My truck has a problem wondering, and the steering wheel always seems off of center, matter of fact I can grab the wheel and go back and forth without affecting anything. Everything is tight, I just replaced the drag link, and my B-I-L aligned it a month ago, and it hadnt moved from the previous time.

Do these things have any problems with worn gear boxes, etc? or is this a 1st gen 2wd characteristic.

Dont get me wrong, its not wondering all over at all times, or have very extreme play, but its enough to catch you off guard sometimes.

Anything I should check?

 

Hmmm, I just answered my own question...its called a new steering shaft

 

The factory coupler is a pretty lame-o setup. The good news is you can get parts to rebuild it from dodge for just a few bucks. It'll tighten things up about 95% and costs a fraction of what the borgeson unit costs. The downside it you'll have to rebuild it every couple years...still, it'll be 20 years before you spend what the borgeson costs. I have a borgeson and it doesn't really impress me over my previous non-borgeson dodges.

 

What exactly is the problem with them, and what parts would I need from Mopar?


Also are these dealer only parts?

 

There's a coupler right near the steering box and that's what wears out. The borgeson replaces the entire shaft from the rag joint to that coupler and replaces the coupler with u-joints. The fix kit from Dodge replaces the internal parts of the original coupler and does a decent job of tightening things up for only a few bucks. The fix kit is dodge-only, I believe.

 

All depends on how much you drive and how the roads are in your area. PA roads suck (I have to line up with the horse and buggy rutts). My brother replace the stock joint with the mopar stuff in my previous '86 dodge. My '89 had a borgeson on when i bought it. The mopar stuff will wear out again, Borgeson will last until the truck dies. My 2 cents. (where in PA are you)?

 

If the steering wheel is not strait its not as much the alinement as the gear box!(theres not enuff adj to staighten the steering wheel)
If you or some body before you have clobered a big rock or curb on a angle it will shift the gear box on the bracket, on the frame!
I thout that i had tweeked the frame on mine when i did that
adj it back to cover up the shiny spot(or rusted spots if it happend a long time a go.) where the gear box/reinforcment plate bolts to the frame.

I replace the reinforcment on mine...just for a piece of mined

I fig this out from an old tsb that i found!