A new approach to the well known front end problem

[DavidC]

Mine has 94k on it mostly towing the 32' RV. I installed grease zerks on everything very early in it's life. Nothing but shocks changed and front end greased every 5-15k.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

Yes tires was what I was talking about.

But my 98 4x 2500 went 300k before I touched the front end. One upper ball joint showed signs of wear. So replaced ball joints, front u joints and wheel hub assemblies. All tie rod ends etc we’re still perfect.

My suspension guy said my truck should have been the poster child for RAM.

The u joints showed some rust at that time.

Is the 4x meaning 4 wheel drive? If that's the case that makes a lot more sense. I've replaced very few on those as well. My OP was specific to 2wd independent front. Totally fluent l different animals.

And agreed on tire life. If that was the over 100k thing. We use to run Goodyear G159's load range G and got around 125k without regrooving on almost all of those. Could have gone over 150k for sure if we regrooved them but by that point to much dry rot to waste the money and time.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

People, please, give him a chance.
I know he took every pothole in this thread that was available- but don't we have more characters like him here on the TDR? I don't start with a list here but we all know them, the ones that have bad days once in a while?

Thank you sir. Much appreciated comment.

 

[Tractorat]

Forgot to mention I too replaced shocks about 2 years ago.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

Ahhh....
So I was kinda close.

Yes indeed. It works on highways to restore texture on worn cement without causing the longitudinal grooving associated with a milling machine. It also does the high end floor processing as seen in Costco, Walmart, HEB and a lot of other retail places following the same process used to polish granite and marble to a mirror. It is currently the only industrial grade machine in that industry. The breakthrough with that is it can do mechanical stone refinement in real time on large areas where the commercial sector equipment usually finishes in a sealer that doesn't last long simply because they lack the power and weight to get the hard first steps of grinding accomplished which then places that tasks on even smaller equipment that moves at a snail's pace on a tiny footprint making labor almost prohibitive on big floors.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

And again I'll ask the question to the group here to alleviate my confusion. Who all that has these high numbers is a 4x4?

I've owned 3 of those and got sick of the vehicle before I did ball joints.

The OP was specific to 2wd front ends is what caused me the most confusion.

 

[Michaelsloft]

And again I'll ask the question to the group here to alleviate my confusion. Who all that has these high numbers is a 4x4?

I've owned 3 of those and got sick of the vehicle before I did ball joints.

The OP was specific to 2wd front ends is what caused me the most confusion.

Charlie, are you specifically working on this project for the 2WD 2500 Generation 2 Models?

Michael

 

[BigPapa]

Yes indeed. It works on highways to restore texture on worn cement without causing the longitudinal grooving associated with a milling machine.

Sweet. So, if I had one and drove it to work, it would straighten out these crappy sections of concrete highway some idiot decided to try?

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

Sweet. So, if I had one and drove it to work, it would straighten out these crappy sections of concrete highway some idiot decided to try?

The process on that like everything has a lot of variables. In a nut shell what our machines does is a traction correction and anything beyond 1/4 of an inch in 20 linear feet is specified to be corrected by either a fine milling machine or standard mill depending on localized substrate thickness that allows correction without an overlay. If out of spec in thickness after milling they instead do those nightly lane closures and saw blocks out and repour before the designated length of roadway can be corrected on our level.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

Charlie, are you specifically working on this project for the 2WD 2500 Generation 2 Models?

Michael

Yes this post was intended to focus only on the 2wd.

I may not have included enough information in which case all the miscommunication was my fault from the beginning.

 

[Tractorat]

Mine is a 4x4

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

Mine is a 4x4

The 4wd is a good front end. I've personally never had any trouble with those.

In relation to the OP the control method we are developing will not yield enough travel to be used on a 4x4 with the 1 exception of being used in a smooth surface competition like drag racing where more control is needed and the vehicle will not be required to articulate more than 2 inches(between the point that hits the bump stop and the stop itself) of bump range per corner as a safe range of motion and not contact the hard limits.

Don't let that fool you into thinking it will bang all the time on the street. We do drop test all the time. So far a max of the tire 10 inches off the ground and we don't bottom out at the hard stop.

 

[Michaelsloft]

Yes this post was intended to focus only on the 2wd.

I may not have included enough information in which case all the miscommunication was my fault from the beginning.

Mine is a 4X4 too.

I enjoyed seeing and reading about the sequential six speed transmission and full time 4WD transfer case along with other projects and your background etc! I've only been active on the site for a couple of years and have noticed threads at times can take tangents and spark discussion in other subjects. And sometimes can be very interesting.

I'm going to continue following this thread and looking forward to seeing and hearing more about your engineering projects.

Michael

 

[Ozymandias]

Yes, a AWD TC that doesn't cost 50 Grand would be desirable.
I dream of one with a lockable Torsen Differential with a standard ratio of torque diversion 35/65 Front/Rear unlocked.
Best would be just an exchange of the internals of the NV 273 or the newer BW unit, doesn't matter as they are interchangeable.
Priced within the range of an ATLAS TC I would probably buy it.

 

[Cummins12V98]

4x or 4wd or 4x4 or four wheel drive.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

Mine is a 4X4 too.

I enjoyed seeing and reading about the sequential six speed transmission and full time 4WD transfer case along with other projects and your background etc! I've only been active on the site for a couple of years and have noticed threads at times can take tangents and spark discussion in other subjects. And sometimes can be very interesting.

I'm going to continue following this thread and looking forward to seeing and hearing more about your engineering projects.

Michael

I appreciate that Michael. I will apologize to you as I did the others for my anger and rudeness toward some of the other members as shown throughout this thread.

My buddy that owns the truck that created the topic in the first place are really leaning toward the all wheel drive strongly. Oddly we want it for totally different applications.

We agree if we move forward we won't settle for a chain transfer case. Because of my resources to produce virtually anything from scratch we have even discussed me designing a new back end for the NV4500 that would do away with everything from the cast iron back and add a spur gear that meshes with the output shaft part of 5th gear and place an idler in a geometrically balancing area on the passenger side. Then we just build our own case with transfer gears direct drive to the forward output. Might even use the Chevy version output shaft from a 2wd because its shorter. I'll take a pic of that trans.

When we do this crazy stuff we cut as many corners as we can to get base line trials breakage out of the way as cheap as possible. That said we will most likely do the engine relocation to behind the front axle center and run a normal straight axle but at 2 inches from the frame hard contact ride height because that's all the travel we need. Take her out and side step the clutch in 3rd gear at 4000 rpm on dry pavement.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

this is the snub tail version of the NV4500

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

This is similar to what I'm taking about doing.

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

4x or 4wd or 4x4 or four wheel drive.

Non selectable direct gear transfer case that is always engaged

 

[Charlie Lawhon]

I'm at the truck right now. We have the dash frame in it for reference to the firewall move. He is demanding to still have a faux dash shell when the engine is moved. I'm telling him its gonna be rubbing on the firewall.