Cracked Frame

[mapper189]

While under the hood this evening I noticed a crack in the framed at the forward most bolt for the steering gearbox. On further examination I found that the crack goes from the bolt hole up and over the top to the edge. Has anyone else seen this? Is there a TSB that addresses this problem?



93 W-250, stock, velvet-ride shackles, auto, PS, fiberglass shell, 111550 miles

 

[Hutchew]

I've seen it before..........

jmabe189, I saw this happen about a month ago on a W350 owned by one of the guys who works with me. I was looking at his truck so I could see how something was supposed to be on mine when I found it. On his, it looked like the bolts had came loose, and then 'flexed' back and forth till it broke out the front ears on his bracket, and then his frame, also. He drove it like that anyway, and about a week later, the box more or less fell off, with the rearmost bolt the only thing holding it on. Said it made for a pucker factor of about '10' before he could get it stopped.

To fix, he bought a new bracket from the dealer (in stock and @ $25. 00), and then had a mechanic from our shop weld his frame back together. Took about 4 hours.

This is a weak area on these Dodges, even with everything all tightened up the way it's supposed to be, you can see the frame and bracket 'flex' when you turn the wheels back-n-forth. It appears that most of it comes from the upper side of the frame. You need to check the rivets that hold the front radiator crossmember/spring perches/frame together as these are known to work loose also. There is only one rivet that holds the top of the crossmember in, and four on the lower side. The spring perches are held in with two of these and one more. If these are loose, you can torch 'em out (CAREFULLY) and replace with 7/16" (or drill to 1/2") bolts.

I personally am going to weld a 2 1/2"x 5/16" strap at a 45* angle from the bottom of the front crossmember to the top of the frame above the steering box to strenghten this area.

There are no TSB's for this that I could find. Check out http://www.dodgeram.org for a complete list of TSB's. Hope this helps.

 

[Hutchew]

BTW..........

How do you like those velvet-ride shackles? Are they worth it? Did they make the ride any better? I have the 2 1/2" Skyjacker springs in front and RS9000 shocks front-n-rear, but I could use a little help in the rear end without a load on. Thanks.

 

[mapper189]

velvet-ride shackles

hutchew;

I'm knew to the navigation of messaging... so hang on. I like the shackles. I put them on after installing the shell, the shell eased the ride some but not enough for the wife. She compared the ride to that of a little red wagon going down a hill at break-neck speed. Enough of the rambling. With the shackles installed the ride is tolorable(sp) not as good as her mercury, but that is ok. They still leave some flex in the shackle before the springs take over, about 500 pounds makes the truck ride like a cadillac. I think it also helps with the cornering, but not for certain. If I get another truck they will be first change. One more thing, I had to have the support notched to allow the installation, something i didn't like. I don't remember if I read in TDR where someone installed them in reverse direction so they would not have to notch the support. Like I said I like them. How much lift did your new springs give you? My jolt bumper to spring clearance is a little over one inch. john

 

[Dale Reed]

Guess I am getting way off thread but it is all your fault. After reading these discussions I crawled under my truck this morning to look for a cracked frame and not finding any cracks I proceeded to get myself into trouble. Maybe.



I grabbed ahold of the lower end(near the steering gear) of the Borgeson shaft coming from the steering wheel and twisted it back and forth . There was a clunk clunk in the steering box so I assumed something needed tightening. Seeing the Pitman Shaft Overcenter Drag Torque Adjustment Screw with Locknut I fiddled and farted around with it discovering that sure enough I could cause the clunk clunk to go away.



Now it is evening and I am reading my 1990 Service Manual and it says to do this delicate adjustment off the truck with a torque wrench...



So what I want to know from you experts can I recover without removing the power steering from the truck and adjusting per the instructions or not? I cannot feel any difference in the steering when going down the road. Except the steering might be a little bit tighter but not much. Thanks for the help.

 

[CRWilliams]

I have done some adjusting on this bolt before. Basically you can tighten it, I think, until the truck starts to wander becasue the wheel won't quite self-center, then back it off until you are happy with it.