63wagon

I went in for new tires the other day on my 03. I put on the same size and brand tires. The tire shop recommended new ball joints, so I took it to my mechanic who confirmed this. I had the replaced with grease-able units.

Now the sucker is all over the road. Slightly like driving a backhoe at 50 mph. I figured hey, maybe the tires need to be broken in no biggie. 5000 miles and an alignment later same problem. Pressure has been adjusted up and down in the tires. I have a thuren track bar and 150k on the truck.

Any ideas where to look? I thought maybe they are just a bad batch of tires but don't really want to replace new tires with new tires. I'll give rotating a shot. I would to get this solved.

Thanks!!

06RAM2500

I replaced the tie rods, and the sway bar end links. After that, I got a real good feel on a bad steering box.

If the tire rotation helps, you know what the culprit is, and they should have a warranty.

torquefan

Do you know what brand the replacement ball joints are? There are a lot of reports on here about Moog ball joints causing this sort of complaint on 3rd gen trucks. They can sometimes be too tight and the steering doesn't return to center well after a turn. The result is a poor on-center feel and a wandering sensation.

63wagon

That's about the sensation I'm getting. I'll have to check on the brand of joints though. Any remedies short of replacing?

Steering box was replaced at 50k. I know this box does have 100k on it but hopefully they last longer than that.

torquefan

I know a friend of mine was in the same boat, diagnosing one several years ago after it came in with the same complaint, and Moogs that had recently been installed by somebody else. He had gone through everything and finally decided to try another brand of ball joint. The improvement was immediate as soon as the Moogs were gone. This truck had also had enough miles put on the Moogs to prove that they didn't just need to wear in and loosen up. I don't think there are any other remedies, unfortunately, if this is your trouble.

63wagon

Update.... I rotated the tires and checked over everything again. Problem is still there. Who would have thought moog joints would be a problem. Thanks to everyone who responded.

RWDCelicadude

It may not be the Moog joints fault but it is definitely the balljoints. I had a "diesel mechanic" install mine at one point because the old ones (moog) wore out during the winter and I didn't feel like flat backing it in the rain. I bought some XRF joints and had him put them in, the truck instantly drove like crap. I asked him about the install and he said, "I had to crank my air hammer up to 125psi to get them in." This ruined the brand new ball joints and made my truck wander all over the road. I told him he should never work on another truck due to his idiocy and lack of a desire to make it right, bought new ball joints, bought the tool to install them and did it myself. Truck drives great now.

I would bet that there is a lot of this going on. If you do the job yourself just toss the new joints in the freezer before you start, then after you get the old joint out, heat the knuckle and the frozen joint will drop it with a little tap or a small squeeze from the tool. Makes life a million times easier.

Dieselbuilder

A lot of mechanics do not take the time to clean the rust out of the holes before installing ball joints

verdesardog

When I put carli bj's in my truck I had to use a brake hone to enlagre the bore a bit even after freezing the joints and heating the knuckle....but the carli bj's did make a night and day difference to the better for my truck.

SpLaT

tie rod ends and or trac-bar bushings are shot.

RWDCelicadude

Why do people look at other options? He replaced two parts: tires and balljoints and the problem started, that means one of those two things are causing the problem. The chances of trac bar bushings going bad instantly are extremely slim.

SpLaT

yup thought same thing when I installed new tires... trac bar bushins both shot... trac bar bushings or tie rod ends ... I'm sticking with those two ideas

besides pretty easy to check trac bar... get someone to turn wheels left and right look for movement at the trac bar joints... easy eh?

tie rod ends grab em if ya can turn em by hand - replace em... pretty easy too eh?

didn't cost a thing for a few minutes of yers and a friends time.

p.s. the supposed issue with the Moog ball joints was one of them sticks, so as you turn wheel left/right or right/left one would feel for lack of a better word "grab" when straightening the wheel back out.

RWDCelicadude

Quick edit, I guess you saw my earlier post. Anyway, you're right, they are easy to check. Although if you turning a tie rod end by hand means it's bad I would put money on 99% of trucks out there having "bad" tie rod ends. You check a tie rod the same way you check the track bar, except put your hand on the tie rod end while the wheel is being moved, you'll feel it jump if it's loose when the wheel makes the transition from one direction to the other.

I know the issue with the moogs as well, and they could be an issue, my guess is they are the issue here. The moogs were machined incorrectly so the curve of the ball in the joint didn't match the curve of the socket and the ball would ride on only a small area, causing a huge load on a small section of metal, causing the sticking sensation you speak of. It would also cause premature wear and the joint would become loose after only a few thousand miles. There are some pictures up online of a cut open joint showing just this. It's a pretty cool read but I forget where I found it, it's been years. I don't know if this was a bad batch of joints or if it's an ongoing problem with quality control or what. They're cheap, you get what you pay for.

As far as trac bar bushings, you're right, they could be bad, but I bet they aren't what's causing his problem. It's a pretty good bet you can go find bad trac bar bushings on most high mileage dodges, it happens. The OP can probably replace his trac bar bushings and it will get better, then he can replace his worn steering box and it will get better, then he can replace all the other bushings in his front end and it will be even better... but he still won't have solved the original problem.

SpLaT

yup! and another thing he can check on his own is the intermidiate shaft, check the telescopic part and universal joints.. . just pointing out easy things for a owner to check on his/her own

trac bar, tie rod ends, intermidate shaft, steering dampner(leaking/leaked) all else looks good/tight.. steering box

been doin this stuff for years Dodge and Fords...

RWDCelicadude

Doing what? Incorrectly diagnosing parts? Ignoring the original problem and replacing everything else that may or may not be bad?

Unfortunately the only way I found to really check the ball joints was to have the wheel off, disconnect the tie rod end and move the knuckle back and forth by hand. Then you could feel the stick/release, if you have good joints it will move smoothly through it's whole range of travel. It's rather like a bad u-joint, where it will have a very free spot in the center of it's range of motion.