Dodge: Deteriorating ride on 98 Ram

Hello all. I have a 98 Ram 1500 4x4, standard cab. It has about 91000
miles on it. It developed a heavy, dull ’thumping’ sound on bumps,
not big bumps, sometimes just the tar lines on the highway and is felt
mostly in the floorboards, and with a bit of a feeling of looseness or
wandering in the steering. Knowing that the shocks and tires were both
getting a bit long in the tooth, and with winter coming on, while in
for a scheduled brake job I had the shocks replaced, and 4 new tires
installed. The front end and suspension was checked and inspected.
Now with the work done, while the ride is much improved, the
’thumping’ sound is still there, and occasionally a feeling like the
truck is wandering a bit, especially if there is some roughness to the
road. Went back in and they rotated the tires but it changed nothing.
They re-inspected the suspension, under carriage, and
tranny/motor/cab/bed mounts and assure me that everything is tight and
there is no indication or wear, bottoming out, etc. Anyone have any
guesses on what might be behind the thump? The best way I can think
of to describe it is if a shock was totally gone and there was a lot
of bounce and slapping from one wheel. The sound of it is usually much
greater than the actual feeling, and if on a nice, smooth road, it’s
not felt/heard at all. Thanks!

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"user616" wrote: 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! Turns out the problem was the track
bar... *lots* of play in it. They just don’t know how they missed
that when they did the work. And most of the noise from the back end?
They somehow managed to get the right rear shock cockeyed in the upper
mount when they installed it so they say. Top of the new shock got
really mangled, so they replaced them again. Now even at 92000 miles
the kidney massaging ride has stopped, and I again can gawk at the
pretty girls without running up on the curb. But I think I’ll be
avoiding that particular service department in the future.
Thanks again!

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