Still Super Sloppy Steering

[Honky Kong jr]

I've never driven a truck that had to go thru a weigh station but; can't those things tell you how much weight is on each axle?
Would that be of any help?

Make nice nice with people at a scrap yard

 

[shiftpro]

They can actually weigh it at the truck stop near my house and give me individual axle weights as well. Or even at the parish (county) dump. So will be getting weighed on Friday.

The dump would be better because they weigh cars and pickups full of many lbs. of **** vs a truckstop that weighs semi trucks with many tons
of ****. (so much ****....)

 

[Frankenchevy]

we all know the front axle will have way more weight on it. is there a weight rating specifically given by GM for his axle?

 

[Jon Karnes]

I’ll check on axle weight rating

 

[CSFJ]

I'm kinda liking the overweight deal myself. I didn't realize that Cummins is around 1150 lbs.. Hell, that's what 500, 550 more than a big block???

Don't have a clue though.....

Bb chevy is around 750-800lbs iirc. The 6.2 diesel they used in my truck, tips the scales right around 1000lbs. I was wondering myself what the Cummins weighed in at.

 

[Jon Karnes]

About 1150 I believe

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Bb chevy is around 750-800lbs iirc. The 6.2 diesel they used in my truck, tips the scales right around 1000lbs. I was wondering myself what the Cummins weighed in at.

They aren't all that heavy in the grand scheme, certainly not heavy enough to make the front end fall out of it lol.

 

[CSFJ]

They aren't all that heavy in the grand scheme, certainly not heavy enough to make the front end fall out of it lol.

Nope. I'm kinda surprised the Cummins had that much more weight over the 6.2 v8.

One other thing, I know the cracked frame issue was brought up a few times, but I didn't see (or perhaps missed) any recommendations for the additional steering box/frame bracing.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Well, in addition to the cracked frame, as I've said, I've had bolts finger tight on these trucks before.

Any, the main culprit is probably the loosy goosey tilt column, if nothing obvious outside is flopping.

 

[CSFJ]

Well, in addition to the cracked frame, as I've said, I've had bolts finger tight on these trucks before.

Any, the main culprit is probably the loosy goosey tilt column, if nothing obvious outside is flopping.

yeah, I caught the part about the column being orig, I was simply suggesting the extra steering box bracing as a preventative measure to help against possible future cracking.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

The Offroad Designs brace is pretty good, there's like a billion out there, I just stick with what I know lol. My CUCV has a ORD brace on it.

And those bolts were finger tight lol.

 

[Snoots]

Fear not...

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/3099/

http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/steeringkit.htm

Before installing either (or both) of these supports I would has a pro welder repair the crack first.

 

[Dougnsalem]

After sleeping on it....

All of the rear suspension/rear end bolts should be double checked. A loose rear end can cause the steering wheel center to move around. Maybe make it feel loose???

The late 90's Ram 2500/3500 diesels all cam with a panhard bar/track locator on .the front diff.. I don't know about the newer ones. Maybe something to think about installing on yours???

If it were mine, I would have put on a GOOD, heavy duty steering stabilizer too. I've seen bad ones cause all sorts of weird ****. Vibrations, wandering.... Don't know- one could help....

I like everyone's ideas too. The box, frame, rag joint... Best bet would be to take it to someone different for an inspection. Get some different eyes on it, and a second opinion. Some experienced old fart, that won't run away from rigs like this....



TL;DR: Buy a new truck.




Lol. j/k....

 

[CSFJ]

After sleeping on it....

All of the rear suspension/rear end bolts should be double checked. A loose rear end can cause the steering wheel center to move around. Maybe make it feel loose???

The late 90's Ram 2500/3500 diesels all cam with a panhard bar/track locator on .the front diff.. I don't know about the newer ones. Maybe something to think about installing on yours???

If it were mine, I would have put on a GOOD, heavy duty steering stabilizer too. I've seen bad ones cause all sorts of weird ****. Vibrations, wandering.... Don't know- one could help....

I like everyone's ideas too. The box, frame, rag joint... Best bet would be to take it to someone different for an inspection. Get some different eyes on it, and a second opinion. Some experienced old fart, that won't run away from rigs like this....



TL;DR: Buy a new truck.




Lol. j/k....

Panhards are for coil sprung suspensions, keeps the axle located where it should be. The geometry with leaf springs is all wrong for the application. All it woukd do is create bind. The leaf springs handle all the axle locating duties on these trucks.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Panhards are for coil sprung suspensions, keeps the axle located where it should be. The geometry with leaf springs is all wrong for the application. All it woukd do is create bind. The leaf springs handle all the axle locating duties on these trucks.

Super Duty's have track bars though, leaf sprung ones.

I would not add one to this truck however. As I've said, I've had some rough squarebody's, and they were more or less ok. And I've had some like my CUCV, that looked good, low mileage, and all over the road lol.