Hey all! So I have been reading posts from this forum for a while now and have finally just jumped in and got an account!

Ok, I'll jump right in. I will be undertaking a ball joint replacement project on my 2004 Dodge RAM 2500 5.9L Cummins.

I will be putting in the Carli Ball Joints.

I also will be doing rotors, calipers, break pads, and new hub assemblies in the front all while I am in there.

So, I have scoured the net and have been hounding people for the better part of a month now and have pretty much all I need except for a couple questions to start this job. I am pricing everything out and with all tools and whatnot, I am upwards of $2,500 as we sit right now so I want to make sure I get all questions answered before I jump in.

So, here are three questions I have lingering yet.

1.) In this article on putting in Carli Ball Joints (http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/3r...-write-up.html), he is using a Pink looking grease to put in the Ball Joints via a zerk fitting on them. What is this brand of grease? Can somebody giver me a part number by chance on this grease? In general, what kind of grease do I want to look for?

2.) I will be placing new front Hub Assemblies on my truck as well on this project (yes, I am well aware that the old ones will be a beast to get off of there and I am ordering the DHC1 Snap-On tool and the Lisle Air Hammer tool as well for this little shindig). I am going to go with the Timken brand of wheel bearing Assemblies here. I am wondering if I have to lube anything on the bearing or the axle end it is going on before assembling it? I know the bearing is factory sealed in this assembly so no actual greasing the bearing. I want to simply know if the axle end it is going on or the inside portion where the assembly sits on the axle end will need to be greased at all before assembly? All the articles and youtube vids I have seen on this do not cover this.

3.) I still am looking for a Caliper Brand. Everybody talks about rotors and pad brands, but I am wondering about Caliper brands (I am deciding between EBC rotors and pads vs the PowerSlot rotors with Haw Break Pads to be used with these rotors).

If I could get these three questions answered, I think I will be ready to order parts and get rollin!

Thanks in advance for any replies anybody can give me!

 

Why do you need new calipers in the first place? If there's nothing wrong with the stock ones then you don't need to replace them to get better stopping power. That's what the rotors and pads are for

 

If your calipers are sticking then either rebuild them or you can buy rebuilt calipers. With such a big list I don't the axle u-joints.

 

Ok cool. Yeah, I think you guys may be right on this. I just figured new everything so it all would last me much longer . I have a suspicion that at least one caliper may be in trouble but only my tests of them will tell me.

So, how about that pink greese from that Carli article I put up there for the ball joints? Can anybody tell me what that stuff was? Or suggest a good grease to put in those Carli Ball Joints?

 

A high quality lithium 2 grease is all that is necessary for the ball joints. I have no idea about the "pink grease", you might contact the writer of the article. I can personally say I've had very good luck with amsoil red lithium2 blend, but really, any high quality lithium 2 works great------the most important part is to just do it regularly----like at each oil change.

You didn't mention in your post, but, once you get the bearing hubs out, clean up the bearing bore in the knuckle real good, and coat them with copper neverseize before you install the new set----it will make the next time--if there is one--much easier

 

Gone FIshin, +1 on the antisieze treatment. Yes, I plan on doing this.

Thanks for the info on the grease!

 

Bison9,
How did your install go?? Was there any issues??
I am going to be doing this same front rebuild soon and want to know how you like the parts that you picked??

How are the Carli Ball Joints?? (think they supply grease for you)

What was the part number for your EBC Rotors??

Thank Matt

 

Sorry I missed the initial postings of this thread.

Bison9, that's a Fantastic Write-up you found!! I think he made it very clear to Not Disassemble your bj's..lol

That "PINK GREASE" is actually considered to be Red. It's a High Temp Lithium Grease. I use it for my Trailer bearings. I like it because you can tell when the grease is dirty as compared to other dark gray greases. it has a very high melting point and works well in HD applications. It's more sticky/tacky than others which I like as well. Matter of fact, I just applied some to my snow blower chains today!
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/stor...p-grease-14-oz

 

Hey Matt,

Sorry I haven't gotten to this until now. I was fishing at Lake of the Woods all weekend!

