98 dodge ram issues...

[atfrith]

Bought a 98 dodge ram 1500 with the 5.2l v-8 last winter and have had no issues with is whatsoever until yesterday. It had 84k on it when i bought it and just crossed over 100k. Yesterday took it from westminster up to Ft. Morgan area to do some small game hunting, I kept it from 75-80 mph the entire drive on cruise control and when we got back into westy yesterday evening i noticed my brakes acting funny along with the steering. So suddenly i have a clunking noise coming from the front end (trac bar, tie rod area) when i turn right that is getting progressivly louder and also brakes that seem like they are going in and out (ie: squishy pedal to normal) WTF?? We did no 4wheeling whatsoever and these two issues seem totally unrelated to me?? Any ideas? Today it got bad enough i thought i was going to have some issues staying on the road on my way home from work...

[jimminyC]

Check your lug nuts. :)
Then have someone sit in the truck and turn the steering back and forth while you look at all the joints.

[atfrith]

Already checked the lug nuts, no go.
Also had my buddy look around at the joints, etc while i was turning the steering wheel back and forth earlier this evening and he couldnt see anything out of the ordinary, but i'll try again in the morning and see if i can find something. Really pi**ing me off because i need this for work on monday. AHHH

[RJsfun]

I have a 98 Ram 1500 xcab 5.2l 5 speed.
The issues with these trucks has been the front ball joints.
My buddies 2001 Ram 1500 off road started to make weird noises when turning the wheel while parked, and after a few weeks of 4 wheel high at highway speeds became worse, and you could feel a rough spot in the steering. After crawling under it while he went forward and backwards while turning the wheel we could finially see a little (I mean little) movement around the knuckles. A LITTLE movement in the front suspension/steering compents can become a BIG movement in the feel of the wheel and in the handling characteristics on the road. Changed the ball joints with the help of a rental tool and no problems.
Another problem I had with my 98 1500 when the steering and tire wear were weird actually turned out to be the shocks. I replaced the front shocks and steering stabilizer and so far so good...
Good luck Let me know what you find out for reference for a fellow Ram owner.

[atfrith]

hey thanks alot for the quick responses! I just spent the last hour or so reading the forums on dodgetalk.com and pretty much am thinking the same thing, ball joints. Normally i would try to tackle something like this myself but due to recently moving and other crap going on I would like to just take it to a shop to save my time. Any guesses on what ball joint replacement will run me? I am a pretty good friend of a friend of Darrin at ORI so im gonna drop it by him tomorrow to see what he says....
but im still stumped as to why this would be affecting my brake pedal, sometimes it just feels like my brakes are gone, almost pedal to the floor...

[Rambill II]

I'm guessing it is a bad hub/unit bearing, and not ball joints.

Unit bearings are a very common failure on 2nd gen Rams. They run about $200.00 a side. Ball joints should be done all at the same time and run about $800.00 at most shops.

[crzyxj]

I would reccommend changing the inner U-joints while you are in there I had two Dodges that had similar issues with the inner u-joints

[atfrith]

It ended up being the unit bearing, had Darrin at ORI replace it for me and the front brake pads because they were almost non existant. THanks for the help guys