Ok here is the deal, i have determined it's something in the steering system. When I am at a dead stop it takes extra effort to turn the wheels and it pulsates, if im rolling it isnt noticed so much. to describe pulsating, when i turn the wheel i will get full restraint, then its like the pump kicks on and the wheel turns about 1/2 an inch then it freezes up and then lets go and so on til you hit full lock.

Info about truck:
I got a 2002 ram 2500 4x4 quad cab. currently it has leveling springs, 35 inch pro comp a/t, longer control arms, EMS offroad manual locking hubs, DSS steering stablizer and skyjacker inline dual steering stabilizer.

Repairs:
My brake unit went south about three months ago, couldnt stop the truck, so i replaced both Master Cylinder and Hydrobooster unit. This solved the no braking issue, also i serviced all callipers and flushed the system. I just currently replaced the gearbox with a new PSC unit, the old one was grinding and thunking missing teeth on the gears. This solved the problem for a while. Shortly after this i put the DSS stabilzer on. Well i started to notice it getting harder to steer, and my pump was making alot more noise than usual (i checked it for fluid and all) so i went ahead and replaced with a Hi Output pump. Kinda fixed the problem, but it has slowly grown back.

Determining the problem:
Last week driving around i noticed a whine coming from the pump area when i would have the AC on and Brakes applied, if i turned off the AC the whine lessened. SO I tired AC, brakes, and Steering and huge whine, removed the ac less of a whine, removed the brakes no whine. All all other possible combinations. the whine would lessen the fewer items i would have working (which i know the truck never did this before). So today since im still sitting around the house i decided to check the truck some more (i dont drive it since i carpool most of the time) Well if i lift the truck up i get no problems turning the wheel. There is no whine with ac, brakes and cranking side to side. so i slowly let pressure on the front down, for the majority of the time i got no whine and no restraint. it only started when the truck was on the ground firmly. then the whine and restraint came back.

Conclusions:
So basically there are a few things I think might be the problem, but i want your opinions also.

1. The tie rods give a poping sound and can be rotated (i dont want to replace those just yet because i will be going crossover steering, also this would not give the pulsating feel)
2. The lines could have collapsed but not sure how to tell on this and if they collapsed would i not have an all time pressure problem.
3. The pump is bad, (but if the pump is bad would it not give me the same problems under no load as with load?)
4. The hydrobooster is blocking something (find hard to belive because the pulsating happens when in park also)
5. The vacumm pump is bad (not sure exactly how it works, i have taken it apart and dont see how it could cause any real problems like this)
6. God just doesnt want me to drive my truck???


please help if you can. Tell me what to do, any other checks i havent thought of, anything.

 

Do you thing could have a binding ball stud? Or a U-joint????
Do you think the problem could be the flexing of tires and finally slipping and then flexing again as you turn stationary. Radial tires are tough to make slip in stationary position. What is alignment set at???? Dealer has a pressure gauge/flow meter to test PS pump.

 

could be the ball studs.
u-joints are fairly new, not even 10k miles on them, and with the manual locking hubs they dont even spin when the tires are moving.
never thought of the tires, but why would i get a whine fromt he pump with that?
how much does the dealer charge to test the PS pump, and can any car dealership test it? (my father is good friends with a chevy dealer and free is better than paying)

 

Something that helped my steering out was a reverse drop pitman arm. I had to get it after the levelling kit because my tie rods kept clunking and tearing off the grease boots. Problem solved there.

The front end weight of these trucks is hell on the steering when stopped. Sounds to me like a bad PS pump.

Kurt

 

just determined what it is on the way home from downtown houston today. Its the balljoints. Its kinda funny how once you pinpoint the problem it seems to magnify it ten fold. But basically my reasoning is as follows:

The Steering will turn no problem when the vehicle is moving, even if said movement is an inch a second. Once the vehicle stops the steering becomes impossible.
Secondly if the weight of the vehicle is off the tires the steering works just great.
Thirdly there is a slight grinding sound, and a slight vibration while driving (i always thought this was bad tire balance (as these tires are about down to 1/4 tread and im not in the position to get new ones)
Fourth there is a pop which i associated with the springs and rear shocks when i go up hills at a turn.
and fifth because these balljoints have roughly 95k miles on them, im sure they are ready to give...

so its time to order some new ones, anyone have any ideas, knowledge?