moonstation2000
Junior Member
2 or 3 years ago I did an overhaul on my front suspension (2004 2500 4wd QC). I upgraded to the next gen tie rod/steering setup with new steering shock, installed a steering box brace (these two mods cured my death wobble), put in the heavy duty $800 ball joints, new shocks front and rear, sway bar bushings and end links, drag link, and redid the front axles u joints with spicer parts. This work resulted in the truck feeling and steering like new, probably better than new.
I used good quality parts as I'd prefer to keep the truck and would rather do the job once and get 10 years out of it rather than use cheap parts and be doing the job again after a year.
2 days ago my truck started making a noise on the way home, I turned into the driveway and saw a part come flying out of the front wheel well. Stopped the truck and went to get the part and turns out its an endcap for the front axle u-joint. I took the truck apart today and the u joint elongated the hole that the cap sits in, so tomorrow morning I'll be picking up a new $300 axle as I need this truck to be operational for work on Tuesday. The u joint cap took off the lower ball joint nipple and boogered up the top of the lower ball joint on its way out, but the ball joint is still operational.
My drag link needs to be replaced again, I seem to get about 6 months out of them whether they are mopar or moog or advance auto. Most of my driving is around town at low speeds so lots of turning, but I am disappointed by the continual requirement to replace drag links... Unless there's a better quality one out there that I haven't tried yet I guess I'll be doing this job regularly.
My truck is around 190k miles, at some point it will be due for replacement. It seems like the front suspension is a source of problems in this truck. I live in Pennsylvania where the roads are bad but I don't off road with this truck and drive pretty gently. I don't tow or haul that often and I only plow 3 small local areas and then remove the plow.
When this truck has seen its last days and it's time to upgrade do you guys know if the 4th and 5th gen trucks have better built front ends?
I used good quality parts as I'd prefer to keep the truck and would rather do the job once and get 10 years out of it rather than use cheap parts and be doing the job again after a year.
2 days ago my truck started making a noise on the way home, I turned into the driveway and saw a part come flying out of the front wheel well. Stopped the truck and went to get the part and turns out its an endcap for the front axle u-joint. I took the truck apart today and the u joint elongated the hole that the cap sits in, so tomorrow morning I'll be picking up a new $300 axle as I need this truck to be operational for work on Tuesday. The u joint cap took off the lower ball joint nipple and boogered up the top of the lower ball joint on its way out, but the ball joint is still operational.
My drag link needs to be replaced again, I seem to get about 6 months out of them whether they are mopar or moog or advance auto. Most of my driving is around town at low speeds so lots of turning, but I am disappointed by the continual requirement to replace drag links... Unless there's a better quality one out there that I haven't tried yet I guess I'll be doing this job regularly.
My truck is around 190k miles, at some point it will be due for replacement. It seems like the front suspension is a source of problems in this truck. I live in Pennsylvania where the roads are bad but I don't off road with this truck and drive pretty gently. I don't tow or haul that often and I only plow 3 small local areas and then remove the plow.
When this truck has seen its last days and it's time to upgrade do you guys know if the 4th and 5th gen trucks have better built front ends?
