Me and Jroc (John Adams) of the 4x4Wire board tackled a bunch of stuff that needed to be done to my rig this morning. First off we rebuilt the idler arm, which was a cinch but I couldn't have done it without a torque wrench or ball joint puller, both of which he had. Then we rebuilt the locking hubs and replaced the fuel filter. Replacing that fuel filter was a major pain in the ass because of my custom exhaust that's set up with my headers, the pipe interfered with getting to one of the banjo bolts. We had to take the tranny crossmember off to get to it. Talk about a job, but we finally got it done and everything works great. I said "we" a lot but he really did most of the work and I got some hands on learning experience. Now my steering is more responsive and doesn't vibrate, my truck feels more powerful due to the new fuel filter, and I can lock my hubs a lot easier now. Not bad for only about $60 in parts.

 

Feels good to get some work done that makes a big difference doesn't it.

I think I'd rather tackle all that stuff too, but not the fuel filter.
I hear they are a lot of trouble.

I am not sure if mine is the original one or not.

Was your rig feeling like it was starving for fuel before?
Hey, we could use a V6 fuel filter write-up
Got pics?

 

I'm sorry to say I didn't get the chance to take any pics during the swap. But I'd be glad to do a write-up to walk people through it.

It was messy as hell. Fuel got everywhere and we had to take the tranny x-member off, but I think that would only apply to me because of my exhaust setup. But other than that if you can turn a wrench you can replace that filter... if you don't mind all the gas going down your arm.

It seemed like the truck was starved a little before, especially when going from a dead stop. Now it seems that the problem has gone away, and that I have more power. I'm anxious to see if my fuel economy will increase any also.