2007 3500 dodge ram mega with 5.9L

I have 2 inch coil spacer / level

It appears I gotta replace most of the front end due to lack of care... now DEATH WOBBLE IN THE WORST WAY!

THE PROBLEMS:
4 tie rods BAD
Steering dampner needs replaced
Hub bearings loose
Ball joints bad
U joint on Driver side bad

was told Dodge has "upgrade OEM kit for tie rods and dampner"

My question is, should I go with OEM to replace the above or is there a better alternative to keep this from happening again... going to keep the truck forever so I need it to last. It only has 70k miles.

Thanks!!! Please, help with opinions and past experience!

 

BTW I have BFG AT 35" tires

 

Alright ROOFGOOF...as you will find on this sight and many others, there are multiple causes/ cures for death wobble.

Considering I had a bad bout with DW and the fact that I too was running a 2" leveling kit (trucks seem similar when I was going through this), I will simply offer my advice based on my experience:
1) How long have you had your BFG A/Ts? I would start with replacing these immediately with a good "E" rated tire (personally I switched out my tires to a Nitto Trail Grappler 35x12.5x17-E rated tire)...problem went away as soon as I switched tires. When I was going through these issues I found MANY folks having extreme DW problems that were solved by taking these tires off.
NOTE: I am not a BFG hater, I actually like their tires and have had multiple sets on multiple trucks. However, "these Dodges" don't seem to play nice with these tires.
2) After changing tires I would slowly upgrade items until the problem is gone. Case in point, the next thing I would change right off the bat is the steering dampener. This is a cheap and easy upgrade that you can install yourself (personally, I would go with a Bilstein steering dampener rather than the OEM one)
3) You "might" want to look at getting a steering box stabilizer (there are many brands out there that range from $200 - $400). But again, this is another "fairly cheap" upgrade that you can do yourself and many swear that it is the answer...I don't have one (yet...)
4) If your ball joints are bad, I would simply replace them as a general rule (not sure how much they are playing into your DW...I had ball joints that were completely done...however, they never contributed to any DW). I ended up going with some XRF ball joints (uppers & lowers), and they have been good. Again, tons of choices out there depending on what you want to spend...

*In short, I am simply suggesting that you try to diagnose the problem and replace the cheapest/ easiest items first in an effort to cure your DW problems. I say this, because you will find many on here that have taken their trucks in to a dealer (or the like) where they just throw parts at the problem with still no solution. Hence, in some cases you have guys that have spent thousands of dollars and the problem still exists...

As for your Hubs, tie rods, and U-joints...you will have to simply decide how confident you are with the advice you got to change these. I "could see" your u-joints and hubs going bad (considering I replaced my hubs around the same mileage). However, I would have to think that you tie rods shot not be shot at 70K...but again, I am not looking at your truck.

Good luck brother, hope this helps. I know it is a VERY frustrating problem!

 

VERY good advise above!!

I have just turned 115k miles and still on all stock parts. I have done about 80% highway driving and only about 15% of that was towing so that may be why I have had such good luck.

I would follow cstewarts list for sure. The tires are obviously not cheep so maybe find a buddy you might be able to swap tires with for a few days but this still might not be an absolute yes or no on the DW.

Keep us posted as to what you do and find.

 

Rockcrawler's Quote:
"maybe find a buody you might be able to swap tires with for a few days but this still might not be an absolute yes or no on the DW"

^^^This is actually a REALLY good idea right from the start "IF" you have someone you can do this with...

Again, good luck and PLEASE let us know what the solution is!

 

As others said, don't jump the gun here. How do you KNOW all that stuff is bad?
How is your truck driven? If off road alot, construction, oil patch, ranch etc I could see a worn out front end in 70k, but not if most of the miles are on pavement. Just over 100k on my truck, same as yours minus the leveling kit and it's still pretty tight, even the steering damper is good.
Ball jts have been "out of spec" on mine for 40k mi now, on caster only. Have not replaced them since tires are wearing fine.
Are your tires wearing badly? If not then I'd suspect most of the front end compnents are still ok.
Not sure what it is with 35" BFG AT's and death wobble. I've run more than one set of 285 BFG's (33" tire +/-) on my 07 and other trucks incl 2nd Gen Dodges without issue, but start there first. Seems an abnormally high % of DW trucks are running 315 BFG AT's.

