I feel some slack in the steering, for example when making a turn up a slight curb, there is a light clunk feeling. Not when initating the turn or changing directions in steering. It's when I hold the wheel constant but the tires go over anything, I can feel it in the wheel. It seems to correlate to the steering box being loose. Does seem likely? From external inspection it doesn't look or or "feel" loose, (my inspection method was grabbing and trying to budge). I also do have the normal school-bus handling on the highway that seems to be normal. Advice on the BD steering box stabilizer? Good experience or bad...Thanks a lot!

 

Most likely your trac bar has been lossening up and the rest of the steering components are taking up the slack, and rapidly wearing out in the process. An easy check is to jack up the frone end and support w/ jackstands. Place a wrecking bar or other sturdy, long object under a front tire and lift up and down. Your ball joints, tie rod ends and the trac bar will all show play/looseness at their connecting points.

The steering box is unlikely the culprit and attempts to adjust should be done by a real pro, as too much adjustiment can ruin a $700 box in a few miles.

A 2" leveling kit also puts an increased angle on the tie rod at the pitman arm joint and a reversed pitman arm greatly reduces the clunking you are experiencing. Mine was obtained from Skyjacker I believe.

If you plan on keeping this truck for a while I'd upgrade the trac bar to a Thuren unit or one from one of the other reputable firms. Their products are rebuildable at a fraction of the cost of replacing the 'lifetime' trac bar you are considereing from Schucks or Carquest etc. that you'll be replacing again in 1 or 2 years and so on.

Since doing a complete rebuild of my front end, sans steering box, my truck drives like it is supposed to...not at all like a school bus on ballon tires!

Check out your front end and seriously consider doing it right. You'll be a lot happier with it over time.

Kurt

 

I wouldn't say that, dodge trucks alone are pretty notorious for having the steering boxes wear out prematurely, slap a Cummins in the picture and it is unlikely to get better . I have replaced many (if not all) of the items you listed for him to look for and I have the same wandering/loose steering sensation he is complaining of, and it is DEFINITELY coming from the steering box (verified, you can watch it move around and clunk). The "school bus feel" is NOT normal and is a perfect indication that something is not right with the front end of your truck, could be just about anything up there though so like kurtaing suggested I'd just start testing everything out, including the steering box though.

With the truck off have someone get inside the cab and turn the wheel back and forth, watch the knuckle coming out of the steering box and see if it shifts back and forth at all, if it does the steering box is definitely worn and should be replaced the fix the problems you're having.

And doing it right is the only way to do it in my mind. If this is a vehicle you actually use for anything more than hauling stuff around a farm getting it driving right should be priority 1, especially if you haul stuff over the road with it.

 

And what if you replaced everything, and it still sux. Currently down that road. Good luck.

 

Haha. I hope it gets better. I'll have someone help me and I'll get a better look. Thanks for the info, I do have it leveled, need to add that to sig. I'm in the middle of a school where I can't really drive much anyway, so got some time.

 

I get a clunk now too. I know it's my track bar, although it seems tight. I also installed a steering stabilizer bar like you mentioned. It helped a little and the truck does feel tighter but if you have other problems it's not going to fix it. I still get some left and right play in my steering wheel. Maybe I'll tighten that steering box screw.

 

This is a pretty common problem on our Rams. Sometimes it can be a frustrating to diagnose. Many have used this fix with success:

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/f...shing-fix.html