Hello All, I am new to the forum and have a few issues with my truck.

My truck is a 2wd, 3.7L auto, standard cab, short bed.

first issue: I recently discovered that the passenger side front brake rotor has the wrong size holes and is loose on the wheel studs. because of this under braking or changing direction (forward or backwards) the truck shifts with a loud "THUNK" to accompany it. Am I in danger of this snapping my wheel studs or am i safe to run it easy untill i get the cash and time to replace it. Also on the 2wd trucks are the unit bearings shared with the 4wd trucks?

second: under light braking the truck shudders. it is not violent just enough that it is noticeable. it feels more like driving on a gravel road that has small ruts through it. What could be the cause of this? Is it a bad ABS sensor, hanging calipers, or a pulsating vacuum booster?

thrid: The previous owner broke the overload spring on the driver's side. I have found many replacement spring packs but not just the spring itself. Am I missing something when I am searching? or is the spring pack only availible? Also has anyone ever delt with General Spring? this is where I plan to get my leaf pack from if the pack is my only option.

fourth: What dag on transmission do I have? I have read many conflicting bits of information and I am not sure how to determine which one I have. As well if I have the 545 can this be flashed to better optomize the gears? My buddy had a Grand Cherokee and had his flashed so that the 5th gear would work, i know these vehicles share transmissions so is this possible?

fifth: My injectors are incredibly loud. What could cause this? I have run some 100 low lead gas through the fuel system in small amounts and this helped some. But i am not sure if I should try some injector cleaner or just get a new set of injectors..

Thank you for your help,
Davis

 

1) Yes, there is a possibility of shearing the studs if driven too long this way. I would replace the rotor asap. Yes, they share the same hub/bearing assembly

2) Warped rotors are usually the cause.

3) New, it may be hard to get just the overload, I would just get one from a local salvage yard

4) It may be the 45 and possibly can be reflashed to the 545, not sure on this one

5) Do not run any leaded fuel in these trucks. It will clog the injectors.
I would run 87 or 89 octane only, you will gain nothing from anything higher.

Some injectors are just noisy. You can drive it with a data logger hooked up to see the actual injector duty cycles to see if they are normal. If so, then replacing them may or may not change the noise. If it runs fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

lxman1:

thank you for the response. Can you tell me how to determine what transmission i have? My ball joints are worn out wonderfully can this be contributing to the loud "thunk" when i am changing direction?