when i drive my truck down the road i have to keep playing
with the wheel.i have brand new tires on this truck what could be the prob.

 

Worn out or loose trackbar. Worn out or loose Ball joints. But I would put my money on the trackbar. Too check, fire up the truck. While you are laying under the bumper, have someone else turn the steering wheel form lock to lock. If it is the trackbar, you will see it "popping" where it meets the frame.

 

I had the same thing with mine, it was a cracked frame rail at the power steering pump. When I turned the wheel it would flex the frame and kill my turn radius. Thank goodness I found it before the darn thing fell off!! LOL All I had to do was plate the backside of the frame and weld it up all the way around.

 

seems like it is not to be getting worse but it is bad have to look at that track bar.

 

Also check for play in the sector shaft of your steering box. Thats a commone problem with the dodges. Thats the shaft that has the pitman arm attached to it. Really all you can do to fix that is replace your steering box or get a DSS for it. Lots of guys have had good luck with the DSS. Do a search, I'm sure you'll find plenty about it.

 

You can fix the play in the steering sector shaft using the plastic zip ties trick (do a search for it). This is a cheap way to see if that's the problem or not. Otherwise, check the track bar & ball joints.

 

A worn track bar will kill your steering box as well. That's what happened to my truck. I went with a Thuren Fabrication track bar, and was very impressed with it.

 

where can i get that and how much are they.thanks

 

Here is the best and cheapest place to fix that i had the same problem but got this and no more play or wandering http://www.lukeslink.com/

 

Lukes Links are good and cheap. But they are NOT the best. Thuren is one of, if not the best. That's my next purchase.

www.thurenfabrication.com

 

I installed the Luke's Link today working by myself. It took me 4.5 hours including a trip to the auto parts store to buy a pickle fork and two calls to Luke's factory (answered by a real person on the first ring.). Based on one one-hour test drive it was worth it. My truck lives in California and doesn't pull or push anything; YMMD.

Bob in LA
Stock 2000 2500 CTD 4x4 LB

 

The best way to reduce steering wheel play is only mover the steering wheel when you are moving the truck. No stationary pulling the wheel. This reduces the wear on the steering parts. Changing one part may mask the other parts that maybe bad. Chack out the rest of the steering parts. I had to change all mine at my cost just out of warranty because of the way the factory setup the steering!

 

Theres a lot of things that can contribute to the problem. Theres the gearbox, which might be a 4-turn unit versus a 3-turn one. More travel to make a correction. Theres the trackbar, tierod ends and pitman arm joint. The balljoints can cause wander too. Youd need to get under there and pry on the joints to see if they move where theyre not supposed to.
You can replace the gearbox if its worn out. I put a PSC on mine its been good. You can put a DSS on the sector shaft to take the load off of it. That firms up the steering a lot. Check the steering shaft universal too.
Putting a good firm steering damper on there helps minimize bump steer. Having the alignment set for more caster helps.

 

not to hijack thread but will this luke's link work for a dodge 1500? I got a '98 4x4 with terrible steering looking to sell it and pick up a CTD but for 66 bucks I might try to fix the steering with that kit before I put er on the market.

 

I beleive it will.