Hi all,

I have a 2003 Ram 2500 5.7L 2WD
I just replaced:
rack & pinion (with inner tie rods) (cardone reman)
outter tie rods (Advanced auto Driveworks)
Upper control arms (with upper ball joints) (Duralast)
Lower Ball Joints (moog)
Shocks (Rancho 9000XL)
Power Steering pump

The tires are Toyo open country ATII's with about 40% tread left. (40k on them)

The play is most apparent on the interstate doing about 70. The truck kind of washes from side to side in a sickening way. Also high speed turns don't feel very good. It's hard to describe. At a stand still, the steering wheel has quite a bit of rotational play before engaging the wheels. I had my girlfriend rock the steering wheel back and forth while I was looking at the steering column and r&p. Looks like the play is in the r&p?
My alignment spec sheet said my toe was at 0.05 for both sides. I wonder if maybe toeing in a bit would solve this problem.

Any ideas are much appreciated. I'm truly at novice at working on vehicles. Thanks

 

sometimes the universal joints in the steering rod/shaft can get worn but not unless your over 200k miles might see if it's good an snug as well

 

I'm 178,000.
The U-joint on the steering shaft has very little to no play.

As a side note, I'm a louisiana mountain biker.

 

Front wheel bearings. Possible bad rack. IMO I would go with a new OEM part.

 

I jacked up each side and grabbed the tires to push/pull them both horizontally and vertically. Both sides have a little horizontal play. The passenger side has zero vertical play while the driver side has just a touch of vertical play. I can't see the tire moving but I can hear a slight tick.
Doesn't seem the like wheel bearings have much play but I'm not the best at judging that.
Also, I'm concerned that the cardone reman R&P may be the source of this problem.

 

If it where me I would get my money back. And get an OEM new rack.

 

Might take your advice and do that. Thanks

 

Louisiana stuffed shrimp! mmmmm

 

Had the exact same thing happen to me when I replaced my steering rack with a reman (although it took awhile to come to that conclusion). Remans are junk, mine had quite a bit of play which caused my truck to jerk and wander on the interstate. I ended up getting an oem rack from the wrecker cause I had tight funds at the time, but it has little to no play in it and fixed my problems

 

Old thread but I am replacing my lower intermediate shaft on my 08 1500. Lot of play in the u joint. Only 94K but I plow so I may have worn it out. Looks like its easy to change. Have another post asking if anyone has instructions but seems like not a lot of others have had this issue.