Ok, now if you aren’t the detail oriented type, you will need to skip this. If you want to do this job and do it right, this is what I did below (in this post and in the three after this one I will write up and put out here on this thread). Take it or leave it…

So, the build went pretty well for me but I learned a ton while in project. I put a month and half of research into this project before I even touched it.You can call me crazy but I did it right.

I will list everything I put in the build below.

I then will post three more posts as I have time. Those will be:

The Articles / Videos I used that I found online for these items
The Lessons Learned
My Overall Rating of the Turnout of the Project

Enjoy:

Items I put into the truck on this build:

New Carli Ball Joints (Yes, these come with the Grease like the earlier post mentioned - this was the same question I had and I IM'd the guy who wrote the article up that I list here - the grease they give you with these is really good stuff) - http://www.8lugtruckgear.com/Dodge-S...kage-p551.html

Two new front driver and passenger Timken Hub / Bearing Assemblies - PartNo: -HA590032 Timken

Bilstein Heavy Duty Front Shocks - http://www.autoanything.com/suspension-systems/61A5657A0A0.aspx

Bilstein Heavy Duty Rear Shocks - http://www.autoanything.com/suspension-systems/61A5657A0A0.aspx

Replaced the whole front end steering assembly with this: http://allmoparparts.com/2500-3500-mopar-steering-upgrade-52122362aj-complete-p-4470.html

Big D Off Road Heavy Duty Steering Stabilizer (I picked the one for thistruck at this site): http://www.dodgeramsteeringstabilizer.com/

Napa Brand Brake Calipers (I replaced all 4 – overkill maybe? I think it wasn't overkill for me in my opinion…): Napa will look these up for you and the ones you need

EBC Ultimax Front Slotted Rotors (Part #: USR7184):

EBC Ulitmax Rear Slotted Rotors (Part #: USR7185):

EBC 7,000 Series Green Stuff Brake Pads for the Front (Part#: DP71650):I found the best price for these here: http://www.partsgeek.com/w8y5typ-dodge-ram-2500-brake-pad-set.html?gclid=COGVq5bW_rkCFbAWMgodEi8A-A

EBC 6,000 Series Green Stuff Brake Pads for the Rear (Part #: DP61267): http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/61A3070A0A0.aspx

For those of you wanting to know the correct Universal joint for these 9.25 axles in this truck, you need to go with these (Trust me I put 15 hours of research into this stuff and I tried Mopar, the Precision Brand U Joint, and this one – the Spicer one – read below in the lessons learned post for my reasoning on this): http://www.northerndrivetrain.com/product/SPI-5006813.html

4 New Michelin LTX (I think these are it??) 4 Season tires – so far, after about 15,000 miles I have enjoyed these…

I also had my muffler redone (I took that in to a guy J) – I ordered the factory one for this truck at: http://www.factorymoparparts.com/52121604aa.html

I even had my windshield replaced because it had a crack the length of the whole windshield…

And… For my trouble areas (I will explain in the lessons learned post):

2 New Front end axle shafts for this truck (I will explain below in the lessons learned): http://mad4wd.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=259 (pics 1 and 3 along the top row of pics at this link are what I mean by axle shafts – I did not order these here but I included these for reference – I got these at the dealership actually – I will explain below in my lessons learned post why this needed to happen)

4x4 dash light replacement (ugh…. See below in overall rating post about this…)

And… Probably $1,000 worth of tools and items to do this job. If you don’t already have these tools, get them…:

OTC Model: 6530 Ball Joint Press Kit:

DHP1 Snap On Tool For Hub Removal: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/printPage.asp?tool=&Item_id=81164&PartNo=DHP1&Pric e=42.6&Desc=&SUB_Cat_ID=127788&SUB_Cat_NAME=Wheel/Axle+Hub&Cat_ID=127787&Cat_NAME=Wheel+/+Axle+Pullers&group_id=21345&group_NAME=Wheel+Hub+ Removal+Adaptors&store=snapon-store&dir=&pix=objects/55100/55091.JPG&email=true#Li

Nitro Cat 1200 K Air Wrench:

Lisle 38210 Hub Removal Tool: http://www.genosgarage.com/LISLE-38210-DODGE-HUB-REMOVER-KIT/productinfo/LC38210/

TO BE USED WITH:

Ingersoll Rand Air Hammer:

***10 ft steel pipe breaker bar (bought at Menards) for the Axle Nut on this truck*** Yes, that says 10 FT. Don't question, buy it, use it, save yourself swear words and time...

