my steering has A LOT of "slack" in the wheel... When i go from 12 to 2 oclock, nothing, but hit 3 oclock and it turns. Well i decided to tighten the steering nut, and instead of taking the slack out it made it turn harder when it hit 3 oclock. but still nothing from 12 to 2. Any suggestions? One of my friends said it might be the ball joints?

 

Is that rack and pinion or gear box?

If its gear box could be either worn out box or bad fluid circulation. And put the adjustment screw back where it was.

 

The steering on these trucks is naturally sloppy...it's their nature. That and the fact that the power assist is turned up so high that it can make the truck seem loose.

 

I have the rack and pinion steering and I replaced everything 2 years ago. And it still wonders where ever it wants to go. Am I'm just there for the ride.

 

AZ93Dkota... he has it listed as a 4x4 in his vehicle info, so its gear box.

I'd be willing to bet its worn out ball joints, tie rods, idler arm, pitman arm or a combination of the bunch. These trucks are notorious for eating ball joints and rod ends up front!

But like Dodge4lyfe said, don't expect the truck to ever handle like a car! My truck had play from 11:30 to 12:30 at its tightest (right after I replaced the ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, idler and pitman arms and got an alignment). And if the crown of the road changed, so did the position I was holding the wheel to keep the truck straight (but it never had a real pull to it though).

 

I'd bet they used the same box as on my ZJ. Those boxes ain't worth a crap. Next time I'm going with something other than OEM as a replacement.

 

thanks for all the info guys! I do drive 4x4, and yes I put the adjustment screw back where it was. I have had the idler arm replaced recently which helped with handling a bit. But i might need to check the ball joints...

 

I agree with the bad ball joints statement. My GFs '96 cavalier has bad ball joints and when you hit bumps, it goes all over the place. Very unsafe!