Well, when I took my Dak to the local Dodge boys a few weeks ago to
replace the worn-out ball joints, they replaced the steering box, pitman
arm, and intermediate shaft instead.
The supposedly reman (by Mopar) box now has lots of play in the sector
shaft, I'm going to borrow a dial indicator today, but my ruler shows
nearly 1/8" of sideways/lateral play and the truck drives worse than
when I took it in. I can bounce the steering wheel from side to side
and get an obvious clunk in the box with a visible amount of play on the
shaft. Of course, the dealer says this is normal.
I compared it to my mom's Durango and found hers to have a little bit of
the same play but not nearly as much. It looks like a bushing/bearing
is worn out. Also, the output shaft is slathered with a thick layer of
blue grease, it almost looks like it was placed there to prevent leakage
when the tech realized the "new" box was bad. Even the '99 Durango is
completely dry here. The older trucks ('69, 91, 95) do not have any
play at all on the output shaft.
The FSM doesn't show any specs on allowable play, is this a normal
thing? How much is allowable?
Anybody have any other thoughts on this?
FYI - this steering box is no longer made as NEW by Chrysler, only avail
in REMAN. The box was on back-order for 3 weeks when the dealer tried
to get it, and is still hard to find.
I'm also open to any ideas on getting DC to replace the obviously worn
ball joints under my service contract. Again, I'll place the dial
indicator on them later, but the ruler test shows at least 1/8" when
moving the tire in and out - well more than the .060" spec'd in the book.
Thanks for any help!
Kevin
--
Kevin Sellstrom, W6KTB E-Mail:ksellstr@softcom.net
***Wilton, California***
'99 Dodge Dakota CC, 4x4, 5.2,
'69 Dodge D200, 4x2, 318,
Also: '83 Volvo 244Ti, '85 Volvo 244, '68 Volvo 122S, '98 Specialized
Rockhopper A1FS
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