About a month ago my upper ball joint popped out of the socket. Needless to say serious damage was done but only on one side.

Ive rebuilt the entire front end and the truck is riding absolutely terrible. Think lawn tractor with no suspension type ride.

Admittedly I haven't gotten a professional alignment yet but I know how to get it damn close myself. I find it hard to believe that a minor alignment adjustment would cause this.

More details on the ride- if you hit a bump the steering wheel will jerk violently to one side or the other. The truck won't drive straight over a rough patch in the road you will be all over the place. And God forbid you drive it in the rain cause when the passenger tire hits a puddle it's like you have spun the wheel a quarter turn to the right instantly.

2006 ram 1500 2wd

Steering rack damage internally maybe?

 

Seems like you would have to lost the hydro part of the rack to get that kind of action. Is your power steering working normally.

 

I assume you verified all the ball-joints, bushings and tie-rod ends have little play.

 

By lost hydro you mean the whole "power" action of the power steering??

If I drive on a smooth newly paved rode it rides and steers like a caddy so I don't think that I've lost power steering. Wouldn't the wheel feel extremely stiff to move?

And all the ball joints, tie rod (inner/outer) are brand new. The upper control arms come with the upper joint so new bushings there. Lower control arm bushings I don't know how to tell cause that's where the camber bolts are.