GearBox and Possible wheel hubs

[UnderDogg]

Hello guys My 04 Yukon Denali is slightly loose steering and pulling to the right. I have all new suspension less than a year old. I have recently been made aware about a gearbox for my steering. Is it just as simple as adjusting a screw or should I do a full replacement. Also when I'm doing slow moving maneuvers it is hard to make left turns. Again I've looked around and have nothing else to replace that would involve steering.

Also on what I believe is a separate topic. When I get up to 65 mph and beyond I start hearing this humming. I'm thinking replace rear wheel hub bearings. I remember something similar happening and sounding like this in a 99 park avenue that I had once and replacing the assembly resolve the issue. Just looking for experienced opinions before I start tearing stuff apart not knowing what I should be looking for. Thanks guys

 

[Fless]

Your rear bearings are part of the axle assembly; they're not standalone hubs like the fronts are.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I've completely rebuilt my entire front end of my truck, including tearing down the steering gearbox and rebuilding. Here's my notes I put on YouTube from the steering gear rebuild:

GM / Delphi 670 / 680 Steering Gearbox Rebuild

Make sure to help others same money and fix their own gearbox. Share this video and thumb up it up! It ensures YouTube keeps sharing it with others. Note thi...

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You can adjust the pitman arm lash on top of the steering gear box. Not sure if I recommend this though. You need to be very careful so as not to second guess if you did it right (or if issues is really elsewhere). I rebuilt three gearboxes (easy and cheap to do). However, one of them I scarred the teeth in the gearbox as I over tightened that bolt. Here's the method I came up with to adjust the lash on the bench... maybe it will help with some insight for when you do it on the truck?

Otherwise, there's a lot that can make your truck pull like that.

Can you elaborate on "all new suspension"?

On your rear end, have you checked the fluid in the diff?

 

[UnderDogg]

I've completely rebuilt my entire front end of my truck, including tearing down the steering gearbox and rebuilding. Here's my notes I put on YouTube from the steering gear rebuild:

GM / Delphi 670 / 680 Steering Gearbox Rebuild

Make sure to help others same money and fix their own gearbox. Share this video and thumb up it up! It ensures YouTube keeps sharing it with others. Note thi...

youtube.com

You can adjust the pitman arm lash on top of the steering gear box. Not sure if I recommend this though. You need to be very careful so as not to second guess if you did it right (or if issues is really elsewhere). I rebuilt three gearboxes (easy and cheap to do). However, one of them I scarred the teeth in the gearbox as I over tightened that bolt. Here's the method I came up with to adjust the lash on the bench... maybe it will help with some insight for when you do it on the truck?

Otherwise, there's a lot that can make your truck pull like that.

Can you elaborate on "all new suspension"?

On your rear end, have you checked the fluid in the diff?

So when I say all new suspension I'm speaking on front end: Upper, lower control arms and ofcourse the ball joints that came with them. Swaybars, axles, pitmans etc. As for the rear I did have the passenger side hub assembly tube replaced and maybe they did a bs job with refilling the fluid in differential. I'm not sure I'm confident in the mechanic i use when I do use him though.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

I think that fluid in the rear diff does get on the bearings on either end of the housing. If it's low or bad then you might develop issues with the bearings. Take a little out the drain plug and see what it looks like. You can filter it and put it back in if it's okay. I reuse it all the time. You can even take it all out and put it back in if you have the time. Will tell you a bit better story if you get debris out bottom of housing to look at. If it looks burnt or smells bad, then you can remove the rear cover.

I should have asked, is there slop in your steering wheel? Can you wiggle the wheel without any response from the tires? Some are so bad you have a 10 degree dead band in the wheel or so where nothing happens when you turn the wheel. It's a clear sign there's issue with the steering gearbox if it's doing that.

You may like to put your truck on some ramps, crawl under with a grease pin and mark all the front end suspension components as you do a visual inspection for any obviously bent, damaged, or loose components. I mark the end of the bolts as well to see if they turn on their own when driving indicating something is loose.