Hello all, as we all have had steering issues with our Rams, I have movement on my radius arm bars on both sides and on both mounting locations on frame and on axle. Is a little movement normal or should I not be able to move it with a prybar? From what I can see the rubber looks ok from the outside but they do look original with 236K on the dash. Thanks...

 

I would say they may be worn. How much movement is there? Also the bolts on the axle love to freeze up. The ones with the cam. Mine came out with a sawzall. Real PITA

 

There is noticeable movement at the axle I would say about an eighth of an inch. There has been a clunk when turning which was a bad shock bushing on the left side, but found the play in the arms when looking for the clunk.

 

I didn't like the movement that the factory rubber bushings allowed, so I upgraded my control arms to the style with grease-able urethane bushings that you can see via the link below:

http://www.spohn.net/shop/2000-2002-...2500-3500.html

I installed these as part of my front end rebuild to get rid of some death wobble and steering issues I was experiencing.

 

I like the grease-able option. I upgraded to grease-able sway bar links and they made a difference. Thanks for the link!!

 

Probably normal. They need to move a little bit at least, when the axle twists and such. The poly bushing sure firm it up though.

 

I love the poly bushing setup in the upper and lower control arms. I also have them in each end of the adjustable track bar, along with the sway bar mount bushings and sway bar links. Really helps to firm things up to enhance driveability and reduce sway.

 

How is it on ride quality? Do you feel more of the road than with Rubber?

 

Ride quality is excellent. It feels like the truck has better grip and contact with the road, however, it is not a harsh feel. Personally, I think poly has gotten a bad wrap years ago, in addition to the fact that it is a bit more expensive than its rubber counterpart, hence its limited use in legitimate OEM applications.

 

interesting. Thank You. Think this is something I may have to have a look at. My steering is a bit vague on-center, and according to theory, the steering box has already been replaced. (it looks pretty clean, at any rate.) I suspect they put in the 18:1 ratio box, in place of the 15:1 that should have been there though..... When it gets warmer again, I'll drag the wife out, and inspect steering from end to end. It definitely needs something....