Ive had this truck a little over a 1 1/2 years, and the steering has never been good, and after reading this sight I thought I had figured out why. I put it off, with the intention of lifting it, and installing crossover, but havent gotten that far (collecting parts, have the steering parts, some of the lift kit, stalled at the issue of buying large 17" load rated tires!!). My steering got dangerous overnight about 3 weeks ago. I stopped drivning it that day, it was all over the road. I had the woman get in the truck so I could look under it as it was being moved back and forth, and saw the box move on the frame a bit, the sector shaft move up a down a bit in the box (no leaks though), and the obvious slop in the steering coupler. So, bit the bullet, bought the coupler rebuild kit, bracket from the dealer, and rebuilt box from NAPA. I installed all, although I was a bit worried when I found the bracket intact upon removal. It didnt help AT ALL. In fact, it may be worse now, as there is no longer any slop in my steering to absorb some of this. I took it to SEARS (most local Hunter alignemnt rack), and they did find the tires toed out a bit, STILL didnt help. I have done the driveway check on wheel bearings and kingpins, finding VERY little movement at all, wheel bearings could stand to be repacked and tightened maybe 1 flat, but even the SEARS guys are stumped. They think the frontend is VERY solid. They said, AH steering box is shot, but what are the odds that the SAME wierd thing happens?? To be specific, the truck is very darty. Our roads are very crowned here in the northeast, and I attribute some of this to the behavior, but the truck pulls right constantly. When I make a left hand turn, I get some resistance through the steering wheel, and as I push through it, it suddenly races in the direction I am steering!! Driving at speeds above 30 is an excersise in steering left and right to keep the truck straight, and remember, there is NO slop left in my steering?? Tie rod ends and drag link ends all appear to be OK?? WTH??????

 

You may have put the little cam things backwards in the rebiuld of the stearing coupler. That will tend to bind the stearing. Take them out and make sure they are installed the correct way. How Do I know this? I did it. Bound my stearing real bad. So I took it apart and reinstalled them and there ya go stearing back to normal. Now I changed the shaft out compleatly and 100% better stearing.

Greg

 

With so many looking at it allready this may not be the problem. I will tell you what happened to mine. I found the frame cracked behind the box. I welded it up and it was good for a while. About a year later It got slopy again. One day that bracket between the frame and box broke in two pieces. I would look really close to the frame and bracket and make sure there are no cracks.
Good luck.

 

OK, I really cant find anything else on closer inspection..................except, how much movement is the steering box supposed to cause when vehicle is on pavement, not in motion, and someone is moving the steering wheel back and forth?? The box seems to be moving, quite a bit, but in fact its the framerail that is flexing back and forth, along the length of the driverside. I can see it with the hood open, back to about the shackle hanger. There dont appear to be any fractures in it, or rivets in crossmembers missing?? Maybe this is normal?? I think this movement is what caused me to think the box bracket was broken, when in fact it was not (even though I replaced it anyways).

 

Found more. Seems the sheetmetal brace that goes from the rocker pinch weld to where the first body mount is, is wrinkled, as if it has moved in and out?? This is an incredibly clean truck, no rust, no surface rust on frame, original sheet metal..........................I cant figure it out (original bumper, which has seen better days, bent at both mounts, but still straight (if that makes sense). The gentleman I got it from didnt even have a hitch on it.
So, why would the framerail be moving?

 

Are there body mounts in front of the steering box, by front spring hanger, and on the other side?? I see two brackets that "appear" to be used as a body mount, but no mount, no room for a mount (bushing), and no hole in the radiator support/fender to install a bolt through??????????

 

My initial thought on this was horribly bad spring eye bushings. How are they?
I know Dodge frames r very soft to say the least, ask me how I figured that out!

I might be inclined to say that over the years, perhaps before u or the PO used it, it lead a very 4wheeled life.
You may need to tear down the front clip and have some steel welded in to strenghten the frame, or some sort of custom cross bracing. Check your radiator support for any cracks, maybe sheered bolts.

