Here are a couple of pictures of the Rancho 5000 steering stabilizer that I recentlly installed. Removing the stock damper is a total PITA, atleast for me it was. Have a long handle tapered fork to slip on to the bottom side of the tapered retaining pin/bolt on the passenger side and plan on reefin' on the mother.

The stock stabilizer was pooched. No damping resistance left in it at all. Steering wheel had about 10 to 15 degrees of play in it while running down the road at anything above 80km/hr [50mph for my southern neighbours]. Did a steering box adjustment as well as the Rancho install and things are MUCH better now. Minimal steering wheel play, which I figure is due to four worn out off road tires. New tires will be installed next month and probably a wheel alignment just to be sure.

I've had good success with Rancho products in the past, so I had no questions in my mind when it came time to replace the stock steering stabilizer with an upgrade. Rancho is my brand.

Hope this is helpful for anyone thinking about replacing theirs.

 

Hmm... My Pitman arm is worn out... Might have to think about doing the whole shabang...

If you don't mind me asking, how much did that sucker set you back and how long did it take to install? Any difficulty?

 

No, I don't mind at all. Retail for that damper here in Canada is about $127 at an auto parts store called "Lordco". Depending on what club discount a person belongs to, the price varies from there. My club discount brought it down to approximately $85, and then there is the 12% tax we pay on EVERYTHING we buy [HST - Harmonized Sales Tax].

For the USA folks, Autoanything.com has it for about the same price => http://www.autoanything.com/suspensi...0A2446008.aspx , but picture shown on their website is different from the OE replacement. The OE replacement unit doesn't have the additional brackets because it is not needed for our application on that year of K2500.

Installation is a breeze. It's getting the old OE unit out that is a real bitch in the process.

1. Unbolt the front differential skid plate [easy]
2. Unbolt the drivers side of the OE damper [easy]
3. Remove the castle nut cotter pin on top of the taper pin, passenger side of the OE damper [a little bit of a pain to access depending on the size of your hands]
4. Remove the castle nut on top of the taper pin [easy]
5. Remove the taper pin [PITA, depending on how seized in there it is]
6. Install the replacement Rancho unit, comes with all necessary hardware & torque instructions [easy]

I tried swapping the dampers out on my back in the driveway while there was a break between rain storms and ran out of time because I couldn't free the taper pin with the tools I had on hand and the limited space while working underneath the truck. I tried pry bars from below and tapping on top of the pin with a steel rod & 4lb hammer from above. No luck. So I brought it to my mechanics shop to place on the hoist, use a 4lb hammer, taper pin fork [about 18"-24" long], a steel pipe for leverage, and plenty of effort. That sucker was in there tight!

Here is another related thread. Good luck!

https://www.truckforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=10399