archer39

How can you tell when the front u joints are bad?

TIMMY22

Cruise control working?

TIMMY22

If you pop the smaller hose off the booster that heads to the canister on the fender well, you should hear the suction sound from the vacum pump while she's ideling.

Power Ram 250 C

If they are greasable, grease them. If they aren't, look closely at them and look for loose rust from the needle bearings going out. Only way I can think of is raise front of truck up and crank wheels either direction and turn the u joints with your hands with unlocked hubs and transfer case. Feel for hard spots.

Rick 12v CTD

how old is it? is there a chance the telescoping shaft is seized? Because my steering does the same thing and it's because my borgeson shaft is seized so when the chassis flexes or when the steering/suspension corks over the bordeson shaft pushes on the steering column causing it to catch. I went through this about a month ago. I tore everything apart including my steering column trying to figure out what the problem was. It ended up that that was the problem.

I can explain it further if you'd like. For me though, when the steering would bind, it would want to make the shifter go with the rest of it when it would bind real bad. Most of the time it wasn't that bad though.

archer39

both tie rod ends were replaced over the summer and should be good yet.

archer39

no but it never did but the horn works. i don't think it is the clock spring if that is what your getting at. I had that happen before and i hear no scraping like before.

interesting, could you feel it binding when you took the shaft off and moved it by hand? Did you end up buying a new shaft?

TIMMY22

Thought you might have lost vacum.

Rammer64

Mine did the exact same thing except it was to the right. You'll need a new steering box. You'll find it will act up worse in the colder temps and it only happens once or twice on initial start. It will be fine for the rest of the day until you let it sit a length of time. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it will need a new box or complete rebuild and the diesels use a different box than the gas units.

dzl_damon

what does the vacuum do for steering?

Adjusting steering boxes can result in issues. They can get sensitive, and lock up sometimes. I had some issues like that with my Mercedes. I adjusted it back and just lived with the sloppiness.

Trebor

I have had this same problem since last summer. I thought it was the axle u-joints but that wasn't it. It first was non assisted while turning right. Then one day it flip flopped over to turning left. What it turn out to be is steering box failure. The second way to test this is to check for a rapid rise in temperature of the power steering fluid after turning it in the direction of the failure. So now I'm looking forward to again replacing the steering box. I never had this problem with any of the GM truck I have owned over the years which by the way shares the earlier version that Dodge dropped in favor of this failure prone version. I want to retrofit that earlier design back onto my truck to eliminate this engineering screw up that we are all plagued with. The earlier design has the pitman arm located facing the tire and doesn't use that screwy looking steering link that we have to use. Just another Dodge engineering screw up to add to the list of many...

james1

But isn't the box made by Saginaw and not by Dodge? Is it really inferior?

Trebor

Yes they are both made by the same company. The earlier design has been proven to out performed the later design we have to use. This design was also used by all of the big three automakers of the earlier era. This ill fated selection is due to Chrysler-Dodge's engineering specifications. Slightly larger versions having longer length pitman arms and shafts of the old style box can be found on medium duty GMC truck in the 20,000 GVW ratings.

dkimmel

Jack it up, turn the wheel all the way (either way). Then rotate the tires. If the axle joint is siezed up it will want to straighten the wheel. or it will bind up.

Rick 12v CTD

no, when I took the bordeson shaft off it was fine.
It's kind of hard to explain but because the borgeson shaft doesn't telescope like it's supposed to it puts pressure on the splined shaft in the column (I have the 2 ujoint shaft, but for you it will be the rag joint) which pushes against the outer part of the column that works with the shifter. In any case, the whole thing sorta binds up and makes your steering real hard to turn. It does it both ways. Like it will bind up if the chassis flexes such that the borgeson shaft is pulling on the column as well as if it was pushing on it, if that makes sense.

My truck still does it but I tinkered with the borgeson shaft such that it only does it rarely. What I need to do is separate the 2 pieces (if I even can ), clean it up and grease the crap out of it with automotive grease so it won't rust again.