I'm a back yard mechanic and would like to know what repair manual would be the best to purchase. I have been told that I need to replace all the ball joints, tracking bars and the inter rods (?) by the dealership on my 3500 dodge ram 1 ton 4x4 pickup truck.
If any one has any sugestion about the repair or is the dealership is full of it? Okay here goes, this is what my truck is doing. It wears the inside of the left front tire and pulls to the right while driving. but there is no pulling either way during braking. It does wander a little during driving but no shimmying.
Any recommendation on the replacement parts would be welcomed.

Bill

 

If you question the opinion of the dealership take it to another garage and have them look at it. Wandering during driving may indicate loose suspension parts. Tire wear is usually worn suspension components, tires or alignment. If you are competent to repair your truck yourself you should be able to also diag it.

 

First take a look at your trac bar. This is the weekest link in the front end of our trucks. DO NOT REPLACE the trac bar if it is worn. Order the "Lukes Link" to repair the ball joint end. Also order a polyurithane bushing kit for the other end. I did both of these to my truck and it corrected most of the wandering problem. A worn trac bar can also cause the tires to wear uneven.

How many miles are on your truck?

 

What year is your truck? If it's a 98 or older you're probably due for the ball joints but i wouldn't worry about them yet unless they are clunking of if your front wheels splay outwards when the truck is lifted. You could try a tire change/rotation/alignment combo along with the Luke's link first and then take it from there. As far as the dealership asking 2500.00 thats really not out of line considering the shop rates and labour.

 

My truck is a 98 with about 93,000 miles on it. I have had the front end aligned with no sucess and have just put new tires on the front . I don't mean to sound stupid but can someone tell me what a Lukes Link is? and where might I get one? Is this an after market part? replaces the trac bar?
There is no clunking noise and I haven't tried lifting the truck to check the front end or wheel play yet.
Bill - 98 3500 Dually,auto,4x4, owned for last 18 months- replaced fuel supply line

 

I'm not sure as to the problem. If your truck has a good amount of miles on it, and hauls heavily, or drives on alot of rough raods, then it may be time for ball joints. It is a good idea to check with independant garages rather than dealerships. I'll tell you why,

My brother in law worked for dodge until recently. I was in their shop quite frequently, and I saw how tey do business. When you go in, they give you an estimate as to the repair. The service guy pulls out his book and says it will be a certain number of hours, for example 1.5 hrs for a brake job. The mechanic will have the entire job done in 1/2 hour, and be paid 1/2 hrs for the work. The dealership pockets the other part. This motivates the mechanics to "find" something else wrong, as they are not making much on the job. If they find $ worth of work to the dealership, then they get $ 250 or so. If they aren't working on a car, they don't get paid anything for being there. Guys have to basically lie to feed their families.

Warranty work pays even less to the mechanic. It goes like this: company rips off dealership, dealership rips off mechanics, mechanics rip off customers.

 

now,now who would belive that

 

It is called flat rate. Yes sometimes you can beat the time. Lots of times you can't. Flat rate system sucks. One of the reasons I quit the trade. That is why I suggested another opinion.

 

Go to lukeslink.com The clunking you are hearing is probably your track bar mount, at the ball and socket end. If you get someone to turn the wheel back and forth, you can see it bind.

 

I replaced the balljoints on my truck. Easy job. I think that the front end of the 4x4 Dodge is fun to work on if you are in for a little workout. Some of them parts are a little heavy.
Get somebody to work the steering wheel for you and look for stuff moving (Joints, sockets and all those gizmos.) Next step would be to lift the front axle and look for play with no load.

AlpineRAM

 

My brother in law got out of the trade too. You don't make enough fir a good living if you're an honest guy. he flat rate is also structured so the dealership doesn't have to take the hit, the mechanic does. Sucks doesn't it.

 

Most local alignment shops charge about $100.00 per balljoint installed. $2500 is insane for the work quoted.


I would take it to a local tire/alignment shop for a second opinion.