jd1923

Here's a close-up of JD's favorite part - the self-adjuster! It appears to be a good design (perhaps not). The spring is very straight and evenly stretched. I disassembled one brake assembly completely, lot's of work and some cussing will be involved in getting these back together! Good maintenance would include applying some silicone grease (I use Napa Sil-Glyde) on the shoe contact points and inside the adjuster. This is a good product for all automotive brake systems. I have a full set of drum brake tools, from back in the day when my '67 Buicks had drums all the way around. A tool to compress the shoe pin springs and another to stretch the springs.

It's the diesel that makes the difference in your truck! I was always interested in your model but have never touched one. Good to hear. Same truck, gasser, will not pull up the mountains with an EII and MPG will be much less.

Ours haven't come off on just a few miles of AZ washboard. Prior owner had new blinds installed by OTT a few years ago.

So, the last picture shows how clean the brake master reservoir looked after service. The first thing I do is get the truck on jack stands (it was already up for suspension work and trans service). You can bleed brakes with wheels on, but I prefer to take it straight on and then it only takes a few minutes. The fluid in my master cylinder reservoir was BLACK with clumps of junk in the bottom, and same in the calipers. I drained the calipers when off the vehicle, bleed valves open, using a Channel Lock to compress both cylinders. Removed the reservoir and cleaned it inside. There was a pin punched in place to hold the reservoir to the master. I filled a little tub with full strength Super Clean ($10/gal at Walmart), let it soak overnight and next day shook the reservoir hard until everything came loose and clean. To bleed the brakes, you need a container (I use an empty handle-bottle of Vodka!) and an 18" length of clear hose, that fits the bleed valve. Clear so you can see air bubbles and the color of the fluid. Some say bleed the furthest wheel first, but it really doesn't matter. Some of you with modern ABS systems may need additional service, but only if you have any ABS issues. You can open the bleeder valve and just pump the brake pedal hard a few pumps (hose connected into bottle). Make sure you keep an eye on the reservoir, and never let it empty. The last bleed, your partner needs to pump the brakes 2-3 times hard, hold them down and do not let go, then you open the bleed valve and close it. She can now let her foot off the brakes (that would be my wife Chris). Your brakes will be much improved and safe in the mountains. Do yourself a favor, pop your hood today and look at your brake fluid. If you see anything but clean clear fluid, schedule this maintenance! 😊

Most truck owners are good about changing engine oil and filter, maybe trans fluid or antifreeze, though brake fluid often gets overlooked. For motorcycles, it is standard to replace brake fluid annually. Riding street bikes is dangerous and good brakes are a must. I do mine every 2 years, since I ride occasionally, and I live in the dry SW (it is mainly moisture that ages brake fluid and brake fluid is designed to absorb moisture). I just purchased an old Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins, now 23 years old. I always change ALL the fluids and rubber components (belts & hoses) whenever I acquire a used vehicle. I observed evidence that the brake fluid had never been changed, same with the rear diff. The trans had newer fluid and the engine oil looked fine, but I changed both, replacing all fluids. If we lived north, I would have done the antifreeze too by now, but waiting to afford a new high-performance water pump (known to fail on the Cummins) and will replace the antifreeze and serpentine belt at that time. You may be thinking I'm OK, we have a newer truck! But even on late model vehicles, you should change brake fluid every 3-5 years, especially when towing. DOT 3 or 4 Brake fluid is clear when new. It gets yellow->brown->black with age as it collects water and dirt. It is moisture in the calipers that lowers the boiling point, producing steam and serious brake fade. This can easily occur when descending mountain grades. More on how I did mine to come...

Ronbrink, you did quite a job! I'll post my pictures soon, the before and after. Bill thank you for your note. I'm hoping mine will perform properly. I still cannot get my head around how shoes can get too tight, as they can only go so far. I'll add a little silicone brake grease to the adjuster pistons and where the shoes contact the backing plate. JD, yep the limited travel is obvious since the leaf springs appear to have minimal arc! They should be longer and taller. It would be nice if OTT would upgrade this and position the wheels a little further from each other. Not worried about warranty on a $24 part. Usually when I replace shocks it's from a used vehicle recently purchased and I buy new shocks for any that test bad.

