Another thing to try is having the alignment shop put some negative caster into the front end to help keep it from wondering.

 

Got the Borgeson steering shaft installed the other day in hopes of that bein the problem because it's half the price of a new gear. For better or worse it did fix the tight steering problem but not the wandering. The joints in the stock shaft were still tight in the twisting department. The stock shaft though was also hard to flex the joints even by hand much less trying to twist them with the steering wheel. On the new shaft they just flop around like dead fish and it took all the tension out of the steering. I was also gonna change out the power steering pump, I thought mine was shot because the truck was so hard to steer. So it did fix a problem just not the one I was currently workin on.

 

Checked the steering gear today with some help and it's apparent that it's bad. I can move the front wheels inches back and forth and never move the steering wheel. I can also move the steering wheel several inches and never move the tires. With me laying under the truck watching where the pitman arm connects to the steering gear I had my kid move the steering wheel. You can plainly see the slop in the shaft coming out of the gear. As the steering wheel moves it wallows all around the opening before engaging the tires and moving them.

So now to decide which PSC box to go with.

The Light Valving one. http://www.pscmotorsports.com/sg841m...ving-p-92.html

Or the standard upgraded one. http://www.pscmotorsports.com/sg841m...ear-p-590.html

 

The new PSC gear showed up today, anybody got any words of advice for doing the swap. Warnings, tips or suggestions, I'll take em all. I wanna figure out how to drain all the fluid in there so I can refill with fresh while I'm doin this.

 

yeah get a puller to remove your pitman arm and be prepared to add some heat and a hammer to it

 

Whoa, what you talkin about heat and hammer, to do what. Don't talk like this. So what am I gonna be usin heat and a hammer on.

I just replaced the pitman arm within the last year so it shouldn't be to stuck yet.

 

when you tighten the nut that holds the actual pitman arm on to the steering box it is a press fit so the more you tighten the nut the tighter the arm is on the splines. when I had my second gen I was removing boxes every 2 weeks or so and everytime they were a bitch.

 

If I have to much trouble with the arm I'll just pull it from the tie rod and leave it. They don't cost that much to replace anyway that I'm gonna fight it.

So if I just pull the gear box and start the truck up will it pump all the old fluid out through the hoses or do I need to do somethin more to get it all out.

 

turn it on and turn it off. that should be more than enough to get rid of the fluid. any more than that and it will be dry and you'll be adding a pump to the list.I wouldn't suggest that. a safer way is to unhook the hoses and loosen the bolts so it can be turned and drain it or you can take a gravy baster and suck all the fluid out from the fill cap. you'll get most of it out that way. I would also recommend adding 20-50% lucas steering fluid. I swear by that stuff. Anyone that owns a ford will tell you that the lucas is the shiz. gets rid of the "infamous steering wine" that fords seem to have.

 

So we pretty much established the fact that the the Dodge/Cummins steering brace isn't a fix for bad steering but is it a worthwhile addon to the new steering gear to help lengthen it's lifetime expectancy.