6.7L Cummins Forum

I have had my 09 3500 4 wheel drive for a little over two years with 54,000 miles. I use my truck to pull a 5th wheel trailer that I use for work. I have noticed that going down the road that the truck seems to wander. It doesn't pull in any direction and if I take my hands off the wheel it tracks pretty straight however, it seems that I am constantly going back and forth with the steering wheel.

Can more caster be added to help with this problem or is there something out there I don't know about.

Any suggestions would be great.

Welcome to the wonderful suspension of the dodge ram 4x4 truck ! Common problem.

#1 thing that causes this on our truck is the front ball joints. Our ball joints can have up to a 1/4 inch free play in them. Replacing them with something like Dynatrac or Carli's will fix that up most of the way, adding something like a BD steering brace will help also and remove frame flex that alters the steering. At 54K miles, steering ball joints should in really good shape so nothing really there. I have found that zero degree front end alignment is really the best on mileage but 1/2 degree toe in will provide some force against the wheel and stiffen things up more.

All of this can be measured. If you lift one side of the front axle, you can use a pry on the ground and left the tire, from there you see how much play is really there. Do the same with the other side. Also, check your steering damper to make sure its not leaking and still has resistance to it when moving the rod in and out.

Also when you have one tire up and free, there should be no free play when trying to turn the tire left and right, if so, check the steering ball joints.

Hope that helps.

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Appreciate input,.

I enjoy the functionality of this truck and how well it pulls my trailer especially with the manual tranny over the mountains. I wouldn't mind tightening of the steering and this rig would just about perfect.

Will research products and see what's up...

Thanks,
Bill

Its something I am looking into currently myself since my wondering as gotten worse. My ball joint free play has gotten worse, in my case, I have nearly a 1/4 inch free play top to bottom and about 1/16 inch in and out. Everything steering joint is still nice and tight, just the ball joints are shot.

Chatted with a few folks with Dynatrac and Carli ball joints and the issues got much better and the wondering stopped. Carli's are very expensive but warrantied for life. Dynatrac are 1/2 the price, not warrantied for life but are rebuildable on the truck (now removal required). They are a pain to replace no matter how you look at it.

There are others here that have used other vendor's ball joints with mixed results.

I would be very interested in what you find out and compare notes. I looking at doing my repairs this coming summer.

Cheers.

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I'll be sure to let you know. Hoping to get this figured out as we put on about 2000 miles a month towing and it would be nice not to wander.

Thanks for your help!
Bill