AZ2A

o.k so last night out in the middle of nowhere Arizona I finally cracked my steering box bracket on my 93 W250, I could weld it buuuttt that just creates a time bomb I'll be waiting to go off so... crossover conversion, I really don't want to lift it if possible as I have to use it occasionally to transport my 75 year old mother and my GF is only 5'2" tall and already has to jump to get into it with 33" tires so... what do I need to convert it with minimal lifting?

oliver foster

I am running Off Road Designs crossover set up built for a two inch lift on a Dodge truck.
Good people to deal with and the parts are solid.

Right now I have the truck to the point where it yard drives with only 1 1/2 inch lift total in the front and stock W-250 rear suspension. I have a few adjustments left that I think will leave me plenty of space between the engine crossmember and the rod.

u2slow

For a basically stock or up to 2" lift truck... weld up the bracket and carry on.

Its fairly normal repair, every 10 years or so in my experience. Found the last crack when I changed the steering box. Lo and behold, a different crack had been welded up before.

82ndVet

Mine looks like Frankensteins face. Next time I go to the wrecking yard I'll be pulling a couple good used ones.

thrashingcows

I put one of the OEM Ramcharger steering stabilizer brackets on my crew when I did the 4wd conversion, I also upgraded the size of the bolts that hold the bracket to the frame and have not had any issues since.

82ndVet

I also bought that bracket for mine. When I start the steering rebuild, I'll be installing it.

Rug_Trucker

Any pics of this stuff? I have a creak on the left when turning. Cowl? No idea. I didn't see any cracks near the steering box. Not a W350.

james1

The Mopar OEM part number was 4447405 and apparently they can be found very occasionally in boneyards on old Ramchargers.

This company makes a reproduction which appears to still be available: https://www.dodgeconnection.com/cata...66/4541374.htm



Good luck with it. We've all experienced broken brackets -- many of us more than once. Here is a photo of what happens:

82ndVet

That is the same place I bought mine. Took a couple weeks to get it.

u2slow

I've never fully severed a bracket. Only found cracks after unbolting a box. I probably spend more time under my trucks (greasing and such) per miles driven that average folk... lol!

I found a brace on a 88 D150 longbed, but none on my D250/350 trucks. Probably to do with how thin the 1/2-ton frames are.

james1

My dad was the original owner of my truck. He NEVER had the truck offroad but the OEM bracket snapped at less than 40k miles. He had it welded and then later replaced it with a new unit from Mopar. When he gave me the truck he also gave me the old welded bracket, which I discarded -- a huge mistake. I later snapped the second bracket (see photograph above) but was able to replace it with a new one I had purchased from Mopar for less than $14. Mother Mopar has since disposed of its entire cache of new brackets (more than 3,000 of them) so the brackets are now available only in boneyards. I keep a spare sitting on the shelf in my shop so if I snap another one I'm not incapacitated for weeks while I search for a replacement. It's sad; no wonder many folks prefer Ford trucks...

Several members on this forum have successfully converted their 4WD First Gens to utilize a reverse rotation steering box -- the geometry of which apparently puts much less strain on the steering components. This eliminates the bracket completely. IIRC, the primary issue with the conversion is the mixing of SAE and metric thread components.

oliver foster

In case anyone is every in need I have kept a bunch of cracked and re welded OEM plates over the years. I literally have a 5 gallon paill full of them in the shop.
I would guess 5 out of 6 of the W-250-W-350 Cummins trucks I work on have a re-welded plate on them at this point in their lives.

Rug_Trucker

These plates are on the 2WD's also?

u2slow

@james1 I refuse to let a basic bracket be a reason for disliking the truck. I have 3 trucks with brackets. They're all holding a steering box. Since its an easy welding fix if/when they crack, I'm not the least bit worried. If you had a square-body chevy (K10 or K20) or 80-96 F150, it would be the frame cracking instead.

@Rug_Trucker no, the 2wd box bolts directly to the frame. This is also the standard box placement when doing crossover steering.

thrashingcows

I may have Jinxed myself with my previous comment.......backing into a parking spot today and heard a big metallic pop, now it makes that noise when making slow hard turns.....