Steering wheel not straight?

[ThomasEfrom]

Good evening all,

I have a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7l crew cab, short bed. I recently changed my lower intermediate steering shaft and while taking it for a test drive to make sure everything was good the steering wheel was perfectly straight just like before. After 2 weeks i’ve noticed that when i make my steering wheel straight the truck will slightly steer to the right but when the wheel is at the 11 o’clock position the truck drives straight.

I’ve adjusted all my tire pressures & i don’t think the brakes are hanging up because it doesn’t pull after applying the brakes or when you let off. it seems to be an alignment issue.

my question is, after swapping the intermediate steering shaft why would the alignment be off in the steering wheel weeks later? why wouldn’t it have been off right away? do i need to take the wheel off and retorque the 2 bolts on the steering shaft?

 

[Wild one]

Find a 2 lane backroad with no traffic,and drive down the very center of the road.If it steers straight when you're straddling the center line,it's the road crown you're observing

 

[ThomasEfrom]

Find a 2 lane backroad with no traffic,and drive down the very center of the road.If it steers straight when you're straddling the center line,it's the road crown you're observing

i drive on the same roads almost every day, i’ve tried to do what you said before but i get the same issue, if im in the middle of the road and straighten the wheel it steers to the right

 

[Wild one]

i drive on the same roads almost every day, i’ve tried to do what you said before but i get the same issue, if im in the middle of the road and straighten the wheel it steers to the right

Then it might be time to find an old time wheel alignment guy and have him go over the front end

 

[chri5k]

Check all the fasteners on the parts you replaced / disturbed. If any are loose, take the apart, clean the threads and apply loctite before reassembly.

 

[indept]

Of course it's not straight, it has a Drag link

Seriously replacing that shaft should not affect your alignment. I've never had mine off but there should be splines on the end where it clamps down on them and you probably installed it off by a spline or 2.

 

[18CrewDually]

Of course it's not straight, it has a Drag link

Seriously replacing that shaft should not affect your alignment. I've never had mine off but there should be splines on the end where it clamps down on them and you probably installed it off by a spline or 2.

They're indexed. There is no "off by a spline or two".

 

[jws123]

If the old shaft was worn out as they usually are probably had some play in steering so you didnt notice it being off a little probably time to go get a alignment.

 

[1 MEAN66]

Good evening all,

I have a 2017 Ram 1500 5.7l crew cab, short bed. I recently changed my lower intermediate steering shaft and while taking it for a test drive to make sure everything was good the steering wheel was perfectly straight just like before. After 2 weeks i’ve noticed that when i make my steering wheel straight the truck will slightly steer to the right but when the wheel is at the 11 o’clock position the truck drives straight.

I’ve adjusted all my tire pressures & i don’t think the brakes are hanging up because it doesn’t pull after applying the brakes or when you let off. it seems to be an alignment issue.

my question is, after swapping the intermediate steering shaft why would the alignment be off in the steering wheel weeks later? why wouldn’t it have been off right away? do i need to take the wheel off and retorque the 2 bolts on the steering shaft?

shouldn't be! Did you forget to tighten ? Or do you have a bad tie rod? Something had to "move". Or is it a simple bad tire causing a pull. Test by : taking the front tires and cross them to the opposite sides. If the pull moves, or goes away. it's internal in the tire and usually (90%) pulls to the bad tire.