Aright, so I'm going to go through my dilemma on what has been happening and why its been bothering me for quite some time. Hopefully my fellow Dodge owners can help me out.

So in August of 2011, I purchased a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 truck. It already had a 4 inch SuperLift installed with 35's. From there, it drove great. Steering was superb, no knocks, nothing wrong with it that I could tell.

Within the last 5 or so months, steering issues have plagued me time after time. First off, Rack and pinion gave out. 350 bucks later, I installed a new rack. A month after that, the power steering pump decided to quit working. Another 100 bucks out the door.

Now on to my current issue. With all these things taking place, my steering seems to have a hell of a lot of play. I'm not talking about a couple inches. I'm talking about a half rotation of play each way. In my opinion, this is a huge issue because it greatly affects the driving ability of the vehicle.

So onto what has been done to it to try and diagnose the problem. Ive had SEVERAL alignments done to the vehicle, all from different mechanics. Ive had SEVERAL inspections of the front end...all from different mechanics as well. Everything is tight. The rack is tight, the u-joints are solid. All the arms are as tight and no bends anywhere. Ive literally spent hours along with several other mechanics to try and diagnose the reason why there's soo much play in the wheel. In the meantime, Ive had brand new tires put on, balanced every 2000 miles, and well taken care of (right air pressure, etc.). Ive had the lift itself inspected and everyone says its good..no problems. Mechanics have absolutely no clue on whats going on other than speculating that it may be the steering column. This issue started occurring out of the blue about a month ago for no apparent reason.

So this is where I call out to you guys who may have had a similar issue. There was one particular case that I ran across where a friend had an almost identical issue as me and it ended up being something wearing out inside the steering column itself. I'M GOING to guess that that's where my problem lies, but I wanted to make sure that it was that before I reach into the pocket book once more. So has anyone had horrible steering problems with their 1500? Any fixes that may help that I haven't tried yet?

I greatly appreciate any and all advice.

-Thanks, Josh

 

Sorry for the double post, but I have a question that may lead me to a solution. Is the steering box adjustable in this year of a truck (2003).

-Thanks

 

No gearbox with Rack & Pinion.

I've had this happen a few times in the past. All cases were a bad rebuild on the rack. Your issue sounds like the worm gear is not set properly at the input shaft. Try to stay away from the A/Z and Oreilly reman racks. I know there expensive but on parts that can cause possible death if they fail, I always recomend OEM.

 

Thanks for the reply. The rack has been replaced once since Ive had the vehicle and got the OEM when replacing. It wasn't a Oreilleys or NAPA part.

Here are a couple videos that are almost identical to whats happening with mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EexdhiT1BZk&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxbunyfzfQo&feature=plcp

So you'd say its a rack issue though?

 

My problem is the pitman arm shaft is moving side to to side which is causing excess play in my steering. My steering box is only one month old. All other front end parts are in good shape. Has anybody else had this problem?