2021 Ram 3500 Steering Gear Noise

[gbd]

There wasn't a category for steering so i'll put this here. I have a 2021 Ram 3500 Laramie with lane keep assist. Lately there is a clunking noise that has been getting louder when I bounce the steering wheel left and right over the center of the force point. I don't mean the center of the steering travel I mean when the electronic assist goes from pushing one way to pushing the other way. So if I am stationary and I turn the wheels 75% to the right and then bounce the steering wheel left and right the clunking happens there too. It started fairly soft but it's getting quite loud fairly quickly. When I have someone moving the wheel for me I can put my hand on this module on the steering gear and it seems to be where the noise is coming from:



I do all of my own wrenching but i've never owned a vehicle with electric assist steering, or torque overlay, or adaptive steering or whatever it's called. It seems like with this only being a few model years old there is not a ton of info out there on the internet yet. I'm curious if anyone has any experience with this unit. Are they serviceable, is there just some adjustment, is this a common problem? I don't want to take it apart without having some idea what I can do about it but I also don't want to order a steering gear "just in case" since they are $2500. I'm hoping it's just a loose component inside or something.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Also if anyone knows what these are technically called, I found a lot of conflicting information. Thanks in advance.

 

[gbd]

Alright so this forum is dead, or nobody has any idea how this thing works?

 

[RamCares]

Hi there, should you choose to visit the dealer regarding this concern, feel free to send our team a private message for an extra layer of assistance.

Diamond
Ram Cares

 

[gbd]

Hi there, should you choose to visit the dealer regarding this concern, feel free to send our team a private message for an extra layer of assistance.

Diamond
Ram Cares

I would never take a vehicle to a dealer. I guess this forum is dead.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I would never take a vehicle to a dealer. I guess this forum is dead.

The forum is very much not dead. You just haven't had any eyeballs on your issue that can help. First time I've ever seen anyone post about a mechanical issue with torque overlay. Most here tend to only jump in if they can and not throw out useless comment.

Perhaps you'll have better luck posting on cumminsforum.

 

[gbd]

In case someone finds this post in the future, the torque overlay is a stepper motor that attaches to the input shaft of the steering gear through a gear reduction, and the steering shaft then attaches to the input shaft of the torque overlay. In between the gear train and the stepper motor is a lovejoy coupling. The spider for the lovejoy disintegrated. Below are photos of both sides of the lovejoy. What looks like grease is not grease, it's what's left of the spider. The clunking started slow and soft as the spider was just loose but that slop quickly beat the snot out of the spider after a 3000 mile road trip and there was nothing left so the noise I was hearing was the stepper side of the lovejoy travelling all the way clockwise making metal to metal contact with the output side, then travelling all the way counter clockwise making contact with the other side. There is some wear on the lovejoy but it's not bad. Unfortunately the spider is 8 leg which is not common and when you do find them they are for lovejoys with curved nub faces which this joint has flat faces. I was not able to find anything that anyone sells online that would work, and Mopar does not sell any parts for these. I made a new one out of HDPE and it functions perfectly. This is not an ultra high torque application it's just a stepper motor, and it's also not going to get insanely hot. Unfortunately it was getting late and I forgot to take a photo of the spider I made. Start by removing the steering shaft from the torque overlay (be careful to not let the steering wheel move after you take it off, or you can damage the clock spring. To make this process easier I removed the intake elbow from the engine block and the tube off of the intercooler at the bottom. This gives good access to everything. Next there are 3 bolts that hold the torque overlay on to the steering gear then you can rotate / pry it off. There is nothing holding the shaft of the torque overlay to the steering gear, it's just splined. Once off there are 2 bolts that connect the stepper to the gear box, you can see them in the first photo below. You do not have to worry about retaining orientation of the stepper to the gear box, or the gearbox its self. When you put the torque overlay back on the steering gear there is 1 missing spline and the steering shaft can only go on one way so it's impossible to mess up as long as you haven't moved the steering wheel one full rotation either way. The stepper motor orientation and rotation does not matter, it just applies torque one way or the other. Hope this helps someone out. Good luck.

 

[whitexc]

Nice work. Nice write up. You say you made the new one from HDPE….3D printed?

Second question: is this on every new(er) Ram steering gear or just those with lane keep assist, etc.


Sent from me

 

[gbd]

It was not 3d printed, I don't think any of the filament I have could stand up to the temp. I made it from a sheet with a scroll saw and file. I assume it's only on the fancier models with lane keep assist like on a Laramie. You can buy the gearbox with and without the torque overlay so I don't think all models have it.

 

[Brutal_HO]

It's only on trucks equipped with ACC/Lane keep.

Looks like maybe the OE part was nylon?

 

[galoni9]

It was not 3d printed, I don't think any of the filament I have could stand up to the temp. I made it from a sheet with a scroll saw and file. I assume it's only on the fancier models with lane keep assist like on a Laramie. You can buy the gearbox with and without the torque overlay so I don't think all models have it.

I'm having the same issue. Do you rembember by any chance the thickeness of the material that you use?
I will carve my own too.

 

[gbd]

I'm having the same issue. Do you rembember by any chance the thickeness of the material that you use?
I will carve my own too.

I want to say it was around 1/4" but I don't recall exactly.

 

[galoni9]

Had to abort the mission. Those 10mm bolts holding the servo are meant to be broken. I would need to spray them and go thru a couple of heat cycles to see if I have better luck.