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Posted by Caleb(Formerly Kansas City) [70.179.139.178] on Monday, November 12, 2012 at 22:39:47 :
Well hello out there. I havent been around here for quite some time with the baby and work. We are in the process of making the move back to Manhattan, Kansas and getting the house sold so that has taken up all of my tme. Anyway, back to the point. I have had issues with the steering on my 2001 CTD Ram 2500 4x4 since I bought it, however, I have gone through all of the steering this year and made some major improvements.It has the Y style linkage. At first I thought everything was just tight from being all new, but over the last few months, nothing has changed. My symtoms are as follows:
-"Vague" steering response...like something is loose
-Fairly severe "bump steer" at all speeds. The worst is hitting a bridge approach at speed in a curve...it tries to switch lanes.
-The steering does not want to recenter on its own after a turn.
-Feels like I dont even have enough power steering input...I dont know how else to explain it. I can basically drive my uncles 97 truck which is essentially the same setup with two fingers...mine takes the whole arm....and is jumpy.
Here is what I have done:
-Truck had new, dealership installed MOPAR OEM balljoints, unit bearings, and track bar.
-I installed all new NAPA premium steering linkage which improved the situation.
-NEW, not remanned steering box and pump.
-Checked everything for excessive movement including the control arms....nothing.
-frame is good and solid at the steering box with no signs of flex with steering input and all of the weight on the wheels.
-Immediately after the parts were replaced, i took it in and had it aligned which took everything within spec. I did notice that it still didnt want to self center so I dialed in about another degree of caster which helped at low speed, but did nothing at high speed. I think the tech said it was 4.5 factory, which is what I measured with my smartphone app, and I ended up at about 5.5.
Once again, everything improved drastically after all of the work put into it, but it is still not satisfactory. I am used to it and know what to expect, but I am looking at needing shoulder surgery in the next couple of months which will leave me one armed for several weeks and I wont be working with the dominant arm. I would also like for the wife not to be afraid to drive the damn thing due to the steering. Any ideas would be helpful, as I am almost ready to throw out the $400 I spent on replacing the linkage to get the "HD" T style steering linkage. Other than the steering, I love everything else about the truck including the 20mpg im getting now that the new tranny has worn in.
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