I just had a problem that sounds like it may be similar to yours. I had for about a year, steering that felt too loose and some vibration when I turned the wheel full to one side or the other. I too, had the steering wheel out of center and a slight pull when I braked. Yesterday, my steering stopped working all together. Turns out the mounting bolts holding the gear box in place had sheared off. Go under your truck and check your gear box mounts. I had a couple people drive my truck and they did not see that problem coming. Fortunately for me and mine, the truck broke the day after we got back home from a road trip with the Trailer and I was only going about 4 miles an hour :-)

 

Friend of mine is a Dodge dealership mechanic.
Problem of pulling to the right was addressed in a TSB a number of years ago.
Alignment can be correct but they still pull to the right. Mine is a 2002 with new tie rod ends, track bar, steering box, DSS, tires, and fresh alignment and still pulls to the right.
The TSB calls for a wheel spacer in the front right, and increased toe.
I haven't had mine back to him yet to try the wheel spacer and in fact have been trying to get in touch with him today when I saw this thread.

 

I have heard of the spacer. Do you have the number for the TSB?

 

I had a similar problem put on an new track bar form Autozone lifetime $130. Fixed it for now.

 

Anyone know the TSB for pulling to right problem mentioned above? Steering feel is good - left, right - responsive. No wander. Jacked up front - shook tires - up and down moves and makes a noise...left to right is tight. Getting a new "groaning" type sound when turning - at slow speeds - hmm...may be time to take it in to an expert. The dealership "said" all was in spec in the front end - after jacking it up, I suspect something.

 

Groaning sound might be a wheel bearing going out. Not cheap to replace. Get ahold of chop's 4x4 in College Station. They do big 4x4's and RV's and such and can handle these big trucks. They do great work as well.

 

Had my truck in to the dealer for other maintenance. My friend the mechanic there had done a search on the TSB but couldn't find the number.
He distinctly remembers the spacer being one of the fixes recommended per the prior TSB (the others being changing air pressure to 10 lbs more in the left front tire and increasing the toe) so I have ordered a 1/4" spacer from Advance Auto (he remembered it being 1/8" though). Once I get it installed and do a test drive I'll repost here.

 

UPDATE: It's fixed.

Took it to another shop (where I should have had it to begin with in retrospect instead of the dealer). They found/replaced bearings, turned the rotors, replaced brake pads and aligned it. They said the alignment was "way off."

Called the dealer and complained to the service manage. He admitted that the guy working on my alignment was 2 weeks out of school and he had been getting lots of complaints. Getting refund...not sure if true or not, but the important thing is my money is coming back and the truck is fixed - steers straight down the road and no more noises. Whew....thanks for the help and advice here. Always a great resource to learn.

 

Good to hear. What shop did you end up taking it to?

 

Dwayne Berger -BCS Welding and Automotive. Got him as a referral from these forums last year. He does mainly Cummins repair - great guy, reasonable and great work. He saved me (by phone) when I was stranded in Dallas one day with a burned out started relay - got me back home, fixed the relay and didn't charge me a dime. He has my business for life now. On Hwy 21 across from Coulter Field.

 

have you tried the sledge hammer method???

Just kidding.

 

sounds like it needs to be "re-aligned" every once in a while we have to align a car or tuck twice at my shop (we don't let the car go till its right though) could be for a lot of different reasons, i think usually it is due to not getting the alignment heads square enough on the wheels. dually's can be trickier to align especially 2wd .the key is to not have any play in anything in the front end, my dually does drive staight with 265,000miles on it all ball joints(so it can be done) and tie rod ends have been replaced at least once some more then that. tires can also cause a pull but tires will not cause the wheel to be crooked. usually when we start seeing cars with crooked steering wheels it is do to our turntables getting tight. ( at which point we rebuild them)
4x4 trucks tend to be kinda wandery when they are set perfect, that is mostly from a combination of slight play in the steering box and (usually) low tire pressure or tire wieght rating from the factory (my opinion here ) they don't put a heavy enough tire on these trucks. my experience is the "e" load range tires on trucks wander less then "C" of course that doesn't mean that there hasent been good experience with lighter tires too but i think the heavier tires are better on these trucks. i even like the heavy tires on 1500 and gasser 2500's..