Bit Orange Lockers & Shocks

Today on trucks, Stace and I show you how to get better traction off road by installing a locker in our 96 Chevy. Then we'll take you step by step through the installation of an air adjustable shop system on that same K 1500. After that, we'll spin the wheels off a Dodge Dakota RT

and tell you if it's worthy of the famed RT badging before you trim it out with some

Mopar accessories. That's all today on trucks.

Sure.

Welcome to this week's show everybody. There's no doubt, Big Orange here is more than capable off road. Thanks to its six inch lift and 350 vortech. But the bottom line is, it doesn't matter how much lift or power you've got if you're not getting enough traction.

Hm.

Now there's a couple of ways to approach this. You have lockers and then you have limited slip and there's variations of each of those. What it really boils down to

is what's best for you and your driving needs

a limited slip, uses a series of friction clutches that limit slip to transfer power to both wheels while lockers do away with the clutches and use gears that lock together. Now, both have their advantages, but we're gonna use lockers to get as much traction as we can off road. You got that right mel, one of the neatest things to come along in a while is the lock ride by power tracks. And this little jewel replaces your stock spider and side gears. In your case, most applications it's not even necessary to remove the case from the carrier.

First thing you need to do is get your truck up in the air. If you don't have a lift, make sure you put a couple of jack stands under the axle,

so

then you can pop off the differential cover and drain the oil,

pull the retaining pin, followed by the pinion shaft.

Next push in the axle that'll release your sea clip.

Now pull the axles out just a little bit so you can take out the spider gears,

the side gears and all the washers.

Now you can reuse the pinion shaft but make sure you check it for any notable grooves or gone

that could weaken it. Thanks man.

You can also reuse the side gear thrush washers. Unless of course they're excessively worn or cracked, then you need to replace them.

Now, here's a little rear end 101.

This is the carrier,

this is the case,

here's your ring gear and the pinion gear is up inside.

These are your bearing caps. Now, the lock right utilizes the stock differential case. So you wanna check it for any kind of cracks or damage. This would also be a good time to check your ring gear. See if there's any chipped or broken teeth.

Now, just take a rag and clean everything up.

Now, we're ready to prep the lockers. First thing you wanna do is coat the teeth of the coupler and driver, the center hole of the driver and both sides of the thrust washers with grease.

Also place grease in the little window holes in each driver. The grease will help hold things in place and will assist in lubricating until the gear oil circulates place a sheer pin in each window hole. It should be about flush when in place. Then put a spacer into the center of each driver wide in toward the teeth and set it aside, press a grease thrush washer on the back of each coupler. Then you can insert the small spring into the large spring, add some grease to hold them together.

Now, we can install the washer and coupler assembly on the left side of the case, slide it over the spines of the axle.

Now take ac clip, put it in the groove and pull the axle out to see the

clip. Make sure you watch your fingers

carefully push the other axle onto its coupler until the axle shaft is even with the coupler surface. Take a driver spacer assembly place it on the teeth of the coupler then press it into the grease,

reach into the center and press the spacer down over the couplers shoulder and over the

clip

for the other sea cliff. You have to fabricate a tool out of wire and old hangar. Make sure it's in a U shape that's about four inches long

and one inch wide.

Now, we can put on our other driver and spacer assembly. It needs to go as far to the left as it can.

Then we'll take this fancy little tool at mail. Mail don't be bashing on my tool man. Come in through this groove and press the spacer over to give us clearance for our C cliff.

Tap the right axle in until the sea cliff grows or even with the surface of the coupler.

It's good mel.

Now you can put in your C clip.

All right, go ahead and pull that axle out.

That's got it.

Now, rotate your axle and line up the pinion shaft hole and the shear pin holes then reach inside the pinon shaft hole and pop the right spacer over the

clip.

Now take a small screwdriver and push the shear pin into the opposite driver.

Then you can take one of the spring assemblies and slide it into the window behind the pin. Make sure it sees in all the way.

