It is all better, everything is tight now...

Turned out the ball joints werent that great (though boots were all fine), and the right tie rod had some play; so the whole assembly was changed. No popping now, and Ill hae it aligned tomorrow.

Would bad ball joints cause me to go through tie rods? Ive replaced three tie rods now (at least two were on the same side) in the last 50k. My tires also wear a bit more on the leading edge of the outside tread lugs. Hopefully now with a tight suspension, that will go away. I can get the mileage rating out of 40k mile tires, but they do show some funny wear between rotations.

Thanks for all the help.

JMH

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)