Newbie here w/lots of ????? 99 kukon

[missta]

I just bought a 99 yukon. I'm not sure of the mileage because the odometer is broken, but I have several issues. My 1st ? is about the steering. The kon was drifting to the right hard. I took it to my cousins shop and it had a broken axle on the drivers side. He replaced that, but the drift was still present. I got a wheel alignment. The camber and toe were off real bad. Alignment is completed, tech assures me that all linkages were fine. The kon drives much better, but has a mild drift now. I must mention that the tires on the kon are missed matched, 275 65r 18 on the back and 255 65r 18 on the back. My next step is to change the front tires to match the back. Can the difference in tire size cause the drift? I am going to find another cluster to put in for the odometer, all other gauges work fine. There is also some clanking when a pothole or bump is hit. It has gotten a lil better with the alignment.

Once the steering problem is fixed. I will do a complete tune up. Then the mods will come.

All advise is welcomed.

99 Yukon 4dr, 4wd.

 

[gpracer1]

Whatever you do, dont put it into 4WD until you get the same size tires all around!!

Yes tires can cause drift, especially if they are miss-matched or have been driven for a while with a bad alignment.

I guess 275 to 255 isnt enought to make the ABS freak out.

 

[missta]

no the abs is good. brakes are good all around. i will change the tires next. I need to make sure everything's good before I let my family ride in it.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[gpracer1]

What I meant by the ABS is that if you have the tires rotating at different speeds you can throw a code, or the ABS could activate during braking because it thinks two of the tires are starting to lock up due to slower speed seen compared to the others.

 

[retorq]

A front to back tire size difference like that isn't going to cause drift. That was common back in the old days but they usually put the wider tires on the back on the front ... a left to right difference will cause drift.

 

[2drhoeon4s]

the knocking on bumps could be your ball joints

 

[SunlitComet]

a small tire mismatch should not cause an abs. When driving at a constant speed some sensor might be giving less pulses but the turn ratio of the sensors remain the same. it is when the ratio widen more from the slowest sensor to the average or faster of the others that a mismatch will be recognized.

---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 PM ----------

match them in tread and wear as best as you can and size from side to side if you can afford to replace them. The fronts can be a little different in in diameter size from from to back.

You may want to see If you can tighten up your steering box a bit in case it has some play in it as well.

 

[missta]

I will check the steering box. There is some play in the steering wheel also. I will replace the tires because I'm not sure how long it was driven with the wheels out of alignment. the driver's side tire is worn on the outside but the middle and inside have good tread. The alignment guy said the ball joints were good. I think it could be a bad strut/shock on the passenger side. Im thinking that I may have some bad motor mounts as well. There is a buck when excellerating or coming to a quick stop.

I thank you all for your imput. I will check these things out.

 

[missta]

Can a wore shock cause the drift?