Once all four springs are in place, go ahead and rotate the axle and line up the pin shaft holes in the locker and the case

your P

shaft should slide in easily if it doesn't check the alignment of your holes,

man. Let's spin this thing. See what we got. Let's do it, man. One thing to remember about lockers is they have a distinct popping sound from time to time

and this is not an indication of a problem, rather a reminder that you made the right choice. Everything looks good here, man. I can't wait to drive this thing after me. Yeah, you're dreaming

pal

when you put your cover back on, we recommend you use a gasket as opposed to silicone because it'll last longer.

One of the good things about the lock ride is it doesn't need special gear lube like a posse does however, to get better performance and longer gear life, we're gonna use a synthetic oil by Royal Purple.

Well, for about 250 bucks in three or four hours of your time, you'll be able to run with the big dogs with a locker in your trunk. Don't go away. Stacey and I have more trucks for you. After the break.

Later on, trucks will spin the wheels off the latest Dodge RT and tell you if it's worthy of its legendary status. But up first, we'll show you how to get the ride you're after off road or on with an air adjustable shock system.

Now that we have a locker in Big Orange, we're gonna go ahead and upgrade the shocks because Mel beat the snot out of the ones that are on there. Oh, yeah. Who was leading the way in the old army weasel?

I don't know, Elvis Martians.

Well, let's just put it this way. Adjustable shocks and air shocks have been around for a while, but it took ranch

to come out with an air adjustable shock. Now, as you guys know, you used to have to get out of your truck crawl underneath and turn the knob to adjust the setting on your shocks. Not easy to do on a side hill. This remote control system uses the Rs 9000 shock and a small air compressor.

This runs to gauges in your cab and

this allows you to adjust your front rear shocks independently of each other while you drive,

this project will take about a day and a half to complete. First thing you need to do is get the shocks off. Let me go ahead and start with the rear.

Now, when you do this on a truck with a lift, make sure you measure the travel at full extension so you don't get them too short.

Well, Mel's working on the rear, I'll pull the front shocks. As you can see, there's a limiting strap up here on the front. That's a neat feature. So we'll keep that

before we can bolt the shocks on. We need to replace the manual adjusting knobs with the air inlet,

turn the knob to the lowest setting,

then remove the allen head screws and the assembly.

Next apply lithium grease to the large O rings. Place them on the pressure fitting and mount it to the shock. Using the Allen bolts that come with the kit, don't over tighten them or you could crack the fittings,

mount your air distribution manifold in a safe out of the way place. We're gonna put ours on the inner frame rail on the passenger side using existing holes. So we don't have to drill any.

Remember, one goes to the front shocks and one to the rear,

run the pressure line from each shock to its corresponding manifold.

Then run the lines to where the gauges and bleed valves will be inside the cab,

mount your compressor to the frame rail or the firewall. Now, we've chosen the frame rail because it causes less vibration.

Once you've done that, connect your pressure fittings using the small O ring and the plastic nut. And remember these fittings are plastic. So just tighten them finger tight.

Now that we have the shocks in place, we can connect to pressure lines,

make sure to use a tie strap

to keep him from flopping around

before we can put big orange on the ground to hook up the electrical. We need to feed it some new meat as in wheels and tires. Now, there's a lot of copies of the Alcoa

style wheel out there, but only Mickey Thompson's got the one piece aluminum design

that's dominated the Baha

1000 for years.

Now, there's nothing wrong with the BFGS we've been running, but these 14.5 Baha

belted are gonna give us a bigger footprint.

Not to mention they look pretty dang cool too.

Well, Mel's admiring the tires. I'll go ahead and mount the gauges and once you decide where you want them, use a mounting plate as a template to mark your holes,

drill your holes and mount the bracket using the supplied screws.

We've drilled a hole in the floor pan and installed a rubber gromit to keep from cutting our airlines, then run them through with the electrical wire.

Now, you can hook the two airlines from the front shocks to one of the gauges and one of the bleed screws,

then repeat the same process for the rear shocks. Now, once your lines are run, you can slide the gauges into place and center them how you like and bolt them down.

