My quest to drive in a straight line

[Squirrelsmith]

A month after I got my 98 2 door I was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving... I decided to start working on my suspension soon after. I replaced all the bushings, ball joints, tie rods etc in the front suspension. I'm no longer a threat to society but it's still a 10 and 2 situation.

I will soon be replacing my steering gear box with this 15:1 redhead box
https://redheadsteeringgears.com/product/1997-1999-gm-suv-181-ratio-3/

and my rag joint with this flaming river billet machined joint
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...DvkhvYMF_Nu5K3Bv-4ATf7B_X7N4rDgRoC4wUQAvD_BwE

stay tuned for results!

 

[Squirrelsmith]

Any input or experience on the topic is greatly encouraged!

 

[iamdub]

If it's anything like the S10's setup (and it is- just bigger), then those are the two biggest improvements that get overlooked. Many install a Jeep (XJ?) steering shaft instead of the Flaming River joint because it's WAY cheaper. How's the rest of the system- TREs, idler and pitman arms, center link...?

 

[Squirrelsmith]

Idler and pitman need to be replaced too. Dont know what a center link is, tires have a little life left in the but they are getting down there

 

[Squirrelsmith]

I see what a center link is now. I replaced the bushings on it with energy suspension polyurithane

 

[east302]

Centerlink should be fine since it doesn’t really have any wear points, but you could always swap it out.

There are at least two gearboxes used on these, one for the EVO systems and the one for previous years. I have a 96-style (from Bluetop gears) on my 98 two door with the EVO system intact. It’s noticeably heavier steering than the stock style box on my 98 Z71 truck. Both drive straight, but the truck has a lighter feel to it.

I’ve noticed others saying the same thing: the pre-EVO steering feel was different than the 97+.

Visual differences between the gearboxes are below, compare the opening around the steering shaft connection:

97+



96

 

[96-2D-Hoe]

FYI you can replace the steering gear, rag joint, pitman and idler with the truck on the floor. I did mine about a year ago. I got a reman box through rockauto. Is fine but a bit light.

 

[Squirrelsmith]

Centerlink should be fine since it doesn’t really have any wear points, but you could always swap it out.

There are at least two gearboxes used on these, one for the EVO systems and the one for previous years. I have a 96-style (from Bluetop gears) on my 98 two door with the EVO system intact. It’s noticeably heavier steering than the stock style box on my 98 Z71 truck. Both drive straight, but the truck has a lighter feel to it.

I’ve noticed others saying the same thing: the pre-EVO steering feel was different than the 97+.

Visual differences between the gearboxes are below, compare the opening around the steering shaft connection:

97+



96

I see it, and you can use either?

 

[east302]

Yes, mounting points are the same

 

[calsdad]

I had a similar problem (not able to hold a steady straight line) in my 2010 Yukon XL 2500.

Since I drive the truck almost every day - and have limited time to work on it between work and a 1yr old at home, I replaced almost all the front end components on a piece by piece basis and strategically so that I didn't screw up the alignment too badly until near the end.

The tires on the truck were well worn out at 110,000 miles - and I wanted to late be able to add larger brakes, so the first thing I did was replace all four tires with some new Yokohamas and upgraded to 20" wheels all around. This actually helped make the truck track straighter by a little - but it also showed that the steering definitely needed some help.

Since I was trying to avoid doing anything to screw up the alignment , the first thing I did was replace the idler arm and pivot point - with one of the Rare Parts HD idler arms - and one of the ball bearing pivots. I also welded in one of the frame reinforcement plates for the idler arm pivot mount. That was a about 4-5 hours of work , and when I drove the truck to work (35 miles one way on the highway) - I could tell that it helped just a little bit to make the thing track straighter.

The next thing I replaced was the steering damper - with a Bilstein damper. This so seemed to help just a little by getting some of the vibration out of the steering.

Next thing I did after that was the Pitman arm - I had to remove the steering box to do this - which actually turned out to be a pretty easy job. I looked up the adjustment procedure for the steering box and did that too after I got the box back in.

Drove the truck to work the next day - and again it seemed to help make it track just a little bit straighter

The next thing I did was replace the upper control arms with Cognito arms with the urethane bushings , which supposedly give the ability to have more caster adjustment. I also replaced with the tie rods with the extra heavy duty tie rods from Rare Parts - and adjusted them based by comparing them side by side with the tie rods I took out. Drove the truck to work the next day - and it definitely helped the thing track straighter - but I wasn't sure how good the alignment was. It took me a couple of weeks to get an appointment for an alignment after that.

When I got the alignment - they had the truck for the entire day. I think the shop I chose pretty much didn't know how to think outside the box at all - because trying to get across to them that all the steering components had been replaced - and the new upper A-arms allowed more caster adjustment than stock - seemed to baffle them. I got the printout for the alignment - and it's all good - but they couldn't seem to get the steering wheel straight.

I drove the truck after this - and it definitely tracks much straighter - but it had a definite pull over towards the right side - which was something they mentioned. The steering box has an on-center zone - so I figured that the pulling might be at least in part because the steering wheel is now just off center on the zone. So I centered the steering wheel by carefully adjusting the tie rods on each side to bring the wheel back to center. This actually helped a little - but the truck still didn't have that centered - on - the - rail feeling I was looking for.

Just yesterday - I had some free time - so I put the truck up on the ramps and adjusted the tie rods to give it just a little bit more toe-in. I turned the adjustment 1/2 turn to bring the toe in just that little amount, and then drove the truck to work today. I'd say it definitely has a much better centered feel to the steering now.

I've still got some problems, the right front brake pulls and may be sticking , this might be contributing to the steering not being just right. I've also got at least one tire that still isn't balanced good and vibrates once I get up above 70mph or so.

But I found that stepping thru each component and carefully evaluating the changes that were made - has gotten the truck a lot better than it had been before.