Help!!! Loose Steering...

[JLinder]

My truck just developed a steering problem over the weekend. All of a sudden, the steering feels loose and the wheel doesn't return to center when you come out of a corner. It's not steering hard like the pump quit, but the trucks a bit loose for my taste. Also, if you let go of the wheel while heading down a straight the truck immediatly pulls to one side or the other without rhyme or reason. My trucks only got 1700mi on it which is a little disturbing and the dealer is booked up until Friday morning. Is there anything I can check in the mean time besides the rod ends and such? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dtroyer]

I had the same symptoms on my truck for the first 50,000 miles. Had it to dealer many times but couldn't find anything wrong. After it was out of warrenty I continued to try to find the problem on my own. Finally replaced the steering box and also the intermediate steering shaft going to the steering box. Not sure which one had the most effect on it but the truck has never handled better. The wheel used to never come back to center on a left hand curve but now it feels like the steering is tight and and the wheel snaps back to center. Good luck.

 

[Shooter]

check for horizontal thrust in the pitman arm. If more than a few . 000 then gear box is bad. When you take it to the dealer do not say you have loose steering, truck wanders, yada yada. Say you have excessive play in the steering wheel. If you complain about a driveability problem they will only check alignment, not steering components!!!!



How much play do you have in the steering wheel, more than a 1/2" then excessive.



took me 7 mos and 12 trips to dealer before I complained about excessive play in the wheel. When I said excessive play they did not even look at the truck, service writer ordered new gear box and said it would be in in 3 days. It was and 25k mi later still tight and truck goes where I want it . I asked why they ordered new box after all the bs I got for loose steering, truck wanderes ... ... .

He said that they can only check alignment for drivability problems and the excessive play in steering wheel was the necessary ( correct ) customer complaint nominclature for component replacement.



I told the service mgr that was bs but he said DC sets the policy for warranty repairs and they have to follow them.

get your truck aligned at an independant front end shop, the dealers alignment rack is not your friend. The correct alignment numbers can be found on this site, dealers specs are too broad and are worthless.

 

[JLinder]

I love the service dept...

The problem seems to be getting worse now. I had a buddy work the wheel back and forth last night while I looked all over underneath. Everything looked tight, it's got to be in the steering gear. Called the service dept back and the best they could do was move me up to tomorrow at 4pm! Then they told me they had to look at the truck before I could have a loaner. Not good enough, I just left a message with my salesman who I know pretty well. I'm gonna raise a little hell with him and see what happens. This kind of stuff is crap when you spend $35k on a truck! Next thing you know, they'll blame the steering gear failure on my straight exhuast... Thanks for the info, we'll see if the "excessive play in the wheel" trick gets some results.

 

[Straight6Jeff]

Mine started to do the same thing last week. It's got 22k on it. Definitely more slop in the wheel and it feels "dead".



Oh yey, get to deal with another stealership

 

[JLinder]

helps if you scream a little louder

Called my salesman and raised a little heck with him. IT WORKED! They still can't look at my truck until tommorrow, but they at least gave me a loaner until it is fixed. This is what I love about the TDR, everybody helps everyone else out. You guys are awesome

 

[DDrenkhahn]

I have a similiar story. I bought my truck last February, and not long after the steering felt sloppy. The dealer basically adjusted the sector gear mesh with the unit in the truck (definitely not to the book) to see if this had any effect. It did, but they still ordered another steering gear and replaced it. Kind felt like a courtesy swap. Not long after, I noticed the steering getting sloppy again (at the center position). To settle my curiosity, I pulled the gear out and checked the over-center rotating torque and there was none. It was really loose. This new box had somehow lost its adjustment. I readjusted everything to the book and checked and rechecked. The truck drove beautiful after this. What a difference! Unfortunately, I was back to the same old slop after about 500mi. I complained again to the dealer during my clockspring recall visit, but now they say this is normal, and all the other trucks drive like this. It may be normal, but it's certainly unacceptable. This smells like a bad batch of steering gears. I am planning my next move. You are not alone. By the way, I believe Delphi makes this steering unit. I wonder if they would have any comments on this?

 

[DDrenkhahn]

JLinder. I'm curious. What was the dealership's response to your loose steering?

 

[TREEMAN]

JLinder

Had the same problem only to find the steering gear bolts that secures it to the frame were almost falling out,only a few threads holding one nut on. Tightened them up & it steered like new again. Sounds like you checked that out though .

Good luck with that.

Ian

 

[JLinder]

finally fixed????

Listen to this bunch of crap:



My truck was looked at and diagnosed on thurs. afternoon and they determined that my steering gear was bad. They had a replacement unit on the shelf (I agree, I think there is a bad bunch of gears out there) and would have my truck done by 4:00pm friday afternoon. I asked them to call and let me know as soon as my truck was ready so I could make arrangements to come get it. Finally, by 5:10pm I was tired of waiting so I called to see what the holdup was. The service manager says "well, we found that your steering stabilizer is froze up and it will need to be replaced. " Nice of them to call and let me know that my truck wasn't going to be done on time. They didn't have the stabilizer on the shelf, and couldn't order one until yesterday. Hopefully they can manage to throw it on my truck today so I can turn my piece of crap rental car. My salesman made the mistake of calling yesterday and checking to see how my truck was driving, thinking that I already had it back. He was a bit surprised when I told him it was still in his lot. I've never owned a rig that had a warranty before, is this how all dealerships work? I wish DC would write me a check for 1/4 of my truck payment, since they've had it for over a week. Sorry for the babble...

