Good day to you all, My name is Dylan and I'm 25 years old from Wainwright Alberta, Canada. Im a mechanic for the army so i have a bunch of experience with vehicles as well as holding a journeyman ticket for automotive tech. I recently got a 2001 ram laramie slt. It has a 4 inch suspension lift and a 3 inch body lift and it has a few issues. It runs well and drives decently, however at some point or another someone changed the steering column and now i don't have the buttons for the cruise control even though the mechanical bits are still there. Second, the steering wheel has about three inches of play before the wheels really start to move. I've read that adjusting the steering box can sometimes cure this? Finally the shifter won't move enough to engage 1st or second gear. I have to put it into the 2nd spot to engage drive, not really sure how to fix this, I'm thinking maybe something to do with how the linkage was extended for the body lift?

sorry for the wall of text, any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

Think I would be tempted to find the correct steering column, and install it. Should solve all of your problems on that score.

You can try adjusting the steering box, but, they weren't the best when they were new, and sometimes, replacement is the only 'real' fix..... Don't bother with a reman from the parts store though, spend the money, get the redhead, or borgeson box.

 

May want find out where the play is if it's in the steering gear or just worm front end parts. Drag link, tie rod ends etc...

 

I was hoping that replacing the column would fix the issue, so heres hoping that I can find one. I think i'm going to try and adjust the steering box before I replace it (it's free so why not) and the truck tracks very straight when my hands are off the wheel, so once I get time I'll drag it into my shop and work on checking the front end properly, but visually nothing worries me there.

 

Sounds like you got a plan. Keep us posted. Oh and pics would be nice too. I likes pics...

 

Oh yes, how silly of me. I'll try and remember how to post pictures. Do I still have to host on an external site?

 

Yeah, hosting on an external site is still recommended.

Good lookin' truck though.

 

hahaha, yes I see that the quality suffers a lot.

I've also noticed that sometimes I can also only move my drivers side window up a bit at a time and then I have to wait for a minute or so and keep going a bit at a time until it's up. Motor? or something else

 

Probably the motor. There is a thermal switch in there that shuts it off when load goes beyond a certain threshold. As the motor ages, it heats up faster.... Replacing the motor will more than likely solve that particular problem.