I have tried to research the threads to find help with no luck. I have a 99 Dodge ram 1500 4wd that wanders all over the road. Here is what i have tried: 1. Replaced steering sector (twice), now the steering is very stiff. 2. Replaced upper and lower ball joint. 3. Inspected traction bar, was ok.4. Had front end alignment.5. Verified the coupling on steering shaft was tight.
Everything I have checked is tight, but driving down the road, i am constantly having to fight the truck to keep it in my lane. The only thing i havent tried ( that i know of) is loosening the steering sector a little, because it will not straighten coming out of a curve. I have to manually straighten it. Could this be the cause? Is there something I am missing?
I am about to lose my mind, and the mechanics can't seem to find the problem either. PLEASE HELP!@@@@

 

Sure, I've been through it all.
1. What do you mean by sector? That's not a valid part name.
2. Replace the track bar. I don't care that it "looks okay."
3. Replace the steering gear box with a new one. I hesitantly recommend a quality rebuild. Might even get a decent Napa one. But new is best. Rockauto has new ones.
4. Replace all tie rods.
5. Align to ZERO TOE.
6. Drive straight.

 

When I first purchased my '96 Ram 2500 4x4 used several years ago, I encountered death wobble and felt that the truck was unsafe to drive at highway speed. I ended up rebuilding the entire front suspension and replaced the ball joints, tie rods, wheel hub bearings, U-joints behind each front wheel, replaced the steering gearbox and intermediate steering shaft with a Borgeson steering gearbox and steering shaft, replaced the steering damper with a Rough Country damper, replaced the front shocks with Rancho 7000 series shocks and replaced the front tires with Michelin LTX 285-75-16 tires. Lastly, I replaced the track bar with an adjustable length 3rd gen style track bar made by SolidSteel and the necessary conversion bracket, then off to the alignment shop. The truck now handles much, much better and is relatively fun to drive.

 

I meant the steering gear box. Steering sector got stuck in my head for some reasson

 

A lot of the Reman steering boxes you buy from the parts stores are worse than the box you are replacing. Getting a NEW one is definitely a good route to go. Provided you can find one. (I haven't looked to0 hard yet.) ANY slop in your steering/suspension is going to make the steering less than stellar. I am also a big advocate of doing the third-gen style track bar.

 

There was another post about the Red Head boxes that i commented about. If you go to their web side they show a line of sector shafts. They check them but don't do anything about the gear wear. I looked but they don't have the pic there any more. This is quoted from their site:
Again nothing was mentioned about the wear on the gear surfaces. That's way there is slop in the ones you get from them. They need to do something about it! I am tempted to e mails them and see what their replay would be. Not cost effective or something to that effect probably.
You may want to get under it while someone else moves the wheel. Also try lifting one wheel off the ground while testing. If there is slop anywhere you will see it!

 

0Mine is doing the same thing brother.....any help will be much appreciated.....

 

Read post #2.

 

I found an old bulletin 19-04-99 to replace ball joints. This is from the Mopar files. I would do what Atomic dog recommended. A steering box does have a sector shaft seal. But no replace those anymore. Just the steering box. You can how ever adjust the sector shaft on top of the box. But I wouldn't do that.