afoulk

Installed my SolidSteel DSS and 3rd gen. adj. trackbar last night. The DSS was real easy, but just getting my old track bar out was a pain. Not overly impressed with the way the trackbar bracket fit the frame. It didn't sit against the frame evenly at the front where the steering box bolt goes through it, and the center bolt actually started digging into the washers until I got it torqued to 40ft lbs. which is what their spec is. But man, what a difference in steering. I actually have to get used to the steering when going thru a long, sweeping turn cause its tightened up that much I actually wind up turning to far or over correcting. I think I still get a slight clunk thru the steering colum when coming to a stop and the weight shifts from the front to the back, but its not near as bad and it doesn't do it over every bump or in every turn anymore. So, either I'm just looking to hard to see if it does it yet, or maybe I need to look into a new steering shaft or steering columb bushing. But all and all, I'd say both s.s. items are definately worth it. The trackbar alone made it so easy to line the bolt holes up and get the axle centered.

2500superram

i did my 2" level kit this week and would like to do the trackbar soon.still shoping around for one though.i was reading up on one and it wanted measurment's from the frame to the diff cover.i guess in my model year they rotated the axle a bit and clearance is an issue

afoulk

I didn't have any problems with mine. And the pictures on the website don't do it any justice, its a beefy unit! Mines an 02 as well, and I don't have any clearance issues. Adjustment was super easy, I could actually turn the adjustment sleeve by hand when I centered the truck over the axle. I'm planning on getting it aligned (replaced a tierod end last month) and I'm gonna get them to hopefully center it better than I could with a tape measure.

2500superram

did you buy from this company?http://www.thurenfabrication.com/stocktb.html

you typed 3rd gen,is there a reason to use those year's?
sorry for such a newb question,but what is dss(steering stabalizer)?

JStull

superram,

DSS is Darin's Steering Stabilizer. But it's more of brace. It is a piece or rectangular tubing that bolts to the framerails at the swaybar mounts and has a bearing in the middle that the steering box output shaft goes through. Then pitman arm after that. it eliminates the flex the the factory steering box mounts have.

As for the trackbar, the 3rd gen is a good optoin, but hte link you posted is another good option. It should work fine with your '02 since you have a leveling kit. I had the same setup on my '01 and it never hit the differential.

Jason

afoulk

Yeah, I probably would have gone with the Thuren if I had known about it before I ordered my SolidSteel one. The third gen trucks use a trackbar with a bushing at both ends rather than the 2nd gen that uses the balljoint type end at the frame end of the bar. SolidSteel makes a bracket that bolts to the frame and allows you to use a third gen. bar. Since mine has a 2"leveling kit in front and that shifted my axle almost 1" to the driverside, I went with the adjustable bar.You can check out www.solidsteel.biz if you wanna check out their trackbar and dss.

2500superram

thanks for the info guy's.my wish list is getting bigger