Never trust the Haynes manual!! Just use it for a point of reference, then apply common sense.

 

where can you get common sense? autozone? i hope its on sale...sounds like i need some

 

Here's some more info on the track bar.

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1996/02-06-96.htm
http://www.lukeslink.com

 

Well, the torque values did seem to be right, but in the usual case for me, I didn't happen to have my manual or a torque wrench available when I did the change. Soooooo.................I just WAG'ed it. So far, no problems and its been over 8 months.

"Torque, we don't need no stinking torque!"

 

Passenger side bolt is a pretty snug fit, it would damn near have to be loose for it to make that type of noise, I had a clunk and someone told me to torque down upper and lower a-arm bolts, seemed to do the job. As for torque, unless its on the motor i use my body weight and pull real hard.

 

I had my 1998 RAM aligned today. The mechanic said my track bar had some wear/play. He showed me that the frame side moved up and down when the steering wheel was moved from side to side. The bar was replaced about 2 months ago. Any ideas on how it could wear so quickly?

 

What should I do if the track bar and bolt move around the hole on the frame of the passenger side? I’ve replaced the sway bar bushings and links thinking it would fix the problem of my axle and shocks moving side to side. The track bar is a couple months old but didn’t notice until yesterday that it moved around in the hole like the frame is wore out.

 

You are talking about the axle side? Or the steering stabilizer?

 

The axle side

 

Then the correct term would be a bracket. But, there is not any easy way out. Either you need to weld material to the bracket so you get the hole back to correct size. Or you could go step bigger with the bolt, but that opens up another can of worms as you would need to get bigger hole to the bushing, too.