BlkWgn - A Power Wagon Build

Hit up Todd at mercenary. When I was there a couple of weeks ago he was protyping that rear bumper with a swing out....

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Xpedition Outfitters said:
Hit up Todd at mercenary. When I was there a couple of weeks ago he was protyping that rear bumper with a swing out....

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Click to expand...

I have been pushing him to add the swing out for 2 years, it is just not in the budget. We have talked about the design quite a bit in the past. It is great to hear he is working on it.
 
Scott,
What are looking to spend? I have 4 of the Chrome clad 17x8 wheels. One has been painted black. I would trade them for a 17x8.5 Method double standard + remounting of my spare.
 
KSL22 said:
Scott,
What are looking to spend? I have 4 of the Chrome clad 17x8 wheels. One has been painted black. I would trade them for a 17x8.5 Method double standard + remounting of my spare.
Click to expand...
Pm sent bud.

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Not much to report here, but I do have 2 things. Just replaced the alternator on Friday night before the trail run at 203k miles. I know this is not all that exciting, but now I have it in writing when I replaced the alternator so I can remind myself down the road.

The other thing is just a link drop to a post I wrote on the truck recently. https://familyoffthemap.com/2016/06/14/200000-the-hard-way/

and since I mentioned the Monthly Trail Run, here is a pic

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My sway bar has been disconnected for a few year now for a number of reasons. I pulled the driver side end link off of it, but with the geniuses of Daimler having their hands in the Dodge electronics, the sway bar can not be unplugged without disabling both front and rear lockers. A random conversation with another power wagon owner and a few minutes under the truck I came up with the blatantly obvious solution. So when I got home from work yesterday I set out to give it a try and to my surprise, it only took about a half hour and the sway bar is now completely removed.

The housing that holds the actuator and electronics is two pieces held together by three bolts. I simply separated the housing and took the half with the electronics and zip tied it to the bottom of the radiator core support. I would like to fab up a bracket at some point to actually bolt the unit down, but the zip ties made for a fast way to test and make sure everything worked. The truck is happy and thinks the sway bar is there doing its thing, the lockers are still working, and for the first time since I have owned the truck, I can turn the wheel full stop either direction with no rubbing.

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I'd be interested to see what kind of signal the pcm wants to see to know that the disco motor is there. If it's simple as resistance or an open/closed circuit you may be able to run a resistor or relay to trick the computer into thinking it's there.

Dodge brains are a little goofy, but the actual components are really simple. Actuating power wagon lockers for example is extremely simple compared to Toyota or ford elockers.


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Got some new stuff on the way, hope to have it installed and ready to go before the trip at the end of the month.

The truck has the factory "Y" style steering which actually has some recalls. The recall gave the option for repair or replace and mine was repaired by the previous owner. Most are replaced with the newer "T" style steering from the 2008.5 and up trucks.

stock steering.jpg


My steering has been fine, but I wanted to upgrade to the newer style, and if I was going to go that route I wanted to increase the strength at the same time. I looked at a few of the options and picked the Synergy Heavy Duty Steering Kit.

synergy steering.jpg


synergy installed.jpg


From Synergy

Description:
This Heavy Duty steering kit is a larger and stronger, bolt-on replacement for the stock steering. No drilling or reaming of the knuckles is required. It uses the updated factory T-style steering design to eliminate toe-change caused by Y-style steering. Using the factory T-style steering design also results in no induced bump steer inherent with most aftermarket "cross over" steering kits. The Tie Rod also uses low misalignment "wobble stopper" Tie Rod End Boots to prevent unwanted Tie Rod "flop" which results in a dead spot in the steering when changing direction. The complete kit includes a heavy duty Drag Link, heavy duty Tie Rod, and Steering Stabilizer Mount Kit for use with stock or aftermarket steering stabilizers using a 1/2" mounting bolt.

Drag Link

  • Drag Link is bent to clear factory axle brackets and is compatible from stock to 6" lifted vehicles. (Vehicles over 6" of lift will require a drop pitman arm for compatibility)
  • Drag Link is made from 1-1/2" solid 1018 bar.
  • Synergy Double Adjuster Sleeve: allows adjustment of Drag Link length without removing it from the vehicle.
  • Suspension components feature an abrasive resistant powder coat finish for maximum durability and corrosion resistance.
  • 100% bolt on components assures an easy, trouble free installation with the use of basic hand tools.
  • Drag Link comes with Synergy HD metal on metal tie rod ends, 4133-L.
  • Strongest Dodge Drag Link on the market!
Tie Rod

  • Tie Rod is bent similar to the factory bar to clear sway bar mounts.
  • Provides 2" of additional ground clearance from stock tie rod.
  • Made from 1-1/2" x .188 wall 4130 Chromoly and Heat Treated for maximum strength - 200% stronger than stock tie rod.
  • Synergy Double Adjuster Sleeve: allows adjustment of tie rod length without removing it from the vehicle.
  • Suspension components feature an abrasive resistant powder coat finish for maximum durability and corrosion resistance.
  • 100% bolt on components assures an easy, trouble free installation with the use of basic hand tools.
  • Tie Rod comes with Synergy HD metal on metal tie rod ends, 4134-L.
  • Tie rod ends include low misalignment "wobble stopper" grease boots to prevent unwanted Tie Rod "flop".
  • Strongest Dodge Tie Rod on the market!
Click to expand...

