Ok, so I have some pretty loose steering, loose enough to scare me at highway speeds. I took in my ram (currently at 119K miles) to a trusted mechanic who checked it all over for play. All of the tie-rods, ball-joints, and one wheel bearing needed replaced. He said the steering box may be loose too- and at the point I'm at, it wasn't hardly any extra labor to throw one in.

So here's what I got:

The Carli Front-end upgrade kit (ball-joints, stabilizer, track bar)
The 08.5 "T" style Mopar kit - 52122362AJ
Timken wheel bearings - HA590166 (2)
Spicer lifetime U-joints for the entire front end - 5-1350X (2), 5006813 (2), & 5-795x (1)
The Mopar HD steering box - 68170214AA

The truck goes in for all this work next Wednesday. Anything I'm missing? I considered ordering the PSC brace (PSC-SB400K) to help keep the new box from getting sloppy- will that work or will that effect bolting on the Carli torsion bar in the future (an upgrade I plan for down the road)?

 

You have a very solid setup,similar to what I recently did. the PSC brace you have listed will work with the Carli Torsion Bar.

 

Well a bunch of my parts came yesterday in the rain. UPS was kind enough to put my parts under my covered porch, well protected. FedEx on the other hand left my steering box in my driveway to get soaked. Unfortunately, the dodge dealership didn't do a great job packing it either. Here's some pics....








What do you guys think? Still safe to put in or should I push back my appointment and try to get an exchange/refund on this box? Can it take being banged around for 1000 miles poorly packaged? The pitman arm and box were in contact enough to remove paint from each other.

 

My parts were shipped in the same box. This is how they are packaged by Mopar. However, the parts and box arrived unscathed via UPS allowing me to put the core in the box for return to AllMoparParts.

Contact the dealer and submit the photos to them if you are unsatisfied. If you are questioning the integrity of the part, then you may want to hold off.

 

At this point it's really up to you. If you question the parts and put them in, you'll always wonder when they'll fail and just have that general unease in the back of your mind. If it's just paint and no bends or major dings and you feel comfortable with the parts then put em on... Personally if I spent that much money on parts I want them looking like the new parts they are supposed to be.

09 CTD qcsb, parts fell off, some got added, car seat and hot wife mod w/ full wallet delete