Hey guy's Glad to be typing this. Had a major incident today with the front end steering. I have read about the track bar and everything else but this took me for a loop!!! Can anyone help me out here as far as what should I do. I snapped the track back bar and lost the stabilizer bar which was also snapped from the frame. And I mean snapped, no broken joints, just snapped from the frame. What a ride!!!

 

Need some MAJOR help here guy's I need to get this truck back on the road. I know nothing about the front end steering and suspension of these trucks. But I do know my truck was hauled home on a trailer by a



Duramax The guy is giving a real hard time about this, even tho he know"s he doesn't
have a chance running me. But he got to pull my truck to town. It's not a good night































Duramax

 

you can buy off the shelf replacement parts, i would stay away from Moog.
both the trac bar and stabalizer go on pretty straight foraward.
Where in WI are you, i work in elkhorn and could show you what goes where/

 

Thanks for the reply. I am in the S.W. corner of WI. Track bar looks pretty simple to replace but the stabilizer will need to have a little welding because it snapped the mounting brackett completely off. What else should be checked or replaced? I want to make sure everything is covered. Don't want to have that ride again. You should see the black marks ( death wobble x2) both front wheels were wobbling and leaving black marks. May even be a black mark in my shorts

 

you can get replacement drag link and all that from an auto parts place. Moog is good but dont buy the trackbar there, look into a 3rd gen conversion from solidsteel.biz or better yet a heavy duty setup from thuren fabrication. thuren also has a steering setup that looks really solid.
After that Id look at any loose ball joints or universals. Pry on them with a bar to verify theres no play.
Id invest in a good steering damper too, in the hopes it tames any potential death wobble and sharp loads against the steering.
You might want to look at a DSS to take the load off the steering gearbox outout shaft, if you dont have one.

 

all of those are good suggestions, if you can lay underneat and have someone move the wheel, you will see every last loosepart.
I just did everything on my front except the bearings, now i have a shimmy when i brake. time to throw more parts at it. with these dodge front ends, if its not one thing, its another.

 

I've enjoyed my Moog trackbar, but I am on my second Moog. The lifetime warranty (do they still offer this?) means that I have a lifetime supply of trackbars...

It takes <1 hr to replace and was cheap enough *shrug*. No alignment is needed, as it only affects steering wheel position while driving straight ahead, and this can be adjusted on the link off the pitman arm, without affecting the rest of the alignment geometry.

 

hi
get the ssi bracket and install a 03 up track bar , best money i ever spent !

your truck will stear like new and no more woren out track bars !

it is a perminate fix !

 

the track bar should not effect the steering should it?

 

Sure does. If the track bar joint is loose (aka the way it always wears out), the axle will actually move side to side a whole lot and make your steering loose.

 

and with the track bar lose as it becomes when worn the axle will go left- thereby steering the wheels to the right- the axle will follow to the right- steering the wheels to the left... Do this faster than I can type= Death Wobble.
A steering damper won't help a bit against the track-bar induced wobble.
I've put a luke's link on my stock track bar more than 100 k miles ago and still it's rock solid.

AlpineRAM

 

Im a big fan of the Lukes LInk. Again though, its a patch on a pretty weak design. If the trac bar isnt in perfect condition, you risk destroying alot more components. I ( like others ) have considered taking a stock bar, modifying it with heim joints. perhaps on day I will actually do it.

 

http://www.cphsales.com/SolidSteel/index.html, you should really realy upgrade to the 03 track bar, will never change your track bar again, steers way nicer to, only way to go guys usta change mine every 30000 km thought there had to be a better way was gonna do the same modify one with new brackets then i discovred you can buy it, bolts right on, think its about 300 bucks, not sure tho, only way to go!