LOL yeah, I left the trailer shop after I noticed a large rack of unwrapped bearings (wish I took a pic), all either unmarked or labeled CHINA! Will pressure-wash the wheel well area tomorrow and then detail with my favorite grime cleaner GoJo. Probably just push a lot of grease through the Zerks to clean inside, unless you might suggest further disassembly. What a lame looking suspension, I must add, and I'm sure you agree. This isn't enough spring for the AZ Washboard Road! Good thing my Rams Cummins is getting a brake upgrade! My eTrailer order was 4 sets, both inners and outers, Timken bearing/race sets, they sell them together. I found part numbers in two OTT forum posts and verified the measurements in the listed specs to parts pulled. The seals are a house brand I think, which should be fine since eTrailer has always been good (like their videos). If I run into binding brakes, like you did, that will be another day. Perhaps a day for new HD axles, disc brakes and suspension!

Thanks Steph and Dud, I did not realize trailer brakes adjusted going forward. I guess that makes sense. Either way $600 or $800 ain't happenin' now! Good news for me, is the brakes have performed well so far. When I removed the drums there was just the right amount of pull, telling me they were adjusted properly. The only issue I found was bearing play in the wheel having some up-n-down wobble. More good news is I found 4 "Amazon Used" Monroe 555001 shocks at only $24 ea. Amazon used usually means damaged packaging and if any are bad, it's just another Amazon return. Mine did not look blown as some forums pics I saw, but internally they were shot. When removing, I pushed them down by hand and they just stayed there! They were the original yellow ones.

Wow JD, this would be $700-800 in parts for 4x full brake plates and 4x Drums. Not for me this year! I just placed an order for new Timken bearing and seals. Went with eTrailer for $156 after reading your posts on fake bearings. I ordered Toyota parts once on eBay for a timing chain replacement, and they came all in legit Toyota wrap. They were fake, you could tell by the water pump casting, not the packaging that looked correct. Did the eBay return, got money back and purchased parts from Toyota and RockAuto. Yes, I will manually adjust if necessary. Drum brakes will auto-adjust only when braking in reverse, which is difficult to do in a trailer. First, I bought an Oliver (June), then the Ram 2500 (July), then suspension rebuild (August another $1200). Just bought Dodge wheels and upgrade parts to install 3rd Gen front disc brakes on my 2nd Gen (just last week, $1000 for both). Got to put my new tires on hold! Will need other Oliver parts soon, like electric water valves, etc. Didn't expect to buy bearings, thought I would merely pack bearings! So bad news on my favorite local trailer shop. It was called A-County Trailer and now the name has changed. They had 3-4 old-timers as mechanics. Once they adjusted the leaf spring shackles that were binding on a flatbed trailer I have. After 2 guys worked 15 minutes, they said, "You're good now, you can pull out" and no charge! Now just young guys who admitted, "I dunno know." So today was a wash. I placed my eTrailer order when I got home, and the Oliver will be up on jack stands for a while!

Well, I've been working on the Ram TV for a while now, and it's time again to work on the Oliver. Starting with something that appears to have been neglected for some time. There was some new red wheel bearing grease on the axles. I didn't see any of that new grease packed in the bearings! I got one side up on jack stands now. I usually just take stuff apart and then see what i need (then I read all your forum posts, to read what y'all have known for years). I need new bearings, the China syndrome, and Dexter has the gall to put a Made in USA sticker on the brakes backing plate. Need new shocks. We have a great trailer shop here, just 20 minutes north in Chino Valley, AZ. They will have all the brake and bearing parts there. I took one side completely down to compare the wear of my brake shoes to a new set. I might just get them to install the new wheel bearing races. That would save some time. More tomorrow.

Had a chance to clean up one today. I got a big old-school Milwaukee grinder with a 7" steel brush wheel. Cleaned up the tire beads too. Here's the before and after!

Certainly, a similar Jeep with the V8 engine will pull better! Check the advertised torque rating of your present 6-cylinder Jeep to one with the V8. You should see quite a difference. It is torque that first moves the truck and trailer and torque that pulls it up mountain inclines. I'd say you would want a 3/4-ton pickup with an Elite II, but the 1/2-ton V8 Jeep should be quite enough for your Elite I.

