Shakey steering fixed!!!
Posted: 08 Mar 2006 00:26 Post subject: Shakey steering fixed!!!
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I thought for SURE I had a bad trackbar, my generation RAM is known for it)..... a back and forth to the steering wheel, sometimes felt it in yer feet through the floorboards.... Also, the mileage dropped a bit too, but I didnt associate the two....well... I finally reached under and looked during the day light (much better than night), still saw nothing. Next I had someone "saw" the wheels back and forth while I put my hands on every piece of suspension and steering.... I happened to see and feel the u-joint pop by accident... my knuckles were touching it while I was feeling for balljoint movement.... DAYYUM.... shattered cap was visibal now that I was looking at it.... nice!.. so I picked up all the parts from Salvo's, U joints (got 3, a spare, I have a habit of beating them in too hard and at angles) and new hub bearing assemblies since they have close to 90k on them, why not....then I didn't have to be nice about removing the old ones Drained the diff fluid and cleaned the insides out...wiped out any moisture residue and refilled with Moblie1 oil... only took a few hours... I think the Dana 44 is easier on the truck than the Dana 30 on the Jeeps, same procedure, but more room!, well, bigger parts though, had to pick up an 1 11/16" socket... only available in a 3/4" drive socket, I cheated and bought a step down adapter to fit my 1/2" stuff.... It dives SO smooth now... I thought the vibration was from tires too, for noise, NOPE both sides of the joints were bad... the driversside just wasnt AS bad...not shattered YET..... life is good, changed the oil too, so am set for a while
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I thought for SURE I had a bad trackbar, my generation RAM is known for it)..... a back and forth to the steering wheel, sometimes felt it in yer feet through the floorboards.... Also, the mileage dropped a bit too, but I didnt associate the two....well... I finally reached under and looked during the day light (much better than night), still saw nothing. Next I had someone "saw" the wheels back and forth while I put my hands on every piece of suspension and steering.... I happened to see and feel the u-joint pop by accident... my knuckles were touching it while I was feeling for balljoint movement.... DAYYUM.... shattered cap was visibal now that I was looking at it.... nice!.. so I picked up all the parts from Salvo's, U joints (got 3, a spare, I have a habit of beating them in too hard and at angles) and new hub bearing assemblies since they have close to 90k on them, why not....then I didn't have to be nice about removing the old ones Drained the diff fluid and cleaned the insides out...wiped out any moisture residue and refilled with Moblie1 oil... only took a few hours... I think the Dana 44 is easier on the truck than the Dana 30 on the Jeeps, same procedure, but more room!, well, bigger parts though, had to pick up an 1 11/16" socket... only available in a 3/4" drive socket, I cheated and bought a step down adapter to fit my 1/2" stuff.... It dives SO smooth now... I thought the vibration was from tires too, for noise, NOPE both sides of the joints were bad... the driversside just wasnt AS bad...not shattered YET..... life is good, changed the oil too, so am set for a while



