94 ram steering
94 ram steering
my steering wheel has around 3-5 inches of play in it its not super loose you can tell it is turning but it doesnt seem to catch right away just after around a few inches of play what should i check
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87,395
Likes: 4,213
From: Clayton MI
Everything. 
Grab a friend. Park 'em in the drivers seat. Unlock the steering, but, don't start the engine. Open the hood. Have your friend rock the steering wheel back and forth, just to the point of feeling some resistance. (when they actually start influencing the tires.) See how much the steering shaft moves before the pitman arm starts moving. (standing by the drivers side fender.....) The box is probably where most of your slop is.
Have your friend continue doing the slow and gentle thing, crawl under the truck, and check the entire linkage. Wherever there is slop, that is a bad part.
Once you have those inventoried, have your friend REEF on the steering wheel, and watch the track bar, check both ends. If either end has slop, it needs replacing. The joint up on the frame is the general point of failure here.
Jack up the front of the truck. Grab the wheel at the 12, and 6 O'clock positions, and try and move it. If it moves, find out what is sloppy, bearings, ball joints, or both. Add whatever to your list. (check you front u-joints while you are there. they don't contribute to sloppy steering, but, if you have to change wheel bearings, or ball joints, might just as well change those too.)
grab a board, three or more feet long. Have your friend stick it under the tire, and pry UP. Watch the lower ball joint, if it has any slop, add it to the list.
Grab a friend. Park 'em in the drivers seat. Unlock the steering, but, don't start the engine. Open the hood. Have your friend rock the steering wheel back and forth, just to the point of feeling some resistance. (when they actually start influencing the tires.) See how much the steering shaft moves before the pitman arm starts moving. (standing by the drivers side fender.....) The box is probably where most of your slop is.
Have your friend continue doing the slow and gentle thing, crawl under the truck, and check the entire linkage. Wherever there is slop, that is a bad part.
Once you have those inventoried, have your friend REEF on the steering wheel, and watch the track bar, check both ends. If either end has slop, it needs replacing. The joint up on the frame is the general point of failure here.
Jack up the front of the truck. Grab the wheel at the 12, and 6 O'clock positions, and try and move it. If it moves, find out what is sloppy, bearings, ball joints, or both. Add whatever to your list. (check you front u-joints while you are there. they don't contribute to sloppy steering, but, if you have to change wheel bearings, or ball joints, might just as well change those too.)
grab a board, three or more feet long. Have your friend stick it under the tire, and pry UP. Watch the lower ball joint, if it has any slop, add it to the list.
Professional
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 102
Likes: 1
There is also a way to adjust/tighten the steering box itself that will eliminate some of the play (do a search here).
However, please fix the bad parts as HeyYou suggested FIRST before doing the steering box adjustment. The stuff I took off of my truck had been reduced to pure junk, and dangerous junk at that, over the course of the 190K miles mine had on it. I did all of the steering and chassis parts in one go. If I had done the adjustment first and it took most of the slop out, I might have been tempted to not replace bad parts (since I wouldn't have known about them). Don't mask the problem - on mine at least the bad parts were a safety issue.
However, please fix the bad parts as HeyYou suggested FIRST before doing the steering box adjustment. The stuff I took off of my truck had been reduced to pure junk, and dangerous junk at that, over the course of the 190K miles mine had on it. I did all of the steering and chassis parts in one go. If I had done the adjustment first and it took most of the slop out, I might have been tempted to not replace bad parts (since I wouldn't have known about them). Don't mask the problem - on mine at least the bad parts were a safety issue.
ok ordered new rod ends and ball joints ptiman arm and tightented steering box it helped a ton but i want to be safe on my steering parts with 224xxx miles on them lol