Re: Steering question for 4X4 owners

From: Hop (hopsdak@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Jun 18 2002 - 10:33:59 EDT


John,
    I just took my 97 in the other day. Seems that all they did was tweak
the Steering box to take some back lash out of it. You might want to look
into that b4 you go and spend major money on front end parts. Also I've
noticed that the steering box on mine seems bad. If you leave the truck off
and have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth, you can see play in
the output shaft of the box, where the pitman arm is bolted. One guy at a
shop was surprised that my box wasn't leaking fluid yet.
-Hop
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Neff"
>
> As we know, the front end on the 97+ 4X4's is a bit weak. I've had upper
and
> lower ball joints replaced as well as tie rod ends, idler arm and pitman
> arm. Only the center link is still factory original. All other parts were
> replaced under warranty so they are still Dodge parts. Now at 87K miles,
my
> ball joints still feel good, but I have noticeable side to side movement
in
> the steering linkage. I can feel play in every joint except the balls on
the
> end of the tie rods. I can even feel movement between the center link and
> the tie rod ends. Has anyone found a good aftermarket manuf for the center
> link, pitman arm and idler arm? I'll probably replace the tie rod ends
while
> I'm at it since I don't know how good the threads on them are where they
> thread into the center link. I'm thinking about going Moog all the way,
but
> don't know yet if they make all of these parts.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> John
> http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/dakota.html
>



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