I just had the control arms and sway bar links replaced on my 03' Ram. I swear that the ride of my truck is not the same............very rigid over bumps and I get bounced around in my seat a little. Before I approach the dealer, I want to ask if there could be some kind of adjustment needed to loosen the "stiffness" from the work performed, or could this just be in my head??? I obviously don't know a lot aboutfront end components and am trying to take a crash course in learning!!

Any comments are appreciated!

Thanks!

 

I doubt it. The glide ride you felt before was most likely due to sloppiness of the suspension due to mushy bushings. Now the suspension is more accurate. If you give it some time and let it wear in, the ride will become softer. I'm assuming that the replacement parts are the stock units with stock bushings rather than polyurethane. There is one possibily however, if the anti-roll bar was installed fairly tight as in the end links againt the frame work, this could be let out some, but more roll will be very obvious when you slam into a corner andsimilar manuevers, and I doubt that it has any adjustability in it if it is stock.
I would give it some time, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if after a while you opt to move to polys' again to regain the accuracy you had when new.

 

Awesome.......thanks for the very detailed response. Yes, allstock replacement parts were installed.

Thanks!!

 

wat caused you to get them all replaced? wat indicators were there to the front end failures that you noticed ? my 03 is at 59000 miles and im curious as i want the most out of my extended warranty!

 

I brought the truck in to the dealer for a noise in the front end while going over bumps, and acold start issue. They found the items I mentioned(control arms and sway bar links), and the good news was that the control arms were a warranty item (minus $100 deductible). The sway bar links were not and that came to $315. I didn't notice any steering issues or anything out of the ordinary...............just the annoying "worn bushing" sound over bumps.

The cold start problem was a noise that sounded like there was no oil in the top end...........think excessive valve lash sound. The sound was most apparent after the truck sat for a while, but if I shut it off then started right back up, it rarely made the noise. That confused me the most while trying to diagnose it.It turned out to be the timing chain of all things. They said the guides prematurely failed, so they replaced everything..........sprockets, chain, guides and tensioner.......this wasall under warranty as well.

I generally don't bring my vehicles to the dealer for repairs as I try to do as much as I can myself, but I held out hope that some of my problemswould be covered under the warranty.

Hope that helps!