2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Steering Input Shaft Pre-Load Adjustment

[Alan Reagan]

Just rolled 110K and had noticed that when I started off going into a turn to the right, I would get a little bump in the steering wheel. Today when I changed my oil I grabbed the steering shaft and noticed some side to side play at the input to the steering box. I disconnected the shaft and slid it back out of the way, knocked off the lock ring and inserted my home made spanner wrench into the two holes used for adjusting the steering box pre-load. The collar was not even a good finger tight. So I snugged it about 1/8 inch, put on the lock ring and reconnected the shaft. Side to side play disappeared and so did my wheel play (probably 5 degrees). On the test drive, I made several standing starts with the wheel hard right and no more bump in the wheel either. Hope this helps if you are having this problem. The job is about 20 minutes start to finish. Make sure you tie the steering wheel down so it doesn't rotate when you slide the shaft off. Also, turn the wheel so that the shaft nut is facing down so that you can do it all from the bottom side.

 

[bmoeller]

I hope after you tightened up the adjustment, you backed it off slightly. Need some clearance for oil.



http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1997/19-10-97.htm

 

[Alan Reagan]

I did. Thanks for the reminder, though. I found on my 98 a few years ago that to tight makes for some bad steering.

 

[bmoeller]

Originally posted by Alan Reagan

I did. Thanks for the reminder, though. I found on my 98 a few years ago that to tight makes for some bad steering.

 

[Tardog]

If you are disconnecting at the steering box there is no need to tie the wheel up as the splines have a "indexed" spot (big flat spot) that only fits one way. So this should knock off 5 min and make it a 15 min job for others.

 

[Alan Reagan]

I agree with that, too. But, it's a little dark under there and it's easier to just slide the shaft back without trying to find the flat spots. You know how it is when you get old.