[DuRonbo]

See if this helps......

 

[Durangutan]

See if this helps......

Right on! I remembered pretty well.

 

[mayhem]

Thanks guys. Its 100% possible my wheel is off by one full rotation. I did my best to keep everything centered properly, but I bet I messed it up...question is how to figure out if I'm 360 out clockwise or counter-clockwise. Higher end code reader would tell me maybe? One that reads transmission, ABS and airbag codes and such? I'm overdue to replace my old basic code scanner.

 

[mayhem]

DuRombo, I can't see your attachment. Might be my work firewall so I'll check it later from home. Thanks.

 

[Durangutan]

STANDARD PROCEDURE CLOCKSPRING CENTERING
WARNING: To avoid personal injury or death, on vehicles equipped with airbags, disable the supplemental restraint system before attempting any steering wheel, steering column, airbag, occupant classification system, seat belt tensioner, impact sensor, or instrument panel component diagnosis or service. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative (ground) cable, then wait two minutes for the system capacitor to discharge before performing further diagnosis or service. This is the only sure way to disable the supplemental restraint system. Failure to take the proper precautions could result in accidental airbag deployment.

Note: Before starting this procedure, be certain to turn the steering wheel until the front wheels are in the straight-ahead position. HB RESTRAINTS - SERVICE INFORMATION 8O - 533

1. Place the front wheels in the straight-ahead position.
2. Remove the clockspring from the steering column. (Refer to 8 - ELECTRICAL/RESTRAINTS/CLOCKSPRING - REMOVAL).
3. Rotate the clockspring rotor (10) clockwise to the end of its travel. Do not apply excessive torque.
4. From the end of the clockwise travel, rotate the rotor about two and one-half turns counterclockwise. The engagement dowel and yellow rubber boot (7) should end up at the bottom, and the arrows on the clockspring rotor and case (9) should be in alignment.
5. The clockspring is now centered. Secure the clockspring rotor to the clockspring case to maintain clockspring centering until it is reinstalled on the steering column. 6. The front wheels should still be in the straight-ahead position. Reinstall the clockspring onto the steering column.

 

[Durangutan]

CLOCKSPRING REMOVAL:
1. Place the front wheels in the straight ahead position.
2. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative cable.
3. Remove the driver airbag from the steering wheel.
(Refer to 8 - ELECTRICAL/RESTRAINTS/DRIVER
AIRBAG - REMOVAL).
4. Disconnect the steering wheel wire harness connectors from the upper clockspring connector
receptacles.
CAUTION: Be certain that the screws that secure
the steering wheel puller to the steering wheel are
fully engaged in the steering wheel armature without passing through the steering wheel and damaging the clockspring.
5. Remove the steering wheel (1) from the steering
column. (Refer to 19 - STEERING/COLUMN/
STEERING WHEEL - REMOVAL).
6. Grasp the tilt steering column knob (3) firmly and
pull it straight rearward to remove it from the tilt
adjuster lever on the left side of the column.
7. From below the steering column, remove the two
outboard screws that secure the upper column
shroud (1) to the lower shroud (3).
8. Using hand pressure, push gently inward on both
sides of the upper shroud above the parting line of
the lower shroud to release the snap features that
secure the two shroud halves to each other.
9. Remove the upper shroud from the lower shroud
and the steering column.
10. Remove the one center screw that secures the
lower shroud to the steering column (4).
11. Remove the lower shroud from the steering column.
12. Disconnect the two instrument panel wire harness
connectors from the two connector receptacles
located below the steering column on the back of
the clockspring housing.
HB RESTRAINTS - SERVICE INFORMATION 8O - 535
13. Remove the two screws (3) that secure the clockspring to the multi-function switch mounting housing.
14. Remove the clockspring from the multi-function
switch mounting housing. The clockspring cannot
be repaired. It must be replaced if faulty or damaged, or if the driver airbag has been deployed.
15. If the removed clockspring is to be reused, be certain to secure the clockspring rotor to the clockspring case to maintain clockspring centering until
it is reinstalled on the steering column. If clockspring centering is not maintained, the clockspring
must be centered again before it is reinstalled.

 

[DuRonbo]

Try clicking on the link in the attachment that says "Durango Clockspring".

Here's the same pdf attachment. The earlier one shows that's the image is loading and to refresh the page. But it never shows up completely. The pdf below show it's a successful upload. Try this one below.

 

[mayhem]

By "see your attachment", I meant the file was being blocked by my work firewall. I was not allowed to click or download it. Got it when i went home, thanks.

