my steering wanders

[Oldyukon95]

I can't remember what alignment they did but they gave me a read out and everything was great until I hit the first off road bump lol. I will replace the ball joints. I have them just got lazy. Noe it's probably coming back to bite me. When I have new tires driver side balljoints and a new alignment I will post it here. What can I do to test the steering shaft? I was thinking it was the gear box that needed replacing. But that's why I'm here I want to get more info.

 

[OR VietVet]

As I said, replace the parts and get alignment and post the readings. See how much play there is at that point. IMO 2" is not a lot of play when you are lifted and likely have the bigger tires. By the way, alignment and then off roading is not the way to retain an alignment setting.

 

[Oldyukon95]

I know but it was really bad. I got the alignment t and even after offroff roading its a lot better. Thx for your help I'll let you know when I get the parts and the tires replaced

 

[Oldyukon95]

I replaced the ball joints on the drivers side and it seemed to make a big difference. There is still some play in the steering wheel but it doesn't dart as much. I also removed the steering stabilizer to test the steering and didn't find any other problems underneath. When I get tires and an alignment I'll post the results. The shop that did the alignment did give me a print out and advised me about tires. They seemed pretty honest.

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

how old are yer shocks when i first got my tahoe it was bouncy as hell i felt like i was riding in a 1984 cadillac and the steering wandered it followed any ruts in the road once i replaced the shocks it fixed all that
bad shocks can cuase a wide range of drivability problems excessive wear on your brake pads and rotors excessive body roll squirrlly streering

 

[SouthernHoe]

I thought this was a common problem on these trucks and was a worn steering box. Most all of them with over 100k do it. I adjusted the bolt on top of the steering box the other day about a quarter turn and it helped.

 

[Oldyukon95]

I have bilstein 5100? Shocks on them and I don't notice much bouncing on the regular road but when I'm off road I'm bouncing all over the place . I don't know how old the shocks are. If you know a way to test them other then pushing on the truck please let me know.

---------- Post added at 01:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

I tightened that bolt on the steering box about an 8th of a turn and the play was still the but the turning was a little tighter. I didn't want to over tighten it so I didn't go any further

 

[TheAutumnWind]

I have bilstein 5100? Shocks on them and I don't notice much bouncing on the regular road but when I'm off road I'm bouncing all over the place . I don't know how old the shocks are. If you know a way to test them other then pushing on the truck please let me know.

---------- Post added at 01:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

I tightened that bolt on the steering box about an 8th of a turn and the play was still the but the turning was a little tighter. I didn't want to over tighten it so I didn't go any further

bilstein 5100's should last a long while.

 

[OR VietVet]

I have bilstein 5100? Shocks on them and I don't notice much bouncing on the regular road but when I'm off road I'm bouncing all over the place . I don't know how old the shocks are. If you know a way to test them other then pushing on the truck please let me know.

---------- Post added at 01:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

I tightened that bolt on the steering box about an 8th of a turn and the play was still the but the turning was a little tighter. I didn't want to over tighten it so I didn't go any further

Smart move about that adjustment too much can damage the gear. When you say you have 2" of play you are talking about steering wheel movement from last steering linkage movement to steering linkage movement going the other way, correct? That is not a lot. Especially for a lifted rig with usually bigger tires.

 

[laredo1307]

Most likely it's the joint rag in your steering shaft. You can either replace the whole steering shaft with a new one or spend $10 on a replacement joint rag. You'll need to drill the rivots out to remove the old one and replace them with bolts. I just rebuilt my entire frontend 6 months ago including the steering box and the one thing causing a majority of my play was a worn out joint rag. You'll probably find that once you replace it you'll need to get new alignment done.