front end questions
 

my truck i know needs a steering box, but the front end feels loose ive replaced sway bar end links new shocks all this because i seen it needed it had a bad death wooble i found the trac bar and tie rod end nuts all loose so i tighted them and that was ok but iseems loose like i can shake the grill gaurd side to side and the front truck moves good, should i replace my trac bar and tie rod ends? and trythat anyone else know what would help i have alot of slack in my box so i need to replace that

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

ball joints axle joints all good, i was thinkin if the steering box has slack that can make it loose in the front end???

I've never had DW on my Ram but have had what we used to call a shimmy on several older 4x4's and DW on a 4 axle Peterbilt tag axle once. Fortunately I was only going about 25 MPH on an on ramp and spotted it start. That was more than enough to make a believer of me! We did have a '41 WC that had a DW but I only had that on the road once when I was about 14 and followed Dad on a tractor and no DW.

My Ram didn't drive as confidently as I would like so I checked and tried several things before I got it good. At about 182,000 miles I still have original ball joints, shocks and wheel hubs. I have a Lukes Link on the ball joint end of the track bar, a steering box brace and the '98-'99 T type steering and as much positive caster as I could get. All of this helped only a very little and still did not really drive like it should. I had wanted to do the steering box adjustment but didn't want to pull it out. At about 175,000 miles I finally had to fix my leaking vacuum pump and pulled the radiator to clean it at the same time. That gave me room to adjust the box and it needed it worse than I imagined it might. I also realized the track bar bolt end bushing had a lot of miles on it so replaced that with a polyurethane one. At the same time I put on a set if Nitto Dura Grappler 285/75x17 tires on 3rd Gen alloys.

Now it drives like I would expect it to. Is it the best driving rig I ever owned? No, but it is about 4th or 5th or maybe even a bit better than that so pretty good overall. What made the biggest difference? Not sure but the steering box adjustment along with the poly bushing are prime suspects and I made sure the Nittos had a very stiff sidewall since I had previous tires that didn't and made it drive almost worse than it ever had. These last 3 things are what finally made it drive like what I would hope for.

Hopefully what I did and my ramblings might help you. :hellox: :humm:

thanks imma replace trac bar and steering box get it alinged and see how it goes

Get a steering box brace, if you're leveled out or lifted get longer control arms and replace steering components with the new HD ram steering ones.

Make sure your steering stabilizer is still good if equipped, if not get one.

my track bar doesnt have a hole for a steering stabilizer shock????

Just some options for you.


http://www.carpartsdiscount.com/auto...ml?3593=278824

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_saca...ing+stabilizer

Do the steering box braces actually work???

Yes :c:

i do have the bolt up on the axle just not on the bar where u mount the bolt through track bar

upgrade the track bar and lose the ball and socket joint