Hey all, back again with a few more questions. Ive noticed that i'm still getting the wierd humming from the engine bay when i start the truck. It goes on for about 30 seconds to a minute when first started and then goes away, but does not seem to be getting any worse or better. Anything I can try that can help narrow this down? I dont notice any weird issues with the handling or braking, but the noise is rather loud and kinda annoying lol.

Also, how difficult/PITA are ball joints on our trucks? I'm thinking of replacing all four on the front end as i'm getting terrible squealing from both sides of the truck.

 

that humming noise is normal...mine does it so loud it sounds like i am gonna launch out of my drive way. its just the clutch fan.

ball joints if not stock arent that bad...if the are stock then you have to remove the rivets holding them in...those are a total pain.
as far as the squeaking...are the joints all lubed? could just be dry.

 

It's just humming because it doesn't know the words!

 

I hate clutch fans, so much that put in an electric fan

 

LOL good one

 

If you do the ball joints I would suggest getting an air hammer if you have a compressor. It only took me about 5mins a ball joint to hammer out the rivets. But other than that ball joints on these trucks aren't too difficult.

 

Ball joints are very very easy on these trucks but if you do all 4 at once you will want to get an alignment to make sure everything is straight and so you don't ruin your tires. As for taking the ball joints out just a simple ball joint separator (looks like a tuning fork with a REALLY long handle lol) and a 5 pound mallet works good. As for the humming clutch fan I would just ditch it completely and get an electric one, it cools better AND gives you MORE power because the engine doesn't have to turn the fan anymore.

 

ahh see I thought It was the vacuum brake booster for some reason. Well im glad to know its not anything serious lol. As for the squealing i'll have to check, when I bought the truck there was no noise what so ever, so it could very well need lubing, but when i checked and did the oil two days ago the grease fittings looked like they had been touched recently, no grime, no rust no nothing. But ill have to take a gander at them, but if I had to guess I would say they were probably OEM ball joints. But thanks for the heads up guys!

Now as for the electric fan for the clutch, anyone have any preferences?