Bostich 15 gallon air Compressor: http://bostitch.com/default.asp?CATEGORY=BOS_COMPRESSORS&TYPE=PRODUCT& PARTNUMBER=CAP1615-OF&SDesc=Heavy-Duty+Workshop+Compressor (Again, don't cheap out - spend the $600 and get this if you want to run an air wrench without it refilling every 30 seconds).

I also got the AC Delco Brand Heavy Duty Floor jack at O’Reiley’s on a sale they were having. I don’t have that link off hand for this but it was the bomb. Made in China, but the sucker worked… (Also, NEVER only use a jack for this job. I used the floor jack with a pair of 6 ton jackstands under the truck frame at ALL TIMES)

 

Articles I looked at prior to the build and followed to a tee while during the build (I literally found these before hand, marked them, and setup my laptop in shop and followed these articles word for word and frame for frame while in build) Those are:

For the Shock Replacement:

For the Front Shocks: For the Rear Shocks:
For the Ball Joint replacement (for these Carlis): http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-tech-articles/519267-carli-ball-joint-installation-write-up.html

I also looked at: http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-non-powertrain/215234-diy-ball-joint-replacement.html

For U Joint Replacement:

How to Press Out U Joints: (Beware! You need a lot bigger tool than what this vid has for pressing these out. I got a 2 jaw puller and these massive U Joints on this RAM truck laughed at that piddly little thing. If you attempt the press out of your RAM Joints, you need to figure out a solution with your Ball Joint Press Kit. That is the only thing big enough to work…)

How this guy Toughs out these Joints (there are way better ways to do this, but this gives you an idea):
And this one (***YOU NEED TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO WHAT THIS GUY DOES WHEN HAMMERING THE U JOINTS BETWEEN THE TWO PIECES OF WOOD – YOU WILL NEED TO DO THIS A LOT TO GET THE JOINTS TO LOOSEN UP AFTER INSTALLATION):
In General, there were no good vids /articles out there that I could find on the U Joints on the Dodge RAM truck. These vids above were the best ones I found on the net and they only give you about 40% of the story. Again, I put a month and a half into this. Trust me, I found every possible useable thing out there…See my lessons learned post below on the U Joints – I only will ever do this at a machine shop from now on. I will take out the axle shafts myself and have a machine shop press them out and press in the new ones – then reinstall the axle shafts myself…

For the whole brake install (calipers, rotors, and pads) I used these two (These were great and how videos should be done):

For the fronts: For the rears:
***For removing a frozen rotor (I had to do this exact technique on BOTH my rear rotors – don’t mess with any other article or technique to remove a frozen rotor. Trust me, I know from this job). The video quality on this video is absolutely terrible but the technique flat works:
For Breaking in your new EBC Green Stuff Brake pads I followed a mix of these articles:

http://ebcbrakes.com/articles/how-to-bed-in-your-new-brakes-for-streeturban-driving-2/

AND

http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/how-to-bed-in-brake-pads

AND

http://ls1tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes/561340-break-ebc-green-stuff-pads-w-new-rotors.html

(But, I did kind of my own method for this and it worked – see the lessons learned post below)

Eric the Car Guy will tell you everything you need to know about your setup as far as brakes are concerned here as well. This applies to your setup on the RAM trucks as well. Do yourself a favor and watch this vid if you are a complete noob like I was:
For bleeding (and basically replacing) the brake fluid in the braking system I used:

(Note: Don’t be dumb and use a homemade thing like this vid. Use this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161100149048?item=161100149048&viewitem=&sspagenam e=ADME:L:OC:US:3160&vxp=mtr– This is what I used and it worked)

For my steering linkage job I followed:


AND


***Beware – The Draglink linkage on this steering linkage job was an absolute bear cat to remove – you have been warned. I read all of these articles online where guys were using pitman arm pullers and whatnot to get the Drag Link Linkage off. I just used a big ol angle grinder and sawed it right off to remove it. Now granted, I was replacing what was there so you may not elect to do this

See below now. I will post a lessons learned and an overall rating of the finished product… This may take me some time to get up here.