Bison9,
Great Write Up!!!
Can't wait for the "Lessons Learned" part.

I will be starting on all of this in a few weeks.

How do you like the new Stock Tie Rods?? Are they Heavy Duty Enough??

 

Hehe - my writeup on those is coming. You may not like what I have to say about em

Also, if you do a search for posts under my screen name, I joined the site right before this job so you can search all posts from me and you can see my journey at certain points in this project. This is at the time of this post here anyways.

 

Ok, so I am warning all subscribers to this thread - I am about to blow it up. But, this will be a summation of about 3 months of my life with this project and if you are reading this post as a noob like I was, you have just hit the gold mine. So, I suggest you read on.

 

Lessons Learned (Post 1 of 3)

Ok, Lessons Learned in this Build:

***Overall, what I researched for a month and a half on this front end rebuild went as smooth as can be in my actual build. I thought I honestly was going to get to the hub removal, fail, and then give up and take it to somebody to get overcharged for this job…

The hubs (both of them) came off in about an hour’s time for me total and I live in the north with salt and rust welds and the whole nine yards. But, your mileage on this effort may vary J

If you look out on the net I used BOTH the power steering method AND the air hammer method using the Snap on Hub removal tool and that Lisle Air Hammer tool IN TANDEM to remove those hubs (basically using one method and then using the other and switching like that as I worked off those hubs. It worked real slick). Look up in my items post from my two posts before this one and you will see the part numbers and links for those tools. I won’t say anything else other than that for this as you will read the “fun” I had in other areas that blindsided me below J.The internet is flooded with articles about the power steering method and the air hammer method for removing your hubs on this truck and other RAM trucks out here.

Now for my real lessons learned (This will be long but you will know literally EVERYTHING I learned while in - build that I wasn’t expecting that bit me hard):

Air Compressor and Air Wrench: Ok, so first off, get yourself that Nitro Cat Air Wrench (see my items list above two posts ago) and that Bostich 15 gallon air tank. This setup was awesome and some jobs throughout this build I flat could not have done without it. Some guys will try to tell you that “Oh, that isn’t enough power.” This is not the truth. This setup worked great. Period.

Front Shocks Removal: So… The first day I started I thought I would bang out these front and rear shocks in about 2 hours. Wrong… I got 3 of four done in about an hour and a half and then got to the Front Driver side one… Oh Bruther…. The top of the shock had a bolt that was stripped and I also had a bolt on the bracket that holds the shock tower in place that was stripped and turning as well. I got a sawzall for the top one on top of the shock and then for the fun on the other one… So, as it turns out, there is what is called a “stud ring” that sits BELOW the spring retainer where the shock tower sits that holds the shock tower to the spring retainer. The stud ring for this can be found at: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/MOO0/K160015/06554.oap?year=2005&make=Dodge&model=Ram%2B2500&vi =5018033&ck=Search_06554_5018033_3416&categoryRedi rect=06554&pt=06554&ppt=C0361

You can also read more than you want to ever know about this on a post I created on this headache here: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-ram-tech/364140-shock-bracket-stud-moving-with-nut-on-my-third-gen-help.html

Long story short, I went back and forth about whether I wanted to die or not doing this project as the spring on this RAM 2500 has to be compressed in order for that stud ring to come out. If the Spring on this truck was compressed and came uncompressed, you could literally die. Well, after a day on the net and in all the car parts stores in this town to try and see if I could compress this spring, I found all of these vids on youtube about guys using run of the mill spring compressors to compress their RAM 2500 springs to install 3inch lift kits… Cool beans. Off to O”Reiley’s I went to rent a spring compressor tool. Well, we (my neighbor helped for this one J) used a big grinder basically to zip off that stripped stud on the stud ring. We then used the O’ReileyAuto Parts store spring Compressor set to compress the spring and replaced the stud ring. ***IMPORTANT NOTE!!!! We NEVER actually did any compressing of the spring compressing tool itself. What we did was put the truck on the ground, put the spring compressor tool on the spring, fitted it to the spring, then jacked the truck and the spring actually just stayed compressed. The spring was beneath the housing then about 2 inches to be able to get at that stud ring and replace it. I actually could have taken the spring out this way as well to remove it had I wanted to replace it (the shock would need to be pulled first as well to do this obviously). Take a look at that article thread I actually created above for details on how this is done (https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-ram-tech/364140-shock-bracket-stud-moving-with-nut-on-my-third-gen-help.html). If you have a stud on that shock tower stud ring turn on you and strip, you will need to follow what I did to replace it. That took me a total of about 3 days just to do the research for this and replace it…

 

Lessons Learned (Post 2 of 3)

