I got my 2001 Dodge Ram 2500...it had about 2 inches of play in steering box and I checked and replaced everything so I adjusted the hex nut at top of the steering box 1 turn in. It took almost all of the play out and I was very happy. The wheel didn't seem very much harder to turn just felt tight all the way around now which I figured was just because there wasn't 2 inches of play in it. It drove straight and I had no concerns until about a week later and 110 miles some of the play is back only about 1/2 inch and the wheel is pretty easy to turn again like before I made adjustment. Is this due to overtightening the adjustment and the box wearing very fast?? Should I back off the hex about 1/4-1/2 turn to prevent any further damage??

Just side note I have a skyjacker dual stabilizer on the truck and I had to take off one of the stabilizers due to the ubolt on the mount towards the tire breaking allowing the end to slide and twist and hit everything so I removed the shock until I could get new ubolt...I didn't really notice the extra play and easier steering until I removed the shock on the stabilizer could that be the cause???

 

You could try readjusting the steering box...... not sure how successful it will be though. Backing off the adjuster is going to introduce MORE slop, not less. May want to just replace the box, and call it a day. The 'reman' units from the parts stores are real hit and miss though. You may change the box, and find your steering is WORSE..... Redhead, and Borgeson make replacement steering boxes, that are better than anything you will get from the parts store. Of course, they are more expensive too..... but, they DO fix the problem.

Welcome to DF!

 

Ram rock solid steering fix, anyone???

 

what would be the best way of going about getting a redhead steering box??

 

Google search. The sell online.

 

Just curious before I spend the extra how much improvement are these expected to bring? Never had the truck steering up to par yet so I have no idea how good these trucks steering get lol thanks for the help much appreciated!

 

i know it will never be as good as say a rack and pinion set up but just not sure how close they can get

 

Pretty darn good. Just eliminating the slop from the box is a major improvement. If you have slop elsewhere in the system, the box won't change that. There are fixes for most of it though.

On my 96, I did BOTH adjustments on the stock box, and the steering was actually pretty good for a 20 year old truck, with 200K on the clock.

Adjustments are detailed in the service manual. (get one for your truck here.)