Suspension and Steering Replacement
 

Hey guys, its looking like its about time to finally take car of my steering problems. When I bought the truck I took it to a shop and they said that I would need to replace the ball joints, the control arm bushings, the center link and the idler arms. When I went to grease them no old grease came out and the idler arm even moved so I think I know how they were destroyed! I don't have the balls to do it myself so I was going to have a shop do it for $1500 but with my income that seems like a long ways away. So, I am thinking about helping my mechanic friend do it so I am only paying around $500. He has access to lots of tools, like the special ball joint socket, so I am just wondering if you have anything to suggest. I think have found all the parts on rockauto, I have the parts listed below. Is Moog a good company? Thanks, for your help.

https://www.dieselbombers.com/attach...1&d=1358036952

i am looking at rebuilding my whole front end as well. is yours a 2 or 4 wheel drive. thats the bigest problem witht these trucks besides the wiring. 300,000 miles with tha heavy 12 valve will wear everything out. i have seen a few people put 4 wheel drive springs on the 2 wheel drives to level them out but they make 2 inch lifter springs i found on rockauto a few weeks back. and as far as brand moog is supose to be a higher end more durable part but i have never used it because of the price difference at the loal auto places. as far as doing it yourself all you really need is a spring compresser, grinder, wrenches, a good heavy shop hammer, and i tie rod end fork, maybe some chisels. i have not looked to far into the dodge front ends yet but thats all i ever needed for my 1/2 tone ford and hevy. it is also a good idea to have a set of calipers to get the tie rod ends and things as close as posible tot the position as it was before for alignment purposes. ford had a differenty setup as chevy and dodge with the twin i beams but its not to hard to rebuild

My truck is a two-wheel drive. I was not really replacing the springs because I think they are still ok and I like to drive with a little rake anyway. Sorry but what would I need the grinder for? I don't think the ball joints have ever been replaced so they probably are not welded in, so all I should need would be the special socket to remove them?

OK....lets grab this bull and runoff down the back 40 here. Moog is a major player when it comes to parts for the trucks or cars.
SPRING COMPRESSER....have you seen these springs? I have a set of compressors but I don't kid myself, if one of those babys decides it wants out, the spring compressors are just a tease.
Put your big floorjack under the lower control arm, seperate the ball joints, lower with floorjack. If you thing your lower it all the way and the spring still has tension, run a big chain thru the spring and dog it as a safety precaution.
The Balljoints can be hammered out, its best to use a balljoint press, you can get these from O'Reillys or Advanced, they'll usually loan them to ya if your good customers.
If you plan on keeping your truck, its a worthwhile purchase. The Cummins 12 Valves in the 1st Gen trucks usually sag the spring after about 5 to 8 years, just replace them with the Moog SuperDuty springs for your year truck.
If I know I'm replacing springs, I lower the jack all the way down, then torch the old springs if theres any tension at all on them. The Moog Springs are Heavy Duty, so, if theres any chance of things slipping, put that safety chain on there. After the balljoints are in place and they're tightened, pull the chain.
Since your right there and everythings apart, do the A-arm bushings with those nice red Hi-Perf bushings....they help alot as far as ride quality.

Hmmm. Everything I have seen so far has said the ball joints were screw in and that I shouldn't just press them out. It seems like you guys are really pushing the springs though. I don't really want to do them because they put me one-fifth over what I wanted to spend but if they really are necessary I could fork over the money! Also, If i can't use a spring compressor, how do I get the shocks out. My jack is cheap so I think that once it let go of the lower control arm it would just shoot down from the spring. There has to be something like a big rig spring compressor somewhere.

top ball joint is threaded bottom should be pressed. moog is a good company.

might want to look this over 2WD Upper/Lower Balljoint install with wheel bearing/brake service (Pics) - Dodge Diesel - Diesel Truck Resource Forums

Sorry, wjones is right....I should have explained myself better. I don't even think about the top ones, they are a piece of cake. The bottom ones can be a real headache, with even the balljoint press. If it looks at me too hard, I just pull the A-Arm off and throw it up into my hydraulic press.
The Moog SuperDuty Springs are about $150 for the pr. from O'Reillys, less if you have a account with them....

Thanks guys. Thats just the info I was looking for.

i havnt looked at the balljoints on my dodge yet i did not know how they wre attahed. i just know on my hevy they were riveted in on top and press in on bottom. but thanks for the info. i had a quote done from NTB on rebuilding my front end including gear bos springs shocks balljoints wheel bearings tie rod ends idler arm and anything else that has to do with steering and suspension and they want 2600 and firestone wants almost 3300

And you can do it for about $450 doing it yourself....isn't that enough incentive? Just think about all the nice greasey Cummins Luvin' you'll be doing! Maybe even inspire ya to turn things up and go embarrass a PowerSmoke or a DuraAss....