Hey there! First post here, so please be gentle. =) I'm the proud owner of a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 and as you can imagine, I have horribly loose steering. Shocker, I know. I've spent the past two weeks reading tons of others' posts about this. I decided to crawl underneath my truck last night as I had my wife turn my wheel left/right so that I could rely on knowledgeable people to try and help me out.

I'll start by saying I'm a total amateur when it comes to most car related things - I don't deny that. I'm learning as I go, which is why I'm not afraid to take this task on myself and learn things I tear into the truck.

That being said, my truck simply has very loose steering, making it hard to keep centered in the lane. I do not experience "death wobble". While I haven't had the chance to jack the front tires up to test the tie rod ends that way, I can grab either my drag link or tie rod and wiggle them (kinda rotates up/down) pretty good. Way more than I'd suspect they should. I want to believe that the tie rod ends need replaced, but can someone please take a look at the video and give me some guidance. Any help is more than appreciated. Thanks!

 

Rotational movement is interesting...... but, not sure you are going to be able to avoid that, given the geometry of the steering. Side to side movement indicates that the joint is indeed bad.

Rumor has it, you can 'upgrade' your steering, by going to the 2008.5 parts, with is a crossover steering, not the funky Y steering you currently have...... (would have the advantage of lots of new parts too..... Probably run around the same price as replacing everything with 'correct' year parts. I don't recall if installing the newer parts requires modification to where the tie rod ends bolt up though... have to check that.

Also, check the steering box, see how far it turns before it actually starts influencing the pitman arm. (arm on bottom of box.) They are notorious for being sloppy over time as well.

Welcome to DF!

 

You can't use the 8.5 because you're truck is a 99. In 2000 he axles got a couple inches longer. How they are to this day. Dana lost the contract with Chrysler in like 05, or whatver.

You should do the 99HD upgrade. It's basically the same thing. U

 

Is the 99 HD steering the cross-over type? Or is it just another flavor of the Y style?

 

It appears as though my steering he already been upgraded by the previous owner. It's already the t-style with the straight tie rod connected to both knuckles.

Still though, do the tie rod ends seem to have excessive movement to the point of needing replaced?

 

The HD is a t setup, im pretty sure.

Neither is really a crossover.

Replace your tie rod ends with some moog parts and you should be good to go for a while. Also might wanna look into a redhead or borgeson steering box.

Might as well check the ball joints while your messing with the front end too.

I suggest Rockauto for getting your parts