sloppy steering

[DStarr02]

Is the steering wheel doing it with either set of wheels on it?

Also on the wheels and tires, did they check road force?
It's kind of like the balance but checking for out of round on the tire. It catches if part of the belts inside separate or similar defects, could also cause pulling and similar issues.

As for the steering wheel, does it actually the same if you go over a speed bump squarely and if you go over it at a 45° angle?

There used to be an issue we would see with the steering shaft in the dash where it would have to be dropped down and the slip yoke like part would be lubed and stroked, real terms on GM bulletin. It would cause a clunking/clicking sound and or feeling in the steering wheel.

 

[chartersj]

Is the steering wheel doing it with either set of wheels on it?

Also on the wheels and tires, did they check road force?
It's kind of like the balance but checking for out of round on the tire. It catches if part of the belts inside separate or similar defects, could also cause pulling and similar issues.

As for the steering wheel, does it actually the same if you go over a speed bump squarely and if you go over it at a 45° angle?

There used to be an issue we would see with the steering shaft in the dash where it would have to be dropped down and the slip yoke like part would be lubed and stroked, real terms on GM bulletin. It would cause a clunking/clicking sound and or feeling in the steering wheel.

Yeah the steering does it with both sets of wheels, Its a little more noticeable with the 22's though.

I thinking they did not check for road force, I never asked them to or did they say they did.

Doesn't seem to matter how I go over a bump but I could try that as well

I know that clunk with the steering column you are talking about, There is no clunking or clicking at all in the steering or suspension while going over bumps, The truck feels solid, and was told at the dealership everything was tight when they had it on the lift. When on the ground, when I turn the steering wheel slowly, there seems to be no delay from me turning the wheel to the tire actually turning. The only other idea I have is to try the 20's off my half ton on the Yukon and 22's on the truck and see if there is any difference. I used to run the 22's on my half ton before we got the Yukon, never had a problem with them. The Yukon winters I have switched out with the 22's are 17" rims with 10 ply tires. I have a hard time believing its something to do with the rims and tires the way it acts on the road.

 

[chartersj]

I swapped rims with my truck today. The Yukon drives much better with the 20's. No pulling left or right, steering wheel has a very tiny bit of wobble over bumps, but its hardly even noticeable.

The silverado pulls some with the 22's, but not nearly as bad as the Yukon with them. I think mainly because the tires are getting down, probably only this year left in them. The steering wheel does not shake over bumps with them either. I would have no problem running the 22's on my truck as the pulling, which only pulls into the low spots in the road, is not nearly as bad as the Yukon.

The front ends should be pretty much the same between the two, both are 2011's. Something has got to be worn in the front of the Yukon. Do the rack and pinions gets worn over time? It only has 110 000kms on it, but I think it was city driven mostly before I got it and the roads are fairly rough in the city it come from....

 

[DStarr02]

There rack shouldn't be where you get any play, that would be in the tie rods, I can't remember if these had idler arms or pitman arms off the top of my head or if they were a straight through just have a bar coming out each end of the rack going to the knuckles.

To check for play, raise the front end so both tires are in the air, grab the drivers side tire on the left and right and turn the wheel by hand just a little each direction, if there's any play it would move without the passenger side mirroring it, if they move together immediately, the connections between them are most likely all good, if not you just watch and see where the movement stops, look At the tie rod on that side, then follow it across could be something as simple as a ball joint. Should mirror all movement small and rear.

While your down there, check rotating top to bottom on both sides the same way as the steering, it shouldn't rock up or down unless your hubs have started to go bad. These tend to become more noisy than be felt in steering.

You can also check the sway end links to see if there's any play in them, but not likely your issue if it's only doing it while turning not just a bumpy road, would only click when bumps making left to right wheels when compared to the frame/body vertically uneven.

Random thought but your 22" wheels are hubcentric, right? I think these years where hub-centric, not lug-centric. That can cause some issues also.

Also since the pulling followed the tires it is probably just the tires, the roadforce being off(belt broke or stretched inside rubber) or the tires being feathered badly could cause that. New tire balancing machines can even tell the installer to rotate the tires on the wheel to lower it and make it the best possible ride.

 

[KBones]

if you can get under it while the wheels are in the ground, look at the steering rack rubber mounts where it mounts to the truck and have someone turn the steering wheels back and forth. watch the rubber in the mounts to see if the rack is moving. it shouldn't move more than 1/8"

 

[2007uk]

We have a 2011 Yukon slt with roughly 110k kms on the clock which came with 17" rims. It drove nice and straight and didn't pull into the low spots of the road until I put some 22" escalade rims on. Also over bumps the steering wheel started shaking back and fourth. We had lower ball joints changed at the dealership and everything else they say is tight. It helped a little bit but the problems are still there to the point where my wife and I cannot stand to drive it with the 22's on and have put the 17's back on. I was wondering if my steering rack could have some slop in it from over the years. I know you loose a little ride comfort with 22's but I had them on my 2011 1500 4x4 before we got the Yukon and the truck drove much better then the Yukon with them.

I purchased used 2011 Tahoe w/86000 mi. Noticed after a while it had a tendency to continually wander the road. Also had a vibration at 70 MPH. tires had good tread so had them rotated and balanced. That took care of the vibration but still had to constantly drive the wheel going down the road. Like you checked tie rods, rack and pinion and front end in general and found nothing.
A lot of times the fix is simple if you can find it. Here is the simple fix found.
Put the drivers seat back all the way.
Lay on your back and looking up under the dash and you will see the steering shaft.
About half way on the shaft is a bolt and nut holding a slip joint in the shaft tight.
With two wrenches make sure the bolt is tight. MINE WAS NOT and not just a little.
Truck drives like new now. I feel sorry for the gent that bought it new, that I bought it from, putting up with this problem for 86,000 mi. Hope this helps. Rich

 

[conchasjim]

I've got an 07 Tahoe with 20s on it and it only has 73k miles. Rides and drives like shit too. Put new Goodyears on it today. The Michelins sucked. Curious to see what others think. I was thinking alignment also. Will run some miles on the new tires and see if it made any difference. The old tires wore perfectly, so alignment issues seems unlikely to me. One think I've noticed, Discount tires wanted to run them at 35 psi put I get low pressure warnings at anything less than 40. Wonder if that can be lowered?