Hey there, well we had our second snowfall not too long ago and last night the roads were kinda slippery so we had a fun night of field bombin, hill climbin and fish tailin when on the last fish tail of the night on a turn ive made many times b4 the back end slid out a little more than normal and my front end went in the ditch and i ended up with the back end behind me and the front wheel cranked and pushed against the ditch. Now I just back out no problem but when I got back on the road my truck was driving straight but my steering wheel wasnt. It handles the exact same, just the steering wheel is on about a 15-20 degree angle pointing down to the left. What could this be? Any Ideas?


PS. This Dodge is an EXCELLENT hill climber

 

Kid

I think you bent the rod that runs from the steering gear-box to the axle, I think its called the drag link on these trucks.

CRIS

 

Why would the truck handle normal then, and just have the steering wheel off center?
Or is this what the drag link does?

 

Kid

If that is what is wrong, you wouldn't have an alignment problem because your axle is still OK its just the rod that runs to it. What it might have done is bent it which made it shorter which inturn would make you turn the wheel to the left to make the wheels stright.

Go out and look under your truck and see if it is bent.

CRIS

 

So I am lookin at the rod that runs from the steering box to the axle? Is it normally straight, or have a slight bend, or any curves in it?
I will have to look at it tomorrow as Im gettin ready to go to a Christmas Party.
Ill keep you updated.
Thanks.

 

If you play, you pay!

 

Something definitely bent. Best to do a 4 wheel laser alignment to find out what bent so you can correct it. If you don't want to spend the money, get a tape measure to check the distance between the front wheels and the rear wheels. You may have one a little off.

 

if it goes down the highway straight close to the way it always did ,it probably just knocked it out of alignment.Take it to the alignment shop and have them check it.You can look at any utility one ton truck that gets driven through ditches and over curbs all the time,the wheel is always off one way or the other,all that twisting knocks the alignment off.

 

Kid

If its going down the road stright like it use to its NOT the alighment!!!!!!!!! If the alighment is out enough to change the steering wheel position it will be hard to drive and if you let go of the wheel it won't go stright. Like I said to start with look under the truck.

CRIS

 

Ok, was greasing up the front end the other day and had a good look underneath the truck and nothing looks bent. I checked that bar that runs from the steering wheel to the steering box and it doesnt look bent, none of the bars underneath there look bent, but some of them have bends in them already so its hard to tell.
Any Ideas, should I try and take some pics and post them up or what should I do?

Also, some good news, found some more grease zerks on the front end, I have a total of 9 now on the front end that I grease everytime I wash the truck.

 

It sounds like you knocked the toe-in or the caster out. Some times the toe-in can be out of adjustment and seem to drive fine. If its out it will uselly show up on a road that has wear dishes in it, causing the truck to dart side to side.

Toe-in adjust the distance between the tires, measure distance center of tire to center of tire front and back. If there is more than about 1/16 inch difference the toe-in is out.

The camber is the tilt in and out of the tire top to bottom. No easy way to check this.

I would say you need a front end alignment. Unless you hit really hard you may not need to replace any parts. Most full sized trucks have a tough front end and will take some abuse.

 

I say take it in to an alignment shop for sure,Its free for them to check the front end anyway for bent or worn parts.I still think its just knocked out of alignment

 

I had one in that did much the same after a slide off the road, ended up that the shaft coming out of the steering box had twisted. Couldn't tell by looking at it. One way to tell if this is the problem is that you will be able to turn slightly sharper in one direction than the other, truck drove fine otherwise. I had to replace the box, under $200 from the autoparts.

 

Sounds to me likre Infidel has hit upon the problem, if the drag link is not bent. If you are still driving on snow it may be misalignment would not be obvious, but I'd bet it will be drag link or steering shaft.

 

I agree, your alignment is not off if the truck appears to be handling normally but the steering wheel is off center........never would have guessed you could twist a pitman shaft without it snapping but apparently you can.......it could really only be a bent drag link or something twisted from the pitman arm up.........it would not hurt to have the truck aligned anyway to make sure everything is bang on...........