well, as most of you know, my truck gets abused... and I figured it'd be a matter of time before something broke. Last weekend I took it up to Yosemite so I could do the Half Dome hike (18 miles... ouch, pics to come in a day or two) and while searching for a camping site I did some off roading on some dirt roads... I guess I got carried away... I broke the right front shock... damn it!

it appears to be internal and fortunately, I'm replacing my brake system up front with new calipers, slotted rotors and hopefully awesome pads so while the wheel is off, I'm gonna swap it out (lifetime warranty, Rancho RS9000).


[sm=boohoo.gif]

 

Hey Steve. Glad to see it wasn't serious.

 

yeah me too. there is a grade that you HAVE to go down when coming out of Yosemite that is pretty damn steep and curvy. the brakes really were shot (rotors had a ground down area where the pads where hitting) and I didnt want to heat them up any more than they were gonna get so I used 1st and 2nd to get me down. when I pulled it apart, I also found the boots on the pistons (dual pistons BTW... kewl!) were cracked. So I had to go find some replacements. Got them at napa for $80 bux each (ouch...) Rotors + pads = $260 + $180 (tax) = $440... ouch...oh the pain, the pain... lol

What sucks is I'm going back up into the mtns over the holiday weekend and need my truck back up. So I gotta get the brakes back on and put some miles on them to break them in...

 

Good luch and have a good trip.

 

man you figure a rancho 9000 wouldnt break

I never broke a shock. did you have the right size shock?

 

Thanks Todd... I'll post some pics of the half dome hike over in the off-topic forum when I get them back.

Shocks are not indestructable... plus my suspension is on the stiff side so I'm not supprised. it did last almost a year though... it is the right size... up to 3" lift.

 

umm steve you probably dont want to hear this.... But when I redid the front brakes in my truck, I only payed 30 dollars a rotor, 30 bucks for brake pads (the best ones to!) and 14 bucks for a new caliper

OK auto rocks!

 

lol, yeah I wouldnt want to hear that but... I've been working on my cars for years and it's been my experience that the cheeper stuff is a crap shoot... sometimes it's good and works fine, and sometimes it doesnt. I went with the Napa calipers that were $80 bux each AND in stock (important when trying to get it back up by friday). The other auto parts stores had to order them and were definately cheeper... more like $40~50 bux. the rotors I priced out ranged from $50~80 depending on where you go and I figured for the extra $20 bux, the cross drilled ones were a better choice. Plus they are already heat treated so they will not warp easily. The pads were made by the rotor mfg and were actually less than the Raybestos quietstops... which would have been my choice. Those were $85 bux a set and had to be ordered.

Alot of bux are spent on making our trucks & cars go faster but the braking is often overlooked. If you want to go faster, you have to be able to stop quicker too... same thing with the handling. I dont think I would trust cheep brake components on my Ram which weighs over 5000 lbs... BTW, I also flushed the system with synthetic fluid... dont want to skimp on that either...

 

I have read several articles about brakes and rotors that said cross drilled rotors are a really bad idea on full size pickups, escpecially if you tow or haul heavy loads. They are far more susceptible to cracking then are solid rotors. If you are looking for better heat dispersion then your old solid rotors, slotted is what is recommended for full size pickups instead of drilled. I don't know how much truth there is to this, but I have read a lot of articles that have said this same thing. My local brake shop also told me the same when I was having my recent brake overheating problem. They strongly urged me not to buy drilled rotors, only slotted or solid.

 

yea i agree with him, i would ditch the drilled and get slotted.