I have a 2011 Ram 1500. Over the past few months, the rear end has begun to feel like it's wallowing when making a lane change on the highway, or any sharp quick turn. The shocks are the originals, so I suspect it needs new rear shocks, but I haven't observed any uneven tread wear and doing a bounce test was normal. The tires are inflated properly I'm not sure what else could cause the problem. I'm at the point of just replacing them and see if that eliminates the wallowing. Could it be anything else? For reference, this past summer I had the front bushings and struts replaced.
I've been driving my Firebird off and on over the past few weeks, and last week I noticed that it was starting to crank slowly. Not every time, but sometimes it would crank at about half speed, usually when cold. The battery tested good, as did the cable, so I began to suspect the starter. I had changed the solenoid on this starter (a gear-reduction mini-starter) about ten years ago, and I completely disassembled it and cleaned it up. Finally, one evening it died completely (at home, thankfully). Out came the starter, and look at what I found: Spoiler The starter was full of water! I have no idea how it got in there. I've driven that car through some pretty deep water before, but that was many years ago. Spoiler This is the problem area. The components circled are called the brushes, and they are what transmit power to the armature of the starter (the part that turns; coming up in the next picture). See how they aren't sticking out as much as the other two? That means that the starter was only getting half power - until it got no power at all. What to do about this? Spoiler Here's the armature. Most of that rust isn't from the armature itself, but from the other parts of the starter. It's (supposed to be) covered in a thin layer of plastic to keep from shorting out. The circled part is known as the commutator, which is where the brushes make contact. Note all the junk in the grooves: eventually, that can cause electrical current to flow between the different contact points, and disable the starter. Those need to be cleaned out. Last of all, those two dimples/ notches in the armature are for balance purposes. Spoiler Here is the brush assembly after a light pressure wash, and a soak in vinegar for a few hours. Those springs are what hold the brushes to the commutator. Works great, but a problem arises when you want to reassemble the whole thing, and can't get the armature back in because the brushes are all stuck out. Spoiler You've got to retract the springs. There are fancy tools made for this, but I've never used them. Spoiler Once you stick the armature in there, pull out the fancy holding tools. Note the clean grooves in the commutator. Spoiler Here's the unit assembled, next to the old drive-gear assembly, which had a bad bearing. Before I go, I want to mention that installing the solenoid (the cylinder on top, which actually passes battery power to the brushes) and its corresponding lever IS A BITCH AND A HALF. I must have messed it up half a dozen times. You know it's wrong when the starter just spins, but doesn't push the drive-gear out. I finally got it, though, and it's going back on tonight.
I'd look REALLY close at your tracking bar. It's a tubular steel bar that goes from the axle to the frame. It literally keeps your rear axle in line with the rest of the truck. I've seen them crack in half on Rams of your generation before. It feels really weird to drive them, kind of like you're in a boat on the water.
It will sway if I change lanes either to the left or right and will sway when I accelerate or let off the gas at highway speeds. I probably notice it more making right turns, but that could just be its really noticeable making sustained hard rights on cloverleaf on/off ramps.
DUDE. Go outside, look under the back of the truck and tell me what you see. I'll bet you a rep point that the bar is either broken in half, or the bushings are completely shot.
Are the springs new? Can't if that's why they're not rusty or if they're powdercoated or something. And holy hell, so glad I don't have to worry about rust. Your 12 y/o truck has 10x the amount of rust my 59 year old Nova
Those bushings LOOK decent, and the bar isn't broken. Next, I'd look really closely at the rear trailing arm bushings. Last of all, I'd jack up the front end and check all the front suspension bushings - I don't think that's where the problem is, based on your description, but it never hurts to check. Bushings can be a real pain to diagnose sometimes. They can LOOK good on the outside, but once you disassemble them, all the rubber is shredded, allowing movement. I wish you lived down here so I could check it.
Just for funsies....A few days ago my car started running hot. Really hot. Pull over every few miles before it hits the red zone hot. On the highway at 60 mph in 50 degree weather the temp gauge was climbing. Pretty simple to figure out the coolant wasn't circulating. My guess was an air bubble, but I took it to the shop and changed the cap, thermostat,and flush and fill the system. And purge it. They told me I needed a new engine. I laughed right in the guy's face. I hopped in my car and drove home, it hit 180 and stayed there. The only issue right now is the AC compressor isn't kicking on so I can't manually kick the cooling fans on, but I have a feeling it just needs recharged. It was last charged 4 or 5 years ago. Also to add....the car is not smoking and there is no coolant in the oil, so I highly doubt it's a head gasket issue.
Those are the original springs. Welcome to the rust belt... The rust really started to take hold the past few years. I'm not sure if that's because since I've had kids I don't have the time to run it through a carwash to knock the salt off after every storm, or if it's just really started to show after 12yrs. I haven't had a chance to pick the truck up off the suspension to see if I can rock the arms, etc when the suspension isn't under load, but I'm running with the suspicion some or all of the bushings are worn out. If it is the bushings, my assumption is replace all the bushings on both sides. Should I also replace the bushings on the track bar? Is there anything else I should just go ahead and replace while the truck is in the air? Shocks, etc? With a pair of jack stands and a floor jack, what degree of difficulty am I looking at to do this myself? The truck is too long to fit in my garage and close the door, so I need to be able to complete this within a day. I'd want to clean up and repaint the trailing arms if I press in new bushings, but that will take longer. I'm tempted to just replace the trailing arms and track bar with new ones instead of pressing in new bushings. From looking on Rock Auto, Mopar is about twice the cost of other brands. Are there brands I should look for, or avoid?
I just finished installing a new track bar today. A question for @dixiebandit69 or @GTE. I can't find a good answer for how much torque for the bolts. I've found 200ft lbs, 165ft lbs, and as low as 114ft lbs. What do you suggest?
The 114ft/lbs. sounds about right, but I could be wrong. MOPAR comes up with some weird torque specs sometimes.
Thanks, I went with Core 4x4 aftermarket, but they didn't provide any specs. It seemed to me it should be roughly the same number no matter who made the part. Looking online gave me the range above which seems really wide. TRQ's Youtube video stated 114ft/lbs, I went with that.
A grade 8 1/2" bolt requires around 120 ft/lbs if I remember correctly. There are whole charts to help figure that shit out in most small engineering/mechanics handbook, so if you knew the size of the bolt and the grade, you'd get a rough idea of the torque in most applications. Something like this: http://www.repairengineering.com/bolt-torque-chart.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2023/02/19/ram-trucks-heavy-duty-fire-recall/11300802002/ Calling @Nettdata and @Revengeofthenerds
Yeah, mine has the new heater grid relay so no worries. My dealer is great for recalls. They call me, arrange to pick my truck up, do the work, drop it back off. Complimentary valet service is damn nice.
The dealer near me sucks. The seat on her brand new Grand Cherokee had some deformation so I made an appt to have it looked at. Got there right on time, waited 15-20 mins for the service advisor to snap a few pics of it and say "I'll send these to Mopar to see if they'll cover it" I said "It's a $70k car with 1600 miles on it, it better be covered" Two weeks and three phone calls later, he says that Mopar will cover it, but they don't do interior work in house. He directs me to their preferred interior vendor across town. I get there and of course they have no idea who I am and why I'm there. Thankfully it was just a broken clip, which they took care of and billed the dealer.