How To Change Half Shaft On 2004 Dodge Ram 1500
If yous're the owner of any Dodge HD truck and haven't had any issues related to the front end suspension and/or steering, you're either oblivious to it, or yous've managed to observe a one in a million truck. Since the release of the EXTREMELY pop 1994 Dodge Ram through the electric current generation of Rams, in that location have ever been woes on the integrity, and many times the safety of these trucks in regards to the front terminate. Typically, the 1994-2002 (called the twond Generation Rams) more often than not had issues stemming from premature failure of the steering gear boxes, causing an extremely loose feeling that would piece of work its manner down through all of the tie rods and ball joints. Well-nigh drivers would explain this looseness as "driving Miss Daisy" in which you're driving down the road and constantly correcting the steering considering of having to over steer the truck. On top of this, well-nigh notice an extreme harshness when hitting pot holes, speed bumps, etc. that tin can exist felt through the steering cycle. In farthermost cases of these trucks, many will experience an occurrence commonly known as Death Wobble (we'll talk about this afterwards in the write upwardly).
Next came the release of the 2003 Contrivance Rams (called the iiird Generation Rams) that were in production through 2009. With the design of these trucks came different suppliers of axles and beam housings in which Dodge got abroad from Dana axles and switched to American Axles that were larger in bore, as well as slightly larger gear box, and a host of other "smaller" changes. These trucks do non have equally big of an issue with gearbox failure, only overall the gearbox is relatively weak, and unable to practice its job every bit effectively as information technology should (which Dodge finally upgraded on the 2009 models). The biggest complaint of these trucks are premature ball articulation failure, which largely stems from looseness in the tie rods, similar to the iind Generation Rams, and this looseness many times leads to the previously mentioned Expiry Wobble.
Now, WHAT IS Death WOBBLE? From the driver's seat, Decease Wobble is a situation in which an absolutely violent shaking of the front occurs and transfers through to the steering wheel causing an precipitous side to side motility and this occurrence can just exist stopped by literally slowing the vehicle downwards to a stop. The about frequent situation in which Death Wobble occurs is driving at freeway speeds, going effectually a corner, and hitting a bump, or especially an expansion joint on a bridge…..then IT happens!
But what is the bodily cause, or what is actually happening during this event? Basically, the interruption decompresses, releasing load on the front end end, allowing everything to "loosen up" a scrap. Now, the wheels are able to toe-in and toe-out from each other (basically the front of the tires volition point towards each other and then away from each other) in rapid succession, shaking the front end end.
I of the biggest reasons that this toe-in/toe-out is even physically able to happen is due to a poor steering geometry from Dodge, at that place is literally a pivot point between the wheels that obviously should exist connected. Basically, if you were to follow the steering geometry starting at the gearbox, yous will find the drag link connecting to the pitman arm then to the passenger side knuckle. And then, the center link connects at the drag link and goes to the drivers side knuckle. The point at which the drag link and middle link connect is the pivot point.
Now, this pivot betoken isn't necessarily the worst thought in the world, but especially equally surrounding tie rods wear out and requite some slop, information technology volition DEFINITELY lead to Death Wobble.
In mid-model year 2008, Dodge finally made some corrective action to this whole scenario and released a revised steering geometry for the trucks. At present, the heart link goes knuckle to knuckle, and the elevate link ties into the center link, thus eliminating the pivot point between the wheels.
This new geometry was released "under the radar" some could say. To this twenty-four hours, Dodge will never admit to Expiry Wobble or anything of the sort. For instance, if you accept your truck to the dealer and say yous have Death Wobble, you lot will typically be looked at with unbeknownst eyes and will exist forced to explicate what the truck is doing….considering they've never heard of such a thing. At that fourth dimension, they will get through the front end and look for signs of wear, and will typically discover that the…….(expect for it, expect for information technology) tie rods are worn and demand to exist replaced. Just gauge what, they won't merely change the necktie rods, you will get an entirely new drag link and eye link, which also features a MUCH larger diameter than the old stock system. Yous can't even buy replacement necktie rods from the dealer for the old organization, its been completely discontinued, wonder why?
So, now how practise you ready or prevent Death Wobble? Obviously, the first and most obvious is to change out the steering linkage to the newer manner. At this point, yous must also change the steering damper (shock) because the new geometry does not allow fitment of the older shock. For this, the best stabilizer shock on the market is manufactured by Carli Interruption and it utilizes a Bilstein 7100 serial nitrogen charged shock. This damper has a built-in valve stem that allows the finish user to actually alter the pressure in the shock. The advantage to this is that you tin can become simply the right amount of pressure to apply a constant pressure against the steering, actually helping the truck to runway straighter and virtually proceed everything in a abiding demark, helping in the longevity of the steering components.
And what else can be done to improve the front end….the list is almost endless for the Dodges! However, there are MANY items that are great upgrades for when the factory components brainstorm to prove signs of vesture, likewise. For example, the brawl joints. As mentioned previously, the factory ball joints on especially the 3rd Generation Rams are a high wear item, and there are replacements available that volition LITERALLY last a lifetime (and guaranteed to do so), and they're actually also made by Carli Break. Also, upgraded track bars past both BD and Carli Suspension are built out of much stronger materials than the manufactory units and are even adaptable for those with lift kits to get proper front end triangulation. Another popular item are steering box braces, like those by BD once again. A steering box brace ties the sector shaft coming out of the gear box to the frame runway. The reason for this is that with Contrivance'south subpar boxes, they will become flex and motility coming out of the sector shaft, which so transfers down through the steering. This motion many times goes along with the "driving Miss Daisy" effect we discussed before. This volition too help with the longevity of the box, by eliminating this motion. And since we're talking near gearboxes, this is the last "major" slice to the puzzle. Through trial and error, we found the all-time boxes on the market come up from Red-Caput Steering Gears coupled with a Borgeson steering shaft.
-Josh Ullrich, Diesel Power Products Sales Director
Source: https://www.dieselpowerproducts.com/blog/dodge-front-end-issues-and-the-dreaded-death-wobble/
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