Just A REMINDER

[Smokeless2007.5]

The truck was a 2009 Dodge mega cab it had a 4" lift around 84,000 miles , she had just bought new 20"wheels and BFG tires. Dual steering stabilizers, bilsten shocks on front and back. The dealer put the 20" wheels and new tires on the truck, 4 days later the steering shaft broke. She was on a 2 lane asphalt road no potholes just straight flat road , no other cars where involved in the wreck, the estimated speed was between 45 - 50 mph. I think the only way to eliminate this issue is to buy a new beefier steering gearbox... That's all that I know.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

The tires I think are BFG.
That shows how much I looked at this picture. But I have about 50 more of the truck and the road and skid marks etc.
I have sent Michael Overfield all the information that I know, please read that.
I can't post anymore pictures at this time.
Thank you for your time and advice.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

I don't think there was a recall or she would have had it fixed while it was at the dealership.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

Thank you members,

I elaborated on much as I know. Also I can say that the splined shaft was removed and we did mag particle testing and simple Liquid Dye Penatrante testing. It was determined later that the shaft had porosity (air pockets).
We also cut cross sections to prove this.
From what I have heard there is a very rare problem, maybe 1 in 2000 chance. I have a 2008 Dodge 2500 4x4 and I have taken the oem steering box off and replace it with a new beefier one that I bought from Genos Garage.
Thank you guys for your time.

 

[AH64ID]

From what I have heard there is a very rare problem, maybe 1 in 2000 chance.

1 in 2000 is not as rare as it might seem, considering there are several million of these trucks on the road. 1 in 200 would have 500 failures per 1,000,000 and that's something we would all know about. 1 in 2000 would certainly constitute recall and there hasn't been one. 1 in 1,000,000 is probably closer to accurate.

Either way it is a very vital piece on a vehicle, but as others have said I am not sure one could detect a failing piece visually. The only time I have ever seen steering components catastrophically fail, aside from tie-rods, is from an impact.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

Thank you for your time

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

Okay 1 in a 1,000,000 and the truck had never been in a wreck previous to this one.
I’m not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I apologize for bringing this up.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

The truck has never been in any previous collisions the front of the truck looks like a new truck. Please ask Michael Overfield I sent him all the information I could. On my 2008 I beefed up to a better steering gear box and may buy the brace, that Michael Overfield has sent me a link to. Also the truck was never even taken off road.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

And I will not buy any BFG tires.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

Im definitely not buying any BFG tires. And you make a good point about the brace but I may still get one for my truck.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Something to keep in mind, it does seem there was some defect in the broken shaft with the information provided here. It is probably very rare... But I will bet you the OEM will say the lift kit which will change the OEM designed geometry of the steering and suspension, and the larger wheels will put the stresses outside the design limits.. though it's really just outside of their design, the margin should be enough to cover the difference.. but the margin will definitely be less at the best case. So a defect that might not have caused a break in a stock truck, might cause one in a lifted, 20 inch wheel truck.. not saying it should, just it puts it closer to limits.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

The truck has never been in any previous collisions the front of the truck looks like a new truck. Please ask Michael Overfield I sent him all the information I could. On my 2008 I beefed up to a better steering gear box and may buy the brace, that Michael Overfield has sent me a link to. Also the truck was never even taken off road.

How did you send the information? I've not as yet received. Would be happy to look it over and analyze the situation.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

I was going to send you more pictures, but I can't until things are resolved.

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

I just replied to a email that I received from you. Thanks, Michael

 

[Smokeless2007.5]

I'm on my phone and Im learning how to navigate on a forum. I usually just glance at some of the posts on this site.

OFF TOPIC:

I need to buy a set of new headlights for my 2008 Dodge 2500. Is there a set of halos or LED headlights that are simple to install. And is there a manufacturer that you trust besides of OEM?

 

[NIsaacs]

I was going to send you more pictures, but I can't until things are resolved.