I am also starting to get a bit of play in the ball joints. It is not too bad, but I want to get them replaced before they fail. I was all set to put on the ball joints from Carli, but recently changed my mind. The Carli joints have a great reputation and the shaft is replaceable on the truck so it seemed like an easy choice. What changed my mind were these monsters from EMF Rod Ends

Dodge_Upper_Lower_Balljoints_large.jpg


They have a replaceable shaft as well as a replaceable race which allows for a complete rebuild on the truck. Couple that with a lifetime warranty, great reputation and about $300 cheaper than Carli.

From EMF

Facts about the EMF Ball Joint:

  • 2 Canadian and US Patents covering the design
  • Rebuildable so you will never have to purchase an entire unit again, you simply replace the inner race and pin and off you go. You can do this right on the truck without removing the housing from the knuckle
  • Serviceable so if you ever start to feel movement in the joint, you simply back out the set screw on the side of the cap and tighten the cap then replace the set screw. This can be done right on the truck without having to remove anything from the knuckle.
  • Greaseable so you can just pump a couple squirts of grease into it around every oil change and go
  • The entire unit is 100% Canadian Made by an Alberta Small Business. We have a strict Quality Assurance policy and each piece we make is numbered and logged with tolerances and measurements documented so if there is ever a problem we can look back on when it was manufactured and what the material specs were.
  • EMF is the only Ball Joint with the removable race and pin (part of our patents). Competitor products have a removable pin that can be rebuilt, however the inside of the housing will wear as the pin wears resulting in the inevitable replacement of the entire unit in the future, as the pin will no longer possess a tight fit. By having the internal race and pin set on the EMF ball joint, the race will act as the wear point instead of the housing body creating a long lasting unit.
  • EMF’s price point is set below the competitor pricingwhich is very enticing to the customer. We are not only a manufacturer and business, we are also the consumer so we wanted to have something affordable and high quality available.
  • Each EMF Ball Joint unit is made from 4140 HTSR material and then sent to a metal treating facility to be Nitride Coated. Liquid Salt Bath Nitriding is a second heat treating process on the material resulting in up to a 30% strength increase as well as a beautiful black oxide corrosion resistant coating that also resists galling and does not reduce the tolerances of the pieces.
Click to expand...
 
BlkWgn said:
Got some new stuff on the way, hope to have it installed and ready to go before the trip at the end of the month.

The truck has the factory "Y" style steering which actually has some recalls. The recall gave the option for repair or replace and mine was repaired by the previous owner. Most are replaced with the newer "T" style steering from the 2008.5 and up trucks.

View attachment 25529

My steering has been fine, but I wanted to upgrade to the newer style, and if I was going to go that route I wanted to increase the strength at the same time. I looked at a few of the options and picked the Synergy Heavy Duty Steering Kit.

View attachment 25532

View attachment 25531

From Synergy



I am also starting to get a bit of play in the ball joints. It is not too bad, but I want to get them replaced before they fail. I was all set to put on the ball joints from Carli, but recently changed my mind. The Carli joints have a great reputation and the shaft is replaceable on the truck so it seemed like an easy choice. What changed my mind were these monsters from EMF Rod Ends

View attachment 25530

They have a replaceable shaft as well as a replaceable race which allows for a complete rebuild on the truck. Couple that with a lifetime warranty, great reputation and about $300 cheaper than Carli.

From EMF
Click to expand...
Dang those emf joints are nice. I love my carli joints but I bet those will serve you well. I am taking my truck in next week to take care of an airbag recall and the steering recall. Unfortunately I don't think I can afford to upgrade my steering so I'll have to go with the factory stuff.

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Wow.

Over 200K miles, impressive!

I'm the new owner of a 2003 QCLB. Just turned over 71k miles. Been reading about the "Y" steering. Hadn't seen the Synergy steering upgrade yet. Definitely seems like a decent option. I've been (trying) reading tons about these trucks...

Sent you a PM also, looking for PW wheels.
 
Nice,
Synergy was still working on the steering when I did mine so I went factory 08.5 +. The newer factory stuff is way beefier than the "Y" stuff, but the Synergy stuff is better than that.

Those ball joints look good as well.
 
Do you have to update the steering stabilizer at the same time like you do with converting from a "Y" to the newer "T" steering?
 
KSL22 said:
Do you have to update the steering stabilizer at the same time like you do with converting from a "Y" to the newer "T" steering?
Click to expand...


I do have to switch to the newer style stabilizer. I was going to go to the Thuren valved King stabilizer but realized that I have never had an issue with the Bilstein and seeing as it is about 25% of the price of the King I am going to stick with it. When I do the shocks next year I may do the stabilizer at that time just so that it matches but too be honest I don't really expect any performance difference between the two.
 
The nice thing about the king stab is that it doesn't "push" in either direction. That's the benefit. So if you're running Toyo m/t which push right or nitro trail grappler which push left you can run the same, single stab.


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Dropped off the truck at CJC Offroad last night for the steering and ball joint install. The steering is a pretty straight forward bolt on, but I did not have time to mess with the ball joints and did not really want to mess with them even if I had the time. Really looking forward to the upgrades.

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