Now, before you start messing around with the electrical, make sure you disconnect the battery, then take the power wire from the compressor and hook it to either post on the switch. Now take the wire with the in-line fuse and hook it to the other post,

then connect the other end to a fuse in the fuse box that'll shut off with the ignition.

Of course, the gauges won't do you any good at night if you can't see them So Rancho solved that problem with some baby bulbs.

Simply take the power wire, connect it to the dash light fuse in the panel, then hook up your ground.

After reconnecting the battery, we can go ahead and test it.

Good to go here. Stace,

it's important to remember. These are e adjust shocks, not lift shocks. They're not gonna change the height of your ride,

but they do give you five settings to choose from ranging from soft to extra firm, which I'm sure will be testing off road real soon.

But hey, we're not hitting the trail just yet. Stick with us. We got more trucks for you after the break, man. This thing is sweet, isn't it? It is. What do you feel

Dodge is back on the scene with some muscle but this time it's in a pickup, Stacey and I melt the rubber on the 99 Dakota RT up next on trucks.

Uh

The sound of power, you can tell by that sound that this RT which is available in regular or club cab packs a punch with a 5.9 V8.

The numbers from

a dyno run just under 240 ft pounds of torque

and almost 100 and 82 horsepower at the rear wheels gives you an indication what to expect in the seat of your pants. When you step down on this dude, the Archie script made legends out of the Dodge muscle cars from the sixties. So all you Challenger and Charger fans out there should sit up and take notice of this truck that carries the same badge

that my friends is a lot to live up to

mel. I think we need to take this thing out. Lean on it. See if it's worthy of that Mopar name. Let's do it, man.

The RT is shot in 17 inch wheels and fat old Goodyear tires. That'll give you a sticky grip allowing you to trip the lights at 0 to 60 in 6.9 seconds.

But this ride is more than just pure power. It's also built for curves thanks to a thicker rear stabilizer bar, lowered suspension and rear paws and like its muscle bound family members. It only comes in two wheel drive straight through the rear. A

well after dropping the hammer on this truck, we think it has what it takes to blow right by its competition and for a base sticker around 20 grand, you'll have plenty of money left over for new rubber. Don't go away. Stacey and I have more trucks for you right after the break

up. Next on trucks. We'll finish off the Dakota RT with some accessories you can buy from

Mopar and bolt on in your own garage.

Let's just say we're more than impressed with the power that comes in the 99 Dakota Rt and while it looks great, just as it sits, it's really cool to know you can go down to your dealership and choose from a variety of add ons for Mopar accessories that will really help personalize your truck.

If you wanna haul stuff around in your new dodge, you can slide in a bed liner. But if all you really wanna do is haul the Natanel cover with factory matching paint is the only way to go, especially if it's in your face yellow.

A tunnel cover not only keeps debris out of the bed and makes it lockable, but it will also eliminate drag. When you mash down that beefy V8 under the hood

before you set it in place, you need to run a strip of foam tape along the front bed rail next to the cab, align the edge of the tape with the inside edge of the bed rail for the best protection.

You also need to protect your tailgate. The kit comes with a clear plastic tape to protect the top from scratches.

Make sure you don't leave any air bubbles when you lay it down.

Now it's time to lift the unit into place, make sure the locks at the rear or you'll have some trouble getting it open.

Now you can put on the two rear clamps. It's a good idea to put a piece of electrician's tape on top of the bolt to keep from scratching the paint on the bed rail. The clamp should be about an inch forward of the rubber bumpers.

Center of the cover on the bed from side to side, then adjust it front to rear and make sure you leave a little gap here at the back to allow clearance for the tailgate.

Now, you can tighten up your rear clamps.

The front clamp should be about 10 inches from the front rail and the middle are spaced out evenly between the front and the rear.

I've turned the key so we can mark where an inter latch needs to be. Unfortunately,

the only way you can do this is in the dark.

