Sloppy/Loose Steering Fixed!

[MinnYukon]

I've had sloppy/loose stealing for months until I finally found the culprit. Front driver side wheel bearing was bad and causing the steering to wander. All of sudden started making noise so I was unaware that it was faulty. Steering has vastly improved since replacing the bearing.

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[bottomline2000]

Yeah may be time to replace mine. I forgot it's been over over 100k miles since they were done lol..

 

[Churchman]

Just did the recommended adjustments. Worked great! I joined the forum, great site.

 

[hangontight]

just did this on my 02 Suburban, went about 3/8 turn total. Made a big improvement! Thanks!

 

[Bigbertha78]

Had horrible sloppy steering when I purchased 2004 Tahoe Z71 with 113,000 miles. Rebuilt front end with everything including all new shocks, did not replace wheel hub assemblies and gearbox. Tried the above tightening techniques; did not work for me so I purchased a new gearbox. Installed gearbox and I'm at 144,000 miles and have tried tightening it too and still have the play and wander on the road. Talked with Firestone here in Florida and was told if you purchase a box any adjustment to that box means it's already bad. I have no noise of any type that would indicate bad hub assemblies either. So, looks like I will be swapping mine out again. Fingers crossed.

 

[Cattivo]

Going to give this a try on the Esky today to try and resolve some steering wandering

 

[SevenFortyOne]

Just got my 2004 Z71 a month or so ago w 190K mi on it. I was experiencing wandering/clunky steering and also seemed to have lots of free play in the steering wheel.

Adjusting the steering box 1/4 turn took care of most of the free play in the steering wheel - thanks to the OP for the info!

Then, I replaced the intermediate steering shaft and steering column bearing and that took care of the clunking at low speeds and tightened things up a little more but the truck was still wandering, especially at high speeds on the highway.

I finally jacked up the truck a few days ago, checked the front end, and found my inner tie rods on both sides are SHOT. Not sure why I didn't check this FIRST but whatever, now I know what the real problem is. Although the tires that were on the truck when I bought it seemed more or less new I'm starting to see uneven wear on the outer edges on the fronts - another tell-tale sign of front-end problems that I overlooked.

I ordered inner and outer tie rods as well as new pitman/idler arms (Moog) from Rock Auto and will be replacing these parts in the next week or two as time permits.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that it's probably best to check your front-end BEFORE making the steering box adjustment.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Had horrible sloppy steering when I purchased 2004 Tahoe Z71 with 113,000 miles. Rebuilt front end with everything including all new shocks, did not replace wheel hub assemblies and gearbox. Tried the above tightening techniques; did not work for me so I purchased a new gearbox. Installed gearbox and I'm at 144,000 miles and have tried tightening it too and still have the play and wander on the road. Talked with Firestone here in Florida and was told if you purchase a box any adjustment to that box means it's already bad. I have no noise of any type that would indicate bad hub assemblies either. So, looks like I will be swapping mine out again. Fingers crossed.

Have you tried tightening the screw at the steering wheel?

 

[TheAutumnWind]

The escalade just got a 1/2 turn or so. Took out some slop. I should have done this earlier...

 

[S33k3r]

The escalade just got a 1/2 turn or so. Took out some slop. I should have done this earlier...

As an FYI, I tried tightening my steering gearbox and discovered it needed to be replaced. Prior to replacement, the steering was really sloppy.