I've been trying to correct the ~1-2inches of play in my steering wheel that's apparently very common in these trucks. I've adjusted my steering box and have had no improvement in driveability. I have narrowed the issue down to the pitman arm on the sector shaft having lateral movement (approx 1-2mm) before rotation occurs. I am under the impression that a steering box brace will prevent lateral movement of the sector shaft, prolong the life of the gearbox, and resolve the play in my steering.

I'm looking for people's educated opinions as to what brace to go with. There seems to be 2 options to me:

1. Hell Bent
http://www.hellbentsteel.com/product...tabilizer.html

2. Dodge Offroad
http://www.dodgeoffroad.com/store_DORbrace2g.php

Note that I need a brace that I can run sway bar drop brackets on. Reading the DOR site, It seems like an obvious issue that torsion of the frame under load from the engine or flex from the suspension will cause stress at the pitman shaft, torquing the external bearing in one direction or another, being that the two frame rails are tied together in the Hell Bent setup.

On the flip side, the bearing looks like a spherical type in both kits, where any small deviation in angle (from frame flex) is compensated for. This would indicate to me the Hell Bent brace might work OK. I don't feel like spending an extra $40 if I don't have to partially because I don't require the protection the DOR brace offers and the fact that it looks like it was made from scraps in the metal bin.

If someone that has experience with this kind of thing could help me it would be much appreciated.

 

Anyone considering a brace like this should first ask themselves how and why the sector shaft incurs the lateral slop.

The only thing these braces do is over-stiffen the frame, mask and prolong the sector shaft movement, and provides some physical protection to the gear box.

 

Over-stiffen the frame? I didn't think that was possible.....

 

I bought one for $100 online, thinking it would cure a death wobble which it didnt, and after fixing the wobble i felt no difference. Its just extra support..

 

it probably does not make much difference for your light 1500 pickups, but it does stop the box from flexing and stressing for trucks with very heavy front ends like the diesels. (especially with oversized tires that put a huge stress on the steering box)


you don't need a super expensive one...run the cheapest one you can find.

and there is no such thing as too stiff of a frame...I want my frame to not budge at all. no flex what so ever. box it in and reinforce it! the less frame flex the better.

most of your slop though will come from crappy dodge steering design.

the factory Y-steering is trash...scrap it and replace it with factory T-steering. depending on year you can go with 99HD steering for '99 and older trucks, or 08.5+ steering for '00 and newer trucks. (must be 4x4 in either case)

T-steering is a far superior design that will help get rid of death wobble. the other imrpovement would be a 3rd gen style track bar. adjustable would be preferred if you run a leveling kit or lift kit.

 

A third option

http://www.spohn.net/shop/2000-2002-...2500-3500.html

 

As said I'm not really sure how this constitutes as an over-stiffener, or how it "masks" sector movement. It's a band-aid for a well documented bad design, and I'm perfectly OK with that. I'm not interested in spending upward of $500 on a new box because apart from this my box is a young, 100k km factory unit. I know the problem; it's the needle bearing in the sector shaft. No rebuild kits out there supply a replacement for this bearing and after extensive research I can't find anyone who has replaced it. I'm simply looking for opinions from people who have these braces installed or are looking to install one themselves.

The fact of the matter is that with the DOR brace you are localizing the mounting location displacement from the steering box mounting location. When the frame flexes, these mounting points are in closer proximity to one another thus reducing bending stresses and finally the amount of torsion experienced where it connects to the sector shaft.

Does the Hell bent setup in fact flex under load? Can the bearing properly compensate for this flexing? Is it necessary to localize the brace as in the DOR design? These are the things I want to know.


Which is what I'm looking for.

It's a well known problem on 1500 trucks. I'm not by any means trying to reduce frame flex with this brace. On the contrary, I'm worried the brace will flex under loading and harm the steering box seals / bearings and make them worse than they are now. A single 1/4" strip tying the frame ends is not going to stiffen a 6000lb truck.

Thanks for the suggestion on the T-steering, I might look into it for a future mod but drag link / tie rod ends are not my issue right now.

Thanks but as mentioned I need one that supports sway bar drop brackets.

 

I plan on getting the DO bracket when funds free up.

 

I picked up my steering stabilizer from these folks. Looks just like the Hell Bent unit and is a bit less expensive. Custom Diesel also sells on eBay..

http://www.custom-diesel.com/dodge-p...abilizers.html

I had a terrible issue with the truck wandering after rebuilding/replacing most of the front end parts on the truck, with the exception of the steering box. When I took the truck in for alignment, it was pointed out that the steering box had excessive play in it, even after I adjusted it and thought I had corrected that issue. Ended up replacing the steering box with a new Borgeson unit and intermediate shaft. Also found that the steering stabilizer didn't fit, since the Borgeson steering box sits out an extra 3/8" from the frame. Ordered a steering stabilizer that would work with a Borgeson box (from Custom Diesel - great folks to deal with!) and installed it with no problem. In all honesty, the steering stabilizer is no cure for death wobble, however, it should help to minimize wear on my new steering box.

 

^Thanks for the heads up. Saw that site but was a little thrown off by the message at the top. Can you comment at all about how it looks under load (ie flexed)?