Greasing Those Carli Ball Joints – A Pain? Yes: So…. I was able to follow the directions to a tee using my OTC ball joint press kit and whatnot and it worked just like they said and voila, I had new Carli Ball Joints Installed on my truck…Until I got to the greasing of them… What a pain. If you look at that article for the Ball Joint Replacement on these Carlis (in this thread above), you will see where they grease the upper ball joint first. They talk about squirting the grease until it comes out the threads on the cap when it is half screwed on. I did this and I have to tell you, I think that was way, way too much. I closed the top of that upper ball joint cover after doing this and I couldn’t really even get it closed and then my stearing yoke (that is the main thing that attaches to the ball joints) would barely move. I got the grease in using the method that they tell you and that stearing yoke would barely move when I went to turn it with my hand. I was not thinking this was correct. So, I unscrewed the top of the upper ball joint that I just squirted grease into, removed about ¾ of the grease that went in and fully re-tightened the cap this time. I then squeezed in the grease and was testing the steering yoke and I got it so the yoke was moving side to side pretty fluidly. Same thing with the lower ball joints. Those take way, way less grease. I only was ever able to get up to a half pump maybe and same thing – the steering yoke would tighten up – on those lower ball joints, you cannot get that grease back out so err on about a quarter pump and stop. I have had 2 oil changes since I put on these ball joints and I have greased them at both oil changes and again, I was just super careful how much grease I put in – this last time, I think I pumped a little too much again as the steering may be a tad tighter now – again, probably due to those steering yokes tightening on greasing. Because of this, just overall I am not stoked about these greasables to be quite honest here.. I know, let the blasting begin… But I am just sayin…This was my experience. Just passing it on from one newb to another. That is my intent here with this writeup.

Bearing / Hub Assemblies: moving on… First of all, I never fully had this question answered so I will answer this now. The hubs on these RAM trucks like mine are a full assembly. Nothing else. They are factory sealed and don’t have to be greased. Look at the parts list above from two posts ago for the ones I used. I read all these posts about guys saying these need to be replaced when you do this job because you may bludgeon them when getting them off. Not sure if this was correct. I didn’t really need these new but since I dropped a lot of coin on this project I figured it wouldn’t hurt. Just make sure to antisieze the crap out of the mating surface of that hub and the part that it sits on so next time you do this job it will be easy to remove.

U Joints, U Joints, U Joints, How I hate Thee So…: Ok, now was where the real fun started for me in this front end rebuild…So, about 2 years ago I had my front axle factory U Joints replaced by a mechanic I have known for a couple years. He told me back then: “Yeah, I had some real trouble getting those U Joints out”. Well, turns out, I got to the point of pulling out my axle shafts now on this project 2 yrs later (as you have to do this as well for this ball joint replacement job on the RAM 2500 here), and the U Joints were welded in. Yep… Little welds on all sides of the U Joints…I figured I would replace the U Joints while I was in there… So, I took out an angle grinder that was very small and precise and I proceeded to VERY CAREFULLY remove the welds. I also pressed out the first U Joint with my Ball Joint press kit and that thing released like a gun shot as the welds on that dawg were still busting loose. This is where the fun started… So, I first looked at the Precision Brand U Joint as a replacement – which is the one you can get at like Napa and whatnot. The part number eludes me right now on that. I go to press the thing in and it pretty much seized and there was no fit whatsoever to even get the half moon clips in. I scratched my head and then went to the dealership. $136 later I got the mopar brand factory sealed U Joint for this axle. Tried that. It seized, couldn’t get the half moon clips in I absolutely bludgeoned the thing trying to get it back out. Back to the internet I went… Turns out, these AAM 9.25 axles we have in these trucks do not have an actual perfect fitting U Joint out there on the market today. Nice. After much pain and toil I found out that the Spicer brand U Joints are the only real ones that will be the closest fit on these axles (see two posts ago in my items post for this). Then, the real, really fun started. I actually went out and got a measuring caliper and measured the axle shaft ends and this was the eventual culprit. The axle shaft ends were VERY, VERY out of tolerance measurement wise. They were way off. This explains why I totally destroyed two U Joints to find this out. The driver side axle shaft was way off as well and I didn’t even touch that one at this point – I measured this one with the welds from my old mechanic in tact still and having not even touched it. I read online that U Joint welds are used when the axle shafts have gotten out of alignment like this when they have been improperly pressed out. This is supposed to work to get like a truck from a garage to a mechanic. I drove 60,000 miles with them this way... Turns out my mechanic from 2 years prior who “had a hard time removing the U Joints” bludgeoned the axle shaft ends so hard that they were all out of tolerance.. I came to the realization that I had to scrap my axle shafts now after some Napa trips and talking to some experts. I even went and talked to the head mechanic at the dealership about it. They were sick of my ugly mug after a week’s time J So, to the dealership parts store I went…. I had to call around all over the US and a dealership in Kenosha, WI had the driver side axle shaft and a dealership in Kansas City had the passenger side one – took me a half a day to find these. Turns out these are on national backorder… This tells me that more than one person has experienced the pain of this… Well, I worked through my main dealership to get these brought in. $950 later and about 4 wasted days to this point and I had brand new sparkly axle shafts ordered for this truck. Yay. They took about a week to get in on top of these 4 days. You can do the math as to how long the truck was on jack stands up to this time… I was 2 weeks into the project at this point due to these blindside hits. These shafts came with those factory mopar U Joints already installed… Yes, yes, I know – there will be some of you that will inevitably say I should have pressed those out and replaced them. But, I wanted the job done so I used these as is. I’m sure I will be replacing them at somepoint soon J The lesson I learned here for me: if I ever have a U Joint that needs to be done, I will remove these axle shafts myself and have a machine shop press out the old ones and press in the new that I will purchase and watch them very carefully when they do said job. I have heard this costs like $20 - $30 to do total. A. Big. Lesson. Learned…

