So a big thank you to all who answered my total basic questions!

I have just finished changing front shocks, rear shocks to air shocks (so far so good), wheel bearing, lower ball joints & upper control arms!

I did tear up one lower ball joint boot, trying to figure out how to use that stupid press tool. Never did get it to push it in, I finally resorted to baby sledge to get it 90% in, then finally put the jack under it (with the press cup) and jacked it up, sledged the control arm down onto it! Sheesh! (Of course I find the message/video that shows how to use it (remove the boot) after I finished!)

The tiny bit of wiggle the dr wheel has is gone (it was the bearings), the squeaks seem to be gone, altho I suspect the lower control arm will be back before long.

The Air shocks brought the bed back up; give a good ride, and now that I loaded sand in the bed again for upcoming snow, I raised them up a bit so its not sagging!

Can't believe how easy overall things went, I'm the person with the black cloud over their head, nothing seems to go right, or a 5 min job takes 3 days!


The truck seems to be driving the same/normal, tracking straigt, no pulling, so how critical/quickly is it needed to get an alignment? ( I did not change tire rods, them seem to be OK). While the tires have good tread on them, I"m going to swap out 16's when I can find a match to the 3 I have.


Guess next project will be to see why it leaves a 4-6" puddle of oil, regardless of how long it sits (1-2 hrs, or 3-4 days)... It's not enough to change the level, still mid-stick.

 

You and I seem to be the same kind of mechanics: long on willingness, short on aptitude. I have a long list of jobs that I'll never attempt again...the kind where you have to buy replacement parts in pairs: the first to learn what not to do and the second to finish the job.

On that oil leak thing, my old hound started leaving 4-6 inch puddles behind and the vet told me not to use stop leak. He gave me some medicine for the dog and it fixed her right up. Lesson learned: don't use stop leak.

One other thing: if you're going to spend time on your back under your truck looking for a leak buy yourself a nice creeper, They're great for taking a nap under the truck and the wife thinks I'm hard at work under there.