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Just call me swammi because it takes magic to keep this pig 1500 ram 4x4 going down the road. The steering is loose as a goose despite new moog upper/lower ball joints, a thuren trac bar, new steering box, borgeson steering shaft, DSS steering brace, new shocks, all upgraded new moog 2500 1 ton steering, new steering stab and new sway bar bushings. Oh yeah, throw in new BFG All terraines too. 3" of steering wheel play, and the constant sawing really sucks.

It's an '01 ext cab off road 1500 ram. Nice truck and it fits my huntin', fishin, dog haulin needs perfectly but the steering suckz. After this weeknd trip, I think it's officially dangerous.

Anyone else own a ram w/sterring issues and what was you fix.... other than C-4, cash for clunkers and getting a ford!......................markerdown

oh yeah, the trans grenaded @64k miles too, built ram tough is a crock!

[OlPainless]

Is it a solid front axle? My old man had the same problem with his 99.

Before they switched to bushing connections in 2003, Dodge used some Podunk ball type (kind of like a tie rod end) connector on the frame end of the track bar that wears out quickly and is simply weak and sucky in design. It makes a butt load of annoying noises and allows the front axle to wiggle.

He swapped to a bushing setup from an 04 and all was well again.

[mrm14]

Originally Posted by markerdown

Just call me swammi because it takes magic to keep this pig 1500 ram 4x4 going down the road. The steering is loose as a goose despite new moog upper/lower ball joints, a thuren trac bar, new steering box, borgeson steering shaft, DSS steering brace, new shocks, all upgraded new moog 2500 1 ton steering, new steering stab and new sway bar bushings. Oh yeah, throw in new BFG All terraines too. 3" of steering wheel play, and the constant sawing really sucks.

It's an '01 ext cab off road 1500 ram. Nice truck and it fits my huntin', fishin, dog haulin needs perfectly but the steering suckz. After this weeknd trip, I think it's officially dangerous.

Anyone else own a ram w/sterring issues and what was you fix.... other than C-4, cash for clunkers and getting a ford!......................markerdown

oh yeah, the trans grenaded @64k miles too, built ram tough is a crock!

Guy that works for me has 05' 3/4 ton Dodge 4X4 with 5.7 hemi. His tranny went out at about the same mileage, however, it was covered by his warranty. Also, his steering seemed odd to him from just the first year he had it. He ended up getting a new steering box under his warranty after some hell raising. Seems to steer O.K. since then. He had a 96' Dodge PU and he had steering problems with it from time to time over the years as well. I'll ask him the next time I see him what he had done to his 96' to fix the steering. He's looking to trade in his 05' and get a new truck soon and I think I've got him talked into a GMC.

[markerdown]

yeah, dodge 4x4 have the solid front axle up front, it's a dana 44 on the 1500s. I already swapped the junk track bar with a heavy duty aftermarket one from thuren. I swapped out steering boxes too. And just about every freakin steering part there is. ...............................markerdown

[Mitch_H]

they make a fix for it, solidsteel.biz i think is the website. My old man did it on his '95 cummins, i believe they make on for the half on as well

[gorknoids]

Upper control arms a shizznit on a lot of Ford trucks, too. We have a '96 F150 that's had both changed twice, and the thing never leaves the road. I'm waiting to see how this 2009 XL holds up. It's a completely different truck.

[markerdown]

solidsteel.biz is where I got the DSS brace from. it's already on my pig, helped a little but it's really not designed for off road use. I'm so disgusted with this truck and lousy dodge engineering and support. My next truck is gonna be an 85-90 4 runner, 22R motor, 5 spd with a/c The new ford raptor looks impressive, but I ain't gonna fork out that kinda cash for a vehicle. i'm done buyin' new!...............markerdown

[markerdown]

Yup, there are 2. One on the top of the box that puts pressure on the worm gear and the other is the thrust adjustment where the steering shaft connects to the box. Adjusted them both.

It's the same old saginaw steering box that has been around for decades, just made for dodge. I think the boxs are just junk. There is a company called PSC that makes re-man boxes for off road but the problem is they were having warranty issues because the cores were junk. They stopped selling the re-man boxes. That was my next move. ....................markerdown

[cpttango30]

What else do you expect from a Dodge?

Should've bought a CHEVY or a FORD. My ford was 30 years old when I got it and it ran like a dream all I needed to do was repalce the valve stem seals and run some 20w50 oil in it to keep the pressure up. Other than that and tires it was the best running vehicle I ever had.

[markerdown]

Why did I buy it? Because it was cheap back in '01. 24K out the door. The GMC was 31K and the chevy was 29K, both had the Z71/Z80 pkgs and that wasn't the OTD price. 01 fords at that time couldn't measure up to the dodges with the off road pkg or the GMs with the Z71/Z80

What gets me is f'in dodge knows about these issues on all their 2 gen rams 4x4s and wouldn't do a recall to fix. Same with thir trans and intake plenum gasket........................markerdown