How to PROPERLY take out and put back those Axle Shafts: I had been reading the whole time leading up to this that you can knick an axle shaft seal in the diff housing if you are ripping out and ripping in those axle shafts. You knick a diff seal, you will be making a stealership stop and that will set you back like $1,500 per seal so I have read. I also was unclear about if there was any prep work that had to be done the axle shaft ends before re-installing. Thankfully I was really careful with the removal and assembly of these and I haven’t seen any diff fluid leaks to date after about 15,000 miles on this so far so the diff seals appear to be fine. There was a gentleman online here who helped me out for the prep of these axle shafts for re-installation and this was my lesson learned point here: What I basically did was make sure the ends (the splined ends) were crystal clean (with like Simple Green and rag wipe down). The guy told me to make sure I could eat off them clean and told men not to joke or mess around this point because it would kill the differential if I didn’t listen to him. Ok, Lesson Learned. I spent ample time on this step. I then covered the splined ends of these axle shafts with some of that white lithium grease you can get at the car parts store and an acid brush. I did the same on the smooth part where the axle shaft sits on the diff seal. Apparently this lithium grease won’t contaminate the diff fluid. I asked more than one person on this before doing it. I then installed the axle shafts and finished the project as it was to be originally finished…

 

First, to give you an idea: I had the same mechanic who busted up my axle shafts also do a brake job for me about a year prior to my project here. The worst brake job I have ever seen. I was squeeking, squeeling, brake dust everywhere, and you name it, it happened. It was downright embarrassing. Look at the Eric the car guy vid from my articles post on this thread above and some others. Those are the ones I followed to learn about this. I knew 0 – I mean 0 before this project on this brake system stuff. I had all kinds of issues on this setup from my old mechanic so I decided I would go for the whole kit and cabutle: Pads, rotors, calipers, and a good ol fashioned brake fluid flush. See my post two posts ago on this thread for all the parts and numbers of these that I used for this brake system overhaul.

SO:



EBC Ulitmax Slotted Rotors and EBC Green Stuff Pads – ARE THEY QUEIT?: I went with the all caps here on the “ARE THEY QUEIT” because I was so confused on what was out there and the responses I received on various sites. I posted 13.7 times about this in different forums and would get a different answer each time. I had heard to go with the Sport slotted rotors from EBC and then like Hawk this and PowerSlot that. I even cancelled my initial order of the Ultimax rotors initially when I was parts gathering, was going to get the EBC Sport Slotted ones, and then re-ordered the Ultimax ones eventually. I know, I am quirky but again, I did this job right and was well informed before even touching things in the shop. Well, you can look above from my parts list, but I went with the EBC green stuff brake pads and the Ulitmax slotted rotors. I installed everything the way it was supposed to be installed by following those vids I posted and I could not be happier. Truth be told, this is the thing I am most happiest with in this whole front end build. This brake system setup. Now, look below for how I broke these brake pads in and seated them - this could be all the reason I have not heard a peep from these brakes and why they have been the best brakes I have had in my 32 years of life. They are quiet as can be. Some guys post about like a jet engine takeoff sound on this exact setup. No. That is not the case if you do stuff correctly and break them in correctly. These EBC Ultimax Slotted rotors with these brake pads (EBC 7,000 series on the front and EBC 6,000 series on the back) on this truck are a winning combo. Let me just put this to bed here: this was the proper setup for this truck. Period. Trust me, I was a noob on this stuff and I have 0 to gain by this review I just typed on these. I would have said if the setup was crappy (just like I am about to do in the next post below how I will be telling you about how I am not 100% stoked about these Carli Ball Joints. Again, 100% honesty here. I am just a noob with 0 to gain from a review).


