Steering locked up truck totaled

[rvance]

I can assure you on an older vehicle losing a power steering belt can make your life miserable. I had a 1969 Chevelle I drag raced and to get more power I removed the power steering pump and belt. The car was street legal and street driven but it was very difficult to steer and your arms felt like they were gonna fall off. If it had happened suddenly near a curve I could definitely see a car into the guardrails

I had a Roadrunner that I put a hemi in and it kept blowing out the power steering pump and it was unsteerable, especially at the speed the car was going when it happened. After the second time I got a manual steering column and box from a wrecked taxi and even my 110 pound wife could drive it to work. Just lucky that it always happened while I was going straight.

 

[Mister Luck]

2019 dodge ram classic had steering wheel lock up on mountain road engine shut down and steering would not work.
Truck plunged over a 170ft embankment.
Rolled 6 times. Everyone walked away from it. Been having short problems with I Injector 3. Been to dealer twice. Light came on and steering locked up.
Anyone else have this prob.

Maybe rodents nested in the engine compartment and
ate the harness ?

 

[LouM]

I guess if I think about it I'll shut off the truck while I'm coasting tomorrow and see how much effort it takes to steer it.
As far as steering a hydraulic power steering truck with out the power, I blew out the pump on a 72 ford F250 Crew Cab
back in the 80's and just never got around to replacing it I drove that truck for several years and 100,000's of miles
working construction all over the intermountain west and it didn't steer that bad at that time, not sure what I'd say now.

 

[Anthony Kalos]

These New Ram trucks act like they were made during Lee Iacocca days at Chrysler !!!

 

[Marshall]

Strange statement, Chrysler was in trouble before he took over

 

[mikeru]

These New Ram trucks act like they were made during Lee Iacocca days at Chrysler !!!

Strange statement, Chrysler was in trouble before he took over

Lee Iacocca arguably saved Chrysler from itself. He was responsible for the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Horizon, which lead mini-van sales for more than 25 years. He also lead the acquisition of AMC, which includes the Jeep division. I'd say that's been pretty successful.

 

[GTyankee]

not to mention the Original Hemi engine & the newer HEMI engines
Boat owners are still upset that Chrysler had to sell off its Marine Division

I don't think that
FCA did anything RAM wise before JULY 2010, when they began building the 2011 Ram 1500
That is when the 1500 Rams got the ZF Rear Differential

 

[CanRebel]

Around 9 or 10 years ago. can't remember, cause I'm old.
I had ford escape, it was 3 weeks old. Winter time, my wife was driving down highway. It just shut off at 70km
It took both of us to try to steer it. We ended up hitting concrete hydro pole(hitting the pole was better than hitting tim's full of people)
We got lucky as there was big truck right behind us. Was told later some module in engine was defective.

It did still steer, but it was shock of the just shutting off, and it was hard to turn.

 

[Vintage67]

You're all alive and that's what counts.

 

[demonram]

My previous truck, a 2005 Ram 1500 regular cab LS, three different times my steering went out. It was always when I let off the throttle going into a curve. Very unnerving when you try to turn the wheel and you are met with stiff resistance. Turned out the EGR valve was malfunctioning. Scary.

 

[Willie Mosher]

Power steering on most modern
Day cars is used at low speed,
(Parking lot speeds)
So little old lady should by albe
Safe get off hwy,

 

[TEXOMA]

Glad everyone walked away, you are lucky. Bought a new 3500 loaded laramie , 4000 miles now. Steering linkage already needs replaced. Pretty disappointed with the truck so far. Part is not available and not safe to drive it. Noticed a clunking noise when turning the wheels both directions.

 

[stormcom]

Sounds like Ram may owe you a new truck if they have one to get to you. His insurance company has probably told him to stay off social media while they investigate. I am sure he will repost when the time is right.

 

[soapy]

I remember a recall on one of my trucks years ago that required some rubber plugs to be put in a couple of screw holes on the bottom of the steering column. It seemed that people with long key chains would get spare keys caught in the holes while turning effectively locking up the steering.

 

[mtwofeathers]

Anyone else notice that this guy hasn't come back to this thread since he made it? I generally like to take people at their word, but his original post had me thinking something was off about it. The phrasing is weird. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, and I get it, most people have real lives LOL. But it would be nice if he could come back and provide some more details about what happened.

Yes sounds fishy, but I knew there was an issue of losing power steering in 2019 rams. So that might have been a real issue, overblown by rolling down a hill and surviving it. It was an issue with braking at the same time.
NHTSA Campaign Number 19V020000.
Same year, loss of brakes when going from park to drive or reverse. Transmission engages and rolls even tho brake is firmly pushed down. Then a big one, steering wheel detaches itself from column. Imagine raising your hands up while still holding wheel when that happens.

 

[bobbanka]

My 2017 Ram 1500 is having power steering issues but nowhere near the problem yours had. Just hard to steer from a standstill and getting harder. Called 3 dealers and mid October is the earliest they can see me due to labor shortages.

 

[Dodge Drafter]

The same thing happened to me, minus going off the freeway. Driving down the freeway on a short trip I attempted to turn the wheel just a bit to stay in the lane sa the road began to curve to the left. To my shock the steering wheel was locked in about the middle of the steering range. My engine and everything else worked. I turned the flashers on and stepped hard on the brakes. I found that by using ALL of my strength I could turn the wheel about a .50" at a time. I finally got over next to the guard rail and parked it. I couldn't free it up on the highway, plus the edge of my truck was right on the line snd when 18 wheelers passed their draft blasted me. I didn't feel comfortable working on it so I called for a tow.

(See part two)

 

[Dodge Drafter]

Part Two - 2006 Ram 1500 with locked up steering.

When I got home I got my service manual out and went to the section on power steering issues. I service my truck regularly so I checked the fluid level. It was down about a .25". Not enough to cause a problem like this. I read more and found that air bubbles alone in the lines could cause anything from slowing the steering down making it hard to steer to a full lock up like mine. I had never had a tiny bit of a problem before.

I jacked it up and crawled under it with a flashlight. The end of the return line from the oil cooler had split at the end and went about an inch up past the clamp. That was the culprit. I jumped in another vehicle and went to AZ. I got a pump, reservoir, a new pulley, and a new oil cooler. Got hard line hoses except for the two for the oil cooler which were rubber. Changing everything out meant I only had to bleed the steering knuckle on the steering shaft. Everything tight I filled up with new fluid and started it up with the front wheels still off the ground. At first it was stiff, like it had gravel under the knuckle I kept it up until it was smooth as silk. I let down and took a short drivr

 

[RubberFrog]

...My 5 foot 100 lb daughter most certainly would have....

Tell us more about this 5 foot 100lb daughter.

 

[Hootbro]

I would not count on the OP being back anytime soon. Seems he took a dump and left and has not been back since his first post.

Google his name and it comes back to a 72 person in AZ which checks out when old people get on the internet and actually register with their own name as their handle name.

Post does seem like a troll post but I am betting there is some truth to it but I sure would like to see an actual police report of the event.