Front suspension!! Going crazy!

[bryanj1025]

I Am a full time engine replacement technician and me and my fiancé both have rams hers is a 12 mine is a 14, we love these trucks and take care of them like they are my children, long story short I had to replace her front struts and lower control arms because the lower strut bolt snapped clean off inside and I did not want to deal with the headache of pressing new bushing in, so I bought factory struts and springs but I bought trq lower arms and now the truck hits bumps like the suspension is going to fall out and I don’t mean light wheel hop it’s very unsafe for my fiancé to be driving this way, my head is turning because everything is new and I want to blame the control arms being that the original is aluminum and the new are steel but at the end of the day I feel the shocks should be taking care of the impact when hitting bumps so maybe someone who knows what’s going wrong here? I can’t keep spending more money trying to fix this when everything is new

 

[G-Ride990]

Got any pics of the new components installed?

 

[bryanj1025]

 

[novelmike]

I can’t keep spending more money trying to fix this when everything is new

You didn’t mention doing this, so that’s why I am asking: Did you get a alignment done on the truck? I’ve had bad experiences on getting my 2012 Ram alignment. And a bad alignment or no alignment after you replaced those parts can easily be the cause of it.
Check the printout of the alignment and try getting it aligned again. A decent shop will do it again for free.

I’ve had a shop not be able to find a 2012 Ram 1500 in the computer for specs, because they were searching under “Dodge Ram” when they should search under “Ram”.
I’ve had a different shop align it to 2500 specs. And many more ridiculous problems!
I had my Ram aligned 4x in a month before they got it right.

 

[bryanj1025]

Yeah the alignment was spot on and this has been going on a while, I left out some details, so In the picture that was autozone shocks and struts so it happend with those installed and I was told they are junk so I went out and bought stock factory and it still did it with 2 alignments neither made a difference then I had my Forman look and he said it has to be the shocks because that’s what’s not taking the hit of the pot holes but I’m not convinced being that they are factory new and before I did this work her truck drove amazing even when hitting bumps and now I’m buying a house so I have to get this right the next guess lol

 

[bryanj1025]

So I want to blame the control arms being that they are heavy compared to the aluminum factory

 

[brad_12]

Do you hear a clunk when you go over bumps? Did you paint those control arms?

 

[G-Ride990]

Can you snap some more pics with everything installed? Maybe turn the wheel completely to one side and snap pics of the knuckles front and back? The more pics the better for sure.

Nothing is standing out as being completely wrong to me and I am sure you are completely capable of swapping these parts being an engine tech.

Got me stumped so far man.

Really nitpicking, it looks like you over torqued the front lower control arm bolt and squished the mount a bit (could just be the pic), and is that a jam nut on the LCA bolt? I don't remember that being there on my truck. How do the front sway bar end-links look?

 

[46RamMan]

Looks to like the upper balljoint is not in verticle alignment with the lower balljoint. Like the lower is leading the upper. I believe they should be the aligned vertically. Unless it is just the way the pic makes it look. If not then I wonder if those new lower A arms are the correct ones..

 

[bryanj1025]

Do you hear a clunk when you go over bumps? Did you paint those control arms?

No clunk just doesn’t dampen the bumps

 

[bryanj1025]

No clunk just doesn’t dampen the bumps

No control arms come painted

 

[bryanj1025]

Looks to like the upper balljoint is not in verticle alignment with the lower balljoint. Like the lower is leading the upper. I believe they should be the aligned vertically. Unless it is just the way the pic makes it look. If not then I wonder if those new lower A arms are the correct ones..

Yeah it’s the picture but trq might be on the ****** end not sure it’s the only thing left.

 

[bryanj1025]

Can you snap some more pics with everything installed? Maybe turn the wheel completely to one side and snap pics of the knuckles front and back? The more pics the better for sure.

Nothing is standing out as being completely wrong to me and I am sure you are completely capable of swapping these parts being an engine tech.

Got me stumped so far man.

Really nitpicking, it looks like you over torqued the front lower control arm bolt and squished the mount a bit (could just be the pic), and is that a jam nut on the LCA bolt? I don't remember that being there on my truck. How do the front sway bar end-links look?

It’s just the picture and I switched it to the stock lock nut and endlinks came new in the kit

 

[46RamMan]

One other thought...do the slip joints on the axles move in and out freely ? They could cause binding as the wheel assy's flex up and down when hitting a pot hole. That could cause a vibration possibly..

 

[GRN69CHV]

I'm thinking you went from worn out struts/springs that were just softer to new struts/springs that are lot firmer and the suspension is just tighter like it should be. What wheel/tire combo on the struck, how much air pressure are you running?

 

[bryanj1025]

One other thought...do the slip joints on the axles move in and out freely ? They could cause binding as the wheel assy's flex up and down when hitting a pot hole. That could cause a vibration possibly..

No unfortunately it’s hard to explain.. imagine your suspension is bottoming out in the front and your struts can’t do the job and it just lane hops and throws the truck around not so much a vibration it’s on the verge dangerous

 

[bryanj1025]

I'm thinking you went from worn out struts/springs that were just softer to new struts/springs that are lot firmer and the suspension is just tighter like it should be. What wheel/tire combo on the struck, how much air pressure are you running?

I wish that was the case but it’s lane hops and throws the truck around mines lifted and drives like a Cadillac her truck is basically stock and used to drive great and did not even know you were hitting bumps

 

[62Blazer]

It's hard to explain exactly how the truck is reacting by words in this situation, and in this situation there are several different characteristics that could be happening. When this happens is there violent shaking in the steering wheel until you slow the vehicle down? If so that is a symptom of death wobble. It's reasonable that could be happening and could be caused by something being loose or incorrect tolerances. With the new lower arms there is the possibility of the bushings, sleeves, or overall length being incorrect and not properly seating to the frame, balljoints not quite right etc... Did you compare the new parts to the old parts and make sure everything seems reasonably the same in overall size, etc...?
I would start by looking under the vehicle (with it still on the ground) while somebody moves the steering wheel back and forth and study every part of the suspension and look for weird movement, such as the control arm moving around in the frame mounts, struts moving around on the bolts, etc.... Next step would be jack up the front tires and do the same thing (sometimes you will notice something with no weight/load on the tires, and also take a pry bar and see if anything like the arms or struts can be moved in the mounts.

 

[brad_12]

Could you post a link to the specific arms/links you ordered if you ordered them online.

 

[Quick_Shifter]

It's hard to explain exactly how the truck is reacting by words in this situation, and in this situation there are several different characteristics that could be happening. When this happens is there violent shaking in the steering wheel until you slow the vehicle down? If so that is a symptom of death wobble. It's reasonable that could be happening and could be caused by something being loose or incorrect tolerances. With the new lower arms there is the possibility of the bushings, sleeves, or overall length being incorrect and not properly seating to the frame, balljoints not quite right etc... Did you compare the new parts to the old parts and make sure everything seems reasonably the same in overall size, etc...?
I would start by looking under the vehicle (with it still on the ground) while somebody moves the steering wheel back and forth and study every part of the suspension and look for weird movement, such as the control arm moving around in the frame mounts, struts moving around on the bolts, etc.... Next step would be jack up the front tires and do the same thing (sometimes you will notice something with no weight/load on the tires, and also take a pry bar and see if anything like the arms or struts can be moved in the mounts.

Can you rock the truck back and forth by hand? Normally just bounce on a side step to get it to rock