I drive 1999 dodge ram 1500 sport edtion with 377,294 miles on it (the original factory motor) bought about year half ago only gave $1500 for it and came ton extra parts including a extra engine i drive it daily it uses oil has the lovely steering I've fixed most it but not all it yet open to any advice to keep this truck going never been a dodge guy but have really enjoyed this truck

 

Have you fixed the plenum yet? That may be at least part of your oil consumption problem. Take a look down the throttle bores with a bright light, crack 'em all the way open, and peak inside. (engine NOT running....) if you see oil pooling in there..... blown plenum. (two-piece intake manifold)

The steering box is a notorious weak point for sloppy steering, that, and the track bar. The parts store boxes really probably aren't any better than what's already on the truck though.... If you can find a NEW box, that helps quite a bit. (NOT remanned..... they suck just as bad. )

Wander on down to the 2nd Gen Ram section, check out the stickied threads in the tech section. A LOT of good information there. Welcome to DF.

 

Red Head or Blue Top steering boxes is the way to go. They are pricey but still cheaper than crashing. I have a Red Head in mine and it solved the steering issues.

I always try to go through the cooling system on any vehicle I buy. If it's an auto, change transmission fluid and filter, then do it on the regular. Adjust the bands to spec when you have the pan removed.

And I thought mine had high miles (283k)

 

Is RedHead still making boxes for 2nd gens????

 

I still reco Cancraft outta BC. Drove the truck last week and it's still tight.

 

You are one of the lucky ones. Red Head and others reuse the worn steering gears, So IF you got one without slop it must have been one they rebuilt with low miles. There is a thread here somewhere with this discussion. I posted a pic from the Red Head web site of them with about 30 steering gears that they are "rebuilding"(cleaning up to reuse). The pic is no longer on their site because it show them reusing old parts.

 

My red head only lasted 8k miles. Now I have a blue top and its much better, even out of the box. I only put 1k miles a year on the v10 so no report on longevity yet.

 

Do you have the T steering? Or the inverted Y?

 

I wonder what is the proper replacement gears for these boxes ..... I only wonder because of the difficulty it is to replace the steering box gears on a 1949 Dodge.

The Dodge gears are not available and you are left high and dry. ..... Thing is, the steering box is made by a popular name brand.... Is it Saginaw? I do not remember.
I do not have this problem.

If I did, I can search for 48-53 Ford steering boxes or gear replacements. .... The box will not interchange, but the gears inside made by the same manufacturer will.
So that is my point, I wonder who made the steering boxes for Dodge, and which other boxes share the same internal gears to find a replacement.

Sometimes we need to think outside the box .... The gears were used in different boxes, the trick is to find out which ones.

 

Well that's interesting. Mine DOES leak which is annoying, but it has been decent. I guess I'll have to be not surprised if it goes. I've already made up my mind I was going with Blue Top on my Bronco if the factory one is no good.