Front Ends - Especially Dodge

[HadEnough]

I just had a complete front end replacement job about 2 years ago. They replaced pretty much everything.

I just brought the truck and camper in to get 4 new tires mounted, balanced and aligned. The take away is I need new CV joints, idler arm, etc, etc... It's all loose again only 2 years later!! Plenty of play in the front wheels.

What the heck is going on?

I read that Dodge pickup trucks are notorious for having problems with the front end, but spending $2000-$3000 every 2 years on front ends seems insane.

What's your experience with this problem? Especially on the vehicle you use to haul your TC?

Also, isn't this extremely dangerous? What if one of these loose CV joints pops out when I'm driving down the highway with the TC?

[hedgehopper]

Grit Dog wrote:
It could also have too much toe in and have the same wear (as negative camber).

Wouldn't toe OUT cause the same wear as negative camber (on the inside edge of the tires)?

[Grit_dog]

HadEnough wrote:
I don't need to jack it up. I can shake the front wheel with my bare hands about 1/4".

I think I'm at 30-40k since last front end. Been driving all around the continent.

Coulda said that 6 pages ago! Jk.
sounds like they’re shot

[HadEnough]

Holding at 9:00 and 3:00 shaking against the toe.

You can see some movement in the lower ball joint doing that.

I was able to see that at the place trying to sell me a front end. Was able to shake it and see steering gear moving.

[opnspaces]

Where are you holding the wheel when shaking it? Are you holding at like 10 and 2 o'clock positions and shaking against the camber? Or holding at 3 and 9 o'clock and shaking against toe?

Can you have someone shake shake while you crawl under and observe? Is the play in the ball joints or is it possibly wheel bearing play?

[ppine]

Something is going on that is not right.
I just had the front end of my Ford 350 rebuilt with Moog parts. Upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, etc. All of the joints have grease fittings. Should go at least another 160k miles.

[HadEnough]

I don't need to jack it up. I can shake the front wheel with my bare hands about 1/4".

I think I'm at 30-40k since last front end. Been driving all around the continent.

[bcbigfoot]

Grit dog wrote:
Camber is not adjustable on a 4wd 2002 Dodge HD. Nor is it adjustable on pretty much any 4wd solid front axle, with the exception of installing offset ball joints.
I agree a lot of shops don't know what they're doing with truck front ends but there's a reason they told you camber wasn't adjustable.
Caster is adjustable on Rams since the gen 2 trucks though.

I have a two wheel drive like the OP, it's hard to find a shop that knows how to or are willing to put the extra effort into doing the camber/caster on two wheel drive trucks, at least it's that way around here.

[Grit_dog]

If that's actually your problem.
Total toe in OE specs are kind of loose and also excessive in a lot of cases. It could be too much toe wer ing the tires, could be the wear you got on the back tires, flipped around to inside on the fronts is getting exaggerated.
Sorry, can't be of more help. Hard to analyze over the interwebs and without seeing the history of tire wear and actual condition.
As far as ball joints go, if that's the issue. Moog, dynatrac and Carli are quality from what is out there for reviews. They increase in price in that order. Sit down before you look up the price of Carli joints.

How many miles on the last rebuild, how many on the truck, what was replaced last time?

[Grit_dog]

They're not adjustable ball joints, they're offset. Very few reasons they would ever be needed short of a bent axle or some fabrication issue with the axle/knuckles.
You don't have that many miles on the last BJ replacement if I recall. But if you can actually see neg camber on a 4wd, ball joints are pretty bad, OR outside shot, the wheel unit bearings could be bad, but they'd be trashed and un driveable, grinding, etc.
Do you have the print out from the last alignment? Did it show any camber issues.

You may have gotten cheap ball jts the last time and they're junked out.
Easy at home ball joint check. Jack up a front wheel slightly off the ground. With a pry bar, bar the wheel back and forth. If you feel more than like 1/8"? or so of movement or if you can noticeably see the camber angle of the wheel change, then they're bad. You can expect a little up and down movement but in and out movement is no Bueno.
Or take the tire off. Do the same thing where you can actually see the ball jts. Again, lateral play is no good, up and down is ok/subjective.

[HadEnough]

Grit dog wrote:
Camber is not adjustable on a 4wd 2002 Dodge HD. Nor is it adjustable on pretty much any 4wd solid front axle, with the exception of installing offset ball joints.
I agree a lot of shops don't know what they're doing with truck front ends but there's a reason they told you camber wasn't adjustable.
Caster is adjustable on Rams since the gen 2 trucks though.

Went under today to take a look while doing an oil change.

There is a ball joint at the top and ball joint at the bottom on each front wheel. Those are bolted right on. No adjustment for camber at all, just like you're saying.

That's unfortunate because that's my problem. So I guess I just have to go through $1200 sets of tires at an accelerated rate.

Unless I get those adjustable ball joints?

[Grit_dog]

Camber is not adjustable on a 4wd 2002 Dodge HD. Nor is it adjustable on pretty much any 4wd solid front axle, with the exception of installing offset ball joints.
I agree a lot of shops don't know what they're doing with truck front ends but there's a reason they told you camber wasn't adjustable.
Caster is adjustable on Rams since the gen 2 trucks though.

[Kayteg1]

You can still find lot of DIY tools for toe adjustment.
I have 1 that looks like giant slide caliper with scale in degrees.
You measure the distance on the rear of tires, set it to 0 and then move to front.
The scale shows you aprox degree of toe.
I used it on my Mercedes where dealer butchered the alignment.
It is not easy as each stop can show 3-4 degree difference.
I learned to roll to flat spot and use parking brake for stopping to have consistent measurements.
Crooked steering wheels is matter of turning adjusting links on both sides in the same direction. Takes some try by error but doable.

[bcbigfoot]

Where I live 99.8% of all trucks are 4x4, I had to go to 3 different shops before I found one that would believe me that the castor and camber could be adjusted, and even then they wouldn't adjust the camber or castor, they did adjust the toe in/out and managed to get steering wheel crooked. hmmm.

[HadEnough]

Thank, Grit dog. I'll get get out a tape measure and measure the toe in/out tomorrow. Interested to see that.

[Grit_dog]

It could also have too much toe in and have the same wear. A little toe in is required to keep a vehicle from wandering, generally. Never less than 0 toe in for sure.
If tires are toes out steering is squirrelly.
Adjusting toe in is an old trick to tighten up a worn front end, not saying that's your case but think about it.