 

I could rotate my BFG's and air them up and my DW would go away....

I made it go away before the BFG's wore out though. Set your caster to a minimum of 3.5 degrees.

Make sure your trackbar bushings are good. I put urethane ones in mine for very little money.

Replace the steering stabilizer.

Run max pressure in your front tires.

Putting wide soft tires on skinny rims on a truck that has the geometry for death wobble is a recipe for disaster. Then lifting the front decreases your caster further.

Good luck, mine was a real death trap.

 

My tie rods are definitely shot...found a bad Ujoint too on driver side.... Im gonna start there with the so called "OEM upgrade".

My tires are wearing uneven..outer tread. I got my 2" spacer and tires on the same day and it was fine... about 20k miles later is when things started to go south... DW which only occured on a bump going over 60mph. Now its undrivable at 50mph hitting a bump.

I'm going to try the fix after Thanksgiving... I''ll advise.

 

I am in the process of doing the front end on my truck. I didn't ever have the DW, and can't comment on fighting that battle. I run stock front tires on a dually.

If you are going to pull the hubs to get to the shaft ujoint, may as well do the ball joints if there is any question about them. Carli's (gold plate), or the XRFs I guess.

Get a really good quality ball joint press.

When reinstalling the shafts be gentle (don't mess up the seals!).

I ordered the front end linkages from dodgefactoryparts.com. I haven't got the stuff yet but it looks right.

Or, here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180959184434...84.m1497.l2649

Would have ordered from ebay, but they won't ship to Canada.

Here's a thread about the front end parts etc:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...eering+upgrade

Here's a thread about the ball joints:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...joints+replace

I found them both to be good sources of info.

Chay

 

Oops, wrong thread on the steering. Here's the good one:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...=2008+steering

This is from that thread:

"Here are the part numbers:

52122362AB---Updated Steering assy (Rev B)
52122362AE---Updated Steering assy (Rev E)

68039930AA---Updated Pitman Arm
52106909AE---Steering Damper
6502473---Bolt (1), to attach steering damper
6505623AA---Nuts (3), to attach new linkage
6502835---Nuts (2), to attach steering damper "

The part # for the linkage is up to 52122362AH.

whe you install it there is something about it jamming if not set up right...search it and you will find it. Something about the pitman arm and the tie rod end lining up at full turn one way or the other....anyway good luck.



Chay

 

The tire store that I respect, has several complaints on the BFG tires, they have bad multiple problems trying to balance and get the shake and vibration to go away. This is on multiple brands of trucks, and different sizes of tires, but all BFG brand.

 

sorry old thread and just found it again while searching...for you bet - the death wobble ONCE AGAIN !

I did OEM upgrade. The OEM parts are definitely more beefier. After the install it rode great. Rotated my tires and balanced them (LOTS OF WEIGHTS ADDED).

Well, its back...not as bad but its getting slowly worse. I looked tonight and myBFG's AT are D range which I am reading is not a good mix.... So, Im looking to get rid of the tires and possibly going to E range but in a taller skinnier tire. My driving is mostly highway so I don't need a real aggressive tread. I just need to find a good tire now..... I think its the tires this time...

 

UPDATE UPDATE SEPT 2013...

I upgraded with the NEW OEM tie rods, added a thule track bar... still had wobble..

THEN !!!! I ditched my 315's BFG' AT's.....put on 285/75/17's NITTOS dura grapplers. NO WOBBLE ANYMORE...drove it comfortably at 85mph...something I havent done it a long time. So far soooo good.

I think i gotta just decrease my air now..Im running 60psi in the tires..I think I can probably drop a bit.

The only thing Im going to do now is upgrade my end links on my sway bar... my bushings are shot. So, I'm now looking for an upgrade.

Cheers!