New steering parts suggestions wanted

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IrocRam

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Apr 6, 2016
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144
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Location
Phoenix, Az
Ram Year
1997
Engine
5.2
I have a 1997 1500 4wd ext cab ram with a 5.5" fabtech long arm lift. I think the lift is about 10 years old, but not sure. I bought the truck about 5 months ago. I recently put brand new 315 75R16 tires on it, and now ready to move on to everything else. I took it to an alignment shop right after I bought it and they told me the upper and lower ball joints were bad on the driver side, and one tie rod was bad in the center, and that was it. Everything else checked out alright. I however think it would be a good idea to just replace everything. Ball joints on both sides, as well as all the tie rods. I am also contemplating the steering box as well. I do have a steering issue right now that I am not sure what it is yet. I already had the track bar redone and it has a brand new heim joint and bushing, and it's an adjustable one. It is good to go. The issue I have is the steering wheel seems to be off quite a bit. The alignment is definitely off so I am assuming that is that issue. The other part is it seems to sort of just pull randomly to the left or right kind of aggressively. I am thinking the ball joints are the culprit for that as well, hence why I want to do both sides at the same time.

So, I am looking for recommendations for balljoints and tie rods. I am looking at summit for stuff but wanted to see if anybody has any suggestions for me. I do have the lift, so I am thinking maybe something better than stock. I have always had stock ones on my lifted trucks and this is my third 2nd gen, but I figured since I would be doing them this time, maybe something a little better. I don't plan on keeping the truck for a super long period, but I don't know if I will sell it in a few months or if it will be a few years from now. I also have to replace the rear main seal as well, so that is another project I want to tackle.
 

DodgeTx

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Apr 29, 2015
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Location
SEGUIN
Ram Year
2001
Engine
5.9L Cummins, 5.2l v8
I get most of my parts from Parts Train and go with the replacement brand. They come with a 1 year or longer warranty and most parts steering related are around $10.

I got ball joints top and bottom for my 2wd lowered ram and tie rod ends from them and they are still holding up well.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2016
Posts
144
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21
Location
Phoenix, Az
Ram Year
1997
Engine
5.2
I ended up buying ball joints from summit and napa. Summit had moog ball joints and napa had the napa brand. Everything I have read online and experienced is that Napa brand parts are significantly better than anything from o reillys or autozone so I am comfortable using that brand. Unfortunately, I have heard a lot of bad things about moog recently and a lot of people say thier parts are junk. I have repalced some suspension stuff on my 88 camaro with moog stuff and have had it all on for almost a year now and haven't had any issues. I also ended up destroying the boot on one of the lower ball joints form napa, so I ended up buying two moog ones that had the boot removed already. the ones I got from napa didn't seem to have removable boots, which get destroyed if you try to press them in with them installed. All in all, for the work I had to do, it went pretty flawlessly. Which never happens. Everything came off without much effort. The i removed the hub bolts friday night, and then saturday morning, the hubs had dislodged themselves as they were completely free from the knuckle. So I didn't even have to smack the hell of out them to break them free. Knuckle came right off and the ball joints pressed right out. Tie rods came off easily and I actually installed all the tie rods together as one piece and then installed them into the truck. I didn't get around to replacing the shocks unfortunately so hopefully I will have time to do that this week.
 
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