I want your opinion - Full Front End Rebuild C1500

[alpinecrick]

Funny side note is my wife got to the door first after Fedex came. She was wondering what I ordered since I had so many boxes and giving me that stare... well I told her I’m rebuilding the entire front end on the truck, it should drive like brand new again. She said thank god! When will it be done because driving your truck is like a death trap right now for how much slop there is! Haha

Now you did it--she's gonna have high expectations.........

 

[alpinecrick]

I'm sure y'all r tired if hearing my **** already lol, but all Detroit parts and tbmost of the way up and rolling 35s and 3 years and nothing tore up yet...knock o. Wood

I'm not sure what you mean by Detroit parts?

 

[Ehall8702]

I'm not sure what you mean by Detroit parts?

All Detroit axle parts, complete front end except driver side wheel bearing....but I grease and inspect my front end every other 3 months at longest in-between inspection. Sometimes it's weekly I get my truck on the hoist doing something else but Everytime I lift it I check innner,outer idler, pitman and then when I drop it I unload the balljoints.

 

[mykvr6]

Funny side note is my wife got to the door first after Fedex came. She was wondering what I ordered since I had so many boxes and giving me that stare... well I told her I’m rebuilding the entire front end on the truck, it should drive like brand new again. She said thank god! When will it be done because driving your truck is like a death trap right now for how much slop there is! Haha
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Yeah mine was like that when I got it from my dad. It pulled heavy to the right. And you could swing the wheel like from 10-2 and it would keep going straight! took like a full half turn for it to actully start moving in another direction. Now after replacing almost everything other than the control arm bushings its actually a little twitchy. May be due to the camber and a lsight difference in caster from left to right. But its tight, if you turn the wheel it turns! imagine that! lol. Replacing the rag joint made a huge difference on my truck too, the insert on mine was supper soft and very sloppy. And my truck only has 98k miles on it. It has just broken down over time. you could turn and twist it easily by hand. I bought an insert and bolted it together and it was actually a bit tighter because I could squish the insert more depending on how much I tightened the bolts. I ended up switching to the lares part from Rock Auto because it was cheap and made for a cleaner more professional looking install. Plus after going from my diy rig job to the lares I could feel that I actually had mine in a bit of preload if you will because I had tightened it down a lot and the insert was pretty well squished so that it almost wouldnt flex at all.

 

[454cid]

....but I grease and inspect my front end every other 3 months ...

What??? So every 6 months then???

 

[Ehall8702]

What??? So every 6 months then???

Nah fat fingered the keyboard or auto correct or whatever lol meant every 3 I change oil and grease...

 

[matad311]

Now you did it--she's gonna have high expectations.........

Haha yep I’m scared now....


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[matad311]

Yeah mine was like that when I got it from my dad. It pulled heavy to the right. And you could swing the wheel like from 10-2 and it would keep going straight! took like a full half turn for it to actully start moving in another direction. Now after replacing almost everything other than the control arm bushings its actually a little twitchy. May be due to the camber and a lsight difference in caster from left to right. But its tight, if you turn the wheel it turns! imagine that! lol. Replacing the rag joint made a huge difference on my truck too, the insert on mine was supper soft and very sloppy. And my truck only has 98k miles on it. It has just broken down over time. you could turn and twist it easily by hand. I bought an insert and bolted it together and it was actually a bit tighter because I could squish the insert more depending on how much I tightened the bolts. I ended up switching to the lares part from Rock Auto because it was cheap and made for a cleaner more professional looking install. Plus after going from my diy rig job to the lares I could feel that I actually had mine in a bit of preload if you will because I had tightened it down a lot and the insert was pretty well squished so that it almost wouldnt flex at all.

Well that’s good to know! I didn’t even think about being able to reef the **** out of those rag joint bolts to tighten it up a lot. That will definitely make it feel more solid.


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[mykvr6]

Well that’s good to know! I didn’t even think about being able to reef the **** out of those rag joint bolts to tighten it up a lot. That will definitely make it feel more solid.


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With the lares one you cant because its riveted like the factory piece. You are just bolting the joint to the steering shaft. I originally bought the Dorman replacement rubber insert and drilled all four rivets and used four nuts and bolts and when you're tightening the joint back together you can squish it some. But honestly it doesnt quite fit perfect but it worked for a week until I decided to get the Lares piece.

 

[matad311]

Ahh ok I just check the Lares I see what you mean. The side with the spline is riveted or something but the other side uses bolts. So that side at least I can really reed down on.

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