Your questions are perfectly okay, Ashley. Others wandering from the main issue with wild "fixes" complicates things though.

Everything I suggested you should be able to do on your own. You will want to pick up a Haynes or Chilton manual so you can reference the torque specifications. It will also help you identify and learn about each individual component, and diagnose problems.

Do you have the instructions that came with your lift? Rough Country should list their own torque specifications for at least the track bar drop bracket and control arms.

If you don't have a torque wrench, you can borrow one from most of the large parts retailers with a deposit. You'll need various 1/2" drive sockets, I'm not sure what you have available to you.

Don't forget to have someone move the wheel while you watch for movement in the components. Tie rod roll is normal (being able to "twist" the joint), but side to side or front to back movement isn't. When you see the pitman arm begin to move, everything else should move with it in an orderly fashion.

 

Ok so you are a body person, you should have these tools in your stuff, metal ruler, angle wheel or finder. Inside where your front u joints are you will see a flat spot on the inside bottom of your knuckle,Clean this area good,place ruler on the flat spot and then your angle finder on the ruler, you should be about 3.0 to 4.0 degrees.


Caster affects returnability. Negative caster improves returnability and increases likely hood of death wobble. Positive caster reduces tendency for death wobble but hurts returnability. Generally most have to run positive caster on 4WD's

 

http://dodgeram.org/tech/specs/00_steer_specs.html

 

[quote=Jr. Mechanic;2280929]Your questions are perfectly okay, Ashley. Others wandering from the main issue with wild "fixes" complicates things though.

quote]

I apologize for underestimating your engeniousness and complicating things.
Like I had stated, if he does not have a true 5" of suspension lift it is probably not suited for his application. My truck was very street worthy before I "hacked" it up a bit, if I decided to keep it for "street only" I would have still ran a straight bar but I had no reason to run 40's and low gears to go to the mall. The little bend is for clearance of the stump, with 5 or 6 inches of true suspension lift it is never going to squat in the front to be an issue.

I'm not deferring him from the original equipment, just giving options.

 

KY-Its she lol no worries..probably not often that a girl gets on here asking about a lifted truck

I will try the advice given, i did have someone look at it earlier and they said that my tie rod ends were shot so i went to the auto parts store and got new ones..I am going to put them on and get an alignment and hope and pray that it fixes or at least helps my problem some..if not then my next focus will be my track bar..i guess thats the way i need to go about it. I have all the tools i need here at the house i just wasnt sure what all i needed except a tie rod tool lol so i went and got one today when i got my tie rods.

 

I would to the track bar before the alignment. If it's shot they should tell you it's bad and NOT align it. The stock track bars are junk and usually crap out pretty often by the sounds of it. I put a cheap advance auto parts one on mine cause I plan on a lift someday. If I ever get around to lifting mine I'll probably get a Thuren bar. More expensive but you can rebuild them and they are made for 5" and up lifts http://thurenfabrication.com/products.html


And I think we need pics of you. Or you can just send them to me lol

 

[QUOTE=KY BIGRAM;2281343]It's perfectly understandable you under estimated my knowledge, happens all the time, no reason to apologize.

The bend helps with lateral movement. The higher you go, the more extreme the angle is on the track bar, and the less effective it is at keeping the axle centered under the truck. The bend puts the track bar closer to being parallel with the axle, offering more lateral control. A straight track bar would wreak havoc with the steering too. It would be difficult to align the track bar and drag link in a parallel fashion without the bend, resulting in bump steer.

There are exceptions. For example, the rear panhard bar (track bar) on my Camaro is straight. However, the height between the two mounting points is very little, so the bar is angle on the bar isn't extreme enough to need a bend.

Is the bend required? Not really. The bend is pretty minute on a 2nd gen anyways. Every little bit helps when we're talking about a solid front axle though.

Ashley, make sure you research replacing TRE's a little so you know how to get the alignment "close enough" to get to the alignment shop. I still suggest getting an adjustable track bar (or at least a fixed one designed for 5" of lift) and ditching the drop bracket. Look into getting a third gen style track bar with the conversion kit. It's a double shear style bar rather than a TRE on one side.

 

Tomorrow I have a friend comming to look at my truck..I will let him know everything and he can check everything out..my tie rod ends wont be in til Monday so I wont know whether they will fix it til later this week..I was told to put a windshield decal on my truck that says "Money Pit" and im starting to agree lol..never had a problem one til I lifted it..except for my steering box

 

By the way, one more question..my reverse lights dont work, I have checked all the fuses in my truck many times and none are bad, the bulbs arent burnt out either...

 

lmao my buddies rigs name is money pit it says it across his windsheild in red letters his rig is whats left of a samurai, svo thunder bird, and a scout. as for the lights check the output coming from the switch on the tranny.