What Ghostrider said: Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Let's address Shmoo's problem first. This mechanic friend of yours. Did he suggest these changes after thoroughly and competently checking your steering, brake and suspension components? The world is overrun with guys who call themselves mechanics, but who are in fact computer-screen readers and parts replacers. I haven't seen your truck or the way you load it or, for that matter, Philadelphia. Tell me, do you regularly load to maximum legal weight? Beyond, even, because no-one checks pickup trucks? Are there many rough, potholed logging roads in Philadelphia? How about long, steep mountain grades, steeper than 6% and longer than, say, a mile? Do you race your truck on these roads? If the answer to ALL these questions is yes, then I, myself, would be looking at improvements like the ones your mechanic friend has suggested. IF, that is, I had thoroughly inspected and properly adjusted my existing components, and found too many them to be hopelessly in need of an overhaul, IF I had the parts on hand at a reasonable price to change my truck from its original specifications, and IF I was not the mother of all truck drivers, who knows that these trucks were designed to be lovingly maintained forever at an astonishingly low cost, and that what costs more is poor maintenance.
Whew. That might be the longest sentence I have ever written. Here's what it means: Find the problems in your existing systems and fix them. Take it to a reputable shop if you have to. Get a manual. These trucks are stone simple. Familiarize yourself with your grease gun and the locations of ALL the lubrication points on your truck. Once everything is working as it should, then is the time to evaluate your truck's performance, and not before. Look at this:
[img]http://thumb11.webshots.net/t/28/29/4/65/27/2090465270096215731aXKRnL_th.jpg[/img] Okay, no. That's a gag pic. Look at this instead:
[img]http://thumb11.webshots.net/t/53/753/1/87/18/2078187180096215731SvWDHj_th.jpg[/img] Click on this thumbnail for a closer look. There's nothing phony about this picture. 3,000 lbs. of timber headed down a mountain road, stopped not for a rest, but for a photo opportunity. Everything on this truck is original equipment except for the wheels and tires, and now the mirrors. It all works just fine, and handles like a very good truck, which is precisely what it is. It is not a sporty car, and I do not race it. Well, not much. But you CAN bet everything under there is working as it should.
Sarah, I think your truck needs no further changes. Enlist the help of your FIL. Even let him test-drive it if he can come up with a good reason. Yes. I am taking back what I said before, within limits. He still needs his own truck.