Yeah. And I lost the coin toss. I wanna see that coin. You do,

sorry, lost it. Now, once your holes are marked, drill them and attach the latch with the sheet metal screws.

The last thing you do is adjust the rubber bumper so it's snug against the top.

Now, while Stacy is finishing up with the tunnel cover, I'm gonna protect the front of our RT from paint chips and bugs with a custom designed broth

installations a snap, just stretch it over the nose and hook it into the wheel wells, fasten it to the hood and your investments protected.

The last thing we're gonna do is become one of the hottest trends out there. And that's molded side steps. These from Mo

Bar, use a self drilling wax tip screw to prevent corrosion and to hold the mounting brackets in place,

the brackets can really only be mounted one way and they're marked left and right front and rear for easy reference

to install the box hanger support for the rear step, push it into position between the floor support and the wheel. Well, scene

then tighten it down

once all the brackets are in place, bolt on the steps to finish off the look.

Well, as you can see, for about 1500 bucks in a couple hours, we really gave this RT a whole new attitude.

Let's see what Stace has for us in this week's quick tip.

So

sooner or later we all drop a container of nuts or bolts or whatever and they go all over the floor.

But instead of reaching for a broom, I reach for an old magnet from a stereo speaker,

wrap it in a rag and suck up the parts.

Now, why the rag you ask? Well, that's easy.

Just unwrap the rag from the magnet and make a little sack for the parts. This not only gives you an easy way to get the parts off the magnet,

but also to get them back into the container from where they came from,

but don't run out to the garage and dig through your old stereo speakers just yet. We got truck gear right after this

and now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

Welcome back to the shop, everybody. It's time for this week's edition of Truck Gear. You know, there's not a truck owner out there who hasn't hit the brakes, wanting to hear the cargo take a ride in the bed. That sinking feeling can be a thing of the past with the load lock bed liner from your products, whether it's for work or play the load lock will keep your cargo right where you want it.

You can lock in multiple load combinations by inserting two by boards that can also be used to advertise your business in the patented ribbing system.

And the custom fit means no drilling, protect your cargo and your truck with a load lock bed liner for about 200 bucks.

Now, here's something for you sport truck or low rider guys or heck anybody that's tried to get a vehicle up a ramp in a driveway.

It's called the easy Riser from she

com industries in Canada. It's made of recycled rubber and holds six tons

because of the grip of the rubber. They won't slide out from under your tire when you drive up on them.

They also have a molded cradle to prevent your vehicle from rolling forward or backward.

The low profile compact design makes it easy to toss these in the back of a truck or an SUV.

The easy riser comes with a lifetime warranty and goes for about 45 bucks.

Finally, today, everybody knows that horrible feeling when you turn the key and there's nothing there. Fortunately bl I Industries has the answer for that nightmare. It's called the priority start it's a computerized switch that constantly monitors the power of your truck's battery. If an accidental drain occurs, such as the lights being left on or the door left ajar, it automatically discon

next before the battery goes completely dead.

Installations a snap. Just reconnect your positive cable to this terminal and the ground wire to your negative cable. You can make dead batteries. A thing of the past with priority start for about $80. That's going to do it for this week's truck gear. Let's take a look at what sta and I have for you on next week's show,

Stacey and I put the woe in our classic 66 pickup with a front disc brake upgrade while we're at it. We'll give it the ability to handle the corners by Bolton on a brand new suspension kit. Then it's time for a little Viva Las Vegas as we take you for a tour of the 33rd annual

Sema Show in the city of Lights. After that, it's back to the shop to fit big orange with a roll bar and lamps for those nighttime trail rides. That's all next week on trucks.

That's gonna do it for this week's show. We'll catch you next week, same place, same time. Mel I can't remember if I did those front clamps. Did you check them for me, please?

You better not do anything stupid, man. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. I'm a doctor. I'm serious, man.

That's fine.

Yes.

All right, man. I should do it.

Stay c,

come on,

why do I learn Adidas?

He seems so trustworthy. Stay.

Come on, man.

Open the cap man

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