 

Not even close, I wish I could explain it that easily. PO was an old man, no hitch, stock 235/85/16s on stock rims, clean as the day it was bought off of the lot, without exageration. I couldnt believe it didnt even have a hitch. It was garaged its whole life, and sold to me as the owner believed it was time for a transmission (was VERY low on fluid. Dont believe the dipsticks on these dodges, fill it up!!), and after a flush, fluid/filter change, and some telephone calls (tranny guys are cool, they let me in on the faulty dipstick reading on gen 1 dodges!!), and the proper fluid level, trans is as good as can be expected for such a loose torque coverter. The only things Ive done are the hitches (frame and flip ball gooseneck), headache rack (after I hit the **** front of the bed with my 4 wheeler!), and some 17" Pro Comp 17x9s with some takeoff 265/75/17 load E Long Trail TAs. Thats it, pampered "so far". Ive towed a coupla loads cross country in the 12k range, doesnt phase it, thats all.

 

Check the front spring hangars. The rivets like to work loose and they can move around on the frame

There is a link to an article on here somewhere about boxing the area of the frame around the steering box for more strength. This is very common on offroad rigs with larger tires.

A bad steering box can make a vehicle not want to go straight. If the bearing preload is wrong on the sector shaft they want to be anywhere but straight ahead. You could try backing off the adjuster screw on the top of the box and see if it makes a difference (Mark it so you know how much and can go back to original settings).

Andy

 

Might also have an outer u-joint in the stub axles binding.

 

Check shocks, and dont confine your efforts to just the front, the rear can many times mirror the same symptoms. I had a rancho shock on rear that froze up, i darn near tore front end apart looking.

 

I wish it was that easy, buyt that would indicate I also had a stuck hub (checked already with the wheels off the ground, ujoints good, hubs good). Im gonna start with kingpin rebuilds, and park the truck for another coupla weeks while I get the gumption to tear it apart. I also want to try and brace the framerail at the steering box to the opposite framrail, boxing and sleeving it at the box, then use tube or box section to the opposite framerail to stiffen the **** thing up (I cant imagine what crossover with 35s will be like if I dont!!). Ill check shocks as well. The ONLY thing I can come up with, is that the spring tension on the upper kingpin is suddenly not enough, and that combined with the delrin cone is worn, and allowing movement, only with the wieght of the truck, as I cant really cause movement with my wieght with the truck off the ground (I had leaf spring d60s in a Wrangler, had to use some fender washers to preload the spring in order to stop some death wobble in it before). I keep thanking god I dont have track bars, control arm bushings, ball joints (eeek), and unit bearing hubs to deal with though!!!!!!

 

Boy does this sound familiar. I went through a similar experience some time ago. It only showed up in cold weather. Just for grins, lock in the hubs and try driving. If the problem goes away, pull the hubs down and lube them. Pay close inspection to the snap ring. Mine dislodged causing the afore mentioned symptoms. I sure hope that is the same in your case.

 

Wow This is exactly what my truck has been doing for the past few weeks. The steering joints are tight and all is good except when I take a sharp right turn the problem happens. It becomes very darty and hard to steer It seems like something is binding up and letting go making the truck literally shoot over. I cannot figure out what it is, it just started doing it one day.

 

Im sorry to hear that. Im just going to start from square one, and rebuild the front axle (kinpin bearings, delrin cones, springs and preload washers), as well as inspect/grease the front wheel bearings and inspect the hubs. I just hate doing all this AND working like 12+ hours a day. The REAL problem is.............I wont get rid of her!! Funny how a mechanic friend of mine starts with all this nonsense about it must be this/that before he actually gets a chance to look at it, and he sees that I dont HAVE all the associated wear items hes mentioned, they are on later model trucks, so we put it on a lift, and 10 minutes later are left scratching our heads. Ill fix it though!!!!