I have a 96 dakota 4x4 that has play in the steering wheel. Everything goes straight down the road. No pulling when I let go of the wheel. Is this normal for this truck? If I put my hand at the top of the steering wheel there is enough play in the wheel that I can rock the wheel left and right 4 inches without changing my direction as I go down the road. Once again is this normal. My daughter (driving on a permit) does not like to drive my truck.

In my service is says that possible cause is:
#1 Worn or loose suspension or steering components
#2 Worn of loose wheel bearings
#3 Steering gear mounting
#4 Gear out of adjustment
#5 Worn or loose steering coupler

Once again is this normal play for this truck?

 

No. My truck has maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of play in the wheel, which is about normal for these trucks. My guess is its one or more of the following...

Idler arm
Pitman arm
Tie rod ends (all 4)
Ball joints (all 4)

If you replace all those things, it should fix it. These trucks are notorious for eating ball joints, and most people don't grease any of these parts on a regular schedule so they go bad.

 

Thats normal?!, mine dosnt have any play, which is a good thing and were gunna be greesing some of the parts up before the winter to especialy since the owners manual says to

 

Is your's 2wd zach? The 2wds have rack and pinion steering not parallelogram steering and are tighter.

 

Yea its 2WD though i thought that 2X4 and 4X4 both had Rack and pinion steering

 

Nope, the 4x4s have parallelogram steering... a pitman arm, idler arm, center link, and 4 tie rods. They have more play than the rack and pinion setup on the 2wds but are much better suited for 4x4s.

 

My vote is the pitman arm. Even after I replaced the ball joints my truck had crazy play in the steering wheel.

95_318SLT how long did it take you to get your project truck to the state in the picture. I keep joking with my wife that I want to do a full frame off rebuild but when I open the hood and see all those friggin wires and hoses, I lose my nerve.

 

Have fun with the pitman arm. I tried getting mine off, but it was just such a pain, I ended up replacing the gearbox (besides, I wanted to replace the hoses, and they were rusted to the pump and gearbox, which helped in my decision to replace the box!)

But yea, anything 95_318SLT said (which would cover #1 worn or loose suspension/steering components)

 

Its time consuming. I cant speak for him, but pulling apart my 2wd took several evenings of working at it, and I didnt go as far as he has.

If you open up your hood and locate your steering shaft look at where it connects to your pitman arm. If you grab the shaft with your hand and watch the joint to the pitman, you can rock the shaft back and forth and see if the joint is sloppy and not moving with it. Thats my issue. Although my entire steering will have to be redesigned, so Im not worried about it right now.

 

Lol, I don't know the number of hours, but it could be done in a weekend if you work diligently and know what you're doing. I started by taking off the grill, bumper, everything off the radiator support, the radiator support, then the fenders, then I pulled the engine/transmission in 1 peice, then I removed all the wiring (comes out very very easy in 2 seperate harnesses), then I unbolted the cab, unhooked the steering and lifted the cab up.