1st Real Truck, Ram 2500 Cummins

[Alphaogre]

Hello All,

I picked up a 2005 2500 Cummins with 167,000 miles in a 4 door long bed 2WD. It came with the full Banks set up intake through to exhaust, whether it helps or not.

I traded up from a 06 Tundra, and I have only had light-duty trucks so far. I don't do any super heavy towing right now. The most I currently would have loaded on it is an older pop-up camper and towing a car or a couple motorcycles behind it. I bought it with the idea to overbuy and underuse...hoping I can get some more longevity out of the vehicle over a longer time. My Tundra was getting close to 200k miles and I could tell the strain was starting to wear on the poor little truck.

Anyway, Not trusting the service records, I like to set a baseline for everything myself. I just had the belt changed (since you could hear it squeak while running), we did all new oil and filters obviously, and then I had them do the tranny fluid and filter, and swap all the diff fluid.

I Have squeaking on the front end. I've been told it could be the upper and lower ball joints (which are apparently pressed in on my year) This has been quoted at between $600 and $700 which sounds about right given the cost of the ball joints themselves for heavy-duty load. Then they mentioned that if its the bushings at the arm mounts, you might as well get all new upper and lower arms, and it would be $2000. This seems drastic to me...has anyone else gone through this process? Any pointers would be welcome.

I've been trying to get more information as to what to keep an eye out for moving forward. It's been hard to get specific info for 2500 in 2WD configuration. Any thinks to keep in mind would be great as well!

Thanks!

Chris

 

[MADDOG]

Welcome to RamForum.

If it were my truck, I'd just have new ball joints pressed in if the arm mount bushings are OK. I've done that to a couple of trucks.

I haven't tried to replace LCA mount bushings, ever, but I suspect Moog or someone like that may have replacements. As long as the bushing opening hasn't been hogged out and if the bushings are available, I'd replace those as well.

 

[Alphaogre]

Thanks for the heads up on Moog, their stuff looks pretty good, and I like that it's serviceable. Has anyone run aftermarket upper and lower arms? Any brands you would recommend?

 

[MikeG71]

MOOG is definitely the way to go.

 

[justin13703]

I’m speaking from experience here, do not EVER attempt to change out those lower control arm bushings. That was by far the worst thing I’ve ever done on any vehicle I’ve ever owned and it made me want to just burn the truck to the ground where it sat.

If the problem is your lca bushings (I had a squeak in the front too and that’s what it was) just get new lower control arms with bushings and ball joints in them already and install them yourself. Changing the whole arm isn’t too hard. Changing the bushings will make you want to commit insurance fraud.

 

[TMyers]

I’m speaking from experience here, do not EVER attempt to change out those lower control arm bushings. That was by far the worst thing I’ve ever done on any vehicle I’ve ever owned and it made me want to just burn the truck to the ground where it sat.

If the problem is your lca bushings (I had a squeak in the front too and that’s what it was) just get new lower control arms with bushings and ball joints in them already and install them yourself. Changing the whole arm isn’t too hard. Changing the bushings will make you want to commit insurance fraud.

Good advise here. By the time you buy the parts and pay to have the ball joints pressed in, you'll have payed most of the price of new arms.

 

[Alphaogre]

Yea, that's is exactly what I wanted to know. The Moog pricing is reasonable in my opinion. The stuff from Dodge is a straight up ****. With the Moog stuff factored in, it's not too bad.

Any Recommendations on whether or not the K or RK versions of the products are worth the money? They look to be much more serviceable...

 

[MikeG71]

Definitely get the serviceable ones. It is a pretty easy task as long as you get a good rental kit. One thing I did find out when I replaced the lower ball joints on my ‘96 Silverado, the MOOG Joints are taller than the OEM. I had to use a spacer on top during installation due to the Press hitting the top of the joint body and it wouldn’t seat all the way. I can’t say if they are the same on Dodge but it’s just something to keep in mind and watch out for.