As it turns out the issue was more or less what I thought (and hoped) it was, I got myself messed up with steering wheel position when pulling the old rack and installing the new one...I was of by 360 degrees. Got it back in the garage, pulled the driver's wheel and fender liner, loosened the steering column and popped it off the rack, turned it right one full turn and reattached and viola! Everything is back in sync.

Got it aligned, rides nicely, goes down the road straight...got a little play when dead center and on a straight road, not bad but enough to notice. I'm going to recheck everything and make sure I didn't leave any slack in the steering column bolt...might just be because its a relatively low cost remanufactured rack and not an $800 Dodge part.

 

[Combat Infidel]

awesome information fellas

 

[techmoose]

I know this is a way old thread - but did you end up having to put the mounting bolts in from the other side when you put the new rack in? I've seen people say they had to cut the exhaust to do this, just curious if you put the new bolts in from the other side like you mentioned you might have to. Thanks!

Mounting botls in, new tie rod ends in, new hydraulic lines in. Got back in the garage last night, dry fitted the hydraulics to confirm they're the right ones, then worked them into place so the ends were in the appropriate spots to be connected. Got the rack into the frame and lined up everything, put the new bolts in to hold it and had to fiddle with the steering wheel a bit to get it to fit, there was a bit of debris inside the u-joint that I had to clean out, then it just popped on and I installed the bolt, verified afterwards that I had the wheel centered properly and that it moved freely lock to lock a few times. Worked great so I'm starting to get suspicous.

Installed the hydraulic lines, high pressure first as its harder to get at the end on the rack with a wrench, made sure the new o rings included with then were installed and lightly lubricated with fresh atf before installing. Relatively easy to line up and screw together. Low pressure hose was a bit more challenging to get lined up straight, but a bit of fiddling got it sorted out and locked down. Made sure all ends of all hydraulic lines were secured nice and tight and all the hose clamps I had to move around were on correctly.

Dumped a quart of atf+4 into the reservoir and waited for the bubbling to stop as it purged out some air...then I started moving the steering wheel slowly lock to lock a couple dozen times, every so often I'd hear some air bubbles gurgling around and have to add a bit more atf to the pump, then do it again. Sometimes the last 3/4 of a rotation of the wheel would get fairly stiff, but not binding and then it would not do it on the next go around so I'm guessing this is some air pockets working their way through the system. I know I won't get it all out without running the pump but I think this is the best way to start out and just let gravity do a bunch of the work for me to purge out the air in the system. Got about a quart and a half in there now before I stopped this process. I figure some more air will probably work its way out overnight and my last step will be to pull the fuel pump fuse and run the starter to turn the pump at a low speed to force fluid through the system, top off and then start it up to do the last of the air purge.

I opted to tighten the rack to the frame at this point, thinking it might be contributing to the stiff feeling I've noticed in the steering wheel. Those bolts are very long and take awhile to get even close to tight and the nuts fit tightly onto the threads so it takes a lot of effort to get them even snug. Got the first one snug, but not torqued, moved to the second one and figured I'd use my cordless impact to do most of the work...this was where things went sideways on me. I didn't check the direction on the gun and it was to loosen, which zipped the nut off the end of the bolt pretty quickly...I changed the direction and hit it real quick while I still had the nut on the wrench and bam! cross threaded the damn nut onto the bolt and managed to screw up the leading thread on the bolt. Got it all out and decided this was a sign to stop for the night as there was no way I'd be finishing it anyway.

So now I have to either replace the bolt (which I bought new yesterday) or fix it. There's plenty of thread so I'm pretty confident I can just grind off the broken bit of thread, its only about a half inch of thread, if that as measured around the bolt, so it will probably clean up nicely...if it doesn't then I'll have to wait another day for a new $15 bolt from the Dodge dealer. So it should be finished up tonight hopefully, Once its all back together and I've verified all the hydraulics are working I'll do a quick home alignment so I know the tires wont get ruined by my wife driving it a bit on Friday, alignment is scheduled for Saturday morning.

 

[mayhem]

Yes sir, I did. Given the choice of praying that the exhaust would come apart and go back together intact and not create a secondary major project or just cutting off the old bolts and putting the new ones in backwards, I went with the bolt solution. Everything went back together just fine and its had a good 40k+ miles put on it since then. No issues.

Took one look at the rusty bolts on the exhaust and decided there was no way it was coming apart easily and even less chance it would ever go back together.