Just received my wheels yesterday and will soon decide on tires. They look great and more so considering the price. Most eBay vendors want near $300 a rim, center caps sold separately. I found the one auction that had a full set for $500, $100 shipping and $40 tax, an amazing deal for $640 total. I still cannot believe it but they're here now and look good (3 rims and caps are here, 4th expected by FedEx today!). I like the label information. They're not made in USA, like my 2nd Gen premium wheels, but "SUPERALLOY" made in Tiawan, on 9/11 2009. I believe these are forged wheels, and I asked the members of the Cummins Forum to verify. Made in Tiawan is NOT Made in China at all. Tiawan has been making high-quality tools for decades. Craftsman tools, during the 70s and 80s, when first manufactured tools outside of the US, built tools in Tiawan. They were always good, and then later Craftsman turned to China for additional cost savings and their tools turned to junk! Tiawan today is leading the world in high-tech semiconductor manufacturing. See pics...

Yes Art, I remember. I guess I always had that in mind. When I purchased my '03 Ram, back in 2004 barely used, it had the BFG AT tires on it. I replaced them with the Michelin LTX tire of that era, and I can swear they lasted near 100K miles!

Thank you Rick & Jerry, your note and others here and on the Cummins Forum, got me thinking that perhaps this truck should have great highway truck tires vs. ATs. We installed the awesome Cooper Discoverer AT3s on our GX470, maybe I do not need ATs on our Oliver TV! BTW anybody interested, I started what turned into an extensive conversation here: 2nd Gen Tire and Wheel sizes 2WD for towing | Cummins Diesel Forum (cumminsforum.com) I've learned many things from these Cummins guys. 1) do not mount an AT tire on the front of a 2WD tow vehicle. This now make so much sense. I love our OTT forum, you guys are great, and I learn so much from the many forums I've frequented through the years. 🙂 (Wow, these Cummins guys are highly technical!) I might just buy the newer version of your tires, in a slightly larger than stock size (275s are not available in 17s, only 265 stock size or 285 widths): Michelin Defender LTX M/S2 | LT285/70R17 (tirerack.com). What do you think?

The wheel pictured above was from an eBay auction. They wanted too much for these (without the tires). I found another eBay auction last night and bought them at a very good price! They will need a little clean-up, but happy to have 17" Dodge OEM forged wheels! (Four center caps are included.)

Yes Mountain Man, the other side of my brain is saying, just put good set of tires on my OEM Dodge Premium 16" rims. I would not want 20" with a 60 profile or less but was thinking perhaps a LT275/70R17 vs. what I have in LT265/75R16. Looking at the Cooper specs, all their 70 profile tires will carry up to 3195 lbs. and the LT265/75R16 tire holds 3415 lbs. Will the 75 handle better in towing vs. a 70, or about the same? I also understand that with 17" wheels, I can upgrade to 3rd Gen front brakes and next brake job I will need new rotors (mine has rear drums which limits wheel choice). I like that we have a consensus on the Cooper Discoverer AT3. Their LT and XLT are about the same tires, the XLT has larger sizes, and the outer wall has more AT look to it. I have the AT3 LT in LT265/70R17 on my GX470, because OEM was P265/65R17 and I could get the Cooper AT3 in a Load Range C, which is what I wanted there (not P and not Load E, perfect for the lighter truck). Of course we need Load Range E in a TV. Picking up on JD's idea... I'm not fond of the 3rd Gen 5-spoke wheels, but really like the look of the 4th Gen 6-spoke wheels (see pic). I may have a line on a good set of these. SeaDawg, I do have Pirelli tires on my '84 Goldwing, great tires! Thanks all!

Looking for advice, from those of experience with HD tow vehicles, diesel trucks preferred. Thinking on upgrading our 16x8" OEM rims with LT265/75R16 tires, but not sure as the stock rims are Mopar USA manufactured (hard to come by these days). However, there are not a lot of tire size choices for 16" wheels. Dodge and other makes have increased the wheel diameters through the years. I may move to 17" or 18" wheels. This thread is for 2500 and 3500 series trucks ONLY (Ford F250/350). Please NO half-ton trucks or SUVs of any kind. Please reply here with your truck year, make and model and your OEM tire size. Also, please let me know if you replaced your OEM tires and/or wheels with a size you prefer. So many new truck owners are going the other direction, replacing 20" wheels with 18s. Thanks

Yep, pulled our Elite II once with our '08 GX470. Not a LX, but a similar Toyota 4.7L v8 (the Tundra 5.7L might work). It was fine around town, with the Anderson hitch, but I could not at all see it going down the 4000 FT drop on I-17 to the Phoenix valley and in the SLOW lane coming back up. Two weeks later, I found an older Ram 2500 Cummins so we can now climb anything! Love the GX on the Arizona dirt when not towing!

