Rack and pinion/vibration

I have a 2004 dodge ram 1500 5.7L 4x4. I have replaced inner and outer tie rods. Upper control arm and ball joints and lower ball joints. Driver and passenger wheel hub. Two front calipers along with pads and rotors. Rear rotors and pads. All 4 shocks with rancho rs9000xl. All 4 tires with bf goodrich ko2 all terrain( mounted balanced and aligned) (5th time the vehicle was aligned this year in attempt to center steering wheel. All this was done was in an attempt to correct two issues I still have. Vibrations felt when driving 65 mph and up and a crooked steering wheel. My rack and pinion boots are both leaking and my power steering pump is squeaking. I am going to replace them but want to know if the rack is what's causing the off center steering wheel and could be the culprit behind the vibration. There is a little play in the wheel as well. Thanks

Off center steering wheel should be able to be fixed with a correct alignment, first thing the should do is check tire pressure and center steering wheel before any adjustments are made. That's what I was taught 25 years ago, maybe things have changed.
U joint in driveshaft could cause bad vibes if they are bad.

Ya but the truck was aligned 5 times at 3 different shops and one right after the new tires were put on. Not sure if they are centering the wheel but I would imagine they are given I specifically mention the off center wheel. But it also has alittle looseness or play which is why I think there's more to it

a little help with options & app might be helpful for those trying to help you remotely. Does the truck have a tilt wheel? If it does, then it might have one of those "rag" universal joints on the steering column shaft. Look for a flattish, blackish rubber disk about 1/2" thick, and about 3" in diameter. They are made out of material like on the soles of cheap sandals, you know, old tires. Like everything, they can wear out, giving you slop in the steering wheel. There is another possibility, if you don't have the rag joint, you might have little universal joints and they can develop slop in them, too.

I think the joints are fine and yes it is tilt. I suspected the steering column first. When the truck is off if I turn the steering wheel side to side I feel like it moves more than it should the steering column also moves with it but as a whole no loose spots or anything that I can see.

Is the steering column itself loose from the vehicle? I would check the U joints and where the column mounts to the vehicle first.

Is it possible that your rack mount bushings are bad?

Following this: I have vibration above 70mph have changed every suspension part besides lower control arm bushings and torsion bushings.. Replaced u joints in ds as well. I have a leaky rack as well and constantly battling alignment issues.

wondering if the rack is what causes the vibrations at high speeds. I can easily wiggle the wheel with the tie rod moving just a hair in and out. Both inner and outer on both sides are brand new and made no difference in the amount of play.

Rockynymia said:

I have a 2004 dodge ram 1500 5.7L 4x4. I have replaced inner and outer tie rods. Upper control arm and ball joints and lower ball joints. Driver and passenger wheel hub. Two front calipers along with pads and rotors. Rear rotors and pads. All 4 shocks with rancho rs9000xl. All 4 tires with bf goodrich ko2 all terrain( mounted balanced and aligned) (5th time the vehicle was aligned this year in attempt to center steering wheel. All this was done was in an attempt to correct two issues I still have. Vibrations felt when driving 65 mph and up and a crooked steering wheel. My rack and pinion boots are both leaking and my power steering pump is squeaking. I am going to replace them but want to know if the rack is what's causing the off center steering wheel and could be the culprit behind the vibration. There is a little play in the wheel as well. Thanks

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Figure any thing out?

2003 1500 QuadCab 5.7 4x4

Hot Ducer said:

Figure any thing out?

2003 1500 QuadCab 5.7 4x4

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Kinda glad you dug this one up. I'm looking at basically the same issue, but I haven't quite spent as much as some of these guys. I know I need tires, but everything else sounds dead on for what I'm going through. It constantly pulls left. The steering wheel wants to drift left. The truck has a little bit of bump steer to the left. But the alignment shop's 2 month old new fangled machine says I'm only slight off on caster, which shouldn't amount to a hill of beans compared to the amount this truck is pulling left. Also have the severe vibration starting around 55 up until about 80 mph. It calms down if I push it up into the 80s and 90s. Almost full new suspension front and back, though I'm planning to tackle lower control arm and sway bar bushings soon. I skipped them originally when replacing ball joints.

'05 4wd here.

Ceri said:

Kinda glad you dug this one up. I'm looking at basically the same issue, but I haven't quite spent as much as some of these guys. I know I need tires, but everything else sounds dead on for what I'm going through. It constantly pulls left. The steering wheel wants to drift left. The truck has a little bit of bump steer to the left. But the alignment shop's 2 month old new fangled machine says I'm only slight off on caster, which shouldn't amount to a hill of beans compared to the amount this truck is pulling left. Also have the severe vibration starting around 55 up until about 80 mph. It calms down if I push it up into the 80s and 90s. Almost full new suspension front and back, though I'm planning to tackle lower control arm and sway bar bushings soon. I skipped them originally when replacing ball joints.

'05 4wd here.

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Is the vehicle lifted? The vibration you describe sounds like a drives shaft issue. Best guess is pinion angle and/or insufficient slip yoke penetration. next guess would be drives shaft runout if the u-jts are KNOWN to be good. I think the alignment issue is a separate issue. Is the rear axle located properly, that is, perpendicular to frame and centered?

So, these are symptoms my truck had as well but, as it's relatively new to me vehicle and I was saving to by new shocks and tires anyways, I waiting to do an alignment until after those two installs. However, yesterday my steering locked up. I thought it was the PS pump at first, but there was a lot of "fresh-looking" grease on the pinion boot, so I decided to get a second opinion. Sure enough that's the culprit. So I get to replace my rack and pinion.

I also noticed that there was a lot of gunk built up on the rear passenger side under carriage. Just caked all over the front of my axle and shock. Now I wish I had looked into that more in depth because it was apparently a leak in my PS system throwing fluid.

Also, the guy at Advanced didn't believe that my truck's manual calls for ATF+4 transmission fluid for the power steering fluid...

2003 1500 QuadCab 5.7 4x4