Hi Guys,

I just came across this CBC investigation on late model Ram trucks steering problems.

http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indept...geproblem.html

It appears that this mainly affects the later model truck but could be equally as applicable to ours (2nd generation). Now it is getting some official recognition from Transport Canada.

Thought you all might be interested in this - see link above.

Thanks

mariner

 

DW is really nothing new. We had a'41 WC when I was a kid that would do it. Got some shimmy but not bad enough to be called DW on most of the 4x's we have owned over the years. I even had it on a tag axle on a 4 axle Peterbilt a number of years ago. Almost every time it was because something was worn or out of spec.

 

The dw is survivable. How about the rash of tre breakages?

 

wish they would do an investigation on the piece of junk dash problems.....

 

What's tre breakage?

 

not for certain on this, but i think it's tie rod end breakage.....must be a problem on 3rd gen's because i've never heard of it on 2nd gen's

 

I had the pleasure of a dw driving a 1989? F450 superduty. ( The first year they came out). It was 2 wheel drive with a solid front axle, I was driving at about 45mph and hit a bump. All hell broke loose as the truck started hopping and the steering wheel broke from my hands. It was the craziest thing ever happening to me. I took it to the dealer and they told me it needed more caster "+" caster and explained it as this. " Its like the front wheels on a shopping cart, they wiggle back and forth. You lift the rear of the cart and they straighten out" . In our case they added shims to the front side of the axle tipping the axle back from the front. It never did it again from what I can remember, and I would remember. I guess that is possible to do with our trucks, never had it happen to mine and hope it never does.

 

I have had DW at highway speeds and it is not fun, not by a longshot.
Truck still handles like a drunken moose, even with all the $$$ Ive put into aftermarket suspension and front end parts. =(
If I land a better paying job Im looking into a ford conversion. The chassis on the dodge is just junk.

 

This discussion is running on the 3 gens too

 

My brothers 06 4x4 dually did this, the tie rod end auctually fell off and hit the tire - lucky he was only going down a driveway

I upgraded his steering to the T style

 

Where did he get his T style upgrade kit from??

 

Guessing the dealer, I believe there was a recall.

 

Does any of this have to do with why a totally tight front end wont drive down the road without pulling to the right?

 

I doubt it. A few things that could cause that; Defective tire (rotate them) Caster imbalanced (balljoint or incorrectly welded knuckles), Dragging caliper (hanging piston OR guide rods-seen antisieze instead of grease on them a few times), Leakage of pressure past the control valve in the steering box (jack up truck and start it-see if the steering pulls to one side when the engine starts). Or *maybe* thrust angle from worn out suspension bushings.

Y steering was a moron idea in the first place. Cheaper way to avoid putting a ball joint in the center link by putting a big bend in the drag link. This makes the steering DRAMATICALLY weaker, too, since a bent link is much much easier to bend further.

The bends in the steering also are obviously out of balance, so when you hit a bump they flop up and down which can create a sustained oscillation which flops the tires back and forth as the links flop up and down. TERRIBLE design. Moron engineers who built it must have been the same ones who used a stabilizer shock on the DRAGLINK instead of the driver's tie rod. Then one on each, then finally got the stabilizer where it actually stops the wheels flopping around by putting it on the driver's link. Clearly they didn't understand the concepts involved.

 

Thanks totalloser. I doubt its any of the first items you mentioned since its always done this, there's no indicating issues related to something acting up, and the tires are brand new as well. I remember someone mentioning that the drag link can cause this as the front end wants to sit to the side because the drag link isnt level with the ground, especially if the front end has a leveling kit. There was a thread about this very issue some time back and was surprisingly lots of guys with the same issue. I totally agree with you. The 2nd gen front end was a very poor design.