FastSS

I wrecked and rebuilt my 1994 Impala SS last year. With her in utterly perfect condition I decided not to drive her in the rain/snow whenever possible. Long story short, with winter coming up and a lot of other little reasons I decided to buy a 1999 Dodge 2500 Extended cab, long bed 4x4 turbo diesel.<br><br>As I searched for my first and only mods (I lie to myself far too often :P) I came across SEVERAL sites with info of a seemingly common steering failure on the same sort of truck that I just bought.<br><br>Of the two Dodge trucks I drove, one had TONS of steering play and the other (the one I bought) had none.<br><br>Basically, I have the truck listed above with a little on the plus side of 90,000 miles and a REALLY good service record, all filled out in the owners book, all except for the last 10k miles. How do I know if I am going to have a problem, how common are the steering failures, what happens when the &quot;$hit hits the fan&quot; and is there any good fix for it?

59Dsul

I've got a 99 also, have begun having steering problems. I ordered a Lukes Link yesterday for the track bar. When I checked it, it had a good amount of play at the ball joint end. I've heard good things about the link, hope it works for me. A good thing about it is the price ($57 plus shipping). I'll post my results once I get it installed. Overall though, this is the first steering problem (it feels loose and wanders) on my truck and it has 114,000 miles. Until now, it handled much better than a 2001 Powerstroke I had.

Dieseldude4x4

59:<br><br>I installed the Lukes Link on mine. You will not be disappointed. Was harder to get the right front tie rod off and back on than the whole kit was to install. Got pics if you would like to see them.

59Dsul

I was going to post about how hard the bar might be to get off. Did you use a pickle fork?

FastSS

uh so what fails on these things? just that link?

phox_mulder

[quote author=FastSS link=board=5;threadid=6764;start=0#64434 date=1036864629]<br>uh so what fails on these things? just that link?<br>[/quote]<br><br>One, or both, of the track bar end bushings.<br><br>I was thinking that they aren't up to the weight associated with the Cummins, but have heard of 1500's having the same problems, perhaps they just happen later in life.<br><br><br>phox

FastSS

is it spontanious or is it possible to know they are going bad before it happens?

btw, what the heck/where is a track bar? I dont think my SS has one of those =/

59Dsul

Look under the truck right above the front axle. The track bar goes from the frame on the driver side to the axle housing on the passenger side. It has a curve in it for clearance around the pumpkin. The ball joint side is what I have been told goes bad most often (it is the side connected to the frame). I went ahead and ordered the bushing for the other side just in case. While I have the bar off I figured I may as well do it right.

59Dsul

FastSS, I just finished installing the link tonight. Install took about an hour, dieseldude was right about the bar removal. I took it for a test drive afterwords, the wander has dropped significantly, it handles like it did when I bought it. If I can find my camera, I'll post a pic. BTW, I read you're having break problems, good luck. If you do the fronts yourself, plan the better part of the day getting those 12 point bolts off the inside of the brake assembly. Not too difficult, just time consuming.

FastSS

yea, while I do the work on my SS myself, I leave the truck in the hands of the pros... since I couldnt find any pros I took it to midas =(<br><br>I hate how they do EVERYTHING with air tools =/

59Dsul

Unless they've got a 1&quot; impact for the center nut, they'll have to use good 'ole hand power. I used a 3/4&quot; breaker bar, an 8 foot cheater pipe and my younger brother jumping on the cheater to break mine loose.

FastSS

oh great... Im gonna bet that they wont have it done by tomorrow =/<br><br>and he said the ones in the center of the hub were 1 11/16s or something... lol

59Dsul

It's a big one, I can't remember the exact size. It's like my dad always said, &quot;If you can't get it the first time, find a bigger hammer!&quot;