I was being a jerk today, cutting through an abandoned parking lot, not paying attention to where I was going, and when all of a sudden, I hit my roof / door frame with my skull, slammed back into the seat, and bounced up again, just missing my head for the second time.


I was only doing about 10-15 MPH MAX, and I couldn't believe what a jolt had just blasted my truck. I thought I was dead in the water..

When I came to a stop, I got out and looked at the truck to see if I had ripped anything off of it, but I apparently got lucky. There was a peninsula island with 8" curb all the way around it that I blasted over with both drivers side wheels. I can't tell you how stupid I felt afterwords.


Stupid bonehead I can be at times...

So far... no damage that I can tell....... as of yet.

I guess these trucks are a lot more durable than you would think, no ?

 

Your body will hurt more than the truck, especially with stock seats. I had some 06 chev seats in mine for a while, so much nicer ride. My bench is so bouncy its crazy.

 

Yeah, I kind of noticed that my seat was a little lower on the ride home.. I guess next year, I have to either find another seat, or have that one rebuilt with new foam


My head has a 3" round goose egg on the left side of it.....

 

Was ur seat a little lower or was ur neck a little shorter?

Ya might want to give ur rims a good going over to make sure they're okay.

 

Lol, I've done that exact same thing!!! Except, I hit that 8" curb/median at ~ 40 mph when a driver on a cell phone pulled directly out in front of me. It blew a shock on the driver's side front, and knocked the alignment off pretty badly. It's not farfetched to say that you can come out of a situation like ours looking like you've been in a bad accident...when looking at the truck would prove otherwise!

That's the bad news.

The good news, is that was my excuse to re-do the suspension. Honestly before I did, our 3 month old baby would be throwing up if we fed her before riding in the truck. My wife had trouble staying in the seat on rough roads.

Now, after a few modifications, I dive off the interstate into the median on occasion at 60 mph, letting the 14" of plush travel soak up everything as I'm throwing up dirt and grass, flying over the crests of humps and hills. I tell you, I about gave a little old lady in a Prius a scare when she looked over and saw a 7,000 lb truck flying through the air in the center of the interstate passing her!!

I digress, but may I encourage you to use this as an opportunity to act irrationally as I have done...and empty your bank account of a few thousand dollars in loving admiration of your truck, and allow it to give you the ride it deserves!

Now go put a bag of frozen peas on your head...take care!!

--Eric

 

Time does tell ?

Been a couple days, and took the pig on a 3 hour tour, as I was meeting gilligan and the professor to discuss the affair between mrs Howell and the skipper...

Anyway.

Noticed a few "squeaks" I've never had.

Steering makes a "popping noise" @ 2:00 and 10:00 that used to occur occasionally, but now is much more frequent

Steering is a little sloppy and not as nice and tight as it was, as now the truck drifts a little.


So I have to figure out what happened to what used to be a good steering system..


BTW,

Cowl cracks ? Are there supposed to be two holes, one on each side of the upper section of the fenders on the cowl ? They look like oval slits of some sort, about 2 " in length, and identical on both driver and passenger side if you open the door and look into the cavern, just below the upper section of each fender. They don't look like cracks, but cleanly formed slots of sorts ????

Baffled...

 

Yes, those slits are on both sides of our 91. However, look around that area for cracks. The cracks exist on the driver side on our truck. Not an easy fix

 

Steering popping noises aren't a good sign.

Look real close at the steering sector mounting. It could be a cracked frame or mounting pad. Fix would be repair welding or mount replacement, and a steering stabilizer added which supports the wild end of the pitman shaft with a bearing.

 

Unfortunately, this is what I'm afraid it is. I don't know yet till I get under there, but I'm really not mentally ready to deal with this.


It's definitely not the mount, as I have the RR steering setup,and the mount is a big cast iron block that isn't going to break..... however, it's still mounted to the chitty frame that we have in our trucks.


Sometimes I wish I bought a brand new truck

 

My son's third gen has a lot more welding on it than my 93.

Are you mentally ready to deal with the steering sector falling out on the ground at speed?

 

Hey T, Why? At least you didn't need a wrecker, like you would have with a new truck. She's wounded, fix 'er up...Mark

 

Clicking at 10-2

Id look at the tie rod & ends 1st.

T, Did you ever put this part on? http://www.dodgeconnection.com/catal...66/4541374.htm

BTW Stop driving like Duke Luke unless your in hazard county.

 

God, I hope not ! I checked the truck over today, and the frame appears to be good... as the new mount isn't moving at all, nor are there any visible cracks inside the frame..... I hope.

Today I took the front springs out ...... again... as my wife was moving the steering wheel back and forth, i realized the front drivers side spring perch was being smacked by the spring over-wrap on my pseudo military springs. When I called the spring shop, they said that I needed to bring the springs back and they would 'tighten the wrap" on the spring overwrap, so that it cleared the spring perch. Funny thing was, when I got into it, it was only hitting on the one side of the wrap towards the outer side. With that, when I put both springs together, side by side vertically, I realized the drivers side spring was slightly twisted at the front hoop. When I installed the springs, I remember seeing that, but I didn't think much about it. They're going to put the springs on their jig and make sure they correct the twisted end.

I think the popping was the spring wrap around clamp that resides about half way down the spring from the front eye was the issue. I found it was hitting my plow strut that heads rearwards on the truck's frame. It had actually worn a groove in the strut, as it was hitting it so much. Ground that down and re-welded the hanger so the oblong hole where the spring hanger receives the spring mounting bolt isn't egg shaped any longer.

Hi Bob..... Good to see you here again ! I checked the TRE's but they didn't appear to move at all when the steering was shifted back and forth. It's possible they're NG, but I see no play. Maybe it's under stress, and not just sitting in a driveway, moving back and forth. Time to change them, I guess.

No, I figured my plow strut was good enough, but I may reconsider that.

They say I look more like Bo than Luke. Bo was the goofy / semi fugly one, and that's more like me...

 

Drove the truck for 160 miles today, and not one single popping noise.

I guess the springs hitting the plow strut and the spring wrap around hitting the hanger were the issue.

The repaired springs looked perfect when I got them back. I guess the twist in the hoop end of the one spring was the issue. They double checked, and tweaked them so they're perfectly straight. I wish they had done that the last two times I pulled the springs out.


Anyway, if anyone needs me to come by and take their springs out, I've got it down to about 45 minutes or so...

that's including jacking up the truck time.

 

At least I got you under it and fixin' it. LOL

You are now DTR's resident front spring changout expert.