Front End Issues - 2018 2500 6.4L gasser

[Ribtipram]

Thawksin57 do you think the knock on bumps is loud enough to record it. Maybe you could post it up so we could hear it. Try getting under that ***** and start pulling on everything like shocks calipers the welded ass drag link anything you can get your hands on. Do you here anything when sitting still and turning the wheels lock to lock.can you have someone wiggle the steering wheel side to side so you can watch under and see if anything looks suspicious. Maybe a loose pitman arm or bad steering box shaft. I know how you feel it sucks ive been here before on other vehicles. You will figure it out keep checking stuff and weed thru it.i know you say it started when the tires were changed but maybe it unrelated just a coincidence.

 

[thawkins57]

Thawksin57 do you think the knock on bumps is loud enough to record it. Maybe you could post it up so we could hear it. Try getting under that ***** and start pulling on everything like shocks calipers the welded ass drag link anything you can get your hands on. Do you here anything when sitting still and turning the wheels lock to lock.can you have someone wiggle the steering wheel side to side so you can watch under and see if anything looks suspicious. Maybe a loose pitman arm or bad steering box shaft. I know how you feel it sucks ive been here before on other vehicles. You will figure it out keep checking stuff and weed thru it.i know you say it started when the tires were changed but maybe it unrelated just a coincidence.

No, it's more felt than noisy. I don't think it could be recorded. I'm going to try and jack it up tomorrow and see if I can find anything loose. It's just me, so no one around to help. When I turn the wheels lock to lock, sitting still, the steering wheel feels like it's fighting back when I get to the stops. I know the pitman arm isn't loose, since I installed the steering box stabilizer. I'm going to keep looking, but if nothing else, I'm going back to Discount Tire and telling them I want new/different tires. It might be a coincidence, but a little suspicious. Thanks for your help.

 

[Bldrinker]

I can get the front end down a couple of inches if I really lean into it. It comes up, down, up, back to resting. I don't know if that's enough to say the shocks are weak or not... this is new to me.

That’s weird. I’m 185lbs and I barely get mine to budge. No freakin way could I get it to bounce.

 

[COAinPaso]

Check the sway bar end links up front. Mine went bad at 11k. Started clunking, more felt than heard, over rough-ish ranch roads. Found it using a little 16" pry bar. Good luck.

 

[Regcabguy]

This won't address the noise but Thuren recommends 0* toe.
https://www.thurenfabrication.com/media/wysiwyg/THUREN_FAB_ALIGNMENT.pdf

 

[East0352]

If the rear was struck hard enough to leave a mark, one of the wheels could very well be bent. It be a mother to balance too. Seen this many times working in the tire shop.
I’ve also got the 2500 4x4 6.4L. I have the same loose wandering feeling when I drive. Alignment is perfect. Its the outer tie-rod going from the steering gear box to the right side wheel. Tie rod on the wheel. It doesn’t move much but just enough to see. Ive been telling Ram this for two years. They have changed the inner tie-rod, gear box, and vibration damper in the steering column. I’ve added dual steering dampers and the gear box stabilizer. It all has helped, but within 100 miles the wonder comes back. With the recall on the drag-link, I will be replacing it with aftermarket (SYNERGY 8701-01 HEAVY DUTY DRAG LINK 13-18 RAM 2500 / 3500) since Ram’s fix isn’t really a fix.

 

[East0352]

Bilstien will rebuild the shocks if bad. Lifetime warranty.

I also went to 305/55-20 on my tires with alloy wheels. Each wheel setup is about 20 lbs heavier than a stock one. I get about 14.9 mpg and 23 on the highway. S&B intake is only thing I’ve done to engine. I run 89 octane as recommended. Since I’ve moved away from Houston Texas, I get way better on the highway. No ethanol in premium here. Ethanol was killing the ability for the MDS to run at anything above 45 before.

 

[thawkins57]

Check the sway bar end links up front. Mine went bad at 11k. Started clunking, more felt than heard, over rough-ish ranch roads. Found it using a little 16" pry bar. Good luck.

Where did you pry? Between the mounts and the sway bar? I was under it yesterday and couldn't find anything loose at all, but I didn't pry on the sway bar.

 

[Casey Phalen]

This is very interesting I hope you get figured out

 

[JimmyA]

They have already been tack welded at some point - Thanks for the info

I think there was a recall and that's the reason for the Tack Welds.

 

[COAinPaso]

Where did you pry? Between the mounts and the sway bar? I was under it yesterday and couldn't find anything loose at all, but I didn't pry on the sway bar.

It was the upper joint that went bad, the end that's bolted through the sway bar. Get your pry bar somewhere that you can pry the end of the sway bar up and down. The rears on mine also went bad. May have a video of that diagnosis. I'll check and post back later.

 

[Pttrader]

I'm kinda in the same boat as you. This is my 2nd 2500, both with the 6.4 motor. Prior to that I had a couple of 1500's.
My 15' 2500 was bought used and I put 295/70/18 Ridge Grapplers on it. They gave me a rough ride and when not towing I ran them with 50psi Front and 45psi rear to give me a smoother ride. It really didn't wander, but on a couple of occasions I had excessive vibration either coming from the front or back of the truck and I would take it in and get the tires balanced and it would go away. When I sold the camper a friend of the family wanted the truck as a package deal so I sold the truck with 31k on the odometer.

I replaced it with a 17' with 11k on it. It rode fairly smooth and I got 17.5 mph across country when I drove it home. That Winter it was slipping and sliding around on those Firestones so I decided to upgrade the tires and had 295/70/18 Ridge Grapplers installed. Well, they vibrated like crazy and the wheels were lined with wheel weights. Long story short, after Discount Tire could not get the vibration to stop at highway speeds they let me change the tires to Cooper At3s.

Right away the ride was much smoother. Of course the Coopers only have a 2 ply sidewall, but they still have the 4000# load rating. It wasn't much longer that the vibrating at highway speeds started happening again. I went in for a rebalance and the ride was smoother. They suggested that maybe the left wheel had some slop in it so I had it checked and aligned at a local Dodge dealership who found nothing.

Once again a few months later there is some vibration at speeds greater than 61mph. With 20k on the Odometer I am not sure what to do. I am thinking of a Thuren Suspension upgrade with the softer springs, track bar, and shocks. Before I do that I am considering spending an hour of shop labor at my other Ram dealer where I get my oil changes. When I was having trouble with the vibration from the Ridge Grapplers they said they could swap out the wheels with a truck on the lot and see if the vibration goes away.

 

[GsRAM]

That is strange. I'm still running the OE steel/chrome plastic clad 18s and the OE Firestones that have 11,500 on them now. My ride is very smooth for a 3/4 ton truck. No vibrations up to 80+