2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission steering problems

[TimFowler]

This is my first time using the TDR website. I drive a 1997 2500 4x4 with a 7" lift and 40" tires. This is my second lift on the truck and I have always had steering problems. I have heard of a few other trucks that have upgraded to '98 steering components and I was wondering what all is involved in this, or if there is somewhere I can find some HD steering parts. I don't know how common this is. Thanks.

 

[csevers]

Welcome to the TDR website

What exact problem are you having? wander or loosness in steering? There are some parts that can help a lot in the tightness and feel of the steering. The trac bars tend to loosen up quickly and needs to be replaced that is one of the things that can give loose steering feeling, a good steering stabilizer can also help, the other is play in the sector shaft of the steering gear and that can be fixed with a DSS bracket DSS = darin steering stabilzer you can buy it from several vendors one is Piers Diesel Research. Alignment helps a lot also and some people even have better spec's to go by than the oem ones. Maybe give us some more info on what it is doing and we can give more advise.



Good Luck

Craig

 

[TimFowler]

For the most part the steering feels very loose. Ther are times when the front tires start shaking back and forth so bad the truck feels like it's going to fall apart. I had this problem a couple of years ago after i put on a dual stabilizer. When i took it off, it went away. Now I have just the single but bigger tires. There is some play in the steering wheel. The track bar is only a few months old. It was replaced with the new lift. Everything else is only about two years old. Thanks again.

 

[ECappleman]

The tire shaking is commonly refered to as death wobble. It can be caused by a loose trac bar, bad ball joints, steering stabilizers, poor alignment, unbalanced tires, worn shocks or a combo of any of the above. Your bias ply 40" tires are not helping matters much either. How is your drag ling and trac bar angle?

 

[Beast2B]

Hi Tim,

Welcome to the wonderful world of TDR. I have 37" BFG on my 2001. One thing I did was use Counteract Balancing beads in the tires. No need to balance the tire/wheel combo and the beads move around as necessary due to tire wear or whatever. I am ordering the DSS steering box brace, it's made quite a difference to many users on here.

 

[TimFowler]

could you tell me more about these balancing beads? I've never heard of them... . thanks

 

[Beast2B]

balancing beads

Several users have used them. Check out www.counteractbalancing.com for tech details. I've had real good luck so far, about 20k miles. You can get either bulk beads that can be "injected" through the valve stem on existing wheel/tire combos or bags in pre-weighed amounts that you toss in when mounting the tires. The bags dissolve in a few miles and the beads disperse where needed... The only issue I've had is occasionally after a hard bump they need a couple miles at highway speed to settle back in.

 

[TimFowler]

update

Just wanted to say thanks for the help. I finally installed the DSS... definitely helped. I also got it aligned again... helped even more. Next is the tire balancing. I rotated my tires last week and I would get the wobble where ever I went. I figure the rear tires are slightly out of balance. Thanks again for all the info. Its good to know there's somewhere to go to learn more about my truck, and i'm learning lots.



Tim