So, after 2.5 years, there is not a clear cut, at fault steering box proven? It is hard to imagine the pitman arm just falling off, cruising down the road 45/50 mph, without some outside forces involved. Even with a faulty shaft, some type of impact finished it off. Severe DW? Four days into a major modification is more than coincidence. This steering box has been around in GM/Dodge vehicles since power steering was invented.

I do like the looks of the HD unit that is offered for some of the Dodge vehicles, however, the pitman shaft splines that broke, are the same size as oem.

At this point, with the info posted, I am at a loss of what happened. Please keep us posted of any updates.

Nick

 

[brods]

smokeless2007.5 my condolences for your loss. And thank you for bringing this to our attention!

From our forum in 2010:

We recently added a 06 CTD 2500 4wd to our three other trucks. Today the steering shaft broke off at the pitman arm. Luckily the truck was just leaving the driveway when it broke. It looks like it was cracked halfway for a while judging by the rust at the break. Has anyone else had this happen? Any recommendations on a replacement box? Also this truck has a 3" or 4" lift.
Thanks
Rick

Doing a quick search finds that most of the guys reporting broken sector shafts across the forums had lifts. None mention if they had a dropped pitman arm. Makes some sense because as the angle of the drag link increases more bending force will be applied to the sector shaft. Many mention a rusty crack about halfway through indicating the failure occurred over time.

Broken sector shafts also makes me wonder about the wisdom of using the steering linkage to force the unit bearing out. Another question while looking for the root cause in the shaft failures is what effect on the sector shaft, if any, if the operator had the habit of turning the wheel to full lock and keeping force on the steering wheel while the knuckle is hard against the stop. When teaching one of my son's to drive I remember having to tell him to back off slightly on the steering wheel when at full lock so as to not put undue stress on the steering components.

As for all the steering recalls, the recalls for the T type steering have nothing to do with breaking sector shafts. In a nutshell, the T type steering linkage's right rod end allows no front to back rotation. The left rod end's range of motion must allow for all the angular change between the left and right steering knuckles while turning. The left rod end has barely enough range of motion to allow lock to lock. This means it is critically important to install the linkage perfectly centered. If the left rod end is not centered while the wheels point straight ahead then it will bind up at full lock and under certain conditions the left rod end can fail. In Dodge's terminology: over articulation and fracture. It took Dodge many tries to make the linkage fool resistant to improper installation, hence all the recalls.

 

[GrantP]

Completely agree. If you are running the kind of frame flexing that could ever be an issue you are WAY past too much stress on many other things first. The frame is already tied, the brace is just one more place, and it wouldn't really be very helpful no just one frame rail, I've seen videos of the steering box flex where the frame rail was twisting under the stess. The brace transfers that stess to both sides and eliminates that slop in the steering linkage.

Michael - A little light reading for you. I don't see any reason why a brace that only mounts to the drivers frame rail would be less effective and it eliminates any possibility of frame twist affecting the sector shaft. I'm not saying the rail to rail braces are bad (I've ran one) but this seems like a better design to me.

http://store.dodgeoffroad.com/Dodge-Off-Road-Steering-Brace--3rd-Gen-03-08_p_49.html

 

[MichaelOverfield]

That wasn't an e-mail from me, I believe that was from the website as a notice of a reply to this thread. I sent you a private message via this site. I provided my e-mail there if you'd like to resend.. you can also click my name here and select send private message, or reply via this site to the private message I just sent. Sorry for you loss, and I'm happy to help analyze the situation. I actually do a fair amount of failure analysis in my day job.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Michael - A little light reading for you. I don't see any reason why a brace that only mounts to the drivers frame rail would be less effective and it eliminates any possibility of frame twist affecting the sector shaft. I'm not saying the rail to rail braces are bad (I've ran one) but this seems like a better design to me.

http://store.dodgeoffroad.com/Dodge-Off-Road-Steering-Brace--3rd-Gen-03-08_p_49.html

It looks like a good design, about the same cost either way.. if I had not already installed the other, I would consider this one. I'm not going off-road, so I'm pretty sure the cross brace will work just fine in my application.