My truck is pulling to the left when braking. I have read through the post here and possible cause is the track bar, whats the best way to check this. I did check the pads and rotors, looks ok even wear.

 

sounds like either a bad brake line or caliper.
To check the track bar just have someone in the truck turn the wheel back & forth, look at the track bar ends for excessive movement.

 

Its the caliper. The right caliper is not working 100%. Causing the left caliper to do most of the work, therefore it pulls to the left.Replace them both, problem solved. Don't use aftermarket pads either, you won't get more than 15k miles on them before there wore out. Use the factory pads only.

 

another way to tell if the track bar is going south is if the steering wheel moves in different positions going down the road. I replaced mine last year and had to replace again last week with 25,000 on it... thank god for life time warranties...lol. But it is always good to check them on a regular basis.

 

I have an 01 and it has only 45000 miles on it. I have had a couple people tell me I should check my track bar. Do these things wear out that quick? I don't use my truck hard at all but I was talking to a friend the other night who said that they replaced theirs and they couldn't believe how much better the truck ran down the road. I do notice that my truck is all over the road and its a handful to keep it straight but I thought it was the nature of the beast. I guess if I get someone to roll the wheel back and forth as I watch the ends it will tell me. I guess there shouldn't be any movement on either joint.

 

Movement at the end of the bar doesn't need to be excessive for it to be bad.
Factory specs are just a few thousandths of an inch play. If you see any movement at all, especally in the driver's side end, replace the bar.

My truck pulled left while braking when the bar was bad, new lifetime warrantied one from Napa fixed it right up.

Problem could also be the rears are out of adjustment. Adjust by hand, the self adjusters are notorious for not working.

 

Well I got under the dodge today and got the 6 year old to crank the wheel back and forth. I found that the end nearest the drivers side ( with the grease fitting) was moving a fair bit up and down and a bit of side movement. I also noticed that the ball joint that attaches to the pitman arm is quite slack. I wonder can that end be replaced or do you have to replace the whole bar? I know that I have to replace the track bar as a complete unit.

 

U can get the drag link end as a single unit but the other side and the ling side of the tierod are the spendy ones, i would do them all at the same time cause u might find that when u replace them piece by piece when u go to replace the next piece u have to replace the one u just replaced.

 

One other quick question; this might sound stupid but I have been thinking about it all day. The Q is when you take off the track bar should you support the truck so it doesn't get a case of weak knees. Will the truck want to fall off to one side? As I said it is a stupid question but thinking about it if you remove the track bar there is nothing there to keep the truck standing tall and straight. I just can't help but think that the truck will fall off the springs.
I won't be replacing it too soon because of the lack of funds but have to know the answer to that question.

 

You'll be fine, the truck won't go anywhere. When you put it back on have someone wiggle the steering wheel back n forth while putting the bolt in.

 

Better to leave the tires on the ground. Not that it it will go anywhere if jacked up, it's just not necessary.

 

Who sell track bars with the lifetime warranty. I have a 2001 4x4 with the extended cab and 140,000 on it. I converted it over to the 2003 track bar. It lasted about a year and a half. Bought the adjustable bar with the same problem. Every time I hit a bump in the road it goes into death wobble mode. I really do not use the truck that hard either and only put around 8 to 10 thousand miles on it a year.

 

I live up here in Canada and was told that the dealer ( Dodge)has 1 with a life time warranty. I don't know how much it costs or the return deal but I will be checking it out. One other question I have is how much play in the ball joint on the end of the track bar will cause a noticeable wander on the road? I also have a worn ball joint at the end of the drag link where it attaches to the pitman arm. I know mine is a handful on the road and its not about to fall apart but if it will be day and night I may have to try to get some funds in place sooner than later to get her fixed. I hate spending money too soon and not get a great return for my labour.
I wonder if someone actually used their truck as a truck and worked it or four wheeled in the dirt or plowed snow how long these front ends would last. My truck has been driven like a car and has hauled about as much weight as a Honda civic could it its trunk. Its never been off road or in 4x4 that much( Maybe 200 miles in its life) and when driven on dirt side roads I hold up traffic. With 45000 miles on the clock its hard to imagine that a company could or for that matter would put that crap behind their name. Its a good thing that us Dodge ( Cummins ) owners are loyal or is it we arn't that smart that we keep supporting them. If we all stopped buying this junk they may try to make it better. I don't know I just get mad that as easy as I treat my stuff it just falls apart. Why won't they put some heavy stuff in their trucks and in a few years the people are going to take notice and maybe their sales would increase. Maybe they wouldn't have to lay off people and maybe just maybe after spending $50,000 on a pick-up a person could be proud and happy with his or her purchase.
Just a few thoughts from a loyal and not so happy Dodge owner..Maybe not so loyal next time..
These trucks might pull like a freight train but would you really want to put your life on the line sitting atop something that is going to fall apart at any time.
I use to quote the song " Ain't nothin' wrong with the radio" but then the other day the drivers side door speaker quit..

 

Well lets put it this way. My track bar had tons of play and I just replaced it tonight. The old one was so shot that the new one ended up pushing the axle to one side and the wheel got cocked 90* out of whack.

In fighting with the clamp on the tie rod ends to get the steering wheel back straight I discovered how bad the rest of my front end is.

Even with all those parts, it's definitely a night and day difference. I'll be hitting napa up for the rest of the parts tomorrow since auto zone doesn't keep the parts I need in stock, and then heading to firestone to purchase a lifetime alignment for the truck.

 

a lifetime alignment no catches that would be awesome i wonder if the ones around here do that. when i replaced my track bar i also did a new stabilizer shock. I noticed a big improvement over the way it travels down the road. Next up for me is the gearbox stabilizer. i'm going to do a '03 track bar but I'm gonna do some homeschooled engineering on it. If the '03 track bar doesn't last either. I'm gonna find a way to permantly thump this issue. i'm thinking hiem joints instaed of rubber bushings.