What's up guys? Its been a while since I've been on here. But anyways, I have my97 1500 4x4 with the 5.9. She's got 250k, been a great truck to me has never let me down, but its starting to get tired and has a variety of things starting to go wrong, I'm starting to get a shim in the front end between 68 and 75. Then after that it goes away. Them another thing is I'm not sure if its the tires because two of them are cupped really bad, like so bad that there is almost half tread on the outside,and almost completely bald in the middle, kind of hard to explain. But anyways, would those tires cause my truck out of nowhere to just pull really hard one way our the other it gets pretty scary on some roads.


I tried to sell the truck but that just wasn't gonna happen, I guess I was asking to much. But now since I'm gonna keep it I'm gonna start doing the work it needs. First thing is going to be ball joints upper and lower. Not to sure about the steering box, but I need to get your opinion on it. Its got play but I've never tried to tighten it. My tool selection has depleted over the years of being out of school, and can't find anything. What else should I replace in the steering category? Okay on to the next lol. Front and rear diffs I want to change the fluid. But what brand should I get, and how much do I need.
Then I want to do the transmission, fluid filter and put a shift kit in, what do you guys suggest how hard is it? And I remember reading a thread a few months back about a little check valve in the trans? I don't quite remember. Anything else I can do there? Its gonna be my dd/weekend mudder.

Then on to the motor/exhaust. Want to do something different with the exhaust. I really want a throaty sound. I was thinking maybe putting a 3 inch with a 5 inch tip maybe cool duals. Our has anyone ever done duals i n front of tires, or is the tank in the way for the drivers side. Want some inputs. Oh and it has to pass emissions unfortunately, it sucks I live in one of the only 5 counties in Ohio that still does it.

On to the motor. She's got a lot of miles. Wanna try and get some of the lost power back. What can I do? Plenum its the first on the list when I get there. And maybe the keggar mod,depending on how much to time its going to take. Its my only mode of transportation. So most of the stuff is going to be done on the weekends, and some late nights after work. What else can I do on that? Another thing, seeing that my truck is a 97 can I put a tuner in it? Really thinking about getting hemifever's sct, about how much does it run for the tunes, and do I need to get the controller to? I can't think of what its called. And what kind of gains do I get from it? Is it with the money?

The last thing of the list is the body. Its pretty horrific, me and dad had a little bonding time last year and just put sheet metal over the rust, to make it look decent, and it looked good when it first came out of my buddies paint booth, sprayed it primer thinking the work would have held up but it didn't lol. Looks like complete garbage. Bondo is starting to crack off more and more everyday. Its not looking so hot anymore. Kinda depressing. But I was thinking about getting the parts I need from lmc not the fenders though that's gonna break the bank. I already know it. But I need to get the bed skirts on both sides, rear roll pan, drivers side cab corner, rocker seems to be pretty solid, passenger rocker and cab corner. Or maybe if anyone knows of a decent priced 6 foot bed in the Ohio area that's pretty clean that would make things much easier.


I'm sorry if this it s a little hard to read, I'm doing it on my cell phone.

Thanks in advance,
Vince

 

Your tires will certainly cause some interesting behavior, sounds like a balance problem more than anything else. Rotate the tires, and see if the vibe changes. (if it does, just replace the tires.....)

Before you do too much to the motor, do a compression test, and see what the numbers look like..... take it from there.

 

If you can find good bodyparts in a junkyard that would save you a lot of $$$

 

Heyyou, how do I go about doing the compression test, and what should they read?

 

I suggest you get a Haynes manual and look in the FAQ/DIY section for things like this, before you tackle any project. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...e-manuals.html

 

From a previous post of mine:

Take out ALL the spark plugs.
Put a brick on the gas pedal.
Remove Fuel pump relay from PDC.
Disconnet electrical connector from coil.
(you don't want spark, or fuel, certainly not both at the same time, while testing.)
Screw your compression gauge into cylinder number one. Crank the engine so that the cylinder compresses 5 or 6 times. (or, until the gauge stops going up.) Record the reading.
Take out the gauge, put a teaspoonful of oil into the cylinder.
Put gauge back in, and crank the engine again. (same as above.) Record the reading.
Repeat the process for all eight cylinders.

Ideally, all cylinders should be above 100 PSI, and all within about 25% of each other. Also, no cylinder should jump more than 25% from dry to wet test.

Post your results here, and let us have a look.

 

I'm all for giving answers to specific questions, but I'm also for, having a manual to research the project at hand, and it comes in rather handy for other projects as well. This way you know what you are up against, and whether or not you have the tools to perform the work correctly, as in torque specs for instance.

 

honstly save up for something better

 

I thought about that. But I love my truck I don't want to get rid of it anymore so I'm going to invest the money it needs into it. Cause I'm figuring by the time its all said and done, I'm looking to be spending 2500 at the high end. It isn't going to happen overnight, unless I were to hit the lottery lol. And at the same time I'm going be saving up so I can throw a down payment on either a nice 3rd gen Cummins or a duramax preferably a GMC . I still have a good amount of the tools, I still have the important ones.

 

If you know ball joints are bad, start there. Probably cause of tire issues. No need to worry about which tire is a problem as even new ones will be right back like those in short odre. After the ball joints, check tie rods for wear and then maybe look at steering gerabox for adjustment.

+1 on JY body parts if they are available. And if you just welded on pieces and bondo without stoppping rust, it is only a short term solution.