well i got my truck into my buddys shop.

he works at the plant with me, but works shift work so he can run his shop at his house. he does alot out of a 4 bay shop, and has a 4 post lift,
when i was there a few weeks ago he had a 6.0 in for a head job.
any way he came in friday morning after working nights and did one side,
then did the other side saturday morning after working 12 hour nights.
he did it in about 2 hours per side,( helps to know what your doing and have the tools).
i went by last night and paid his wife $620 for parts and labor
that sounded good to me as am a welder and had 3 back surgerys
so just thinking about the job made me ache.
did not get a chance to ask what brand he used but they have blue caps that look like dust covers.
i know he uses carquest for parts.
he changed out all the seals. i can see new seals in the axle tubes, my old ones were broke and spinning arround the shaft.
but i still had a funny noise . its hard to explain,
when i turned slow it was like a dry socket kind of grinding.
he had told me if i remove the steering stabelizer it may turn better.
so this morning i greased the front end, checked to make sure everything felt tight, tierods and all look good.
when i took off the steering shock it did not move in or out.
i got out from under my truck and could see the rod was bent bad.
i have a huge vice on my welding table and put the shock in it.
i had to force it in with the vice.
i can remember alot of my trouble steering started shortly after i had my tires rotated. it would not return to center and was making the noise.
it would not turn much at a dead stop eather.
maybe they had a floor jack in a spot where it was binding on the shock.
they lift from both sides of the axle at once to raise the whole front end.
im the only one who drives my truck and know i have not hit anything on the road.
well now the noise is gone and i can turn the wheel with 2 fingers from lock to lock.
this being found out i may could have gone longer on the old ball joints.
but they were wabbly and lose. and have 156k miles on them.
ill see how it drives without the shock, it may not get replaced.
all in all im happy and back on the road

 

I bent mine a week after I got my truck driving in the snow. I never put another one on because I figured if I could bend it driving through snow then I would just bend the next one too. It is not in the most protected location.

 

i thought it would not hurt to leave it off .
i like the truck in your sig line. iv been looking at flatbeds for single wheel trucks,
mine has 4'' lift and the bed is to high, i dont want to lower it but i do like the look of the flatbed.i would like one with side skirts and toolboxes built in the side.

 

Its a Bradford Built bed I really like it. Real easy to just reach over the side and hook up a gooseneck trailer and it looks stylish. I can drop the sides and load 2 large square hay bales on it. You just get use to keeping a bunch of bungee and ratchet straps in the truck all the time. I also had a tool box built under the bed on the pass side to keep chains, jumper cables, and receiver hitches in. If you get one do yourself a favor and have it rhino lined or line-x right away.