Ok, My truck is a 2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually 4x4, etc. This is the first dodge truck I have ever owned. I have 40,000 or so miles on the clock and I just had Big O replace all six tires. They told me that my upper and lower ball joints where shot and quoted me $1200 to fix it.

I about had heart failure. Only 40,000 on the truck and the ball joints are going. When I got home I crawled under the truck and checked. Sure enough, there is some play in them. It's not real bad yet. I did buy the extended warranty on the truck so, someone else will be paying to fix the truck, minus the $100 deductible.

My question is this a known issue for these trucks? If so, I don't want the dealer to put the same dodge parts back on. What would a good replacement brand be?

Thanks in advance. Anthony

 

how much play is in there
i just went through a cvip inspection on my 06 and was told by the mechaninc that my truck needed upper balljoints on both sides
but not lower
after some digging i found that they do come from the factory with about 2 thousandths play to begin with and will look like thay have a lot more with the hub and wheel on

 

Im in the same boat as you, bought the truck with 44k on the clock and the ball joints had play but not much, shrugged my shoulders and said deal with it when it gets worse. 61k currently still the exact same amount of play, but the ujoints at the wheels are getting bad so doin it all at once. IMHO i like moog dont have part #s but im going with them spicer for the ujoints should be a fun weekend

 

Measure the amount of play you have. They actually allow quite a bit, like 90 thousandths of axial play, and most aftermarket shops don't seem to know this. Also, these days ball joints don't last any longer on Fords or GMs either.

 

I can agree with that. With 59K on my truck, the balljoints on the Dodge have now lasted about 2K miles longer than the ones on my 97 F250.

 

what a load of manure!

HD components that come from factory with no grease zerts.
fact is our truck's joints carry a substantial load. not everyone's usage is the same.

dodge should give back option to reload grease.
is it a surprise.... most after market joints come with grease zerts.

when a joint goes dry... game over.

 

I serviced my truck yesterday 46,000 miles 28,000 with the 22.5's and my ball joints are still good

 

Yes, it's a known issue. Try using the search function and you will locate numerous threads on the subject. I had mine replaced at 47K

 

My truck had the upper and lower ball joints on both sides replaced at 52,000 miles.

 

Anthony, welcome to the ball joint club! 40k is pretty typical. Just make sure you replace them with the Moog greasables (NOT the Chrysler OEM components) and you should be good for many, many more miles. It's one of the few known issues with these trucks. I just keep telling myself that it's minor compared to what some of the problems the blue oval boys put up with.

BTW, you can do it yourself for less than half of what Big-O quoted you.

 

Don't listen to the folks at Big-O, they just want to upsell you on their services. They told me the same thing at 35K and now my truck has 95K with the original OEM joints. They're shot now, but at least I did the research at the time and avoided unneeded repairs back then!!

 

I always here of people having problems with there ball joints and mine are still good. I have 137,000 m on my truck. I supose in time they will go out..

 

I agree for sure. Ask them how much play they measured, and what the spec is. I would almost guarantee they won't have an answer. They'll just reply that they like to replace them whenever they feel any play.

 

I had mine replaced at 15K but it was my fault, i installed the Thruen X-over steering and well that didnt work well for me and i had to buy new knuckles.. Well i just replaced the ball joints at 104,000 on the od.. Bought them from Dodge for $360 all 4 and had a tech install them in the side for $300...

 

not familiar with "Thruen X-over steering" but sounds like all you did was put your joints into a severe service situation (similar to using 4x4). And needed to be serviced extra by loading up with grease.

normal service intervals for servicing joints 20+ years ago was with every oil change. that's what gas station jockeys did, back when full service gas stations was common.

stating the obvious, but CTD are not normal duty vehicles. dodge should put back grease zerts to allow users the option of servicing our joints at what ever service intervals needed. be it every 10k miles and/or after a rough 4x4 session. where your joints are put into severe service.