Archived Dry Park, Cannot turn Steering Wheel at stop

[Extreme1]

If and when you get to a point where they stop attempting to resolve the problem, go to the Feds and lodge a safety complaint. Or you could try lemon lawing it.

 

[wtrenholm]

Has the alignment been checked. They put A LOT of positive caster in these trucks to increase high speed handling and steering wheel returnability, but at the expense of slow speed steering effort. The higher the positive caster the more you have to "lift" the truck to turn the wheel.



This may not be the fix for your whole problem but it definately increases steering effort and may be worth a check anyway.



Wayne

 

[jgibson]

Originally posted by nathanbush

Me again. Another member on the forum had made a comment that there were a couple different orifice sizes for coming out of the pump. He said that repeated power steering troubles were caused by the smaller orifice, and by putting in a larger orifice, the troubles were resolved. Credit goes to RichB59 for the info. He used to be a Dodge parts man.

I am calling the next closest dealer to make an appointment tomorrow. Any idea on the PN#'s of the existing orafaces and of the size of the ones being suggested? Do these orafaces go at the pressure exit from the pump, or elsewhere?



This answer seems to me to be the most probable answer to the way this problem is presenting itself. The pump is working, as evidenced by the available power steering when the friction is lowered by a rolling tire, but the pressure seems insufficient otherwise. If a larger oraface will allow more volume/pressure to the gear, then it follows to reason that I should be able to turn the wheel!



Thank all of you so much for the excellent ideas and suggestions!



John

 

[jgibson]

Originally posted by wtrenholm

Has the alignment been checked. They put A LOT of positive caster in these trucks to increase high speed handling and steering wheel returnability, but at the expense of slow speed steering effort. The higher the positive caster the more you have to "lift" the truck to turn the wheel.



This may not be the fix for your whole problem but it definately increases steering effort and may be worth a check anyway.



Wayne

When I get the appoint ment at the dealer tomorrow I will have them check this also! Thanks for the good idea!

 

[jgibson]

No appointment for 7 days

Well I am going to have to wait untill next Wednesday for the appointment at the new dealers'. I am a lot better informed from all of your suggestions, and will pass along all of the good ideas from this post. I will post what happens when I get my truck back!

 

[jgibson]

Dealer still has Rig

The (new) dealer working on my truck still has it. They can not turn the wheel without much difuculty... . so they at least can see / feel the problem. I had to take it back from them for a week, but they have it again now, and say they should have some suggestion by tomorrow 06/11. They are leaning towards replacing the PS pump (again). I have shared all of the suggestions from this post with them, so we will see if they heed any of the good advice posted here! Will post again when I get the truck back!!

 

[98rammer]

jgibson... has it always been consistant? i've noticed that my dry park non-steering is becoming more frequent now , i just get used to moving slowly and turning...

 

[jgibson]

Constant???

98rammer,



Beware! My truck started to exibhit this problem within 5K miles. The first thing I did was go back to the dealer and drive 2 other similararly equiped trucks. They did NOT have the Dry Park problem. When I shared this information with the techs, and they in turn with DC tech support people, I was told that the tech support people told my dealers techs "they ALL will have this problem sooner or later". I am sure they were not supposed to tell me that DC said this! Again they know of the problem, have named it, probably know what is causing it, but (so far) haven't chosen to step up with a fix. If you find out anything... let me know, and I will continue to post my findings.

 

[98rammer]

jb, what wonderful news to find out! it's getting pretty annoying, but like i said before, i just drive and turn now... i love the dana axle, but the rest of the front end is a pile of junk! If you can't dodge it, ram it... ... ... ... ... ... ..... into a scrapyard. Really, i gotta have this truck for many more years, but these problems keep deterring me from liking dodge's quality poblems. i got this for the looks and the cummins... . :{

 

[jgibson]

Last page of thread not showing

I was notified that there was a new post to this topic... . but it does not show on the last page. The moderator suggested I make another post to see if this helps

 

[KKaiser]

jgibson,



What was the final outcome?



