Hello everyone,

I am completely at a loss with my 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 right now. Let me give you some info on what has been done recently regarding my front end.

Aug 2018 - Front u-joints and upper/lower ball joints. (Garage)
May 2019 - Wheel bearings both sides. (Me)
June 2019 - All tie rods/bars/steering bars/joints, steering stabilizer. (Me)
Aug 2019 - Steering shaft and steering gearbox. (Me)

I had 3 alignments done. 2 before the gearbox and one after. The garage claimed there was too much play for them to get my wheel straight so I replaced the box and took it to another place who got the wheel straight. Within a couple of weeks, the steering wheel became harder to turn left than right and was popping turning from the center position. Took it to a garage today where the mechanic told me the pitman arm was not straight when the wheel was straight. Ignoring the steering wheel, he adjusted the drag link to where the arm was straight with the tires. My steering wheel is over a half turn off but the truck steers a bit more evenly. It seems like the box was trying to turn further than the components allowed because the arm was not centered. He believes the steering box itself is bad and came out of whack from the factory because the steering shaft only goes in one way. I was careful to keep the wheel as straight as possible when changing these parts and the wheel was fine before replacing the box (except for the play). The power steering pump also whines a bit now only when turning (it is silent at idle).

Can anyone shed some light on what is going on?

 

I'd agree that the replacement steering box is faulty. WAG is was a cheap reman unit ?

 

You did everything right except get a Redhead. Once you do, you can easily align it yourself with string and tape measures. That's what I did.

 

It was a reman box by Lares. Got it off of Rockauto. It seemed like a good choice because Rockauto had a handful of reman boxes and 1 new box by Lares so I assumed the reman by Lares was the way to go.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...ring+gear,7416

 

New box would have been a better plan..... Red Head, or Borgeson remans these units, to much better standards than anyone else. Blue Top is kinda new on the scene, and they rebuild them as well.... but, no real info on how good they are.

Don't forget to check the track bar as well.

 

I really did not want to spend this kind of money on the truck but I guess I don't have a choice. It's been brutal lately and especially because the mechanic also discovered my 4wd isn't engaging as well as the front driveshaft is bad.