it could be one of the many possibilities. i know that it helped my truck and ball joints are common on the s.d's. The steering gears also wear out which could cause play or tie rod ends. If your truck has a stabilizer then maybe it could be worn out. I would do the ball joints first. You can do them yourself, it'll save you about 600 bucks over taking it to the dealer. My truck only had 80k on it and mine were shot. Let me know if you have any more questions about installing them etc...