Front end work on my 1999 2nd gen dodge ram 2500 2wd

[The motor guy]

They quoted me like $3500 to replace the following:

Both upper and lower control arms, idler arm and Pittman arm. Last time I had the front tires off the ground both tires had a good amount of side to side play if you grab them at 9 and 3. Could have sworn it was just the tie rod ends, but maybe this truck doesn't have those. Guess its got the older system instead of the newer rack and pinion design. Seems like an outrageous amount. The tires still wear evenly. My complaint is the steering wheel has a lot of play before it actually turns the wheels.

 

[cptbarkey]

The steering wheel play is probably due to a worn steering shaft or steering gear. You might be able to adjust the steering gear, but its likely worn.
There is zero reason to replace the pitman arm unless its cracked or you cant remove it after trying really hard with a puller.
I've bought 2nd gen entire trucks for less than that.

 

[The motor guy]

The steering wheel play is probably due to a worn steering shaft or steering gear. You might be able to adjust the steering gear, but its likely worn.
There is zero reason to replace the pitman arm unless its cracked or you cant remove it after trying really hard with a puller.
I've bought 2nd gen entire trucks for less than that.

I thought the whole steering box, steering shaft play thing is mainly on the 4wd trucks?

 

[D60]

You have TREs, but rather than a rack it's a recirculating ball gearbox. See also:
https://mopar1973man.com/forums/topic/1424-dodge-ram-steeringsuspension-components/

The 2nd Gens are sooooo bad about steering wheel slop, although all of my experience is with 4wds.

The steering boxes are notorious and there can be problems with a bearing at the firewall. For the former, I've been impressed with Cancraft outta BC. On the latter, Rock Solid makes a bushing. Do NOT blindly replace either without proper diag.

Be wary of shops replacing the standard stuff like you listed. It's boilerplate and may be needed, but may not provide the results you're hoping for, ie more may be required. They're likely going for the low hanging fruit/gravy/high profit margin stuff and will then just say "it's as good as it gets" after that.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Anything with a steering gearbox can have it wear out. But those are really just the old old old saginaw boxes that wear out. Usually it's a steering shaft joint or steering shaft bearing that wears out.

It's the same steering setup that showed up in tons of vehicles over the years - GM HD pickups are still using something nearly identical to what you have.

I have a higher-mileage 2001 Grand marquis which also has an almost identical steering setup to your truck. The idler arm was very worn out and causing problems. Everything else was in decent shape.

A bad idler arm bushing could cause wandering like you're feeling. Your truck definitely has tierod ends.

 

[ripcord]

Get under the truck and grab onto the pitman arm and hold it while someone moves the steering wheel through it's range of sloppiness. If the pitman arm is moving back and forth without any wiggles, slop, etc, then you can look farther down the chain. I've seen trucks where there was wear in the splines of the gearbox output shaft and the pitman arm but that is rare.

Those older Dodge trucks are known for wearing out front ends. How many miles on it? It will need it gone through eventually. Sooner if big tires are installed.

 

[D60]

You won't have a track bar but the equivalent is control arm bushings. Watch them as someone slowly rows the wheel left to right. If a control arm shifts in the transition from one direction to the other, that will cause play in the wheel.

With the vehicle running you can also carefully reach in to the steering shaft from the left fender. How much do you have to twist it before it translates to movement at the pitman arm? If a lot, your box is suspect. You can try to adjust the worm gear preload, but IME this is rarely successful on these boxes.

Never EVER get a reman box from any of the parts stores. PSC, BlueTop or Cancraft are promising. Personally I'd stay away from Redhead.

 

[Dave Hess]

Maybe reach out to Chirs142 for a quote.

 

[The motor guy]

Then the one thing I actually really wanted fixed which I was just going to do myself was a new hydroboost pump, but decided to have them do it since my wrist hurts. They gave me a quote back in January for like $600 so then after waiting two weeks to get in with these people because they're an appointment only shop, they tell me well we dont want to do the hydroboost because its a diesel..... I just dont get it, its like going to the doctor. What do these people do in between me making the appointment looking at the truck? Or why didnt they ask if it was a diesel? They put hydroboosts on gasoline vehicles too I believe. The bigger vehicles that is. So I spent $150 to have them adjust the rear parking brake and they found a seized star wheel. This is definitely something I could have done myself, but I figured just have both the brakes and the steering all fixed at once. Atleast the repair shops dont charge $300 to tell you what you already know.