Hey guys, here's the thing

I have 2001 2wd 1500, bought it new and use it for work. Couldn't afford the 4wd at the time. Had a 3 inch suspension lift installed the first year I had it. The only one available at that time was a "Daystar" I think. 3" blocks,coil spacers, and new shocks. A bad choice that I regret but live and learn. Anyway the years passed and this last inspection I had to replace the front end big time. So I went with a fabtech 3 inch performence lift, new upper control arms,full coils this time, all the steering components,new shocks, new wheels,tires,all four ball joints and a few other things. Big bill but hey, I new I needed them anyway and I love the truck.

But I'm missing the passenger side coil spring insulator. I believe the first mechanic that put the old system on left it out because he didn't know he was doing. And the poly spacers I guess acted like insulators so I didn't notice. The new system is great, I love it but I noticed that the passenger side is a little rougher then the drivers and I can sure hear and feel the tire noise alot more now.

I hate to ask my new mechanic to go through all the work just to put a new one in on that side if I reallly don't need it. It bugs that hell out me knowing that it's not there but if it's not going to cause any harm I guess I can live with it.

What do you guys think, besides me being crazy.

 

Almost forgot my question,

Is that what insulators do? reduce vibration and make it a little smoother? And will going without one hurt my new system at all?

 

Well, I decided to try to forget about the missing insulator. It's not makling much noise and it's it a pain in butt to install it so hey. Let it be.
My repair bills are up another 550 bucks after my aamco visit this morning. The guys were great, I new what needed to be done and they did it, truck has 91000 on it and it drives better then it did when I bought it new. I spent a year listening to this awfull sound and the past month trying to find it. A rattle behind the fire wall. Drove me nuts! It was the linkage, simple problem that I over looked. But it's gone and I'm happy. Just under 5 grand now on repairs and custom things so I'm KEEPING THE TRUCK FOR AWHILE.

Which brings me to this ?, gearing. stock tires were 245's I've been using 265 bf's for years now and I just switched to 265 michelin's. The ones the heavy duty 2500's come with stock. They are bigger then bf's in height and width. SHould I think about haveing the gears changed to get back to the stock setup. What do you guys think? I guess as it is now my speed is reading less than what I'm actually doing whick I don't care about. But as far a gas mileage goes whta is best. I do a 50/50 highway driving and back roads.

??
Thanks guys

 

What gears does your truck have in it right now?

 

Good question, I don't know. Where would I find out? I don't trust the Dodge web site for this info because alot of what they have listed as stock didn't fly with came on my truck. The site and my door sticker says 225 tires, those tiny guys. But my truck came with 245's on it. So is there a way to find out what gears I actually have? Instead of going by the Dodge site.

Aside from changing the gears I'm thinking of going up another 2 inches or so. My choices are a 2 inch body lift on top of my 3 inch suspension lift. Or a 3.5 inch lift spindle for the front and I'd probably just replace the 3 inch block wiht a 4 inch to get rid of that nose down look. Hopefully no drive shaft problems occur from 4 inches of lift back there. 3.5 up front seems too high to me though, but 2 inches would have me stay at that nose down look. It's only an 1 1/2 difference, I know, but when you jack it up and look at it it seems way high. I guess I'm leaning towards the body lift unless someone has any advice on the pros and cons and which would be a better choice.

I'll keep looking for that gearing info, thanks.

 

Did you try contacting Dodge here to get a build sheet: http://www-5.dodge.com/wccsapp/unive...ull&category=R

Gear ratio should also be listed on a sticker in your glovebox, and again on a tag bolted to your rear axle.

Only other way to find out other than the ways above is to take the rear axle apart and count the teeth on the gears

As far as the lifting questions go, I'm not into lifts...especially 2wd lifts, so I can't help you there I don't think there are too many people here at all that have abundant knowledge and experience with lifting 2wds. It's a completely different animal to lift compared to 4wds [&:]

 

sawdust2 u said u had the daystar poly coil spacers and it sounds like u didnt like them? is that true? how did the truck drive, steer with those installed. i just bought them for my 2wd ram but havent lugged out all the crap to put them in yet!!!!

 

Zoom, send them BACK! Trust me. Put out the extra money for the fabtech kit or a similar kit that has new upper control arms. The daystar spacers make impossible to align the truck perfect. Also they don't allow your wheels to extend downward past 2 inches. My new upper arms allow this and MUCH better ride. With the new arms you actually haveto cut off the factory bump and weld on a new one( I'll explain in a minute about that) I also went through front shocks real fast with that set up. I had ranco 9000's on and I would end up bending the lower eye.

Sorry about the spelling guys, I just found out that my new mechanic screwed up my truck BIG TIME and I'm having a few beers and skipping the spell check.

I love the new fabtech kit but this guy never welded on my new bump stops and left out the coil sping insulators. But the worst thing he did was he torched the hell out the lower control arm getting the old ball joints out. I found out today when I noticed that all my new ball joints looked dry(the rubber bags or whatever you call them were flat) after 2 weeks. We had some flooding here latey and drove through alot of it so I figured it might have cleaned them out or maybe because there new I needed to grease them again. Anyway, one of my new greawe fittings was braken off, bummer. So I get my easy outs and get ready to replace it with a new one and put some marine grease on them because it's BETTER then anything at the auto stores. WHat do I see to make my day, Light shining through the side of my scorched lower control arm, The guy heated up those oroginal pressed in ***** TOO much. He should have know and got out the drill or just grinded them off. Now I have cracked lower arms that I need to replace.

I'm not even worruing about the gearing problem right now. I have to kiss all that money away and but new arms and the rest of the fabtech kit that this guy didn't install. Take it apart and redo it myself. IF YOU WNAT SOMETHING DONE RIGHT DO IT YOURSELF! I learned my lesson in more ways than one. It's a long story why I can't go back to the mechanic and bitch about it so I'll spare you the details exept just to say that mid way during the install the two partners of the shop split up and let one of them finish the job for cash.

I know, STUPID. But I'm in construction and need to work so hey. Never again. All repairs are going to be done by me now. I'm allready ordering the new parts now and plan this weekend or next to redo everything that done.

So if you decide to go with the fabtech kit Zoom, I'll be able to give you some advice. But please don't make the same mistake I did with the daystar kit. The only reason I went daystar is because it was the only one available at the time. You will need to get new wheels though. The factory wheel will not work with any fabtech kit. It's worth it to get the new wheels though. It will be done right.

I'm going to go drink away the rest of my misery so think about it

And I'll check that gearing info tomorrow.........

Let you guys know later

take it easy

 

besides the drunk post, you spattered off some riduculous crap.

If the mechanic ruined your control arms by torching the ball joints than both you and him are idiots. you for letting that moron touch your truck and him because there is no way that the control arms should come into play when removing ball joints.

 

It's a 2 wheel drive truck! The ball joints are pressed in to the lower arm at the factory. Read the whole post before calling me an idiot. Since you seem to know SO much about it why don't explain how to get them off besides heating,drilling, or grinding them. And also please explain to me how the lower arm should never come into play.

Then we will see who the idiot is