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Moses, After many tests and measurements and adjustments, here is what I found. Still not what I want, but truck steers a lot better... empty. *installed new/rebuilt Redhead steering gear - works much better. *adj toe in another 1/16". Now toed in 3/16" *cross measured rear axle to frame, front axle to frame and axle to axle per our previous discussion - all measurements are right on the money *As far as the rattle and infamous clunky from the tilt steering coupler - After removing darn near the entire steering unit, I packed the coupler full of red grease, I should have used something that smelled a bit better, but that took care of the noise for now *heavily packed the Boregson steering shaft with grease and that also took care of some slop in the shaft, I am going to install a zerk fitting where the shaft slides to accept pressurized grease from grease gun *as per our discussion, I made sure the steering shaft couplers are in phase still working on the steering Pete

Moses, after pouring over the service details, the only thing I learned is the column/tilt unit has to be replaced as a unit for a deal of $1200. Furthermore the details say not to disassemble the tilt mechanism. Yea right... After a few hours of inspection and pondering it was impossible for me to remove the two hybrid bolts on either side of the tilt mechanism to explore further. Time to go to plan "b". Pack the joint full of grease or plan "c", cut the two bolts off and replace with similiar hardened bolts when done, which could get ugly and maybe cause a saftey issue. Pete

Hello Moses, I can't wait to review the procedure a side note there is grease on the tilt steering coupler mechanism this truck had the rattle since the day I bought it at 50000 it now has 100 plus more on it several of my friends have this exact same rattle but no one seemed to know where its coming from. I removed the intermediate shaft all the coupling and put a vice grips on the steering wheel shaft eliminated the bottom bearing and it's definitely absolutely positively the coupler. In my opinion I don't think the stiff intermediate steering shaft put too much of a bind on the steering wheel column or that bearing on the bottom of the column would have been destroyed there is absolutely no slop on that bearing but a side note I can't believe the way they have that bearing secured to the column they bent the metal tabs over at the end of the bottom of the column. Can't upload the picture of the bearing on the bottom of the column it's 4mb with a flash and very detailed Disconnected the batteries for 20 minutes before I disconnected the airbag so the capacitor had enough time to discharge. Oddly enough there's a recall on my dodge 4 something in the airbag control... dodge has no clue when the parts are available. Thx very much for your time. Pete

Okay let's back up a bit I found the rattle that everybody is talking about here's the big secret it's in the tilt steering wheel coupler right next to the ignition switch here's a picture with all the covers and everything removed from the bottom of the steering column. So now the big question is how to keep the slop out keep it from rattling. It's such a minut bit of play I wonder if some grease might help what that small amount of play gets amplified through the shaft and then the steering column support and then you feel it in the brake pedals. Please review picture please review picture

Hello Moses after much hands-on research the borgeson intermediate shaft is in phase. I think I found the rattle issue there is a few thousands slop between the steering wheel and the inner bearing in the column under the dash. So now before I do a whole lot more research I need to figure out how to tighten the steering wheel or is there an inner bearing in the upper steering column to deal with there's a bearing on the bottom of the steering column under the dash that is in good shape something from the bottom up there's a little bit of slop side to side Then I need to see which intermediate steering shaft I'm going to install. Thx Pete

So Moses let's boil this down to one specific issue does the intermediate shaft need to move in-n-out as the cab and chassis flex Thx Pete