Brake Fluid Flushing: This just took time, but make sure you watch the Eric the Car Guy vid I posted up on this thread and the other one about the brake fluid bleeding. I used the Synthetic DOT 3 or 4 (yes, it says 3 or 4 on the bottle) Napa brand brake fluid for this and I got about 6 containers when it was all said and done. I used a turkey baster to remove the old stuff at the master cylinder at first and then started on the system of bleeding the brake fluid (make sure that master cylinder always has new fluid in it to the full level before any bleeding or pumping of the brakes when bleeding). This takes time and I performed it initially, drove some, then performed it again.You will want to coordinate this with your brake pad brake in. *******One other key thing I learned after doing this job actually is that your pedal can be absolute mush and will depress to the floor when you initially start pumping to flush the brake fluid. I was told NEVER to do this - to put the brake pedal to the floor. You have been warned. Apparently the plunger deally bobber in the master cylinder isn’t used to being pressed that far in and this can contaminate it and wreck the seals and whatnot on the master cylinder. I’m not gonna lie, that pedal got pressed to the floor a time or two while I was doing the brake fluid flush before I read about this and talked to folks online. It’s been golden for 15,000 miles so far for me though. Take that or leave it, you will want to start with the vids I posted about this and learn from there as it is NOT a cut and dry thing to flush your brake fluid. One guy I IM’d said he had a guy in his town overhaul his brakes and flush the fluid and he died because his brakes went out. Take this into consideration. I flushed using the vids I posted, drove, flushed, drove, flushed. You get the picture. I don’t miss any details and this alone took me like a day to do correctly. I would flush, then jack up the truck, take off the tires, flush, repeat, you get the picture. You will need to read up on this as I did before you attempt to flush your brake system. This was my lesson learned on this.

 

Ok so now, my overall Rating of this build and how it turned out...

So, as I stated ad nausium above in my Lessons Learned, the EBC Ultimax slotted rotors along with those EBC Green Stuff Brake pads are by far the best part I have enjoyed in this system and build. They are quiet, stop great, and just rock all together.

Now for my critique of my whole front end build:

At this point I am at 75% - 85% satisfied with the parts I put on the truck at this point and functionality depending on the day .

Let me explain a little.

So... I had another long and painful story about the steering setup in this truck. I got into all these articles about the vaunted Death Wobble so I thought I would replace the steering linkages as well on the vehicle. Long story short, I went and got the original parts at Napa, got those home only to realize that what I had on the truck already in terms of steering linkages were way more beefy. I did some research and come to find out, I had the recall steering linkages put on the truck already at like the 65,000 mile mark when I had the first set of ball joints on this vehicle replaced.

Well... I basically replaced the steering linkages again in this build (as my pickle fork killed most of the linkage ends when removing them) and put on that Big D offroad steering stabilizer (all of these parts and vids to these are on my first two posts from today about the parts I used and the vids / articles I watched for this build).

Also team this with the difficulty I had in greasing those Carli Ball Joints I discussed above on the lessons learned and the numerous articles I have read out there about drifting on the steering and whatnot with these Carlis have left me kind of second guessing if you will..??

So, this is what I have seen so far on my build:

Point #1:

I definitely have experienced wandering / drifting in the steering with this build pretty regularly. I have gotten more used to it but what it does is wander and then you go to correct and it doesn't correct until a certain point and then it really corrects... I have no idea if it is the ball joints, the steering linkages, or that steering stabilizer.

The key note here is that my steering was better BEFORE this rebuild then after unfortunately - also, just remember that I had the beefed up recalled steering before this build without the stabilizer basically and without the new Carli Ball joints - that's the difference there between the before and after so you can glean whatever you want out of this. Honestly speaking here, I have read a ton of articles about wandering steering with these Carli Ball Joints and I may be seeing this now. I also read a bunch of articles about the drifting steering on the factory steering linkages but not on the beefed up ones after the 3rd gen recalls. And also, the steering stabilizer was originally for the non recalled parts and so I didn't even really need it, but that part will nip all out death wobble in the butt and is hence why I added it...

But, steering has definitely not been nearly as nice as I thought it would be post build here....

