I have a 97 1500 SLT 4x4. I need to have the tie Rods and the shocks replaced. What do I need to buy? I've looked at Rockauto but I'm not sure exactly what I need to do a full replacement. I would like to do it "right" so I guess Im looking for suggestions on tie rods ( there are four I think) shocks front and rear and springs for the front. The leafs in the back are seemingly ok. I heard Moog was a good brand. Thanks for the help.

 

moog is the brand you should get for sure.
are you sure that your tie rod ends are bad or do you just have torn boots?

 

the mechanic that I had evaluate the front end told me it needed all new tie rods they were the long bar kind not just ends. He wrote it was unfit for the road, it is pretty nasty in there and groans and moans and squeaks and clunks and yada yada yada its a 97.

 

you should take the tie rods loose and verify that they are bad before you buy new ones.
if you take it loose at the steering knuckle then you can rotate it and try to jiggle around. the part with threads on it should rotate smoothly with no snags. if you can move the threaded part away from the socket then it is bad. but some mechanics will say that a tie rod is bad if the boot is ripped without even checking it out.
mine had ripped boots and when i replaced them i saw that the tie rod ends were in good shape so i just put the new boots on, greased them and forgot about them.

moans and groans, don't know.

squeaks-could be a number of things. there was a tsb for seals on the outer end of the axle tubes that says to just cut it off to stop squeaking. u joints can squeak if they're bad. suspension bushings can squeak also.

clunks- bad ball joints, u joints, wheel bearings, tie rods, loose track bar, loose shock bolts, or something to do with the steering shaft or steering box.

yada yada yada- shouldn't be a problem.

i'm trying to save you some $ if the tie rods aren't bad. so the quick check would be to go out there and grab the tie rod near the steering knuckle. it should be able to rotate but if you can jiggle it up and down then it is bad.

what is wrong with your springs? are they just worn out? if so then there are a few threads from the last few days that discuss springs. so look back a couple pages and you will see them.

 

Thanks I will give that a check tonight. I guess the thing that is confusing me is are the tie rods a single bar or something that screws into a bar? Moog seems to have two different kinds? Shocks are shot springs in front are probably ok, just think red or black ones would look cool

 

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...S_715071212___
that is the driver side inner tie rod. you will see that it is attached to the sleeve that connects to the outer tie rod end.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...S_715071157___
that is the drivers outer tie rod end. it is attached to the driver side knuckle, and it will go bad long before the inner tie rod.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...S_715066889___
that is the passenger side outer tie rod, it is connected to the knuckle on the passenger side.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...S_715055706___
and that is the passenger side inner tie rod end, it is connected to the outer tie rod and it should last much longer than the outer tie rod as well.

 

Dude you rock, Thank you for the links gonna go take a look now and see what I see.