so my 01 2500 4x4 ram is starting to make me upset.. so i had the ball joints replaced and wow it made a big difference but did not fix the problem...

when I'm going down the road i need to turn the steering wheel left to keep it straight...

i had my friend look at it who own his shop for 25 years and is ASE Certified.. all the tie rods are good and the ball joints are new he replaced them last week... ..

heres a picture of my steering where as i drive the I-5 at 65 mph going straight

i plan on going from Bellingham Washington to Boise Idaho for Christmas but i want to fix this first... HELP

EDIT: plus if i let go of the wheel it pulls to the right

 

Mines a little more to the left than that but thats what mine does. When turning right its fine though.

 

yeah right turns are good... but when i first got the truck is was this bad... so i know something is wrong here

 

I am not the only one, This makes me feel a little better.

My truck is doing the vary same thing as yours biggreen2500.
You could be taking a picture of my steering wheel that is how the same it is.

I was thinking ball joints (As I am do for a set) or an alinement. But in your case I am guessing the shop did this after the ball joint job.

I have also check for play in the steering with the engine off. I have a little at the pitman arm and the steering joints (Also on my to do list)

I hope some one comes up with the fix..

 

Have you had the alignment checked?

 

Mine too requires the wheel to be left to go straight.

However, I've driven a lot of older trucks and the steering wheel being left or right to go straight is very common. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

 

Dude my truck does the same thing! I was wondering if maybe it had something to do with the power steering pump and fluid or something because when you turn the wheel all the way in any direction you can hear a faint noise.

 

It' all about the suspension. Part of doing a front end alignment is centering the steering wheel. If you have to turn the wheel to compensate for a pull, you NEED an alignment, or tires, or both. (assuming suspension components are good.)

Also, if you have replaced your track bar in recent memory, that is another cause for the steering being off center. That are not all exactly the same length, and offsetting the axle (which is what happens when the track bar is changed with on that is not precisely the same length. Same happens when you get rid of some of the slop.... axle isn't in the same position) changes steering geometry, which can be corrected by adjusting the drag link.

If you have marginal parts, and your steering is off a bit, replacing those parts will more often than not make your steering wheel even MORE off.

 

FYI power steering at full lock always makes a whine/squeal, it doesn't like it. Just before full lock will get you the same turning radius, but without the extra stress on your power steering components.

 

I kept busting u-joints to find out that my axle housing was bad had alot of play causing half axle shaft to slip. Do you think the bad axle housing could have caused my steering wheel to do this? (my truck is in the shop now for a new/used axle hsg)