contendershooter
Junior Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2017
- Posts
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Ram Year
- 2003
- Engine
- Hemi 5.7
I am a first time Dodge Ram owner having purchased an 03 Ram 1500 Quad-Cab 4x4 with the Hemi engine... had 81K miles and completely clean carfax..let me describe this issue...
At 40 mph you can feel a shimmy in your seat, but not in the steering or brakes...when you look in the rear view it looks like the bed is hopping in an up and down pattern with somewhat a left to right shimmy from 0-38mph, nothing is felt
Once you past 40MPH the shimmy goes away, then picks up again, but worse at 55mph, peaks at 60mph and starts to go away once you hit 65mph and up... When your running 55-60mph, you can turn your wheel left to right slowly from the 12:00 position to 1:00 and back to 11:00 and feel a hop or shimmy in the steering, but this CANT be felt at the 40MPH mark...
So far outside of purchasing truck in March, I have done the following work:
new Firestone Destination LE2's road forced balanced on factory chrome steel wheels, and the Firestone dealer said the wheels look good, no bad wobble and very little wheel weights were needed to balance tires
new Monroe shocks, all new rotors, all new pads premium from Napa, center shaft replaced in front axle, right side CV shaft replaced as it had about 2" of circular play, and complete alignment.
Mechanic stated the upper and lower control arm bushings are cracked a bit, but there is no play in them to cause this issue
He checked the universal joints on front and rear drive shaft, says they are fine, checked front sway bar/stabilizer bar bushings, said their fine, he said rack and pinion unit is fine, said tie rods and ball joints are fine, so I am at a complete loss where to look. I was on a limited budget when I purchased this truck and had to eat almost an additional 2300 worth of parts, labor and tires.
Weird thing is that original owner said truck was drove from Missouri to Texas 2-3 times a month to visit family and no vibration was felt that she noticed...truck was only at wholesaler for a week before it was purchased at an auction by the dealer I purchased from and brought to Nashville TN.
Would appreciate any help...this is not causing any safety issues that I know of, but it's just aggravating and annoying!!! I have had nothing but GM trucks in the past, with no issues at all, I have always liked the Dodge's and saved up a couple of years after selling my 97 GMC Z-71 regular cab and purchased this Dodge...I am somewhat regretting my decision...
At 40 mph you can feel a shimmy in your seat, but not in the steering or brakes...when you look in the rear view it looks like the bed is hopping in an up and down pattern with somewhat a left to right shimmy from 0-38mph, nothing is felt
Once you past 40MPH the shimmy goes away, then picks up again, but worse at 55mph, peaks at 60mph and starts to go away once you hit 65mph and up... When your running 55-60mph, you can turn your wheel left to right slowly from the 12:00 position to 1:00 and back to 11:00 and feel a hop or shimmy in the steering, but this CANT be felt at the 40MPH mark...
So far outside of purchasing truck in March, I have done the following work:
new Firestone Destination LE2's road forced balanced on factory chrome steel wheels, and the Firestone dealer said the wheels look good, no bad wobble and very little wheel weights were needed to balance tires
new Monroe shocks, all new rotors, all new pads premium from Napa, center shaft replaced in front axle, right side CV shaft replaced as it had about 2" of circular play, and complete alignment.
Mechanic stated the upper and lower control arm bushings are cracked a bit, but there is no play in them to cause this issue
He checked the universal joints on front and rear drive shaft, says they are fine, checked front sway bar/stabilizer bar bushings, said their fine, he said rack and pinion unit is fine, said tie rods and ball joints are fine, so I am at a complete loss where to look. I was on a limited budget when I purchased this truck and had to eat almost an additional 2300 worth of parts, labor and tires.
Weird thing is that original owner said truck was drove from Missouri to Texas 2-3 times a month to visit family and no vibration was felt that she noticed...truck was only at wholesaler for a week before it was purchased at an auction by the dealer I purchased from and brought to Nashville TN.
Would appreciate any help...this is not causing any safety issues that I know of, but it's just aggravating and annoying!!! I have had nothing but GM trucks in the past, with no issues at all, I have always liked the Dodge's and saved up a couple of years after selling my 97 GMC Z-71 regular cab and purchased this Dodge...I am somewhat regretting my decision...
