I've had problems with a clunk in my steering wheel over bumps. Can't hear it, but I can feel it. I've had it for the past few months, and it was progressively getting worse. Checked the front end out, and all 4 ball joints were showing some wear, the passenger side inner and outer tierod ends were shot, and so was my track bar. Replaced everything but the track bar a couple months ago, and still had the clunk. Just put a 3rd gen. adjustable trackbar on last week, and it seemed to get better, but could still feel it once in awhile. Well the past few days its really gotten bad...I feel it over every little bump, when the weight of the truck shifts back after coming to a stop, and when I'm accelerating, shift gears, and get back on the throttle. I kinda doubt that the control arm bushings are shot at 80,000miles, but I'm kinda leaning towards it being the steering shaft or the lower bushing in the steering columb? Any ideas? if it does turn out to be my steering shaft, who has the Borgeson shaft the cheapest?

 

Steering components are not things to be taking chances with....

I lost my rear brakes last fall while pulling into a street parking space at low speed. I still had brakes but they were very weak. Being a five-speed, I slowly drove to our local dealer and left the truck overnight. That turned out to be the rear slave cylinder and was not too big a deal. I had also felt "something" in the steering wheel for a while, like a looseness but hard to describe, as you say. When I got the call from the dealer I almost fell out of my chair...my pitman arm & idler where so badly worn out the parts were "hand tight" on the truck. As they said, one really good jounce and I would have lost 100% of my steering !

Check out your pitman arm and idler components. If you still can't find it bite the bullet and take it in. It's not worth the risk to save a few $$$.

 

shocks possibly??? upper bushing on them

 

yeah, I wanna check the shocks too, I know it could use new ones, the thing is starting to "pogo" pretty bad over high speed bumps. I know the pitman arm is tight, I just installed a DSS last week and torqued the new nut to spec...besides, I've been having the problem before I even installed that. I'm gonna check out the steering shaft tomorrow. But I'm definately going to order that lower columb bushing and do that anyways, I've got a feeling thats where most of the "clunk" is coming from. For $60 or whatever they cost, it can't hurt. I really don't have the money to do a Borgeson shaft right now.

 

does anyone sell the Borgeson shafts cheaper than Summit? they want $215, PSC I think wants $276 I think just for comparison.

 

do you get a thump under the drivers side when you turn the wheels? Thats usually trackbar but it can be the pitman joint or the others in the tie rods / steering linkage.
If you get a thump when you go forward from a stop, then again when you stop and go reverse, Id look at your control arms as well as the driveshaft universals.
Have someone spin the wheel back and forth while you get under the truck and feel each joint for popping.
If its over bumps, check the shock mounts too. You can install a 'rock solid ram steering bushing' to help fix slop in the steering shaft. Might be the universal in the shaft is bad and making a pop?

 

Hopefully my buddy will get a chance to help me check it out tonight as hes having the same problem with his 98. I think I might just get the steering shaft and bushing anyways, just for the piece of mine, but I would like to figure out exactly whats causing this. How do you go about checking the control arm bushings?

 

I think Garrett(Bobcat698) might be able to point you in the right direction for a cheaper price.

 

I'll have to check the shock bolts yet, but I have a feeling its the steering shaft. Checked it out yesterday, and I have a lot of play at the rag joint at the top steering shaft u-joint. Not sure how to describe it with out having a pic of it. Theres a metal strap bolted to the rubber part of the rag joint, and the shaft passes thru it. Well, when I grabbed hold of the shaft and pulled up and down on it to see if I got a clunking in my lower steering columb bushing, that strap on the ragjoint was hitting the shaft. The paint on the shaft is actually worn away where the strap has been hitting it. I think theres also a slight bit of play in the upper u-joint. I checked my buddies 98 just to compare, and his ragjoint has hardly any play in it and that strap on the ragjoint fits the shaft nice and tight. He however has a clunk coming from his lower columb bushing when you pull up and down on the shaft

 

i was wondering if the ram has issue's with the steering shaft.i just had to replace one in my nephew's 97 dakota.it had a little tiny universal joint that was wiped out bad.the whole shaft was $265 clams(ouch)

 

http://www.rocksolidramtrucksteering.com/

my shaft slide was fine but this fixed my problem all the way

 

Not only did my truck wear the shock bolts thinner, but the shocks themselves had worn so much that the shaft could lean any which way it wanted inside the shock buddy. My money is on shocks.

 

check the wheel bearings as well

 

I would also check the controll arm bushings

 

I'm so angry I don't know what to even say anymore. I've been getting a really bad clunk in my steering wheel for awhile and its getting really bad now. So far I've replaced all balljoints, tie rod end at the steering box and the pass. side wheel, both front axle u-joints, added a DSS, and intalled a SolidSteel adjustable 3rd gen. trackbar and bracket. The balljoints and outer tie rod end I had to replace twice because the originals wore out in under 3500miles. Those items I got from Napa and was supposedly their premium stuff. So replaced the stuff again (napa gave me new stuff at no cost). I know it needs a steering shaft yet, possibly a lower columb bushing, but I don't quite have the funds yet. Anyways, had my buddy start the truck up and work my wheel back and forth tonight, and low and behold, that outer tierod end is shot again....I just can't keep grease in it. It keeps pushing it out the seal, and I even drilled a hole in the bottom and put a grease fitting in it. It probably only has 1000-1500miles on it and it has a ton of up and down play in it. And I also noticed atleast 1/8" or more deflection in the trackbar bushings while he was working the wheel back and forth. When I installed them in the bar (they came with it, but not installed) they seemed pretty hard, like they were polyurethane or almost like plastic, definately weren't rubber. How much should these things move? The one on the frame end definately seems to move more than the one at the axle. I only installed that thing about 2 weeks ago. So, does anyone know who I should try for getting another tierod end this time, and is there a problem with my trackbar bushings?