What did you do to/with your second gen today?

[Yeret]

The driver-side rear corner of the Honda busted to bits courtesy of good ole iron oxide last Monday. It'll never see the road again. I'm just thankful it happened on my gravel lane and not when I was doing 70 MPH on the highway.

The Ram's back in action as my DD. Of course, that same Monday, the battery was kapoot (my fault, it's what one gets for playing the radio for 2 hours on "accessory" mode and then forgetting to run the engine afterwards). Swapped in a spare, went to town, gave the ole girl a spray down at the car wash and noticed that the rear fuel tank strap had busted, courtesy of good ole iron oxide. And of course, I didn't notice this until AFTER I had filled the tank, so it was a somewhat nervy drive back home while praying that the front strap would hold the 24 gallons of premo gas.

Fortunately, it did. Replaced the rear strap with literally 20 minutes left to get ready for work, a process that was slightly slowed courtesy of good ole iron oxide on the mounting stud and the fairly heady hangover I had which ensured that my short-term memory would be operating at minimum, thereby ensuring that I would be wasting plenty of time making numerous trips between where my truck was parked and the barn where all the tools were until I finally had everything that I needed (or thought that I would need).

I hate iron oxide.

 

[thestuntboy]

Passed her last emission test by the skin of her teeth. Pass is pass.

 

[MAC830203]

Enlarging the custom intake air box.

 

[dodge dude94]

Wake up, y'all.

Finally said to hell with this heat and fixed my A/C. Evidently my accumulator plugged up and needed replaced.
Changed my accumulator and high side line last weekend and have good A/C again. Heater core bypass is next.
Here soon I'm planning on replacing both lock actuators, bypassing the heater core, and replacing the steering box and linkage finally after like 5 years.

 

[Rob2gen]

Changed the break-in fluids in the differentials with 75w/140 (was a little late, probably ran 2k miles since rebuild and change to 4.56). Fluids were clean no chunks of metal; slight flake in rear. Reinstalled front driveshaft with all new U-joints (had been in my buddy's man cave for a LONG time). Installed New Steering Gear Box Stabilizer Bar that was gathering dust in my basement. Installed new fuel injectors (saved the originals... they were 22 years old). Installed new distributor cap and rotor. Took me and my buddy 6 hours, with him doing most of the work as I have a broken arm. It was a good day for the truck!

 

[flecker]

Tell ya what I didn't do... I didn't take it to a mechanic.

 

[thestuntboy]

Replaced a slightly rusted leaf spring shackle and broken rear brake equalizer.

 

[Redfisher1974]

Replaced a slightly rusted leaf spring shackle and broken rear brake equalizer.View attachment 530048

Is that the Titanic?

 

[thestuntboy]

Is that the Titanic?

Results of New England's love affair with salt so Yes.

 

[Allikanbe]

replaced my heater core. did it over 3 days. i will never do that job again. total pain in the neck. stupid design on the replacement core. the tubes did not rotate. it's really a 2-person job. holding the dash up and trying to insert the heater core at the same time is no fun.

 

[Rebel4Mo]

Had the valves adjusted on my 2001 Cummins at 188000 miles.
Same shop said It needed upper/lower ball joints, tie rod ends and drag link.It did have a clunk when going over some bumps.
Said it would cost no more $2900!

Took it to another shop and was told it only needed the ball joints.
$1350 later it drives better!

Now I need to change the transmission fluid and filter, transfer case fluid and rear brakes.
Also the heater /vent blend door stopped working, stuck on defrost!

 

[Rebel4Mo]

replaced my heater core. did it over 3 days. i will never do that job again. total pain in the neck. stupid design on the replacement core. the tubes did not rotate. it's really a 2-person job. holding the dash up and trying to insert the heater core at the same time is no fun.

I replaced mine about 5 years ago.
After my son and I replaced the dash 14 years ago i knew what to do.
Did it by myself,was not to difficult.

The dash pivoted back just far enough to get to the core.

 

[Sprintcarracer33]

I have been doing paint and body work on my 2nd gen. I replaced the hood with a cowl induction hood, a new sport grille, and painted it all three stage white pearl including the rear roll pan and tailgate and the bumper cover.
I was wondering about new carpet kits and door panels. When I finish the paint and body work I want to replace the carpet headliner and door panels. Anyone have any recommendations on carpet kits? Thanks.

 

[Yeret]

After owning the damned thing for about 3 years, I finally installed my RedHead steering box!

Not a particularly difficult job overall, just a pain in the ass. Of course, since the old box had been leaking fluid for the last who-knows-how-long, it was a veeerrry greasy affair. Never needed a shower so bad in my life!

As a first for wrenching on something on my truck, I actually managed to get through the job without drawing blood!

Big overall difference in steering! The steering actually feels connected and tight-and-right as opposed to kinda-sorta responding when it felt like before. Pretty sure I'm gonna need an alignment as I haven't gone off the gravel yet, and that does a good job of masking "off" stuff in the front end, but we'll see how "off" everything is on the pavement. I'm well due for tires anyway, so maybe I can knock out two birds with one stone there.

Next up should probably be the brakes. I don't think the rears have ever actually worked as long as I've owned the truck, and the fronts are beginning to give auditory signs of wear.

Then again, that AirGap intake manifold is really vying to slip underneath the hood...

 

[Rob2gen]

Finally got around to sourcing and ordering a 34 gallon tank that coming out of a 2001 2500 quad cab gasser. Pick it up Monday!

 

[Yeret]

Ole girl got new shoes today! 285/75/16 Duratracs, same as the old ones, just bigger. $1,600 all in though (I did opt for road hazard this time around), and I gotta bring her back in next week for upper ball joints and alignment. Bank account's taking a beating, although I did have a little over $200 in my change jar to help offset things, LOL.

 

[MarkMac77]

I’d been driving around with a blown speaker in the passenger door. So yesterday I put in a couple new door speakers. Kicker brand CS693, from Best Buy, $113 after tax.

I also repaired & upgraded the sound insulation in the doors, and used some new fastener clips on the door panels.

I cranked up Pearl Jam and exceeded the speed limit all the way to work this morning.

 

[DodgeLady]

I replaced the headlight switch. Installed new headlights!

 

[DodgeLady]

I’ve had my truck for 27 of it’s 28 years. I had to replace the headlight switch about 10 years ago. Old one had melted, became intermittent and then died. Same thing happened again-now-about 10 years later. Just wondering if others have had to replace the headlight switch-and did you find the old one melted? Solid Green wire terminal burned. 1997 1500 5.9L

 

[Yeret]

I’ve had my truck for 27 of it’s 28 years. I had to replace the headlight switch about 10 years ago. Old one had melted, became intermittent and then died. Same thing happened again-now-about 10 years later. Just wondering if others have had to replace the headlight switch-and did you find the old one melted? Solid Green wire terminal burned. 1997 1500 5.9L

No for me, but the hot for the low-beam lights came loose in mine (it's a purple wire that goes into a block on the side of the steering column), which resulted in the low-beams sometimes working, sometimes not, but the high-beams always worked just fine. Apparently, frequent adjusting of the column angle can cause this.