I'm not sure if this is in the right section, but i think it is. i have a 2001 2500 4x4, im sure it needs an alignment, but the ******* i bought it off of said they had it up several times trying to get it straight but it wont give. maybe something needs to be replaced before i take it in. anyway ..... my steering wheel, should be straight through the ABS and through the Ram head like this | well mines like this / .. pretty much steering at 10/2 turns into 11 and 3 .. i think my upper ball-joint on my drivers side needs to be replaced, greased it today and after 1 pump it started coming out all over the place and i noticed a piece of rubber fraying away from where the grease is supposed to be. anything else i should look at? how can i test to see if its bad? i can take pictures if need be. This isn't my daily driver anymore thankfully so should i keep it off the streets until i get it fixed? anything going to fall off and make me go head-first into a tree or on-coming traffic?!? TIA, Also it has 145K on the odometer, everything seems factory under there as far as i can tell

-craig

 

Simply loosen the clamp and turn the drag link to center the steering wheel. Very easy job you can do at home with basic hand tools. To check the ball joints, jack up the side you want to check so the tire is off the ground. Grab the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock and push/pull to look for movement. If the top of the tire goes in and out (towards the truck or away) or the bottom of the tire does, it is time for ball joints.

 

Can somebody elaborate on straightening the steering wheel? Maybe a diagram...Mine is also way off but I didn't think there was anything to do about it.

 

What part don't you understand, and what more than than the picture I posted above do you need to see?

 

Thank you Ytodd! i will try this over the weekend when i have some help.

 

drive the truck down the road, and when you get to a straight stretch of road, look to see where your wheel is when when the truck is going straight. When you get back, position the steering wheel where it was when going straight downt the road. Now loosen the clamps on the adjusting sleeve on your draglink ( the linkage going from your steering box to the passenger side steering knuckle) until your steering wheel is centered.

 

ytodd- thanks for the diagram, sure helped me!! i am about to do some work to my front end and the igits at autozone have me completely cnfused. trying to tell them what i need and what they say i have on the truck is about to drive me to drink. thanks again.

 

Or you can just drive straight into your driveway for 5-7 feet keeping the truck straight, park and get out and adjust the drag link so the wheel is centered.

 

yeah, sorry, wasn't thinking of that. I do most of my work to my truck at work, and we don't have a straight, level stretch anywhere in our parking lot, so its always pulling the wheel one way or the other. I always have to take it out on the road.