Hey guys... I was just mashing the Ram ('01 RCSB 2wd) and when I got on the gas from a stop, and then tried to turn the wheel, it felt like something was binding. It popped, and then I could steer, but it felt a little sloppy. While going around 20 MPH, I sawed the wheel about a quarter turn each way, and it clunked a couple times. It started pulling a tiny bit to the left on the way home. I stopped, and checked under the truck with a flashlight: PS fluid good, no leaks anywhere, Idler and Pitman arm fine... tie rods okay... I noticed that my upper balljoint boots are ripped, and also that almost every bushing was cracked and squashed, but none that I could see were missing. WTF? Anybody ever experienced or heard of anything like this before? I'm tripping, this truck's my baby. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to describe it good. Thanks...

EDIT--
Also, when going slow, or stopped, turning the wheel back and forth, I'm getting a real loud squeak from somewhere in the front end.

 

ttt

 

lift up thw front end, 1 wheel at a time
grab the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and wiggle side to side, if there is play you have a bad tye rod end(s)
grab at 12 and 6 o'clock and wiggle top to bottem if there is play you have a bad ball joint or wheel barring
grab at 12 and 6 o'clock and pull straight out than push in, if there is play there you have a bad wheel barring

if your boots are cracked you can get water/dirt/mud in there and they will ware out alot faster, if you give them a shot of greese every week or2 it will hely keep them cleen inside (push the crap out) and whey will last longer

 

almost sounds like your steering box took a dump...

 

I took it down to Big O where I used to work, and they put it up over the pit... the frames broken ehind the steering box, and we're pretty sure that my upper control arm is tweaked pretty good. Thanks for the replies guys, now I just gotta wait and see...

 

the frame is borken?? wow how did you manage that? you should get a pic..

 

Its not 'broken' its just cracked pretty good. I should have been more clear... I' pretty sure I did it when I was in my brother's apple orchards, hauling azz and ended up hitting a ditch so hard it lifte the back of my truck off the ground, and turned me aorun. I'll go see if I can take a pic of where it rubs on the control arms... I don't think youd be able to see the crack in a pic... we noticed it when we took the weight off the front end, and we couldn't really see it too good when the weigh was on it.

 

On this first picture, one of the other things we noticed, was that as weight is applied, and we drop the truck back down, the turn-stop thing moves up, and doesn't hit the control arm very good. I couldn't get a good pic of the crack in the fame, but anyway.... you can see in the other pics the rubbing spots on the upper and lower CAs and the lower shock bolt, and also the white ring around the tire, where it rubbed. This thing's F*cked up!