Newbie, need steering help, plz!

[Dodge_gurl79]

I am sure that this has been posted before, but here goes.

I have an 86 dodge power ram....4x4. My hubby was driving it one day a couple weeks ago, and as soon as he turned into work, it quit steering! He could turn the steering wheel all the way, but the tires wouldn't turn. We can turn the steering shaft and use a pair of pliers to turn the gear box. I had it towed to a mechanic (I love to work on my own stuff, but steering is a little to complicated for me!) and he said that it's almost impossible to find the part. He has been looking for 2 days, and hasn't found one.

So, I guess my questions are, first off, what part? He wouldn't quite tell me the name or if he did, I can't remember. And where can I find one?

And what does the Power Ram stand for?

I'm afraid that I don't want to spend a ton of money on fixing this one part, but I love my truck!

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated! I love my baby, and don't want to give her up!

[WTHETRUCK]

Check the rag joint on the steering shaft

[charlie1935]

:gr_patrio Power ram is a four wheel drive ram. The rag joint is a flexible joint between the upper and lower steering shafts made out of a flexible material. Similar to a piece of conveyor belting.

[threetwos]

It's not the rag joint. It just absorbs steering wheel vibes and smooths out the feel a little bit. It sounds as if the coupler has somehow broke. The ragjoint is simply sandwiched between the steering shaft and the column and it's held on by two,(2), 5/16's? bolts I think it was could be 7/16's but I think it used the smaller size. Either way it's NOT the problem. Now is an opportune time to upgrade! Get some resemblence of steering precision back in your Power Ram with a Borgeson Steering shaft. This replacement shaft does away with the factory's slop coupler which I think is the problem or the steering box itself. If it's the steering box then disregard the info, if not I would replace it and never again worry about loose sloppy steering. A new coupler which is available from Mike randall ent. for about 15.00 will simply wear out in 15-20 k miles anyways. The Borgeson is a great investment and only about 150.00 bolt in and only takes about an hour working slowly, 2 bolts and one roll pin pressed in and removed with a hammer and drift. You can also get a replacement rag joint from them which includes the bolts and joint gasket. Eddie

[sherdep]

It could be the rag joint ...... but like threetwos said it is probably a coupler that is broken ...... I know I have seen some How To's on the steering shaft ....... let me see if I can find it .... I do know there is a replacement steering shaft (the piece that goes from the steering box to the bottom side of the steering assembly ..... it is called an intermediate shaft)
off of Ramcharge central

Borgeson Steering Shaft Install - Mike DuBose (Bose318)
There is nothing more annoying than driving along and your truck wondering around the road when you are not even moving the steering wheel. If you own a Dodge truck you know of this horrible condition that no matter what you do seems to not go away. Until now, follow me along as I install a Borgeson Steering shaft on my ?91 Ramcharger.


First off you need to determine that it is your steering shaft that is worn out. The easiest way to determine if the shaft is worn out is by taking the shaft and trying to move it back and forth. If you can move the shaft more than a1/8" back and forth it probably wouldn?t hurt to replace the shaft. If you were like me, you probably asking yourself why not just rebuild the stock unit. Well that is what I did when I first purchased my RC and about a year later it was almost as bad as when I bought my truck. The best course of action is to just replace your steering shaft with one of these babies and not put yourself through having to do this twice. The shaft is kind of expensive, I ended up paying $211 to get it delivered to my door from Summit Racing including a new rag joint.

What you will need:

About an hour on a nice afternoon
Borgeson Steering Shaft (part #940)
Borgeson rag joint (part # 941)
Various sockets and ratchets
Standard allen set
Hammer and a small drift
Can of your favorite color paint (to paint the shaft)
Shock boot if you wish to cover the u-joint




Fig. 1
The first step is to take out that old, worn out, piece of junk, Chrysler calls a steering shaft (Fig. 1). First thing to do is to drive out the roll pin that is holding the shaft to the steering box. I used a hammer and a small drift to drive this out?just make sure that you are driving the pin out from the right side. You want to be driving the pin from the side that has the larger hole?and the pin should come out the other side.


Fig. 1
Once you have the pin removed you can unbolt the shaft from the steering column at the rag joint. I found the easiest way to unbolt this was to lock my steering and the take out the bolts (See Fig. 2).


Fig. 3
Once you have removed the old steering shaft it is very obvious how much better engineered and durable the Borgeson unit it. (See Fig. 3) The biggest advantage of the Borgeson unit is the U-joint used at the steering box instead of the slip joint used by Chrysler (See Fig. 4 & 5). Borgeson also has you covered as far as frame flex and if you want to put a body lift on your Dodge.


Fig. 4 (old slip joint)


Fig. 5 (new universal joint)
The shaft of the Borgeson unit is made of two pieces, a hollow DD shaft and a solid DD shaft. The solid shaft slips inside of the hollow shaft making it absorb any frame flex and the unit also has enough movement to accommodate up to a 3? body lift.

Now for the fun part?.putting it all back together. The process is very simple you just reverse the steps you used to take the shaft off. There is one aspect that you have to be careful of tho?you need to provide a spot in the steering splines for the setscrew in the U-Joint.


Fig. 6
To accomplish this I decided to put the shaft completely on and tighten down on the setscrew ever so slightly to get an impression in the splines. I then took the u-joint off and took a drill and drilled into the splines about a 1/8 of an inch (See Fig. 6)


(picture of the completed shaft)


Totally complete with boot for protection from elements. The boot is a normal shock boot with a zip tie on the top to hold it in place and the big end free so water and whatnot can escape. As you can see I did paint the shaft. It is recommended that you paint the shaft because it is raw metal and will rust over time.

If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at mdubose@vt.edu.

Mike

[sherdep]

Here is a link to the site .. http://ramchargercentral.com/index.php?action=howtoshow;id=7

and to answer your question about what is a power wagon ..... it is a 4x4 instead of a 2 wheel drive ... that is the major diffrence

[Dodge_gurl79]

thank you so much! I called my mechanic this morning, and gave him the part numbers and website. He is really having a hard time finding coupler to replace this. I'm not sure why, all it took was 10 minutes of surfing and I found this great site! Hopefully, I will have my baby back soon. Hmmm, maybe, I should bring it home and do it myself. :) Thanks again!

[sherdep]

thank you so much! I called my mechanic this morning, and gave him the part numbers and website. He is really having a hard time finding coupler to replace this. I'm not sure why, all it took was 10 minutes of surfing and I found this great site! Hopefully, I will have my baby back soon. Hmmm, maybe, I should bring it home and do it myself. :) Thanks again!Hopefully it will all work out :rck:
with the info posted I dont see why you couldnt do it yourself ... it really isnt that hard to do.

[charlie1935]

I hear the coupler kits are getting hard to find. I replaced mine on my 87, 3 or 4 years ago, outer housing and all. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the housing and screwed a grease fitting into it. So far so good. At the time it was under $50.00. :gr_patrio

[bherder]

Sherdep, I think is right.....

The factory setup is weak and not good for all that long.

WHY the Dodge Bros decided to take a fairly 'rock-solid' design (Pre 79') and turn it into a hunk of garbage, is beyond me....

[Speed Dragon]

Well even a '79 is almost 20 years old now, that stuff is bound to wear out sooner or later. I've had to replace the rag joints on the older ones at least a few times.

[Chump]

If you are having problems finding parts...let me know and I will help.