Three problems related to steering gear box have been reported for the 1997 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I purchased this truck in a damaged condition after replacing parts that were necessary on front suspinion including track bar which was worn badly for a truck with only 65000 miles truck was taken in for an alignment even after this truck has tendency to wander on road I beleave this is caused by incorrect preload on steering sector which can be adjusted upon researching this on internet I find this tends to be a common problem on these trucks I called Chrysler to see if they would do any kind of policy adjustment on box they said no I feel that this is a safety issue and not a wear problem and sense truck was wreaked by previous owner I wonder if this might have been a contributing factor as the looseness in steering box is not connected to accident and with number of people complaining cannot be coinsidential.
Dt: consumer states the steering gearbox on the vehicle has a problem. While pulling from the driveway consumer was unable to steer. Vehicle was going about 20mph. Luckily consumer made it back to the driveway. Consumer feels this was the steering gearbox. Vehicle is unable to be driven. After inspection of the vehicle, consumer felt as though it is the gearbox. Vehicle has not been taken to the dealership, but plans to have dealer to double check this issue.
While driving, consumer could hear and feel a clicking/knocking noise, dealer replaced the steering shaft, however the gear box was found to be the problem, consumer states that at dead center, he could feel no steering contact with linkage.