SLOPPY STEERING 2004 2wd tahoe

[big boy toy chevy]

The steering in my 04 tahoe is CRAP! When your driving on the highway or making turns It feels like the front wheels dont respond exactly when you start turning the steering wheel..... I have a 96' tahoe its the same way i was told the only way to correct it on the 96 was to replace the steering gear box.

I've replaced every thing on the front of the 2004 except the gear box and upper ball joints. I also heard about a steering position sensor that was used on the 99 and up tahoe's does the 2004 have one also? oh yeah Alignment done also....Im just starting to hate driving this truck

 

[bkboatnsleds]

I assume you did Pitman and Idler arms?

 

[Wake]

My 05 Escalade had the same issue when I bought it early this year. The intermediate steering shaft helped some, new tires also helped some as it had larger 285 series load range E tires on it when I bought it.

Its better but not as tight as I feel it should be. I'm actually considering attempting an adjustment of the gearbox before I contemplate replacing it. I figure if it doesn't help then I'm out nothing other than my time of trying the adjustment.

 

[ATL]

I assume you did Pitman and Idler arms?

nailed it! my money is on the pittman and idler. as they start to fail, when you turn your steering wheel, the center link swings up or down, before the wheels move. to check this, locate the center link under the vehicle. its the large bar that pittman and idler attach to, it is used to turn the wheels. once it is located, keep your eyes on it and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth. if pittman and/or idler are bad, you will see the center link moving up and down before side to side

 

[chip]

I did my upper control arms (with ball joints) yesterday, hoping it would fix my 70mph shimmy, but that still didn't do it (I've done both hub/bearing assemblies, rotors, pads, one caliper, shocks, upper control arms w/ball joints and swapped all of the wheels & tires out (all wheels and tires balance out fine, with no bends).

What could I be missing? Any ideas? (thanks in advance)

 

[ATL]

I did my upper control arms (with ball joints) yesterday, hoping it would fix my 70mph shimmy, but that still didn't do it (I've done both hub/bearing assemblies, rotors, pads, one caliper, shocks, upper control arms w/ball joints and swapped all of the wheels & tires out (all wheels and tires balance out fine, with no bends).

What could I be missing? Any ideas? (thanks in advance)

did u have them road forced? a balancer can make an egg balance out. what brand tires do you have?

 

[TWITCH101]

My Yukon shakes at anything over 55 and I'm only running 275/55/20. I think I'm going to do the intermediate steering shaft first and just work my way from there.

 

[bkboatnsleds]

Just an FYI changing the intermediate steering shaft will do NOTHING for steering slop or shimmy.. The only thing this will fix is any 'knocking' felt in the wheel (usually at slow speeds)

Just trying to save someone some headache.

 

[TWITCH101]

^^^ @ bkboatnsleds.....If I come to a stoplight I can hear and feel a little bit of knock coming from my steering column, then as soon as I touch the wheel it goes away. I'm pretty sure it's my iss because it sounds like it is coming from inside the steering column and nowhere else. Also, my kon likes to make the pop when turning at slow speeds.

 

[chip]

did u have them road forced? a balancer can make an egg balance out. what brand tires do you have?

I've already ruled out the wheels & tires. I'm beginning to think it's lower ball joints.