 

[JLinder]

DDrenkhahn-



When I told them of my problem, they treated it like my ash-tray was malfunctioning or something. They were just kinda like "oh, well I have an opening in december, how would that be?". I didn't get anywhere until I called my salesman I told him that my truck felt dangerous to drive and his dealership was taking a chance by having me drive around in a truck they knew had steering problems. Still didn't get the treatment I wanted, but at least my truck is getting fixed. I just hope I don't have to return to the dealership for the same problem every 6 months...

 

[DDrenkhahn]

JLinder



Sounds like my experience with the service department. I think I'll try the salesman route and see where I get. If no luck, I'll try DC customer service. By the way, this is my first new vehicle ever. Kind of disappointing.

 

[DDrenkhahn]

Before I go back to the dealership or DC customer service again for my loose steering problem, I decided to do a little check of my own. Forgive me if it gets long.



I jacked the front end up just enough to get the wheels off the ground and put a couple jack stands under the axle.



Next step was to put a dial indicator on the front edge of the left rim such that I could see it while sitting behind the steering wheel.



Started the engine. Note that the needle on the indicator was steady with no flutter.



With the steering wheel in the center position, I watched the indicator while I turned to the left and right. With . 001 to . 002 movement on the indicator to either side of zero, I measured 6 to 7 degrees of rotation using an angle locater sitting on the center of the steering wheel. I also checked the radial travel of the steering wheel with a tape and got 7/8 to 1” of travel for the same indicator reading. Considering that the radius of the steering wheel is 7” this works out to be 7 to 8 degrees of slop, which is about what I got with the angle finder. I repeated this several times and got the same result.



After this, I checked the rod ends underneath and the track bar etc. I don’t see any problems here. I also checked for front wheel bearing play. No problems here either. The U-joints on the steering shaft feel tight as well. I did notice that the input shaft to the steering gear has noticeable side play. If you grab the coupling and wiggle it, you can hear a clunk-clunk-clunk as you move it from side-to-side. My best guess is . 005 to . 010” side play. This might explain why I can feel a little thump in the steering wheel when I turn into a driveway or something where you get some frame twist.



Ok. I’m done. This much play in the steering wheel with no load on it feels even worse when your out driving around. What’s even worse is that Chrysler has no specs for an in-vehicle check, so when you go in for a warranty complaint, the damn thing has to be practically falling out before anything gets done. I’m on my second steering gear now. Enough is enough. Now, I’m mad! It's time to start screaming and see what happens. I hate having to do this.

 

[AH64ADMTP]

USE the magic WORD

My '01 had the same problem with stearing wheel not returning to center and feeling dead in a turn, went to my DC dealer service department and made the statement that my stearing had excessive Play. The service tech never got out of the lot and agreed that it had excessive play and ordered and installed a new stearing box, now all is well and tight.



Paul

 

[DDrenkhahn]

I have used the magic word twice. The first time it got me a replacement steering gear. The second time, it got me nothing.



In my first post, I mentioned readjusting the gear and getting good results for a short time. I made some notes when I did this and found out that due to poor wording in the service manual I did not understand that the ball screw portion should have a preload to avoid play in the steering. Makes sense. However, this is not adjustable. You either have it or you don't. In my case, I didn't have any preload torque. The manual says 7. 5 to 14. 5 in-lb at 180 to 270 degrees off-center. At this location, I could turn the shaft with a thumb and forefinger with no effort. I think that readjusting the over-center torque gives a good feel that shortly disappears due to the ball screw play.



So, what's wrong? Without a tear down, I can only suppose that the rack piston or worm shaft are out of spec in regard to size, or when the gear was assembled the balls were not installed properly. There are two different size balls and they must be installed in alternating sequence (1 large ball, 1 small ball). This is printed in bold in the service manual stating that this maintains proper wormshaft preload.



When I go back for another steering gear, wherever it may be, I'm going to demand that the preload (off-center) torque and the over-center torque (pitman shaft adjustment) be checked while I witness. I don't want another piece of crap installed.



Some people may think I'm crazy for going through all this on my own, but I believe that understanding the problem is a good way to avoid it again. I've only spent about a day all total checking into this. On the other hand, I guess I could go dealership "hopping" and spend weeks. I did have a laugh the other day when I got the DC promotion in the mail to extend my warranty. Why should I?



I will continue posting until my problem is solved.

 

[DDrenkhahn]

Well, I said I would keep posting, so here it is. In regard to my sloppy steering, the dealership looked at my truck again after calling DC. Yes, the unit was bad as I had thought, and no adjustment would change this. They replaced the steering box with another unit that was within specs, replaced the steering stabilizer, and checked the alignment. I just picked it up today. So far, the truck steers like it should. No more mental fatique from trying to keep it between the lines on the freeway. Only time shall tell if it will last. Probably the best part is that the dealer actually made an effort to look into the problem this time. I guess there is hope.



JLinder, what happened with your situation?

 

[JLinder]

Everything is ok now...

When they replaced my steering gear, they also found that my stabilizer was bad. Dealer replaced both and my truck never drove better. Just a lot more head-aches to get things right than it should have been.