Crooked steering wheel

[ependydad]

"There was a crooked man,
And he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence
Upon a crooked stile.

He bought a crooked cat,
Which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a crooked little house."

I don't know if the truck does it all of the time, but this past trip I noticed while towing that my steering wheel has to be tilted in order to go straight. I haven't driven the truck since unhitching so I don't know if it is all of the time and don't recall if it did or didn't do this before?



Any thoughts?

[ependydad]

Yes, I'm going 64 and yes, I took this while driving. My wife was watching the road and there was no one around. Let's ignore those facts, please.

[nicholsonv]

My 2013 Silverado was off. Dealer did alignment and that fixed it. My Georgetown had the same issue. Again the alignment fixed it.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by nicholsonv

My 2013 Silverado was off. Dealer did alignment and that fixed it. My Georgetown had the same issue. Again the alignment fixed it.

The truck is at its tail end of warranty- any chance this is a warrantable thing?

[4mula1fan]

It's an alignment issue. It's doubtful if a warranty will cover it. It wouldn't take much to make the wheel off that amount. Pothole, turning the wheel while the truck was in a bind....anything like that.

[ependydad]

Thanks folks. I'll get this taken care of.

[RhoZeta]

Remove that RAM from the wheel and install a blue oval...

Seriously tho, not a clue about dodge but Ford will only do alignment under warranty in the first 12K miles. BUT, if you do have steering/suspension parts issues those should be covered under warranty parts and labor and then have to pay for alignment.

[transamz9]

If your tires are not wearing funny and it doesn't pull you can fix this yourself. On HD Ram the toe is set with one adjuster and the steering wheel is set with the other, The adjuster that you want to turn is the one on the link coming from your steering box to the passenger side steering knuckle. According to your picture you are going to want to turn it so that it shortens the rod (pulls the front of the passenger side tire towards the drivers side. Doing this will not effect your alignment, it will only move the steering wheel.

[rattleNsmoke]

Ayup. What he said..... I did that in the driveway on my F350 last summer. Not hard, just a good tug on the drag link collar with a pipe wrench.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by transamz9

If your tires are not wearing funny and it doesn't pull you can fix this yourself. On HD Ram the toe is set with one adjuster and the steering wheel is set with the other, The adjuster that you want to turn is the one on the link coming from your steering box to the passenger side steering knuckle. According to your picture you are going to want to turn it so that it shortens the rod (pulls the front of the passenger side tire towards the drivers side. Doing this will not effect your alignment, it will only move the steering wheel.

Originally Posted by rattleNsmoke

Ayup. What he said..... I did that in the driveway on my F350 last summer. Not hard, just a good tug on the drag link collar with a pipe wrench.

You guys are way too kind....

[rattleNsmoke]

I know, I know Doug....but seriously, with your steering wheel being that far from centered, take her into an alignment shop and have them go thru it. It's $$ well spent.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by rattleNsmoke

I know, I know Doug....but seriously, with your steering wheel being that far from centered, take her into an alignment shop and have them go thru it. It's $$ well spent.

I have the dealer do most of the work on my vehicles. I likely pay more- just hard knowing who to trust otherwise. I'll give them a call next week.

[Evo2700]

Last time I towed my trailer my wheel had to be slightly off center to keep strait, but not as much as yours in that picture. My wheel is nice and center and the truck goes straight down the road without the trailer. I was wondering if having one of the sway bars too tight was causing it or if my axles are off on the trailer.

[drc343]

If you are straight without trailer. Then your front axle is a little light. Need to add more weight to front with hitch adjustments.

[dkelly]

Ependydad, BTW "don't let the rain come down". If you know what I mean...........

[schrederman]

I'm assuming that it's a 4X4. If so, there's a large turnbuckle on the drag link coming from the pitman arm. It has 2 large jam nuts on either side to keep it from moving. If this is a recent development, please, for your safety, check that the nuts are tight against the turnbuckle. I had my steering wheel adjusted twice on my new Ram and the dealers techs didn't tighten the nuts. Both times it came loose and I almost lost steering control, once. I finally tightened mine in my driveway and have had no problem, since. The dealer's bozo techs could have killed us with their negligence.

[MC9]

My steering straightened up when I put new shocks on.

[ependydad]

Thanks everyone. I'll be driving the truck a bit this week without the camper so I'm going to try and pat attention to it. I drove it for about an hour yesterday, but conditions were sketchy and didn't think to look until I was about 10 minutes from my destination.

schrederman, do you have pics of where these nuts are? It is a 4x4- but I'm just not certain how recent of a development it is.

[schrederman]

Nice... uh... hat! The turnbuckle is right under the center of the radiator and back just a bit. The rod goes from the steering box to the right side. You can't miss it. If you can turn it with your hand, it's dangerous. It has left-hand threads on one side and right-hand threads on the other. The big center nut shortens or lengthens the rod to center your wheel. The jam nuts keep it from turning if they are tight enough...

[edgewant]

Remember the KISS principle. I'd start by checking tire pressures first.