I have a 02 dodge ram quad cab and a 03 grand caravan, both which I have had to replace the rack & pinion in. Has anyone else had this problem. My ram only had 42000 when I had to change it out and the van only had 38000 on it.

 

Wow, that's odd. How did you know you needed to replace both units?

 

A guy I work with has a 2003 1500 quad and had to have the rack replaced too. He also had the entire wiring harness replaced--all at DC's expense. Seriously, I almost reconsidered the Ram when I heard all the trouble he was having. But, DC made it right. He said he would buy one again. So far, no problems with mine. Bought it in April and now have 11k miles on it, with no DC related problems--oh, I take that back, I have the new weather strip going on this Friday. Ed, the service manager said they wouldn't normally change both, but I said I would doctor the other, because it would end up getting changed sooner or later, His words" I didn't hear that" and went on to say he would order both sides.

 

both started leaking out of the boots which told me the seals were bad on the units, unfortunately I did not catch the van in time and it burnt the power steering pump up. It was covered under the warranty though so it cost me nothing. The truck however I have to pay for.

 

Man, that really sucks. Did you get an independant shop to do it or the stealership?

 

It seems like rack & pinion steering systems just tend to have more problems than the old fashion system. GM had problems with their line-up of mid-sized cars, and I have heard about some of the Japanese cars having problems with this as well.

 

The stealership replaced the one on the van under warranty, I did the one on my truck myself, it was out of warranty.

 

i have a 2003 and i had to change mine also.

 

I guess I better keep an eye on mine. Thanks for the heads up.

 

I have an 02 QC 4 x 4. Same problem. I am going to change it out myself as soon as I can get the rack and pinion assembly from the dealership. Has anyone done this themselves? If so, anything I need to look out for? I had noticed the pump whining a couple of months ago, and added fluid. Everything was fine for a few months, then it started whining again. I added more fluid one more time. I was changing the oil on Friday and noticed that the boots were wet. By Saturday morning, there was a puddle under the truck. It is now Monday and I have been through 3 quarts of ATF. Does anyone know if it is normal for the seals to fail this, bad this quickly?
As long as I keep the reservior full, does anyone see this thing locking up or worse in the next few days? Any help would be appreciated.