and found that it was a full HALF turn too tight. Had a heck of a time getting it loose, and then once I did I followed the procedure of "snug" and then twist back a quarter of an inch. The problem now is that my steering wheel while driving straight down the road is no longer centered and the wheel has a good 1/8th of a turn for play. However, the truck drives straighter and wanders less. I'm going to tight the over center adjustment in the morning, but my question is this:
Could the bearing preload being as tight as it was cause any irreversible damage? Is this normal to have developed this much play after the preload adjustment, or did I do something wrong?

 

Should probably be a 1/4 turn.

 

That much ya think?

 

Doesn't the FSM call for 10 mm of back-up?
You can easily re-center the steering wheel though, just loosen and turn the collar on the crosslink in the front of the truck. 1/8 of a turn of play sounds about right to me, on my truck I have the same BUT if I actually watch the tires when the front is off the ground, that 1/8 of the turn in fact does move the wheels, it is just that the truck does not respond to that much movement while driving.

 

There are two adjustments. One is Worm trust bearing preload and the other is Pitman shaft over-center preload. They are best done with gear removed. It is difficult to do just one adjustment although the Pitman shaft preload is more likely to be off. If you must monkey with adjustment on vehicle, try this. Raise front off ground and evulate turning gear through center in each direction. Tighten screw 1/16 turn and revulate. When you feel the slightest resistance crossing center, back off 1/16 turn and road test. If is is not smooth and drags crossing center it is too tight. If it has slop, it's too loose. Like I said, it really needs doing disconnected and fluid evucuated.

 

Hi.
Not meaning to steal this thread but back on 08-24-2008 rage_blue mentioned a pitman shaft bearing stabilizer kit that helped remove some of the pitman shaft deflection. Can anyone show me pics of this and where I might find a kit.
Thanks for any and all replies

 

Dodge Steering Stabilizer (DSS)
http://solidsteel.biz/install_dss.htm

 

The steering box adjustment is tricky for sure but can be done. If it was too tight you likely have some wear. A friend of mine with a tire shop in Socal won't even touch the Dodge boxes and he has been doing this for three generations of Family at his shop. The older Fords could be done by feel and were quite easy to adjust if you had the touch. If your truck is having that much wander I would check out the entire front end. If your rig is a 99 it may be ready for some new parts up front.

Kurt

 

Thanks for the info. This is a little closer to home for shipping.

 

I've read the TSB and the notes from below, and have been playing with it. Too be honest I think I'm at a spot that is worse than before I started adjusting. I once had almost zero slop, pretty responsive steering, but poor return to center, and sometimes tough to turn. So I loosened the bearing preload (the disc behind the steering wheel shaft) and adjusted according to the TSB.

At this point I developed a good 1/8 turn of play, my steering has gone off center, and the truck is a bear to control down the road now. I may just pull the box off in the morning and adjust it the best I can. Otherwise, I'll have to replace it. I drive 20 miles each way for work, and frequently drive the truck for work purposes so I can't be screwing around too much.

I think the bearing preload may be a bit loose so I'm going to tighten that up in the morning first, so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the tips so far guys...
Shawn

 

I got mine out of Red Deer, it was one of the retailers of theirs. They shipped it on the bus for me. Very pleased with the results and has been on for years.

 

I ordered mine from Saskatchewan today. I checked with Red deer yesterday and they were more expensive without even including freight.

 

Could be, when I bought mine it was the same price and $15 for the bus, next day delivery. But prices do go up, I guess that's the "Alberta advantage"