Hey guys, so Ive been having this problem on and off for a year now, but now its bad...

When I start up the truck, its a BIT%^ to just get out of my spot, I have to turn the wheel so hard just to move the truck....

Then steering is really difficult for about 10 minutes... It get a little looser after about 10 minute but its still a PITA...

And after I turn, the wheel doesnt return to straight, it just stays turned so I have to turn it back to straight. Im afraid this will cause a nice accident soon if I dont fix it!

I dont know what it is, have you guys had this or ever heard of this problem and what the fix would be??

Thanks!

Jim

 

Sounds like a bad p/s pump. Could be a bad rack, but I would start with the cheapest thing first. If you are losing fluid but don't see a leak, take a needle or something small and poke a hole in your rack boots. No fluid should come out and if it does the rack is leaking and needs to be replaced.

 

thanks man! I was reading somewhere else after I posted that it might be the intermediate arm is messed up....

Know anything about that?

People were saying that they had this problem and dealers and mechanics replaced the power steering pumps up to 4 times and it didnt fix the problem?

How much is it to replace a power steering pump, and is hard to diy?

Thanks man!

Jim

 

The pumps usually aren't too expensive, and if you can get one that already has the pulley installed, changing the pump is a breeze. As far as the intermediate arm goes, I have heard of those problems on full size trucks. As far as I know all 2nd gen Dakotas have rack and pinion steering therefore no intermediate arm.

 

97-99 has a box anything and up is rack and pinion just for reference

 

I honestly didn't know that one. I stand corrected varsis.

 

No worries but too bad they didn't stick with it seems rack and pinion has more issues than solved.

 

I haven't had any problems with mine as of yet. If replacing the back tires doesn't fix my vibration problem I'm just gunna yank all the old crap off the front of mine and hope to god it fixes it haha

 

So you guys think that is the problem then? The power steering pump?

There is definitely an intermediate arm on my truck, I have greased it before thinking that would take care of it. I can take pics and show you guys...

So what should I do?

Oh my treads are WAAY worn down, need new tires very soon, could that be the problem?

Thanks!

Jim

 

Intermediate arm = pitman arm, and no, you don't have one.

+1 to pump or the rack.