Four problems related to front suspension lower ball joint have been reported for the 1998 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The contact owns a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 quad. The contact noticed that the front lower ball joints could not be lubed, causing the vehicle to make a loud scrapping noise when driving. Both the dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure who informed the contact that there were no recalls. The vehicle was neither diagnosed nor repaired for the failure. The current and failure mileage was 115,920.
Lower ball joints failed at 27000 miles. No fittings for grease.
Ball joint lubrication impossible; no grease fittings.
Premature lower ball joint failure in Dodge Ram 1500 . Truck has had unusual tire wear since 44k miles and dealer as well as tire shops found no explanation. Wheel bearings and tie rod ends were previously replaced at 68k miles by myself, with right side tie rod severely worn. I assumed the tie rod was the tire wear problem and did not have problems aligning front end until this February. Shortly thereafter, clunk in steering was evident, and handling became erratic. I carefully inspected front end and discovered right side lower ball joint worn to point where it was about to separate from socket. Left side joint is significantly worn as well. Looking back, the ball joints were wearing out at the 44k mile point. Vehicle is driven mainly on highway and in 30 years of driving and 9 vehicles this is the first one to have a ball joint failure in this manner after only 5 years of service. Research on my part has indicated that numerous Dodge truck owners have this problem, onsetting in as little as 20k miles causing the same symptoms as my truck, and if I wasn't so meticulous in performing vehicle maintenance on my own this may well have resulted in a serious accident.