Hello Moses, More questions and school of thought... The Red head box will delivered till Monday... with that said, I have some concerns about my existing Borgeson intermediate steering shaft. Their tech people could not answer the basic questions, so here we go. The following problems encountered with the intermediate steering shaft, and the steering box. There have been no positive conclusions to remedy the following. 1. The Borgeson intermediate steering shaft has needle bearings at the bottom end u-joint coupler which to me is no better than factory. The intermediate steering shaft obviously fits on the steering gear box splines with a 3/4" Double D end spline configuration, this means you have to file a flat spot on the input shaft on the box for the set screw to be properly fastened to the intermediate shaft (problem- poor design, not safe). 2. There have been a lot of complaints (especially from me) that at this intersection at box and shaft, there is a raddle that is transmitted up through the steering shaft to the brake pedal area. This raddle is felt over certain bumps unloaded at low speeds. It is at the intersection talked about in problem one area. The new Borgeson box (part #800123) installed a couple of months ago and 750 miles did not help the raddle. Note: This raddle occurred since day one when I bought the truck, and with no success using old/new part configurations. (It is either end play on the input steering gear or the coupler attachment at the bottom of the intermediate shaft in my opinion) 3. Moving farther up the shaft to the halfway point is the set screw to hold the bottom shaft to the upper shaft, enclosed with a rubber boot to keep dirt out -the comment/question here is your going to have some movement between the frame (where the box is mounted) and the body (where the upper shaft and steering wheel are located) problem here is what happens to the movement between the frame and cab and how does it relate to the movement of the shaft especially when the set screw is tight with Loctite (Boregeson shaft has a set screw that is tight at the midway point where you have a single spline in case of accident the shaft collapses and compresses along the spline and negates the set screw, so normally there is no slidding movement in or out on the shaft to allow for the cab to chasis movement). I contacted Borgeson, they were no help here, one person actually told me to "look for write ups in the forums" REALLY! I am having thoughts of reinstalling the original Mopar steering shaft, because I like the positive fit at the box with the coupler using the clamp/thread installation. 4. The area at the firewall where the shaft goes through consists of a plastic bearing that has no support valve, I think it is there to cover the hole between the shaft and the firewall. This is fine however, the shaft is a double D design and therefore since it is a DD design, it is not a true circle and still allows engine heat/water into cab. Borgeson had no comment. Thank You, Pete

Hello Moses, The front bumper is Aluminum and beautifully crafted from Aluminus and believe it or not, it weights the same as the stock bumper with mounts, Obviously the throw away Harbor freight experimental winch is a real piece of work and the 12,000 lbs rating is a real joke. The research on the crush was a disaster. I purchased the lower control arms 2 years ago from 4Wheel Parts on line, Skyjacker part SKYDLL232. After calling, Procomp, Skyjacker, Rancho (while I had Rancho on the phone I asked them how are you supposed to adjust the front shocks? The knob that has the settings is almost impossible to turn, because it nested very close the the lower front coil, fingers and pliers just don't work, they are lifetime warrenty and I can refund at any time, on a positive note, the Rancho 9000's work really well because the Bilstein 5100's were removed on the front because they were too rough when the truck was unloaded on rough roads) . And of course the last place I checked was 4Wheelparts tech group - no one had any idea of the crush distance or even what what the crush was all about or even the factory torque for that matter. I asked about warranty them out, just for kicks and Skyjacker would only sell me a new bushing and sleeve kit HBll1752 for the radius arms for $30. Furthermore, no one could tell me where the bushings were sourced so I could get some tech information about them. After pondering over this, I wonder if the sleeves are too short, I will investigate. Well the rebuilt steering box from Red Head should be in Friday, I will pull the new old Borgeson unit out and ship it back for full credit thanks to the great people in your back yard at Summit Racing. I will take some pictures to document the process so you can see what is going on, and since you have helped me out on this major mystery. This is crazy, I have built Jeeps/fiberglass bodies, lifted everything on earth, built cages, installed lockers designed my own lifts and restored half a dozen classic cars from ground up... and this dodge is kicking my butt. Pete Please review my alignment specs as requested

Wow, I will be sending some pics as I start to work on my truck in the interim here is my combo... Interesting about the bushing crush. If anything I am too tight because I don't want the caster bolts to move. But I will check the crush measurement for sure. Is there a torque spec for that? Thx Pete

Hello Mosses, Thanks again for taking the time to reply. A couple of notes in random order... *I will be working on my truck as soon as the new rebuilt gear box comes in from Redhead Steering later on this week. *Discount Tire looked up in their chart for my truck and my specific tires came up with 62 front and 62 rear, I believe this is close to the manufacture specs at 65 front and rear, that's as bad as the 09 ford f250's, you have to keep +/- 5 lbs of air in them or the idiot lights come on and those truck ask for 70 psi front and rear, my 62 psi unloaded is ridiculous, a rough ride. *I will locate my latest alignment printout, since it was checked on the rack about 2 months ago, I still am going to cross measure the front axle, then we can compare notes. *The Carli Ball Joints are non-adjustable as far as I can tell, I just took them apart to make sure they had grease in them and weren't binding up and also retorqued them, as per there procedure. *The truck does not actually pull per se, if you point the steering wheel it goes that way and stays that way. *I was talking to the aftermarket people about my lower control arms and they were not surprised that my truck has steering issues because I replaced my lower control arms bushings with red polly ones instead of there (johnny joints), point being, as the truck moves up and down the control arm bushings actually move from side to side (the jury is still out on that one) Pete

