This past fall, after doing the ball joints, hubs, track bar, stabilizer, alignment, etc, I could tell that my steering box was getting sloppy. I could turn the steering wheel a few inches before any resulting turn to the tires.
At this time, I was getting ready to make the drive up to the northwest to go elk hunting and planning on spending a couple grand doing it, so I wasn't ready to swallow another $1k to do what I really wanted with the steering box, which was either the mopar box or a red head. So I made the decision to go with a reman from autozone, and boy did I regret it.
Getting the work done wasn't too horrible. I wish I had a lift, but I made due. The good part was that this box took almost no effort to turn the tires, even at a stand still. The bad part was yet to come...
I also messed up my clock spring during this job. See this thread for more info:
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/3rd-gen-non-powertrain/709401-srs-clock-spring.html
I got to Portland, hung out for a couple days, then started to head to Eastern Oregon to elk camp, and I had my first experience with Death Wobble. Remember, all of the 'typical' contributing components had been replaced with new, very high quality parts less than 6 months before. This occurrence of DW blew one of the fluid lines off the new steering box, prompting a 6-7 mile walk back to Pendleton, OR to find ATF+4. Oddly, finding that stuff in Pendleton on a Sunday isn't the easiest thing in the world. We tried several gas stations and 'parts stores' before finally getting far enough into town to find a NAPA open on Sunday. Then back to the truck with enough fluid to fill the box twice. In hindsight, we were damn lucky that we were only a few miles outside of Pendleton. A couple hours further down the road and I probably wouldn't even be able to get AAA out there to help let alone walk back to town.
After two more occurrences of DW on the way to La Grande, we finally camped out over night, and waited for a local tire shop to open up who we were told would probably be the best place to go for this because pretty much every farmer for miles brings their dodges to this place. Each time we had the DW, the fluid line blew off the box again. He found the track bar bushing shot, and he found that one of the tie rod ends was a little too loose for his liking and replaced both, then sent us on our way. At this point I was back to an OEM bushing in the Carli track bar, because in BFE that's all he had. This got me through elk hunting, and back to phoenix a couple weeks later, so I thought we had taken care of this.
I'd like to note here that both Craig at Strapt, and Dan at Carli were extremely helpful trying to help me troubleshoot this. Craig answered his phone on a Sunday (who does that anymore????) to help out, and even dropped a new bushing in the mail for me the very next day. Dan at Carli called me on Monday while my truck was in the shop to offer his advice as well. I will be forever greatful for both of their service.
Then, after returning to phoenix, it happened again, and the line blew off again. So back to Strapt I go. After nearly an entire day of looking, the only thing definitive we found was that the track bar bushing was shot, again. So in with a new carli bushing. Craig (both of them were under my truck and/or driving it for a good portion of the day) also ultimately adjusted the toe as it was out a bit. After getting it to wobble once during the day, blowing the line again, Craig checked everything over as thoroughly as possible, and with the bushing and toe adjustment sent me on my way. When it was all done, the only thing Craig charged me for was the bushing and install on that. After spending all day messing with it. Again, can't say how much these guys rock.
Following my visit to strapt, I also had the balance checked on the tires, and found that one of the fronts was about half a pound out of balance. They did a full alignment at the same time. Following that and all the work that Strapt did, I've yet to have a recurrence of Death Wobble. I can't say for sure which thing was the culprit, the steering box that couldn't hold the lines on, the track bar bushing, the toe, or the balance. If I had to guess, I'd say that the bushing was probably trashed by the death wobble, not the cause. The rest of it probably all added up to allowing the wobble to happen.
I've since replaced the steering box with the Mopar unit, and no more issues. So far...
Also, the Craigs just about nailed the toe in their shop using a tape measure. I know Toe isn't all that difficult to adjust, but after the computer alignment at the shop later, their adjustment was almost dead on, and needed no further adjustment. Nicely done Craigs!
k, sorry for all the words and no pics, but I didn't get any of all this, and it was a long drawn out experience.