New springs, new ball joints, new shocks...odd feeling
08-12-2009, 09:14 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
New springs, new ball joints, new shocks...odd feeling
background:
05 dodge 2500 4x4, 48k mi., heavy front bumper and winch ~ 370 lbs., no lift or anything special.
ball joints are shot, no suprise. I'll do shocks and springs while I'm at it.
Got the Moog K7467 lower ball joints
Got the Carli "Extreme Duty Upper Ball Joints" ... I don't see a part number per se on their website.
Got the Rancho 9000xl (rs999221-front) shock.
Got some engineered springs.
For the springs: I gave them (some place in Ft. Worth) the spring code off each spring and told them about my 370lb bumber. What I got back seems ok to me. Their paper work suggests they built just what I asked for. Tech at NTB told me it took one mondo spring compressor to get it on.
Tech said he'd seen the Moog many times but never the Carli ball joints. He complained that the documentation that comes with the Carli joints is incomplete. What do I know? I just know that I paid $500 bucks for the things.
Everything went on and the front end alignment was good to go.
I didn't get the guy to show me how to adjust the shocks. When I start turning that ****, I have the feeling I'm about to break something. What am I doing wrong here? One **** setting seems completely backwards from the other. If I'm right, then each shock is set differently. Probably not the best thing. Does the **** "click" turn for each setting? Which is the softest setting; clockwise all the way? ANSWERED BELOW
The drive home felt odd. Very loose though the center steering. Tech said it might feel loose and then tighten up. I sure hope it does because it's not great right now and I don't know if it the shocks (set 2 ways) or the new ball joints or maybe even the new springs are the culprit.
Any ideas or thoughts? I would appreciate it.
05 dodge 2500 4x4, 48k mi., heavy front bumper and winch ~ 370 lbs., no lift or anything special.
ball joints are shot, no suprise. I'll do shocks and springs while I'm at it.
Got the Moog K7467 lower ball joints
Got the Carli "Extreme Duty Upper Ball Joints" ... I don't see a part number per se on their website.
Got the Rancho 9000xl (rs999221-front) shock.
Got some engineered springs.
For the springs: I gave them (some place in Ft. Worth) the spring code off each spring and told them about my 370lb bumber. What I got back seems ok to me. Their paper work suggests they built just what I asked for. Tech at NTB told me it took one mondo spring compressor to get it on.
Tech said he'd seen the Moog many times but never the Carli ball joints. He complained that the documentation that comes with the Carli joints is incomplete. What do I know? I just know that I paid $500 bucks for the things.
Everything went on and the front end alignment was good to go.
I didn't get the guy to show me how to adjust the shocks. When I start turning that ****, I have the feeling I'm about to break something. What am I doing wrong here? One **** setting seems completely backwards from the other. If I'm right, then each shock is set differently. Probably not the best thing. Does the **** "click" turn for each setting? Which is the softest setting; clockwise all the way? ANSWERED BELOW
The drive home felt odd. Very loose though the center steering. Tech said it might feel loose and then tighten up. I sure hope it does because it's not great right now and I don't know if it the shocks (set 2 ways) or the new ball joints or maybe even the new springs are the culprit.
Any ideas or thoughts? I would appreciate it.
08-13-2009, 09:26 AM
#2
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
fixed shock mismatch
Called the rancho tech line and got the low down on the ****.
With the shock tube in the upright position (**** on the bottom), the dial reads at 12 o'clock. Fully clockwise=9=stiff : fully ccw=1=soft The **** only rotates 360 degrees (one full rotation) though all settings.
(Mine were set at 1 on the drivers side and 3 on the pass)
Time to go drive around on it and see if that helped.
With the shock tube in the upright position (**** on the bottom), the dial reads at 12 o'clock. Fully clockwise=9=stiff : fully ccw=1=soft The **** only rotates 360 degrees (one full rotation) though all settings.
(Mine were set at 1 on the drivers side and 3 on the pass)
Time to go drive around on it and see if that helped.
08-13-2009, 03:45 PM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
fixing the shock helped
Fixing that shock helped the ride. I currently have them on the softest (1) setting since my springs are so stiff. The springs and shocks seem to be doing their job ok. I'm wondering if the ball joints alone could be adding that "odd" feeling in the steering.
08-13-2009, 08:24 PM
#5
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I don't know about my tie rods. I'm gonna have the tech look at it tomorrow.
08-13-2009, 10:42 PM
#6
Registered User
08-14-2009, 12:00 PM
#7
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The truck was behaving pretty well with respect to steering before all the work was done. Maybe something was damaged during the install.
Trending Topics
08-14-2009, 01:47 PM
#9
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Canal Winchester, OH
Posts: 478
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Could be that by replacing the shocks, springs, ball joints you uncovered another problem with the steering dampener, tie rods, steering box, u-joints, etc...
08-14-2009, 01:57 PM
#11
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I had the shop look at the front end again this morning and the steering linkage looks good. They did recommend a new steering damper as a suggestion, but I'm not sure how that would affect the steering. It couldn't hurt.
I hope Mikmaze is correct about the ball joints. Maybe I just need to give it a bit.
08-15-2009, 01:38 PM
#13
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 129
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you feel it in the steering that is what I would check first. I would start with the sector shaft in the power steering unit looking for play. I would look at all of the tie rod ends while having someone turn the steering wheel back and forth. Last, you can check the ball joints by jacking up the front of the truck and grabbing the wheel on the top and bottom trying to rock it back and forth looking for play in the ball joints.
Carli's uppers and lowers
08-17-2009, 09:42 AM
#15
Registered User
If you feel it in the steering that is what I would check first. I would start with the sector shaft in the power steering unit looking for play. I would look at all of the tie rod ends while having someone turn the steering wheel back and forth. Last, you can check the ball joints by jacking up the front of the truck and grabbing the wheel on the top and bottom trying to rock it back and forth looking for play in the ball joints.