Well this is my second post so take it easy on me. I have a 1995 1500 sport 4X4. The steering is a little sloppy. It appears that when the wheel is engaged the steering doesn't react quick enough. I have done a search and the track bar comes up. The track bar was recently replaced by the previous owner so I know that is fine(looks new and he had a reciept of it). So my question is what should I look at next. This is new to me so I am not sure. I am thiking of ball joints, but, want to either eliminate that or be sure of it before I actuall decide to replace them. Should I be looking at something else first. Any advice or help would be great.

 

jack the front end up and see if you can wiggle the tire up and down.. (grab the tire at 12 and 6 oclock and wiggle it) if theres play the ball joints are bad.. also.. with the tires on the ground wiggle the steering wheel and see if theres any play in the gear box or pitman arm

 

If your 95' is all original, then I would look at the steering gear, the ps pump, and the lines. Our ps pumps were no doubt built for X amount of life. 12+ years is a blessing...LOL. Our steer gears also have a poor bearing setup.

Who knows, I don't.


Good luck with your ride.

 

For years, non-rack and pinion dodge trucks have had a steering box that has an adjustment to tighten the end play on the worm gear shaft. Usually it'll have a threaded post with allen/hex socket and a lock nut around it. Loosen the lock nut, tighten the adjuster until it is seated (make sure you back off the lock nut so that it won't start to re-tighten before the post seats), then back off on the post an eigth turn or so, then while holding the post so it won't turn, re-tighten the lock nut. Most vehicles with 100K or more miles will need this adjustment to restore some of the tightness in the steering. It can make a tremendous difference. The amount of "back off from seated end play" on the threaded post determines how much slop in the steering. If you set it too tight, the steering will have an uncertain feel, which is a result of the moving parts in the steering box binding. Once you use this procedure as a starting point you can re-adjust for more or less end play until the steering is at it's best without getting that weird, binding feel in the steering out on the road. Just remember this: too much end play on the shaft will allow more slack in the steering response; too little end play will result in that uncertain "bindy" feel. This procedure is not the way the factory recommends that these systems are adjusted, but is much simpler and very easy to do.

This may not be your problem, but I've owned a lot of Dodge trucks over the years, and this is one of the first things I do when I acquire one that has a lot of mileage on it, and it has produced tighter steering every time.

 

You need to have someone turning the steering wheel back and forth while you are undr the truck looking for slop. You need to look for slop at the gear box, including the box itself and all connections. 2ng gen oem trackbars to not have a long life span and yours could be shot again. Ditto to the other posters as all these things mentioned will lead to and correct sloppy steering.

 

Thanks for all the advice! I'll start with the steering box adjustment and then go from there.