Point #2:

So... I have another painfully long story that I will only tell the highlights of. So, I had my 4x4 engaging but the light in the dash wasn't coming on for it when it was engaged. I had that scoped for this project as well and I left that to a new mechanic I have found and they had to apparently tear the whole transfer case apart to replace the light. The whole job was upwards of $250 when it was all said and done. I also had my windshield wiper blade motor all shot and I had them replace the motor in there as well - it was only running at one speed and then stopping mid wipe and and and.... Long story short, the power locks quit working after this job they did and I took it back only for them to charge me another $83 to tell me the fuse was out - whatever - the power locks worked after that trip. Good. Truth be told, I think they forgot the fuse in this electrical work they had to do. As we sit today those 3 items now work (the 4x4 light, the windshield wipers, and the power locks) but now the license plate lights in the back are out. I am on a break for this truck at the moment so there she sits like that.

Well... The real story here: I had this work done before I ever cranked it up to past 45 miles an hour so I have no idea the condition of this build right after the build and before the mechanic ripped open the transfer case for that 4x4 light...

As it turns out.... I speed up to about 62 mph and I get the shakes. Not too bad but it shakes. And I get shakes again around 67 - 71 mph. Past 71 mph things are like butter on this machine. This is how I thought it would originally work anyways at all speeds...

So... This is where this truck stands currently. The steering wanders at times although I think I have gotten used to how it handles now and I feel like the shakes have gotten better over 15,000 miles since this overhaul. Things may be wearing in / breaking in now a little as I basically rebuilt the whole front end of this vehicle.

I am not sure if them tearing the transfer case apart for that 4x4 light left the drive shaft unbalanced or something and hence giving me shakes or what. It is a mystery that I don't want to go through at this point after all this... It doesn't seem to be better and I have been on about 4 long trips now since this build ("long trips" being about 1,500 miles each as I travel a lot for work).

So... 15,000 miles have been put on this truck since the build. At about the 5,000 mile mark since the build, I was on a long trip for work and at one point I thought I saw some sort of fluid on the rear diff and spotted all over the leaf springs and rear wheel well and whatnot. Nothing I could see was in the front when I looked either. I was thinking these shakes may have something to do with that. However, I ran through a very dirty diesel gas station on that trip and I think I kicked up a bunch of diesel on the backend as I have not seen this type of thing happen since then and a few car wash trips later.

Generally speaking, I have not been 100% in love with this RAM in general over its lifetime to be 100% brutally honest although it is still my baby. I dropped the cost of a cheap car into this build thinking I would drive the thing until at least 300,000 miles if not more.

However, with that little shake I am pretty much expecting to lose a tranny or a differential, or a transfer case at some point. I am just bracing myself for this as we speak as I have heard these points are common failure points in these RAMs. My Dad drives an older 06 RAM 3500 and he just lost his tranny and a fuel injector at about 230,000 miles on a cummins 5.9L engine. I am close to 150,000 miles so we'll see

Anyhow, I wish had better things to report here but with the amount of things I did on this build, the truck may still be getting used to it all.

This was the total summation of what I did to this truck at the 132,000 mile mark in this overhaul build:

Carli Ball Joints - Uppers and Lowers on both sides

New Timken Hub / Bearing Assemblies on the front passenger and front driver sides.

New Passenger Side and Driver Side Front Axle Shafts (with installed Mopar Factory U Joints installed from delivery)

Mopar Steering Linkage Recall Assembly (with Dampner)

Big D Offroad steering stabilizer

Front and Rear Bilstein Heavy Duty shock replacement

Front and Rear EBC Slotted Rotors

EBC Green Stuff 7,000 series brake pads in front

EBC Green Stuff 6,000 series brake pads in the rear

4 new Napa brand Brake Calipers

4 Michelin LTX 4 season tires (had alignment done as well)

Brake Fluid Flush with Napa Synthetic DOT 3,4 Brake Fluid

New Muffler

New Windshield

4x4 light replaced

Windshield Wiper motor replaced

 

I moved this to the Tech area with a lengthy re-direct for all others to follow!
Thanks for the detailed article and links. A lot of guys do this and ask same questions you have answered!!!

Also, did you see my prior post about the pink grease and my link for it? What did you end up using? Any grease will do really, it's all preference.

Lastly, i can't believe NAPA didnt know what caliper grease was??? Thats just amazing. I've been using a High Temp Caliper grease for 15yrs. Stuf works great. I always laugh at the fact it's called a "grease" because it is infact an RTV type substance. I always reccomend the stuff. it can be purchased in a tube or small packets. I like the small packets. Takes ~2 for an average car and 3 for large truck(bigger brakes). AdvanceAuto has them in little packets at the desk for $.99/ea

 

I just used the stuff that came with the Carlis. I would go check on the brand but its still in my grease gun!

Thanks for reading!