Dodge 3500 steering

I am at 2000 miles on my new steering upgrade. No tire wear and driving great.

I've got an 01.5 with 102k on it and just replaced the 2nd ball joint track bar with a Titan Adjustable bar from Cummins Performance Parts and a new drag link (Moog) from Napa. What a huge improvement! I can drive with one hand again!
The original ball joints I had replaced at about 70k miles and they have zerks. Oh and btw for folks wondering, these parts are all replaceable on your own if you have some mechanical ability. The only reason I paid to get the ball joints done was due to time and it was the middle of Fairbanks winter and didn't want to leave my daily driver parked outside long enough to fix the truck.

Super_Dave wrote:

billtex wrote:

Jeepers92 wrote:
All recalls were inspected by dealer, but they said mine were ok!

Wait a minute!
If it was in fact a "recall" they have to make repairs.

"Recall" = safety issue repair required by NTSA.

Perhaps you meant "service bulletin"...

I received a recall notice on my truck and took it into the dealer. The service guy looked under the front bumper and said I was good to go. When I asked him to explain, he said that there were 2 different types made for the part in question. According to him, I didn't have the "bad one". The one I have might fail but Dodge won't consider it as part of the recall.

It's not the Mfr who determines a "recall" it is the NHTSA.
If your VIN was not under the recall...it was likely determined you were good to go.

Super_Dave wrote:

billtex wrote:

Jeepers92 wrote:
All recalls were inspected by dealer, but they said mine were ok!

Wait a minute!
If it was in fact a "recall" they have to make repairs.

"Recall" = safety issue repair required by NTSA.

Perhaps you meant "service bulletin"...

I received a recall notice on my truck and took it into the dealer. The service guy looked under the front bumper and said I was good to go. When I asked him to explain, he said that there were 2 different types made for the part in question. According to him, I didn't have the "bad one". The one I have might fail but Dodge won't consider it as part of the recall.

I experienced the same Exact situation with the recall.. Looked under my truck for 10 seconds and said I was fine.

billtex wrote:

Jeepers92 wrote:
All recalls were inspected by dealer, but they said mine were ok!

Wait a minute!
If it was in fact a "recall" they have to make repairs.

"Recall" = safety issue repair required by NTSA.

Perhaps you meant "service bulletin"...

I received a recall notice on my truck and took it into the dealer. The service guy looked under the front bumper and said I was good to go. When I asked him to explain, he said that there were 2 different types made for the part in question. According to him, I didn't have the "bad one". The one I have might fail but Dodge won't consider it as part of the recall.

My buddy just found his drag link loose - It was shaking at speeds above 45 mph.

The 4500 and 5500 with wide axles use a different setup which does not have as many reported problems. Although the Sterling brand is no longer sold, these chassis cabs are sold under the Ram name. The last related upgrades to them was in 2013 with suspension changes and additional cross beams in the framing.

I had the same thing on my 07 3500 with only 56k miles!! I went with all Moog parts, lifetime warranty. My mechanic, a friend that I trust, said this was a common ailment.
Sucks.
Now I have a 4500 Sterling (basically a 4500 ram with a better tranny, and I'm hoping I don't have the same problems.

JumboJet wrote:

woodhog wrote:
Basically a really nice engine sitting on a pile of junk.

You own one so I guess you can call it what you like.

I have owned a 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, and now a 2013. I had to replace the ball joints on the 2004 at 50,000 miles. Nothing on the rest of them.

My son has a 2006 Chevy with the Duramax and has replaced both hubs. His wife has a 2007 Tahoe w/70,000 miles and he just replaced both hubs last week.

Besides the the ball joints replaced on the 2004, the only other item I replaced on those 5 year models was a Turbo Speed Sensor at 90,000 miles on the 2008.

Four days ago, the 2013 was 1 year old and has 19,800 miles on it. 70% of those miles are hauling the TC or my 11,000 lb. dozer. No problems. Must be good junk!

Not bad for over 400,000 miles from 'junk' trucks Huh!?

Now if you told me that 400 k miles was all on one truck I would be impressed.

Jeepers92 wrote:
I just got my front end parts installed and aligned. I changed the steering assy, pitman arm, and steering dampener out for the latest version from Dodge. It is much larger and has a completely different geometry setup. It does not have greese fittings for the tie rod ends. I suppose you could take time to order all the pieces and put it together from other brand parts, but the latter stuff seems to not be causing problems. I had all ball joints replaced with Moog greasable units. I also replaced both hubs with Moog units. The total cost for parts was $950. I paid $630 labor. Dodge wanted $2200 for linkage and ball joints and hub on 1 side only, and this would have been Chrysler parts.
Truck drives great and leaving for California coast tomorrow. I feel a lot safer now. I bought the Dodge for the Cummings, would do it again, but they really let their customers down by not reworking all diesels with 4 wheel drive. A side note: all parts were really frozen with rust. Both hubs were damaged by removal. The mechanic said he had never seen one this bad. It took him better part of 8 hours to get the hubS off, and he knew all the tricks. No signs of rust anywhere else.

Shop had a hard time removing the driver side hub assembly which I had to replace at 55,000 miles. Passenger side was replaced at 75,000. Southern truck too.

donn0128 wrote:
Real common on 09 and earlier Dodge 4X4's Do NOT let them install factory replacement parts. There are better aftermarket parts available

MOOG makes some good replacement parts.

My 09 Chevy needed a new idler arm and something else at about 31,000.