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How can you tell if the ball joints or struts are bad in a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan? |
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Answer
Let's check the struts since this can be partially diagnosed without placing the vehicle on special territory by that I mean be it a jack or lift. The strut is designed to allow the vehicle when hitting a bump or dip in the road to dip with it and then come right back up. You are going to mimick this procedure by doing what is called "jounce and rebound check". First, are you wanting to test all struts? It's recommended to ALWAYS replace them in pairs! Jounce and Rebound test.....standing by the bumper corners push down on the vehicle causing it to dip and do it a couple times to get the feel of hitting dips and then stand back and count how many times it goes up and down before it stops...1.5 times is the recommended jounce and rebound. Normally it's down and up and stop. Ocassionally a spring located on the strut gets weak it will cause your vehicle to sag and create extra work for the strut watch out for this.....
my $ .02
Choppy wear in the tires, oil leaking from the struts or a bouncy ride may also be indications of weak struts. The 1998 caravans were also common for rot on the top of the strut tower, if not taken care of, they can shoot up into the hood.Most Ball joints are checked by grabbing the wheels in the 12 and 6 o'clock positions and pulling with one hand and pushing with the other, then reversing the push/ pull direction while feeling fo movement.
First answer by ID3477440974. Last edit by Bclear. Contributor trust: 1395 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 8 [recommend question]
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