Truck wont drive straight

What is the caster angle? (This is very important) When you say the caster is maxed out, what are you going off of? The cam bolts? That may not be enough which is why you need an actual measurement.

I have adjusted a steering box before, it did well for about a year then locked up randomly going down the road... For ~$150 I just decided to stick with a reman box from there on out.
 
Yep - same thing except mine is a slotted thread instead of hex. Turning mine counter clockwise once the nut is loosened doesn’t seem to relieve any of the on center tension. It feels like it’s just turning on stripped threads with the same harder to turn spot as I spin it around. I’ve tried leaving the nut on there, but high enough up to pry up and away from the box while spinning the thread, but I can’t get any different results.
 
xDiesel03 said:
Yep - same thing except mine is a slotted thread instead of hex. Turning mine counter clockwise once the nut is loosened doesn’t seem to relieve any of the on center tension. It feels like it’s just turning on stripped threads with the same harder to turn spot as I spin it around. I’ve tried leaving the nut on there, but high enough up to pry up and away from the box while spinning the thread, but I can’t get any different results.
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Just pull the trigger on a new steering gear box then. I think it'd be worth it.

The RedHead gear box is pretty great for 2nd and 3rd gens.
2879: 2003-2008 Dodge 2500 AND 3500 Steering Gear - RedHead Steering Gears | Rebuild Remanufacturer

If it's your 2012, the price for a red head is insane. I went with a Lares one (mostly because they're super local and I've used them in the past on Jeeps with luck)
2012 RAM 2500 6.7L L6 DIESEL Turbocharged Steering Gear | RockAuto
I am not sure if it's my favorite though. I can lock the output shaft, and twist the input shaft and get a bouncing motion... I'm thinking about picking up another box to try out.
My OEM one was pretty loose after 160k.
 
SPEEDSHIFT said:
What is the caster angle? (This is very important) When you say the caster is maxed out, what are you going off of? The cam bolts? That may not be enough which is why you need an actual measurement.

I have adjusted a steering box before, it did well for about a year then locked up randomly going down the road... For ~$150 I just decided to stick with a reman box from there on out.
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The cam bolts. The fact that adjusting them all the way both ways makes no difference in steering tells me its probably not the caster angle. When I had the stock arms and 2" coils adjusting them made a big difference and I had to run with 50psi in the airbags to bring the back up enough that it was even close to driveable.

Its progressively gotten to be like this and did not drive like this when I first rebuilt the front end.
 
RollCoal9000 said:
I'm having a progressively worse steering problem. My truck will not return to center or drive a straight line. Caster is maxed out and still will wander all over the place.

220k on truck, stock steering box, 2" coils, extend control arms, stock trackbar with poly bushings (junk napa ones but these ones are still tight.), updated steering and bilstein stabilizer, 33" tires.

I want to stop almost running into stuff and knocking my dogs off my flatbed so I would like to fix this.
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I would stop drinking so heavily before I got behind the wheel. ;) :hehe:
 
TheBac said:
I would stop drinking so heavily before I got behind the wheel. ;) :hehe:
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:hehe:

RollCoal9000 said:
The cam bolts. The fact that adjusting them all the way both ways makes no difference in steering tells me its probably not the caster angle. When I had the stock arms and 2" coils adjusting them made a big difference and I had to run with 50psi in the airbags to bring the back up enough that it was even close to driveable.
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If your tow isn't set right, your caster change isn't going to be noticeable. If you have good caster with bad tow settings, you could drive worse than having bad caster with bad tow. It'll make the tires fight each other more.

And the amount of rotation from jacking your rear end up higher to account for front axle caster has to be next to nothing. Assuming a 160.5" wheel base, you'd get 0.36 deg per inch.

I'd back up and start with making sure your tow is dead on.
Target just a hair tow in (like 0.08deg total).
Make sure the tires are all aired up so the tread is hitting the ground equally (a good way to do this is draw a line of chalk on every tire, drive straight for a 1/4 mile, and check that the chalk is wearing even. No chalk on the outside means you're low, no chalk on the inside means you're too high of pressure).
Then go drive it without a steering stabilizer on a flat road (or crowned if you want to set it for that, I have mine set for an interstate crown since that's most of my daily drive).
Adjust caster so it drives straight.
Now add the steering stabilizer and potentially adjust caster again, or do a dual so they counter the force of each other.

Pretty much anything else would just give you slop instead of tracking issues (aside from an over-tightened steering gear box or unevenly worn tires).
:Cheer:
 
I’ll probably go with a new box later this year (for the 2012) - thanks for the info and I might try out the Lares box.
 
CorneliusRox said:
:hehe:



If your tow isn't set right, your caster change isn't going to be noticeable. If you have good caster with bad tow settings, you could drive worse than having bad caster with bad tow. It'll make the tires fight each other more.

And the amount of rotation from jacking your rear end up higher to account for front axle caster has to be next to nothing. Assuming a 160.5" wheel base, you'd get 0.36 deg per inch.

I'd back up and start with making sure your tow is dead on.
Target just a hair tow in (like 0.08deg total).
Make sure the tires are all aired up so the tread is hitting the ground equally (a good way to do this is draw a line of chalk on every tire, drive straight for a 1/4 mile, and check that the chalk is wearing even. No chalk on the outside means you're low, no chalk on the inside means you're too high of pressure).
Then go drive it without a steering stabilizer on a flat road (or crowned if you want to set it for that, I have mine set for an interstate crown since that's most of my daily drive).
Adjust caster so it drives straight.
Now add the steering stabilizer and potentially adjust caster again, or do a dual so they counter the force of each other.

Pretty much anything else would just give you slop instead of tracking issues (aside from an over-tightened steering gear box or unevenly worn tires).
:Cheer:
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Wouldn't I see increased abnormal wear on the fronts if it was toe? I went through half the tread on the rears and switched them to the front and there was no abnormal wear that would suggest toe issues.
 
RollCoal9000 said:
Wouldn't I see increased abnormal wear on the fronts if it was toe? I went through half the tread on the rears and switched them to the front and there was no abnormal wear that would suggest toe issues.
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Eh, there's a lot of factors there. It's so easy to just check it.
What I do is:
1) Jack up front end
2) Spin tires and keep an edge on them so you're got a line (reference point) all the way around the tire on both tires. (NOTE: It doesn't matter if they lines are both the same offset on the tire)
3) Let the truck back down, but put a garbage bag under both tires (low friction)
4) Grab two jack stands and set them to the same height (closer to center height of the tire is better, but you'll need a straight shot from left to right tires, so pinion/driveshaft and suspension will get in your way before you hit center)
5) Measure, from the height of the jack stand, from the rear of the tires between the reference lines.
6) Measure, from the height of the jack stand, from the front of the tires between the reference lines.
7) Compare lengths. You want them them damn near the same but slightly less in the front (like 1/32nd to 1/16th inch).
8) Adjust as needed.

It's important your measurements are very accurate.
It's important your height you're measuring from is the same.

Now, if you want to get into what exact angle you're setting it to, you need to measure the distance (at your given height) you are from the center of the wheel. Then you can do a little trigonometry to understand the angle. You can use SOHCAHTOA or a calculator online. It's very simple.
 
Ended up called redhead today and it turns out the gearbox had somehow tightened itself way down and after a lot of crawling under the truck and manhandling the steering wheel I managed to loosen it a couple turns and it returns to center now.
 
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