A piece of pipe, or long screwdriver can make a makeshift stethoscope. I actually went out and bought one. You get to hear some truly interesting noises from your motor.....

 

The T steering has a major flaw and I think you found it, Heyyou.

Unless the two ends at each wheel are secured so they don't roll around the ball, then it will work. If they move AT ALL, then the drag link changes length in relation to the pitman arm and you'll have a dead spot.

Also, the box stabilizers don't do anything. At least not for me. Save your money. Or I'll sell you mine. It's been off since my 2nd Redhead went in. All I'm running is modified T steering and a Redhead. Its okay. Not great. I spent most of 2016 tackling steering so ask me any questions. I probably have been there. . . And I did all my own work so its fresh in my mind.

 

I think the biggest improvement would come from preventing the tie rod roll. I have a piece coming that is supposed to address that. Basically, its a delrin shim that goes between the drag link, and tie rod, to limit its movement. Can't really do that at the tie rod ends, as they NEED to be able to move as the steering cycles. Angles change at the ends.

It's been ordered, so, should see it in the next few days. I don't know how well it is going to work, but, for less than 30 bucks shipped.... I am willing to give it a shot. Of course I will post results. I am also interested in how long the little feller will last..... See what happens.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the steering stabilizer. I kinda wondered about those when looking at them and they seem like they might be a fix if your box is going/already bad (patch work). If I'm just running stock everything on the front end, should I be alright with a stock steering box replacement or is the extra money for a redhead gonna be worth it. I haven't read much about how long stock aftermarkets last on these things. I would guess some of it depends on what shape the rest of the front end is in. I'm thinking I'll still do the rock solid ram fix though. The wheel likes to make some interesting noises when I turn the wheel at a stop. I have some play at the shaft under the hood and have read a lot of good results with these installed. I'm guessing that's what the fix is and not a bad bearing in the steering shaft. Eager to see what HeyYou discovers.

 

I got stethoscope you're talking about. I don't know if I wanna go digging to far. I'm gonna say it's normal for now.

 

Ah, denial. Not just a river in a Egypt any more.

 

What another guy on another forum discovered is that the outer tie rods (at the wheels) should not roll in the their respective ball joints. The only movement they should have is moving laterally as the wheels turn. The drag link SHOULD roll at both ends (tie rod and pitman arm). This has worked for him, me, and countless people who have ordered the synergy kit. They also figured this out, but for that price, they can keep it.
http://www.synergymfg.com/Synergy-03...t-p-30964.html
Check out the rod end with the solid bushing. This is to keep the end from rotating.

Moog used to send a flat bushing. They no longer do. This was my problem. The whole assembly could rotate by hand and I could see the movement at the pitman arm with no steering input. So I installed some flat washers both rubber and steel and now there's no rotation.

Google search my thread "Is there no hope for my steering" and it should bring up the other forum as I can't post it here. There are great pics and instructions about correcting the T setup. Page 2 is what you want from dodge t#lk.com.

 

Another solution I saw, that looked like a great idea, if a bit pricey, was relocating the drag link from the tie rod, to an arm on top of the passenger side knuckle. That involves having the knuckle machined so there is a place for the new arm, and bolt holes for it..... then, a longer drag link is used.

In theory, it looks like it would solve the problem completely, the only issue that I can see with it, is it would likely introduce a fair bit of bump steer, due to the no longer parallel drag link, and track bar, not to mention unequal lengths.... I don't want to solve one problem, only to introduce another.

Read your thread over at the 'other' place. Interesting. Sounds like your solution is quite similar to what I have comin' in the mail, just a different location. The place I got it from recommended NOT to put them under TRE's, as they need some variety of movement there. As I have a solid axle truck, I begin to question the validity of that statement. If it were IFS, I could see it, but, it's not.... Could you post pics of your TRE's, and the fix? I would love to see it.

 

Yeah, that's a true crossover steering setup like jeeps and off-roaders use on custom rigs.

I'm really not sure why this works. The old Y steering rotated all over the place yet I had perfect steering for years with that. I've got it to a place now where there's no rotation or clunking and the feel is pretty good. Down the hwy, I can actually relax while driving.

Never figured out how to send pics through these forums. Even photobucket doesn't work for me. But you could pm me and I'll gladly use my phone or email, whatever you want. But my pics look just like the ones on the other forum where he put the washers under the knuckle between the ball joint. I just recently got an avatar pic to work and I really don't know how.

 

That's a lot of reading having seen this thread for the first time.

That old truck (that I thought was a v10 to begin with) looks like a xenomorph drooled on the driver side, holy crap.

I cleaned up my fog lights with a gray 3m scrub pad and water, they look decent now.

Those mechanic stethoscopes are worth the money and much better than a metal bar like a crows foot. They're only $3 at harbor freight and $10 at advance.

The replacement dash pads came down in price a lot on LMC Truck. If you want to be a cheapo like me then a cap that covers the dorito dash can be had for about $100 on Ebay, I didn't glue mine down and it looks a lot better.

Welding on the body panels isn't too hard.
Here's a video that I found
Set the welders amperage really low.
Multiple short welds with cool down time between them.
It wouldn't hurt to have someone beside you hitting the weld with air every few seconds to help cool them off but not when you're striking an arc, you don't want to blow the shielding gas away.
Practice on the panels you cut off before going for it on the doors.
In the end it will look better than what you have now.