2wd loose steering.
 

Anyone know if there is a fix for loose steering on a 2wd. The truck has always been like this and it drives me nuts. I have completely rebuilt the front end with new ball joints, springs, shocks, etc.

Thanks in advance!

could possibly be your steering gearbox.. they wear over time. sometimes you can tighten them up a 1/4 turn or so.

I'm not sure that's my problem, as I checked it out this morning. When turning the steering wheel, I get an immediate reaction from the front wheels ... no play, whatsoever. However, when I am driving down the freeway, I feel like I have to constantly counter steer to maintain the truck within the lane ... any thoughts?

Well look who crawled out of his cave. Hey Mate, how's life.

Check the steering shaft for play and you'll find your problem.

DENNIS ... how the hell are you??? The first thing I saw when I logged on yesterday was a "53" thread ... I almost wet myself laughing! How is my good friend the Doctor?

Well I grabbed the steering shaft and was able to easily move it an 1/8 to a 1/4 turn in either direction (engine off/key on) ... not good, I suspect. Is it the gear box or is there something else? I read something about the Rock Solid Steering Stabalizer ... anyone had any experience with this upgrade?

Ya have to see where the play is in the shaft. Is it in the turnbuckles, look like little U-Joints or is it turning the whole shaft as it goes into the steering gear. The steering gear and the joints in the shaft are both common trouble spots.

If it's the shaft, you may be able to just tighten it up. If it's the steering gear, well that's an argument in the making. Some guy's say you can adjust them, but personally it's to risky for me. They have a tendency to grenade as your going down the road sometimes after adjusting and I'm a chicken. Losing my steering control at highway speeds just wouldn't turn me on.

I grabbed the shaft low, towards the gear housing, and gave it a twist. I'll have to spend a little time on it at the weekend. The little woman is using the truck right now, so I've got to keep her happy. I just did the rear brakes this weekend. New drums, springs, self adjusting mechanism, shoes, what a mess! They were metal to metal ... so bad that the self adjusting wheel was well past the hole in the backing plate, making it almost impossible to reach it to back the shoes off ... OUCH! Took me a while, but I got it done.

I got a 99 dodge 2wd and the steering on it is crazy u can start the truck up and the steering wheel will turn just a alittle bit .. called dodge on this problem they said its way it is on some years dodge on 2wd drives cause they didnt have steering stablelizer shock up front i looked there under there a spot for one but cant seem to find one that will work i tryed 3 of them sao i dunno ...