Just bought a 1999 4WD SLT Laramie with 120k on it. It runs great, needs a few things, most of which we will tackle together, which was part of the plan.

I want to hand the truck over to him with all brakes and suspension safety related components refreshed.

Front end is sloppy and wanders....All of the bushings that I can see are dry, cracked, and some half hanging out!

So far I plan on replacing the track bar, ball joints, control arm bushings, stabilizer bar end links, and bushings. Shocks may be ok. Completely new brake rotors, drums, and pads.

Couple of questions. First, if I'm going to do all of this work, what else should I do while i'm in it deep. What should I look for, particularly with the wandering issue.

Second...control arm bushings. Need 4 per arm, correct?

Thanks all....

 

Check the wheel bearings on the front end as well. They are unit bearings, and kinda poor design.... Since you are doing ball joints, do the front universals too. Ain't gonna get any easier, as the axles have to come out anyway.

Check the soft brake hoses as well. Might just as well flush the brake system. Gonna be doing some bleeding anyway.

Two bushings per arm, four arms. Total of eight bushings. May have to have a shop press them in/out for ya.

Check the rest of the steering system while you are there, might be some other sloppy parts as well.

There is a diy article in the faq section here, for steering box adjustments. A weak point on the half ton trucks. (and the heavier ones too for that matter....)

 

LOOK'S GOOD. OH wait i don't see it. You going to keep us in suspense on what your new ram look's like. Let us all check it out with some kewl pic's. Got lift with big tire's?

 

Thanks for the quick reponses!

 

Aren't these halves? So 4 per arm?

 

Thx for the on the lot for sale pic's. Hope the son enjoys it lol.

 

Measure them.... and then measure the space available to stick them into..... They might be halves, but, appearances can be deceiving.

By the way: Welcome to DF.

 

don't forget the steel break lines. the one that goes from the front to rear is the most likely to blow right behind the gas tank. on both my trucks when i first got them and started doing brake work that is one thing that always blew when i was bleeding the brakes.

 

get one of them there borgenson shafts too.. lotsa folks rave about that thing..

 

nice looking truck. welcome to df.

if you remove the front axles for u-joints, you might as well replace the axle seals. otherwise they'll leak and you'll have to take it all back apart again.

are you from Macon and is your user name SkyDog from "the SkyDog"?