Kent

 

[rrab1]

I'vie had this happen to my y2k several time's since I'vie owned it and just lived with it so if we can come up with the answer I will definitely put it to good use thank's Don

 

[jgibson]

Good Luck!

rrab1,



I made several posts to this topic that have disappeared, almost an entire page of follow up is gone.



The short story is that I took my truck to a different dealer and they went through it 3 times. Replacing the PS pump (again), bleeding (again), and finally replacing the hydro boost. After waiting 10 days for the part it was installed. To be fair there was a very slight improvement, but the core problem is still very prevalent, the darn steering wheel simply will not turn when the truck is stopped.



I have given up. The dealers are treating me like a whiner, however they concur that you cannot turn the wheel. How can you argue with the customer when you go out to the parking lot and can easily duplicate the problem?



This is my 3rd and LAST DC product. Never again, da** the motor, GM has the power and the transmission now, so in another 10K miles or so this one is going to the next poor sap.

 

[MidwestMotorman]

And the winner is...

Did any dealer do any thinking "outside the box"? Like jacking up the front end and turning the wheels? Like unhooking the steering linkage from the steering box and measuring resistance there at the steering arm? Like changing the steering gearbox or pulling it apart to look for restriction? Like changing steering pump lines?



I think D-C would definitely have more money and more customers if effort was not wasted on repeated futile attempts to solve this problem. Somewhere there is a problem. Has the dealer put in synthetic fluid in the pump reservoir yet?



I wish you were closer to me. I would loan you my 99 and work on yours in my shop. The mechanic looking at a repair schematic is not going to solve this. This takes some real thought and mechanical apptitude, like what was needed in the days before diagnostic computers and scanners. I hate to see a dodge man jump ship because something is wrong with the oars.

 

[Roger rodbolt]

Adjusting each side equally, reduce the amount of positive camber and it will improve the "Dry Park". My truck with 295/75 BFG and high positive camber wouldn't turn while parked, but will with the camber adjustment. I measured the axle side to side, then adjusted the camber using the marks on the eccentrics... ... ... ... this should be done on a alignment machine but I've got several years of training and experience in frontend alignment. Put a ARB Airlocker in the front differential and try to steer with 4x4 and frontend locked , that is still a problem. Larry

 

[jgibson]

nathanbush,



Your ideas are very sound and your offer of help is humbling.



I agree with all you said, but unfortunately the mechanics at both dealers I have taken this truck to apparently do not have the problem solving skills you possess. I cannot answer to weather or not they have taken any of the actions that you suggest, as they basically don't communicate very well with me. As a matter of fact the 2nd dealer would not even allow me to talk to the mech. Just the Service adviser, and she acted like she knew all there was to know about anything with 4 wheels.



I would hope that 10 trips to the dealer(s) for the same problem would evoke troubleshooting on someones part... . but apparently not. They just want to book the warranty time, replace some parts (over and over) and collect their $$. Maybe troubleshooting does not pay well enough. I have shared my frustration with them, they don't seem to care. An older post will also show that I have called DC directly with about the same results. I was told that the were NOT going to do anything else and was treated like I was going to try and get a new truck or something. Not the kind of company I want to do any further business with.



Thanks again!!

 

[Sregorb]

Surely we can bring the experts on TDR to bear on this problem... ... .



Is the truck still driveable (I assume it is) and would you be able to meet someplace, say the RMTDR wrench day on 9 Mar Big-O-Tire in Wheatridge CO. Maybe we can intice some alignment/steering people to come out and spend some time "wrenching". Maybe get a couple of service tech's from Colo Springs/Castle Rock/Denver to show and help troubleshooting efforts... .



Thoughts?



Brian

 

[MCummings]

My truck shows symptoms of dry park... .



When I first start my truck, if I try to turn the wheel quickly, it "binds up" like If I have no power steering.



Not sure what the common link is,, or why my P. S. is late when first started. . but if I turn the wheel quickly and you could say... "Run into the powersteering" then it works (turn the wheel fast and hard till the P. S. pump kicks in),, but I've never had my truck have the P. S. completely stop working...