So, it's been a couple of weeks. I rebuilt the left side. Waited on correct rear sway bar links and another UCA bushing (after I crushed one in the press, OMG!) Got everything suspension wise buttoned up, BTW, you have to jack up each control arm, on each side, ride height to final tighten the bushings. Meanwhile, I replaced the trans filter and fluid (all of it), and flushed the brake fluid (yes, all of it). I will write another post on fluids, ah the most important maintenance! Hey, when you take the time to put your truck up on all fours, do everything you can. Hoping my build here will outlive me! The left side looks the same as the right, so no more suspension pics. Got done in time for my alignment appointment yesterday. I asked them to review all of my restoration work too. They said all was good and they finished with the hour. We need confidence when driving our tow vehicles, and when a reputable local repair shop says; "You're good." It certainly helps. I spent a total of $1,120 on steering/suspension/shock rebuild and 60+ hours of my hard work. The cost was mostly on parts (which btw, was 2X cost when I built another truck, just 2 years ago). The alignment was $102 (included in the total). This may sound like a lot to some, but including this cost, my amazing Cummins Diesel tow vehicle is still just under $20K total! (LOL, I'm not done yet. I will spend more!) I know some of you have wonderful late-model Dodge Ram Cummins TVs, and you truly understand what these numbers mean. Wife Chris thought of a great idea to test everything today. She suggested we drive to a favorite lunch spot, just 30 miles away. Yeah, she's great! I have a busy week coming up and will hook up the Oliver soon. Next job, the Oliver axles and more. All is good. and we could not be happier!

I end up spending more time cleaning than wrenching, but that's me. it's got to be done right, fully restored and looking like new. I got the right side 100% done today and it will not take much longer to build the other side, since I have everything ready, parts and tools. I'll start with one pic, as-was and then the rebuild...

It appears you added an electric operated valve to empty the fresh tank only. I'd like to do this too, plus add two additional motorized 3-way water ball valves to switch the under-bed plumbing from drawing from the fresh tank, to drawing from the rear winterization port, and back. I had talked to ScubaRX about the latter, an upgrade he made some time ago. This US Solid product looks great, and the stainless-steel valve is spec'd for potable water. Steve had suggested a Misol product that is a China made brass of some kind. I'm hoping to find a US Solid 3-way valve for this other application. I'll let you know if I find one, or please if somebody has, please let is know. Here is the Misol product: Misol Motorized Ball Valve 1/2"(bsp) dn15 / 12vdc / 3 Way/Electrical Valve/Ball Valve with Acuator / Cr01 / Reducet T Port: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

For sure Steve, I sweat all day in the garage and the same when we play pickleball!

Decided to work on the rear end today, as I didn't feel ambitious enough to clean up the front end. Worked on three tasks on the rear; install new shocks, replace rear sway bar bushings and links, and changing the differential gear oil. The oil in the rear was BLACK, with black sticking to the back cover (maybe limited slip additive). Wondering if this had ever been changed. It had no gasket, just gray RTV, looking like factory original. I pulled and cleaned the tags to see I have a 3.54 limited slip diff, nice! Installed the shocks too and waiting on special aftermarket HD rear sway bar links. Rear end all clean and back together. I purchased a Fel-Pro gasket, as I cannot stand RTV in any color! I use Permatex High Tack Sealant on the gasket. Since the gear oil and cover were so black (magnet not too bad, nice), I'm going to drain and fill again soon. With this gasket and sealer, I will be able to loosen the nuts to drain and then just torque down again. The Permatex will stay tacky and seal again. I've bought Triax lubricants before and I'm going with this gear oil: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QPPTG5N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another day, another dollar, as they say! And I got the other side done... Both sides now have ball joints removed, parts cleaned, and new parts installed. I will get a lot more work done this weekend, so more progress to report soon. 🙂