that I had to slightly modify how the drop bracket positions. Even so though the joint cannot get full articulation because it limits on thebracket because it is not centered/welded on properly(because of how it wasassembledto begin with).

Mines working now, but I will definetely go with something else if this one fails........I'm not impressed.

As far as your tranny goes, I hope you get long term service with it, but what your posting sounds bad. The Dodge tranny is notoriously weak and with alot of metal shavings in the pan, that is definetely not a good sign. Also, depending on mileage, a flush is not always a good idea. Most tranny shops will tell you not to flush a tranny that has over 75,000 miles on it unless you can verify that it has been flushed every 50,000 miles. The flush will actually clean off the varnishing that has formed on the bands and has become a "working " part of the tranny. The result with the high milage trannies is slipping bands and failures. Even if you don't get any slipping, I would be worried about the shavings knowing the poor history surrounding the Dodge auto tranny.

On your trackbar installation, check to make sure your mechanic centered your axle (adjusted the trackbar). If he just bolted it up without measuring each front wheel position and then adjusting the trackbar, then that can have a lot to do with your wheel being off. All things being equal, if he just replaced one trackbar with another (regardless of the style), which if installed correctly should not affect the centering of your steering wheel.While I definetely recommend an alignment too, you can reset your steering wheel by (first adjusting your trackbar) adjusting the sleeve on your draglink. It is a very easy thing to do an will get your wheel straight while you drive the truck for a while while waiting to do the alignment. I'm surprised your mechanic did not do this for you. It sounds like he was either in a big hurry, or does not know entirely what he is doing.

I know in this hussle and bussle world we live in time is not easily made for maintaining your vehicle, but you really should be doing alot of what your paying someone else to do. Especially chaniging diff flids, instaling your trackbar,and such. Get out and start working on your own rig. It's fun, and will force you to learn your truck and become familiar with where things are and how they operate. Not to mention the extra cash you will have available!

 

I know what you're sayin about these trannies... everyone says they suck, but I beat the hell outta mine. Literally. I just did a fluid/filter change with valvoline +4 synthetic, and it seems alot smoother. Also, my magnet also was completely covered with crap... so, it looks like we're racing to see whose goes out first huh?

 

Nhlbill thank you for that in depth response, it was really useful and enlightening and I appreciated it. I think you are right too, I really do need to start doing this stuff on my own, it only makes sense. Obviously I have a huge passion for automobiles, and know a lot about stuff, but I harly ever do it myself, and I hate that. I really would save myself a TON of money. I spent sumthin like $230 just for that tranny/filter change, when in reality if I did it myself, I could have just spent the money on the oil and it would have been a done deal. I'm nervous about the tranny as well. I really do hope it lasts. I mean, it seems strong. In fact, like I said before, I was just being nice doing the tranny flush, I wanted to insure that it had new fluid in it (didn't really believe the guy who sold it to me had actually done the flush), so I really was aching to make sure it had fresh synthetic oil in there and was cleaned up. Also, I do think he was in a hurry. I only had a small window of time that I could pay him before he closes because I was working with a client, so he quickly got me a total. I was ripped off, I dont even want to tell you how much I payed[]. I am going to start learning this crap myself though, I'm wayy too involved about my truck to not know how to do the simplest tasks, it'd make my life so much easier if I could do this myself because I could save money, and not have to always be dropping my vehicle off, which I hate doing. I plan to get longtube headers with the y-pipe for x-mas, and I think this is something I want to try to do myself. Worst case, I could always just run it down to my exhaust shop, and he could do it for about $150. But I want to try and tackle something myself for once.

In regards to the trackbar, I'm getting the allignment monday, do you think they will be able to get the steering wheel back to normal and adjust the trackbar to its complete position? Also, I'm suprised it did look so darn homemade, everyone here told me to spend the "extra" money and go through thuren instead of skyjacker. I actually spent a lot more money and time for this trackbar, and it didn't at all seem worth it. The Skyjacker was $240, and I could have gotten it in here in 3 days if I bought it from summitracing.com. But that doesn't matter, it works, its in, and now she just needs that allignment. Again, thanks for the feedback, long replies are appreciated because it shows you read what I wrote and that you cared enough to put your needed 2 cents in, thanks again man!

But **** SilverRam, howcome we get stuck with the ****ty competition haha?!! Howcome we can't get like the best offroad truck or loudest truck competition...NOPE, we get, whos ****ty dodge auto tranny will go out first compeition!?[8D] But the tranny does seem fine, if he hadn't said anything about the shavings, I would have never suspected that it was eating itself. It's sad though...but hopefully it has atleast 2 years left in her!

 

HA HA HA! I knew you'd end up picking the headers instead of tires!