Had a first today. I went over a speed bump and heard a pop and my steering became pretty loose. I got out and took a look at the front end, everything looked fine. Got back in the truck and went to leave the parking lot, and when I got up to about 30 mph, my driver side tire went sideways, throwing the truck towards the oncoming lane in a smokey, loud haze. I managed to kick the tire straight and get it out of the center of the highway. I ended up having to replace both tie rod ends. Beware, if something doesn't seem right, don't keep going!!

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I hope that everyone is alright.

I think that things like this, bad ball joints, bad shocks/struts, broken end links(granted they are not as bad as the other parts i mentioned) and other bad steering/suspension parts, should be well documented and sent to Dodge and the NTSB (i think that is what it is called). They need to recall all of our trucks, and fix these parts.

These crudy parts are just ticking time bombs waiting to go off and potentially kill some people. (sorry if i am over reacting)

 

No, Your right on the correct train of thought.

 

Since I started on this forum, and read all other user accounts, I check my front end at every oil change, air up, car wash, and gas up. From these checks I know I need a new swaybar link before it breaks. I think in a year I will just replace the tierods with those beefy heims that I saw here a while back, and a new rack.

 

I would like to know who the OEM builder is of these small mechanical parts, like the balljoints, tie rods, etc. It's definitely the lowest bidder...

There has always been huge problems with premature ball joint wear through even the 2nd generation of this truck.

On and off my front end feels loose and odd at times, and I always wonder if it is my imagination.

What happened to you really does not surprise me. Quite a shame.

What year, how many miles?

 

FrenicX, check with your local Department of Transportation (whoever is responsible for vehicle safety) to see if they consider heim joints OK or a safety breach. In some places, these joints are considered OK for off-road only.

 

My truck is an 06, with 99,846 miles. I'm not really surprised honestly with how many miles are on it, I was just thinking it would make it over 100k or give me some kind of warning first....the other tie rod end had a lot of slop in it too so I replaced it. My ball joints are all good and tight, took it into les schwabs today and everything else looked good. I even had it within .4% of being aligned going off hand yesterday I'm just glad I was going slow, I can't imagine it happening at 60-70 mph, I don't think I would have a truck or be sitting here right now

 

scary **** huh? I bet it was slightly embarrassing too.

 

yeah it was!! a guy came running out of the store across the street to make sure I was okay, he thought there was an accident because of all the noise

 

Exactly what happened to mine in a parking lot. We had made 2 trips to the other town doing 55mph before stopping in for Chinese in my town. Pulled out and cut the wheel all the way and tried going forward but wouldn't budge so got out and looked. Right tire was cocked to the right while the left was straight.

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