Josh1979

02 4x4 no lift. Stock alum wheels. 285/75/16 BFG tko tires. I see these are a very popular tire for these trucks. I've looked for play in the front end in my driveway but I've also paid 3 shops to tell me there's nothing wrong. There's an awful lot of steering wheel movement to make minor road corrections.

Busboy

My 2001 the steering went bad almost right away from new. I took it back to the dealer a few times and all they did was "play" with the adjustment. First too tight then too lose. I took it off and did the input shaft bearing adjustment and it was better for awhile but soon came back. In the end I just changed out the box on my dime and the trouble was gone that was at around 12,000 miles.

Diesel Dave2

The stock steering box is not the best...It would seem there is no play,but when I was on my third box and compared it to the redhead box...I seen the difference...You would think that small play side to side would not make a difference but it does...

joem

I have a quarter turn of slop, so bad im worried something will fail while on the road. I have started my ordering- 4 lukes links, one poly trackbar bushing. 4 new bilstein hd shocks and this neat idea to remove hidden slop-
http://www.rocksolidramtrucksteering.com/

patdaly

Ok, good, no lift to mess you up. Did you also check to make sure there was not excessive rotation of the wheel to the input shaft of the steering box? Sounds like you aren't adventurous enough to adjust the slop in the steering wheel if needed, but there should be almost no rotation of the input shaft before the pittman arm ( lever on the output of the gearbox ) moves.

Hate to say this, but around here, the quality of repair shops has suffered greatly.

Something else just hit me, with the truck off, key on, do you have the same slop before you feel resistance?

Don't know what part of Pa. you are in, perhaps tehre is a local DTR chapter you could have a member look at it?

atc250r

If you don't already have the "T" stlye linkage from a 99 I might suggest that you go that route while replacing steering linkages anyway. I am doing mine this Saturday and hope it tightens the truck up. I'm going to a dual stabilizer while Im at it and will order the poly bushing for the end of the new track bar that's in it or maybe a Lukes bushing if they're harder than the Energy Suspension one.

patdaly

T style 98/99 will not work on at least 2001 and newer, not sure about 2000. The tie rod end taper is different. Some of them have said they were going to the 3rd gen HD upgrade linkage, but I can't say for sure this works.

TOM R

i went with the 2009 T steering and damper it made the truck 100% better but still only fixed 90% of the wandering, I had already done now track bar, new box, new pitman , new shocks, tires and multiple laignments, probly gonna go at the trailing arm bushings next

atc250r

Thanks for clearing that up Pat. I was under the impression that the only difference was the taper on the pitman arm. My cousin has an 02 that he was gonna put 99 steering in, I guess he isn't now.

I ended up doing mine tonight, even with just a rough toe setting it is night and day with the T steering and dual dampers. Just gotta get the toe right and see if the adjusters will move to put some caster in it.

John

patdaly

Do the 3rd gen deal then, same thing, at one time the upgrade kit was really cheap from Dodge, not sure now.

T style steering is the bomb.......

Josh1979

I found a place that admited they know there's a problem and I asked about that adjustment on top of the box. The mechanic told me that the allen bolt can be turned. However, these boxes are not meant to be adjusted beyond factory assembly. If you turn that bolt and it changes the steering feel, the box is shot.

None of those shops deals with aftermarket steering boxes. They install either brand new OEM or Cardone re-man. He said I can replace the box, but within 20-30k it'll get loose again. Dodge's front ends are just too flimsy and have so much flex it ruins the boxes.

I'm going to learn to live with it until it becomes undriveable. By then I'll probably be looking to trade it anyway and let the next poor schlep deal with it.

atc250r

Thanks again Pat, I'll have him look into that.

Josh, the adjustment on the top is really not going to improve the slop. If the pitman shaft isn't leaking and doesn't have a lot of play when someone saws the wheel back and forth I would try pulling the box and tightening the collar on the input shaft bearing and then put a brace on too. I did that on mine a couple of years ago and it helped a lot. The support that comes from the brace holding the pitman shaft below the pitman arm has to make a big difference in preventing wear and also stopping flex.

John

patdaly

That's baloney, there is too much for me to post it from the manual, but it isn't terribly hard to do the factory adjustment, unless you are dead set on getting rid of your truck, I would spend the 35 bucks and get a service manual on CD from Genos. I wouldn't put either a factory reman or a Cardone box on either, their rebuilds are not conducive to long life. I would get either a redhead or a Borgeson box...... One thing is for certain, no way I would live with really sloppy steering, there is NOTHING inherently wrong with Dodges design, it is people who bad mouth it without actually fixing it. ( not you, the shops, etc.....)

If you don't believe me, stop and think about it, the front end is from Dana ( Ford,GM,Dodge ) , and the gearbox is from Saginaw ( GM, Dodge ) , Ball joints are the same as Ford D 60's and the tie rods are the same taper as Ford, at least for the 94-99's, sound flimsy?.........

Russ Roth

I just had my radiator and PS/vacuum pumps out and did the complete steering box adjustment as per the FSM. The sector shaft adjustment was 1/2 turn loose and that was after I had taken it up several years ago. It made no difference then. I also installed a polyurethane track bar bushing at the same time and the 2 of them made a more noticeable difference than anything else I have done on the front end including the T steering and cross brace. This was the '99 T style and it bolts right on although with OEM aluminum rims it caresses the inside corner of the passenger rim on a hard left. Not bad enough to worry about, IMHO.

I replaced the OEM track bar once and when that one got loose I used a Luke's Link on the OEM and that part has remained good for a long time. With my fingers crossed @ 174,000 miles, I still have the OEM ball joints and wheel bearings. I had it lined a year ago where we get the big rig tires repaired and Andrew said everything looked pretty tight on the front. He did not change any of the line settings from where they were including toe which I had set with a tape measure after installing the T steering. That's what I was most concerned being off but he said it was right where he would have set it. Obviously it wasn't as tight overall as it could have been but those 2 particular things would probably be bit a hard to check if only slightly on the loose side.

I had someone saw the wheel for me before I did this and I thought everything was pretty tight also. I only replaced the bushing because it was cheap and the rig has that many miles. The steering box I was concerned I had tightened it too much previously and that was the biggest reason I checked it. Glad I did since I have towed the TT twice in recent weeks (12,500 GCW) and feel pretty confident with one hand driving now and did not before this work. And the best part since I did the Vacuum pump seal--------no more leaks! Well maybe not the very best since driving with confidence trumps no oil leaks but I'm happy the leaks are taken care of.

patdaly

Russ, did you notice anything weird like the taper seating deeper or more shallow than the old tie rod ends? I say this because they say the size or taper is different after 99.

If it works correctly, that would be a good upgrade for all second gen trucks.......