How many miles are on your truck?

Why are they saying you need all the parts? (besides the tires, you've already explained that part)

Generally speaking when a vehicle is ran into a ditch or something, you may bend a control arm or an inner tie rod end. Sounds more like maintence recommendations unless the ball joint ripped apart or was somehow damaged.

As far as the order of importance, that will depend on why the parts were recommended. if they are loose or where actaully damaged then they need to be replaced soon but if the boots were torn or something similiar to that, then they can wait. First priority would be the tires, if it comes apart is could cause more damage to the truck. The suspension parts are really best to do all at the same time since tou have to take it all apart to change the lower ball joints, might as well change the uppers and outter tie rod ends while your there. Be sure to get it realigned after you get done as well.

If you can find out why the recommended the parts, I can be a little more helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Get greasable as long as you will maintain it. Sealed is good for say 100k miles. Greasable will last damn near forever as long as you grease it every oil change or so.

Ball joints, tires, tie rod ends, then shocks. Shocks aren't really THAT important honestly. Do them last.

 

Thanks guys. I'm not sure if these problems are directly attributed to when I jumped the drainage ditch, but I brought it in for an alignment and they told me all this.

They say I need new tie rod ends because there is too much slack and new upper and lower ball joints because there is too much slack. They also said my shocks are very weak, but as of now I'm not really worried about them. I'm hoping to get bilstein adjustable shocks.

Ohh and my truck has 114,000 miles.

 

You can test all the parts yourself too.

Ball joints:
Lift the wheel slightly off the ground, put a tire iron between the tire and pavement and use it as a lever to "lift" the tire. If there is any play it's most likely a ball joint(could be wheel bearing also).

Shocks:
Push down on that corner of the car, over and over(get the car bouncing up and down) then suddenly stop and if the car continues to bounce a few times the shocks are bad. With good shocks when you stop bouncing it it should rise and not compress again.

Tie rod ends:
Feel for play in the wheel and crawl under and feel for play by hand. Also can try to turn the wheel with it off the ground(by hand...like you physically grab the tire and try to turn it) and if there is excessive play you should be able to feel it then.

 

Thanks Sean, you know anything about mevotech products? They tie rod ends are $25 a pop compared to moog $50

 

Not really sure on them. I do know MOOG is very good.

 

How hard is it to change the lower ball joints on my truck? I believe my ball joints are bolt on correct? Not pressed on.

 

I've never done them on a ram but usually you back off the nut then have to pry it apart. Takes some force usually. I've only done one set it was a PITA but probably just because I didn't really know what to do. I've watched my dad's mechanic friend do it and he did both sides in a couple hours, made it look easy. An impact helps a lot.

 

Yeah I might pass on doing the lowers myself. I'll just have to drive back home and get my mechanic to do it. I'm fairly confident on doing everything else. I've never done shocks on a coil over suspension so idk how that will go.

 

IIRC they are struts on the front?

Struts are pretty easy, just need a few tools. I actually just did a set saturday on my wife's car. Took me 4 hours to do both front struts and the rear shocks.

After the old strut is out you have to get a strut coil spring compressor(autozone has loaners) and compress the spring then take off the piston rod nut that holds it on. If you don't have this tool it's near impossible and dangerous. It's pretty easy overall though.

What makes strut/shock changes difficult is usually rusty/corroded hardware.

 

Here's what the strut coil spring compressor looks like. Ignore the fact that I'm using two different ones(from two different sets). One of mine got jambed/stuck somehow during use and I couldn't tighten or loosen it so I had to cut it to get it off then used an autozone loaner to finish up. So I had one of mine and one of autozones on the spring.

The one from autozone(bottom) is significantly better and easier to use. And twice the cost lol.

 

Ok a couple of things here. Almost everthing you said isn't that hard to do, probably ball joints are the worst of them. If it were me I would do tie rod ends and ball joints at the same time because to do ball joints you have to disconnect the tie rod end. If you look at my post here http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?t=117742 it will help out alot on ball joints (lowers), and upper are very east on our style trucks because there are just 2 bolts because you replace the whole control arm.

Also isn't your 2005 torsion bars, not coil over? If it is a 4x4 then it is like this

 

Thanks for the help guys I still have kne more class so I'll get on the computer when I get home. And no I don't have torsion bars up front.

 

And no I don't have torsion bars up front.

sorry about that, my bad. I got the diagram for a 2005 dodge ram 1500 4x4 so I thought they were all that way and then the 2wd was coil over. guess I was wrong. :doh:

 

If you decide to do the lower ball joints I would rent a front end kit from an auto store like advance auto is where i rented mine at. Made the job 1000x easier

 

Ohhh definitely. I planned on it.

 

Ok, I was just letting you know what I found out. Don't even mess around with a pickle fork because its a waste of time. That front end kit that I was talking about has a separator for tie rod ends, and even more important it has one for ball joints that makes them just pop off. Here is what it looks like

 

Yeah I saw it in your other thread looks like it makes it pretty damn easy. Guess I'll find out soon. Just gotta find time this weekend with real season opening Sunday.

 

Well guys I did the upper control arms when I got outta class today. And I must say, I had some serious difficulty with this one. Mostly because I didn't have the correct tools. I just moved to my own house so I don't have a compressor, impact or nothin. I'm not going to lie. It took about 5 hours. I had stubborn bolts, no good penetrant and the ball joints were a real pita. I bought a little remover tool fork lookin thing. My left side was so bad I had to use ******* ingenuity to get it off. Anyways I'll post some pictures tomorrow. And I'm doing the tie rod ends tomorrow when I get outta class at 1:30.

 

^damn man that fork thing is the pickle fork that that guy said not to use lol. At least you got it done.

 

HA HA yup, at least he got it done. The lowers that pickle fork will NOT work on, at least didn't on mine. I highly recommend just going and renting the front end kit that had the puller. I think it cost me $160 but that is just a deposit and you get 100% of that back

 

Well I went to every auto parts store in town and no one had a tie rod puller thingy. I did the tie rod ends tonight and they were a PITA too. Took about three hours to do both sides. Anyways here's some pictures from last night.

Workin in the dark taking advantage of the light plant I bought for the hurricane season hahaah.

Got the new upper control arm on.

******* ingenuity at it's finest right here. Put a 2x4 on a jack pushing up on the fork thingy. Worked pretty good actually.

And of course the reward

I'm trying to get my bilsteins put on friday so I can go pick up my friends toyo m/t 35x12.5s. Hoping to be leveled with new tires and new lower ball joints by next week.

 

At least your getting er done

 

Yup! Got my lift and wheel spacers in the mail! CST 3" lift with rancho shocks all around. :SHOCKED: