Fisherguy

Haven't got the letter yey but I still have the stock front end so I'm outa luck anyhow.

Ace, an alignment shop told me my BJ's were shot, the deler told me they're withing spec. I wasn't getting any weird tire wear, it drives straight and no clunking at all, so who do you believe?

xtoyz17

Well, a dealer who DOESN'T jump at an opportunity to replace parts is more likely to be telling the truth than an alignment shop. I had Firestone tell me a wheel bearing was shot once (which it was), took it home and replaced the wheel bearing on the car, and brought it back the next day. THEN they tried telling me the new one had MORE play than the old one.

Went up the road to another Firestone, and they said the front end was in GREAT shape.

Gonna have to make a judgement call if you ask me...

finndogg54

Xtoyz17, had the front end been replaced before?

Ace

I believe the shop's tech who showed me the play in the joints with the truck up on their alignment rack. I don't believe the dealer who won't even let me go in the work bay area. Oh, and you can tell just by looking at it in this pic, not to mention the RF tire was wearing on the outside:

http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...cs/CRD_01a.jpg

Besides, my whole point to this exercise in replacing/adding parts was getting the truck back to a good baseline. It had been run for 20k miles with leveling spacers installed by the PO, so I wasn't really surprised the front end was shot in that short period of time and it developed the DW. I wasn't too savvy on the later Ram front ends when we got the truck a year and a half ago. It was still under warranty, so just ignored it none the wiser. Now I know.

Current pic:

http://stuff.is-a-geek.net/PhotoAlbu...ics/CRD_01.jpg

finndogg54

So, If we have the stock front end are we out of luck?

Fisherguy

I can't tell by the first pic how the tire is wearing.

If you had bad tire wear and DW you definitely had symptoms but I didn't. I'm saying is I had no wear issues, no clunks, no DW, nothing wrong with the front end in general so as far as I knew it was all good, mavybe I'm just naive?

The dealer did take it all apart to do the axle u-joints though, so you'd think if there was any hint of worn BJ's they woulda done them the same time.

Just wondering why you say running spacers for 20k miles would cause problems?

Yes finn, if you never got the previous "upgrade" you're not gona get this new one either, it's the original upgrade that's being changed now.

xtoyz17

Yes, at some point before I purchased the truck it was done. The recall is being sent to people with older trucks because at some point vehicles under warranty started getting the "new" parts, which is why Dodge has such a huge blanket recall. It's just not possible for them to eliminate vehicles from being checked, unless they somehow have access to all the service records showing what parts were put on (you'd think they would, but who knows?!).

If you're under warranty and have play, it's still possible to get the new parts.

Shawn

John_P

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I also got the letter, but it was after I had already gotten the DW and my Technician at Dodge had already ordered and fixed everything and did an excellent job eliminating the DW on my 2006. They took care of everything under my Extended Dodge Warranty Contract.

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John_P

finndogg54

Is the AE series upgrade kit still good?

Ace

Any lift with just springs or spacers and without an adjustable track bar or track bar drop bracket shifts the front axle to the driver side by some amount. The truck is no longer tracking straight down the road with constantly elevated pressure on the ball joints and steering. That equals accelerated wear on all the hard parts and eventually DW. It happens faster on a long bed truck because of the longer chassis' increased leverage against the suspension.

Fisherguy

I don't see how having the axle shifted over maybe ¼-½" causes elevated pressure on the ball joints and steering.

I'm sure I've seen people with 100k miles running a leveling kit without problems.

alboy

I had the levelling kit taken out at around 25000 miles,the truck realigned,this truck is used like a grocery getter, when its not pulling 22700 lbs,at 35000 miles it tracks and drives like my Toyota,Wow.,This a fabulous truck.,

Pull Ya

The last information I heard the "AE" kit is the one you want and is still a good number. I also suggest you get the new pitman arm and steering stablizer with the kit. You have to buy these items seperately.
Jay

finndogg54

I purchased the pitman arm, stabalizer and nuts and bolts as well.

Thanks

xtoyz17

Well I had the revised bracket, tie rod end, and u bolts installed yesterday. They didn't put the new pitman arm on yet, they were too confused to figure out how to remove the 4 bolts holding my steering brace on

Anyways, they gave me the option to take the pitman arm with me and install it myself but I'm just gonna remove the brace and bring it back to them.

Shawn