did u use ur old pitmen arm?

 

yes i did

 

How is this in any way better? I wasn't under the impression that any of the many flaws in 2nd gen steering was the tie rod ends.

 

the second gen steering didn't use a tie rod. It used a center link/drag link setup. this allowed oscillation in toe as the numerous ball joints wore out. The '09 steering upgrade package and the 98-99 HD steering have the same parts (by name). They both utilize a tie rod connecting the two front wheels directly. differences are:
1. taper profile is different, although not drastically different
2. '09 style is not drilled for castle nut/cotter pin, it uses nylock nuts
3. the parts are a little heavier

personally, I'll take properly fitting tapers over a heavier piece.

 

I didn't realize the rest of the second gens had a different steering layout than my '98. When I go to work Monday I'll have to look under our '95 Ram and see if I can see what you're talking about. Either way, none of those differences sound like an improvement to me. The wrong fit, inferior fasteners, and more weight? Unless more weight = more strength, which I suppose is logical. Still seems like a lot of trouble just to be able to say you made it work with the wrong parts. I'm far more concerned about my mushy steering box and the flimsy thing it's bolted to.

 

The 09 steering is far better than the 98 steering it is stonger which if you have a lift or bigger tires you want, the joints are better and use nylock nuts instead of cotter pins and castle nuts wich are not bad. The tapper on the pitman arm is the only difference and if you want you can just upgrade tto a later pitman arm as well but all componets do bolt on and stay tight. i am not the only one running this set up call dieselpowerproducts.com and they can tell you all about it as thats where I got my set up and they are running it on one of there trucks also.

 

I wouldn't do it simply because of the nylocks.

 

Nylocks are not bad if used properly but some people do not trust them but i guess if every major automobile corporation in the world today uses them on their vehicles they cant be that bad as all factory steering on newer vehicles has pretty much gone to a nylock

 

We've lost far, far too many bolts and had to much resulting damage to equipment over the years to ever trust nylocks again. If we have to go with a locknut, we use Stover style toplocks, which have never come loose on us. Personally, I'll go with a cotter pin any day. The reason why the entire auto industry has gone nylock is that they're fast to assemble, cheap to produce, and not reusable so every time you undo it you have to buy another one- and there's a good chance you'll pay the dealer five times more for it than just running up the road to the hardware store.

 

I've never heard of anyone complain about the 98-99 HD steering on their trucks, just sayin. But, it's your truck, do what you want. You have provided some good info on installing this. can you provide any pictures?