Pitman / Idler arm help needed

[SnowDrifter]

There's 2 points that control the position of your relay rod

1 is the pitman arm/steering box
2 is the idler arm/idler arm bracket

There are a few things you can check. Take a peek at both the pitman arm and the idler arm. Compare to images online to insure nothing is bent or out of whack. Do the same with your idler arm bracket. If all of that checks out, it would leave your mounting points. Was your vehicle ever in a wreck? Are the frame or mounting points for the box/bracket tweaked out?

 

[number9]

There's 2 points that control the position of your relay rod

1 is the pitman arm/steering box
2 is the idler arm/idler arm bracket

There are a few things you can check. Take a peek at both the pitman arm and the idler arm. Compare to images online to insure nothing is bent or out of whack. Do the same with your idler arm bracket. If all of that checks out, it would leave your mounting points. Was your vehicle ever in a wreck? Are the frame or mounting points for the box/bracket tweaked out?

Exactly......that's what's got me so stumped on this.

I've ownded truck since 36K, never been wrecked or even bumped anything. Wife drives it, so not even driven hard.

Now that I see (from Larry's pics and the pics I took of the tahoe at the dealer), the centerlink on those examples is a lot closer to level than mine is, I think it's got to be one of the following:

- ACDelco pitman arm I installed isn't broached properly and not seating far enough up on the steering box splines. I don't know the measurements of all the points on the centerlink, but I would assume that changing the height of one point (pitman in this case) would result in both ends (where inner tierods mount) to also change, but at a lager rate as I tried to show in the drawing

- ACDelco pitman arm I installed not having the correct bend - either due to being out of spec or maybe even being the WRONG part in the "right" box (mislabeled)

- ACDelco idler arm and/or idler arm bracket - either being out of spec or maybe even being the WRONG part in the "right" box (mislabeled)


When I install the GM OEM parts I bought, I guess I'll find out which one of the above pans out to be the case......hopefully.

...

 

[Larryjb]

l don't know if this will help or not. I'm about to do my steering box, and I'm really unhappy with how the Moog pitman arm fits. So, I've got the ACDelco Professional pitman arm that I'll attach to the new steering box before I install the gear into the truck.
Anyway, for better or worse, I measured 2 dimensions of the pitman arm.
1) the distance between the bottom side (when installed) of the sector end and the rubber seal at the tapered shaft that goes into the relay rod is 4" 3/16. (This is the perpendicular distance, not the diagonal distance).

2) The distance between centres of the sector end and relay rod end is 5"3/8.

I'm sorry I just don't have time to draw a diagram to show exactly what I measured. l hope you can figure out what I described.

Larry

 

[Chip18]

Hmm well I don't "know" the answer ... but ... this may be worth a shot???

http://www.roughcountry.com/steering-stabilizer-87326-20.html

 

[number9]

Thanks for the additional info Larry. When I got the GM parts I ordered, the pitman arm had been opened and handled by a greasy hand mechanic, looked like it may have even been installed to the steering box and pulled right back off. I sent it back under RMA today, so will be next weekend before I get a chance to install the replacement.

Chip, a stabilizer may in fact help, but the truck drove fine without one before, so I think it would just mask the real root of the issue. Not ruling one out, but wanna try and 'fix' it.

...

 

[Larryjb]

Jason, what happened?

 

[number9]

Sorry for cliffhanger. I got the replacement pitman arm under RMA. Since then, seems it's been one thing after another and I've just not gotten around to putting the parts on yet.

We (I) drove her truck to visit family over holidays and was reminded how bad it drives, so I've got to move this back up my priority list and get this fixed.

She made a comment the other day that "sometimes at the Stop sign at the end of our road the wheel won't turn to the right".?????? I'm wondering if the gearbox isn't jacked up as well.

One thing at a time though, first the new arms, then decide on next move if needed. I'm off this week and I think it's going to rain, so would be a good time to get it done.

 

[quest51210]

I just had a shop do it for me, I did the rest of the front end rebuild but the shop used O'Reilly's arms and total with install was $165 but the parts have lifetime warranty and the labor for 180 days. Alignment is also 50% off for replacement.

 

[Larryjb]

Sorry for cliffhanger. I got the replacement pitman arm under RMA. Since then, seems it's been one thing after another and I've just not gotten around to putting the parts on yet.

We (I) drove her truck to visit family over holidays and was reminded how bad it drives, so I've got to move this back up my priority list and get this fixed.

She made a comment the other day that "sometimes at the Stop sign at the end of our road the wheel won't turn to the right".?????? I'm wondering if the gearbox isn't jacked up as well.

One thing at a time though, first the new arms, then decide on next move if needed. I'm off this week and I think it's going to rain, so would be a good time to get it done.

Interesting. I replaced my gear because I felt roughness on slow steering to the right. Now that I've done it, it's not bad at all to replace the steering gear, so it may be worth it to replace it. It really does help to have an air impact. I got the largest 110 V compressor I could afford, and that seems to provide just enough torque to do this job.

If you do get a new gear, check the threading of the input and outputs of the gear. Mine started to cross thread even though I began installing the lines by hand. I'm convinced now that the threads were already damaged. I got a tapered tap and cleaned up the threads and reattached the lines. It's been fine ever since. (I just about had a leak of yellow fluid when starting to thread the new lines onto the gear. And I'm not talking about power steering fluid.

I'm assuming that you're not going to keep the old pitman arm, but I found if I lubricated my pickle fork, it slid past the seal instead of tearing it. I also made sure I used a large pickle fork (1-1/16" I think?). I was trying to remove ball joints using the usual pickle fork you can buy, and wondered why the job was so horrible. Then I found that those pickle forks were too narrow.

Larry

 

[number9]

So to update, I finally got around to putting the GM idler and pitman arms on Sunday.

While I had them off, I decided to go ahead and replace the steering box as well. She'd complained of now power steering when turning right and I'd remembered it doing that on me a few times in the past. I did NOT want to pull it back apart again, so now was a good a time as any.

Researching steering box replacements led me to a GM TSB on these trucks of switching from a 670 series to a 680 series steering box to cure the issue. When I went to Advance Auto (NAPA was closed Monday) they had both versions and I chose the 680 (reman Delphi box). I also got new MOOG swaybar links and bushing for front / rear while I was there (they had a 20% off deal Monday).

The GM pitman arm did seat higher on the gearbox than the old setup and improved the tierod angles a little but they're still not level.

On the test drive the ride / steering is MUCH improved. No more darting around as the suspension cycles like before and drives nice and straight down the interstate when crossing bridges.

The steering with the new box is REALLY light (compared to my truck). Driving or sitting still. Feels like an 80's Cadillac that you can steer with your pinky. Driving down the road requires some attention as the steering is so light. I think a GOOD alignment will cure a lot of that, I suspect my caster / toe is out and causing it to feel on the verge of being "twitchy". Gonna get an alignment this week and will report back on results.

The GM TSB about the swap mentioned to also install an "26025709 union fitting". I've also seen it referred to as an oriface. It could be that is to lower pressure to the steering box to give some "feel" and not be so effortless steering? I am going to research that some more.