Don Rey wrote:
> While under my truck for an oil change last night, I noticed damage to
> my steering gear housing: where the pitman arm bolts to the gear, the
> gear housing is cracked and spread out. This allows the top of the
> pitman arm to move side to side a few millimeters when it should only
> rotate. Has anyone ever heard of this before!? Its a helluva beefy
> cast housing, I can't imagine when or how this damage happened (maybe
> from wheeling too hard, but I havn't been off road in 10,000+ miles).
> The truck is approaching 250,000.
>
> Lately (the past several thousand miles), I've been thinking I need a
> front end alignment... once in a while at high speed, the truck will
> turn slightly in a direction I didn't intend. It's mostly predictable
> - only happens when shifting lanes aggressively or taking a turn on
> the highway, and only at 70+mph. Now I know why.
>
> Anyone have a spare Gen 1 steering gear they want to sell?
Nope - thats pretty impressive. I have not seen a Dakota steering box
busted before. Mine are pretty worn out - but not cracked in half!
Must have been a stress fracture that just let loose some time.
I'm in need of a steering box myself. Good thing is that any 4x4 box
from 87 to 96 will work, so you should be able to find one in a salvage
yard pretty easily.
-- ------------------------------------------------------------- Rocks are for skipping... I'm all about the mud 75 Honda CL360, 89 Dakota, 89 Dakota 4x4, 95 Dakota 4x4, 96 Neon, 01 Ram 4x4 http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine/ AIM & Yahoo: SilverEightynine
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