In addition to working on some control issues on my wife's car, this spring was the time for me to work on the corners:

New discs, new pads, repaired right front caliper piston (seal was bad, causing the piston to stick - prematurely wore out the pads and caused a pull to the right). I did this job myself and used it as an opportunity to take a close look at the other components.

Turns out that the CV boots on both sides were torn. I found an idie who replaced the complete CV assemblies on both sides with lifetime warranty parts for about $225. While doing this, he saw where the ball joint on one side was shot, so I ordered two control arms from FCP Groton, $65 each. He installed them for $80 (I don't have a garage right now, but our house should be finished in April, so I can save some bucks on the labor for future projects).

I was a little low on funds, so I was waiting to get the alignment done. The tires on the car were good, but needed to be replaced this year anyway, so I drove it for awhile to evaluate the recent work, even though it still pulled a little to the right. It turns out that pull was another hidden problem.

Where the new ball joint fits up into the spindle had a hairline crack on the clamp. After a couple of days of driving, that clamp failed while my wife was driving. She immediatley exited the freeway and parked in front of a restaurant and called me. I drove over, took one look, saw that the driver's side front was pointed directly ahead, but the passenger's side was toed out about 15 degrees.

I called AAA for a tow truck, got it up in the air, and could see the whole problem. We took it back to the guy who did all the front end work and went back to pick it up the next day. He had replaced the right front spindle and repacked the CV joint and replaced the boot; it had come apart when the ball joint clamp failed. $55 for the part, $30 for labor.

The front end finally felt just right, so I got new BF Goodrich tires all around and an alignment, $417. I just love curvy roads now!

The last thing to do this spring is flush the brake system and replace the original brake lines. They looked good upon inspection, but I also want to have a look at how the brake pads and rotors are wearing before I consider this project complete.

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Ten Sleep 1980 245DL 1995 850 Turbo 1997 Dodge Dakota 5.2L "Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver"