Ed's5.9

I looked into blutop when buzzinhalfdozen recommended him and read what his rebuilds intail I also found a youtube video that displays the internals and functions inside steering gears, this is what made me think it was a repair that's out of my knowledge span due to lack experience and tools. But I had to start a Job on Tuesday and I needed to find a remedy or repair it quick, so I got under the truck to study the situation again and realized that the knock I was hearing seemed louder than what the gearbox was producing when I would move with my hand. I then started to inspect other steering and suspention parts and all parts seemed fine next I got a rubber mallet and started giving steering components light taps so see if I got any noises and found the actual issue ... A loose tierod bolt ! Looks like after I did the steering linkage a few months back things may have settled into place creating a little play. Bolt was only about 1full turn loose once I tightened it up the noise is gone and there is no slop in steering at all. But I do still have a leak to fix which I now have to see if its from the power steering pump or steering gear since steering feels tight again.

Seems pretty simple, is that a cutaway of our steering box ? Also where can I get other internal parts ? All I seem to find are seal kits and I'm thinking there might be more damage than that.

I have been hearing a slight knock when I hit bumps and occasional clunk at full steering lock up, finally got under the truck to check it out and there is a little play in the steering gear shaft, I'm not talking about rotational play, it has linear play and pump is starting to leak fluid ... I have been checking prices and wanted to check here if anyone has any other recommendations asides replacing it and if replacing it is the best option do we have any vendors here or discounts that we can get as members ? I found that DPP (Diesel Power Products) carries them at $389.00 and have an option to differ core charge which means no core charge as long as core is shipped within 30 days and core is not cracked or physically broken. Thank you all for your time.

I ended up buying the factory bolts from cummins, pulled the starter, generously sprayed holes with brake cleaner, hit it with some air and used a small caliper to get confirmed hole depths. Once I had proper depth measurement i proceeded to clean the threads by carefully threading the bolts in, once I started feeling any resistance I would back out spray and clean and then keep going until I got resistance and then rinse and repeat until I got the bolts in all the way to proper depth after performing this process on all 3 bolts I took starter to local rebuild shop for thorough inspection which was a good call because some of the bolts had came lose in the starter from all the rattling. With starter back in proper working order and clean threads with fresh bolts I put everything back together and tightened bolts as close to 37-40ft lbs as my scale certified hands could get it. At this point just for good measure I got a white sharpie paint marker and made straight lines down the side of the bolt heads and on the the housing of the starter of all three bolts to easily identify if bolts start to back out in the future. Its been a couple of weeks now and all line marks are still lined up, so as of now looks like its resolved but I will check periodically once or twice a week and keep a wrench an extra wrench in the truck for the next month or so. Also I learned something that may serve others that have this issue in the future. Visibly from the exterior it looks like only 1 bolt passes through but in reality 2 of them do the other passes through into the flex plate area I didnt confirm if alignment would permit it but it almost looked like if you use too long of a bolt you could possibly drive starter bolt into flex plate (made me feel at ease that I went with factory bolts...) but for others that go with longer bolts you may want to take this into consideration.

Got the truck home and now trying to figure a more proper solution, I found some metal shavings on bolt threads when pulling the starter off to inspect threads so there was some damage to the threads. Looks like I will have to helicoil/timesert the holes or at least 2 out of 3 (noticed one of the threads is a pass through which should allow me to use a longer bolt with a nut to lock it in.) On another note does anyone know if these trucks are suppose to have some sort of starter support bracket ? I didn't see one on there but wasn't sure if it even had one to begin with. Last year I had the starter changed by a local shop, I was in a bit of a jam so I couldn't do it my self and now I'm paying the price ... So now that I have the time to do it my self I want to do it right so any tips or recommendations are welcomed, thank you !

Copy that, thank you Me78569 and Mike !!

no only 1bolt was left and it was lose, also it's not the factory bolt (hex instead of 12pt) so I'm not sure if they backed out because they where not long enough to grab enough thread the shop where I got the starter done must have replaced oem screws. thank you guys for quick answer. Are bolt sizes the same for 2nd gen 2 bolt starters and 3rd gen 3 bolt starters ? I ask because P/N 3903834 is coming up for 94-98 ram 2500.

Does anyone have the bolt specs for the 3 starter bolts on a 2004 Ram 2500 5.9l 24v I have found the part number (04429834) but I need size, thread, pitch and grade to find a quick match at fastener store, thank you !

By the way you are a man of great patience, I could not hold in my hand the part that may resolve an issue in the name of proper diagnosing, God bless!

Im in the middle of a job now but when I'm done I'll look around in my garage for my old FCA that started failing causing idle surge. I'll let you know if I find it. If I do I'll cut it open and post pics..... stay tuned !

+1 I came accross a lot of those incomplete posts as well while researching this topic when having similar fuel issues (extremely frustrating when u have a broken down truck). This is a great contribution to this topic!

+1 I came accross a lot of those incomplete posts as well while researching this topic when having similar fuel issues (extremely frustrating when u have a broken down truck). This is a great contribution to this topic!

My guess is that the fuel system has less time to pressurize and flood the engine in comparison to if you are sitting in the second ingnition position (ACC position?) allowing more time for fuel to circulate the system which is what i beleive the COV is there to prevent. <<-- thats just a wild guess ...lol... so please don't quote me ... unless it works

My Vote goes to the COV !

I have had FCA issues in the past and throughout the 2yr time period of random symptoms and diagnosing it never reached a “No start or Full Shut Down” type of failure. While I was in search for a solution for that issue I did find that the COV (Cascade Overflow Valve) can cause no start situations and can even cause engine to sporadically shut down. Unfortunately this is yet another fuel system component that does not have a proper way to detect failure through DTC but it is one of the least expensive parts to replace if you want to give it a shot.