Hello, Moses...I actually have one or two of your books somewhere in my collection... And I used to hang out with Bill Burke back in the days when he was just starting out and I am pretty sure that we met back in the day... thanks for the detailed reply. Where should I start... I have been four-wheeling for 45 years now and have a current class A Commercial license so with that said I am no expert here, yet I have been around the track a few times....I definitely welcome your advice. Lets start with tire pressure - unloaded I run 50 in the front and 45 in the back, loaded with Lance Truck camper (model 825 which was designed for F150 and Tundras) and 6 x 16 enclosed dual axle trailer I run 65 in front and 70 to 80 in the back depending what's in the trailer. (Also I use the truck to pull large RV trailers for hire occasionally all over the US and that tire pressure seems to work best for empty truck and pulling up to 13,500 lb trailer (which is my GVCW at 20,000 lbs), oddly enough, the truck steers the same loaded or unloaded...I currently have BFG KO All terrain tires 285 75 17 load range E on stock rims (these are plus two size). (Ran bfg's prior same problem.) Caster, I am currently at 4.5 on both sides and went up to the low 6's according to my angle finder, I have also read in your or Megatron's post and cross measured the front to rear axle and it is right on the money. Professional align shops have put it on the rack to check my settings and they were darn near right on... Guess I got lucky. But bottom line, I am close to factory specs. Everything I have done to the truck is considered an upgrade beyond factory level, example the Carli lifetime ball joints, because we all know that the stock ones wear out around 20 to 25k miles at the least, also the Dynatrac free spin kit I thought was a good idea to eliminate the single bearing to the old Dana 60 inner and outer wheel bearing design and of course the benefit of lock out hubs to eliminate the rotating mass... The new steering gear is a disaster... the tech support told me to adjust the preload, so I did, knowing perfectly well that it should have been adjusted on the bench at the factory, I am replacing the steering gear with something else immediately with that said. The steering fluid pressure is an excellent to test to consider, however, I have been avoiding that test because of the test equipment involved to measure the correct fluid pressure, I am thinking by the time I beg, borrow or purchase the test gear, or God forbid hire it out, I can purchase a new stock pump, btw, I am running the factory ATF+4 with Royal Purple additive, I bled the system, cap off, sawing the steering about 20x engine off, tires off the ground. I will definitely check the hoses for restrictions... a good call. "I need to ask the obvious question: Does the truck handle okay empty? The truck handles almost as poorly as it does fully loaded with camper and trailer. Does the steering return to center, very poor return to center is wander non-existent, it always wanders, last week I was on my way back from AZ to CA and there was a section on newly added highway, concreted that the truck actually handled satisfactory, do you have safe control of the vehicle when running empty? I have better control of the truck when running empty opposed to being loaded. If so, let's talk about your towing and hauling needs and what a Ram 2500 Cummins 4x4 Quad Cab with SRW can actually do." Thank You for your time and your comments, very much appreciated. FYI, many forums talk about this situation and it is very common, but no one has the actual cure and certainly the professionals won't even touch this topic especially the dealerships. Pete

Gentleman, I have been spending way too much $ and countless hours of research and doing my own work on my 2006 2500 Dodge Ram 4x4 quad cab diesel pickup for some time now. The truck is used for towing ONLY, it has never been off road. I bought the truck in 09 with 50k miles on it. I now have 155k on it and have replaced the following: Bilstein 5100 shocks, just changed to Rancho adjustables, front coil springs, lower control arms, BD steering brace, new sway bar bushings, all new brakes, calipers, pads, rotors, lines, Borgeson input shaft and box, T steering, pitman arm, stabilizer, Mopar recall steering, Carli Ball joints, Dynatrac free spin kit, Lukes Link track bar kit, Michlien ATX plus 4 E rated tires, now BFG All Terrains (adjusted air from 50 to 65 lbs. Alignment- set caster +4.5 degrees, toe 1/8" in. Everything I have done has improved the steering just slightly but still has the same problems as day one. (Wandering, delayed steering, continual correction, poor return to center). Of course when I load the Lance Truck camper, add air to the rear bags, hook up the chains to the load distribution hitch and pull my 18 foot trailer everthing is worse. Possible remedies - Borgeson says to loosen the worm gear back off 1/4 turn to no avail, one of the forums says to change out high pressure hose leading to booster, flash ECM to change line pressure, track bar could be flexing, poor pressure from steering pump. Help!