Noticed a small leak near front of truck. Consistantly got worse over the last few weeks so took it to dealer. Manager called and said I need a new steering box and pittman arm. What would cause these to go with only 13,500 miles? Truck is an 06 and pretty much is my baby so it doesn;t get abused. It does have leveling kit with 35s but so do a lot of other guys and I have never heard of any issues. Just curious of everyones opinions.

 

Probably just one of those things that was going to happen no matter what. Should be covered under the warranty right?

 

I could understand a steering box failure if there was alot of heavy off roading where you overtaxed the steering hydraulics, but I have never seen or heard of a broken/worn/bent pitman arm without serious abuse where other major things broke first. I would get a second opinion on the pitman if possible.

 

its covered under warranty but i have never heard about the pittman arm problem. Isn't it just a piece of steel. Honest to god, this truck is babied and never sees any offroading. Could it have happened when the leveling kit was installed?

 

there is no reason I can see why the pitman arm should be broken unless for some reason the slpines on the shaft connecting it to the box aree bad.. But it is possible it is stealership theivery??

 

I just had this done to my 2007. Mine has about 26000 miles on it had to take it to the dealer because one of the exhaust studs was unfastning and letting coolant run amuk. anyone took it in and told them my brakes were alittle sluggish then they used to be but had checked the pads and rotors and were fine. got the details later. Had to repalce all 12 studs and re-seal, new steering box, new gear box, and all is said and done. all coverd under warrenty and was done very easily. Now i can brake again. i wouldnt' worry to much though

 

Only thing I have seen related to this is that sometimes when customers have lifted their trucks it puts more stress on the pittman arm. A drop pittman arm fixes this. But I have not seen this in a truck that just has a leveling kit.....

 

My 04 1500 was in 3 times for steering leaks and I mainly did around town driving at the time that was before it was even leveled...maybe the 06 has a similar problem, or same design...

 

No leaks in my steering, but there is so much slop in the steering box. Stealership insists steering is tight, but it is far from it.The steering wheel "engages the steering" from about the 11 o'clock position for left steering, but then has play all the way overto the 1 o'clock position before it turns the truckother way. I don't know if the steering box on the '04 2500 is adjustable for this slop because the steering box is crammed right up under the engine and I can't get to the top of the box (no adjustments on the sides anywhere) to see if any adjustment is possible.

Keep an eye on the brake hyrdo-boost. Mine cracked and began leaking at 37,000 miles (of course, 1,000 miles over the warranty). It cost me $750 to have a new one put on. I have a friend with an '04 and he had exact same issue (also just after warranty). I've read of other '04 and '05 trucks having this issue as well.

No TSB on it, but Dodge does add a new bracket when the new unit is installed. Hmmm...new bracket, one would surmise that someone at Dodge knows there is an issue and has a fix, but don't want to warranty or cover the issue with a TSB.

 

I went through 4 steer gear boxes in 2 years. One did not even last 30 days. I put on the steering stabilizer bracket from PSC Motorsports and it cured the problem I had with steering boxes. It also solved the wandering problem I had while towing. Well worth the $180 I spent on it.

Slop in your steering can be caused by a bunch of things. First see if your steering box needs adjusted. Then check the trac-bar. then check everything else. Tie rod ends, ball joints, front bearings. And don't replace it with any of that dealer crap. The after market stuff is 10 times better than the crap Dodge is putting on the front end.