Sloppy steering

[Scharper]

2003 Tahoe LT 5.3 4x4 223k miles

Someone tell me if this is normal or not. With the front of the truck on jack stands I can grab both front tires and pull them both in or push them both out creating toe-in or toe-out. The slop seems to come from ball joints on the pitman and idler arms. Are these supposed to have a bit of play like this??

I've had it aligned but usually have to hold the steering wheel off-center to keep the truck straight and it does want to wander if there are grooves in the road.

 

[02_Tahoe]

2003 Tahoe LT 5.3 4x4 223k miles

Someone tell me if this is normal or not. With the front of the truck on jack stands I can grab both front tires and pull them both in or push them both out creating toe-in or toe-out. The slop seems to come from ball joints on the pitman and idler arms. Are these supposed to have a bit of play like this??

I've had it aligned but usually have to hold the steering wheel off-center to keep the truck straight and it does want to wander if there are grooves in the road.

Did you look at the tie rods, maybe the ball joints on those are worn

 

[08HoeCD]

Way too much play. Sounds like you need to rebuild the front suspension. Plan on new upper and lower control arm assemblies, minimum, as your ball joints seem shot and your bushings are likely in the same condition.

 

[Scharper]

Did you look at the tie rods, maybe the ball joints on those are worn

The inner/outer tie rods don't have any play. It's just the ball joints for the pitman/idler arms. I can't seem to find just those parts either. Everything else feels pretty solid.

 

[Larryjb]

It's not too bad of a job to do. You might have to lower the steering gear to remove the pitman arm. I've got a thread outlining some of the pitfalls I encountered and how I dealt with them.

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/front-end-work-troubles.84081/

 

[Scharper]

It's not too bad of a job to do. You might have to lower the steering gear to remove the pitman arm. I've got a thread outlining some of the pitfalls I encountered and how I dealt with them.

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/front-end-work-troubles.84081/

Pitman pitfalls?

Thanks! The ride height bit was interesting. One side does seem a little higher than the other by 1/2" to 3/4" or so. Just enough to mess with my OCD. I'll check my z-height for sure now. I didn't think that was adjustable.

I've been looking at whole suspension rebuild kits that include everything but the shock absorbers like this one from 1A auto. Is that too cheap? Anyone use these before?

 

[Scharper]

Oh and how would I know how many groove my pitman arm is? I see reference to 4 groove but not sure what that is.

 

[jaywoo65]

You can get the pitman arm, idler arm and idler link arms from a variety of places. Rock auto, amazon or a local parts store. I just replaced all three parts this past week. Fairly easy work. I ordered all AC Delco parts from Amazon. It was under $100 for the three things.

 

[Larryjb]

Make sure you use ACDelco Professional, not the cheaper ACDelco line.

 

[rockola1971]

If its never had the frontend rebuilt you might as well do it all and be done with it. I just completed my 05 Yukon Denali as it was totally shot. Ball joints were ALL ruined, Tie rods and idler/pitman arm were junk too. I even replaced upper/lower bushings. Front end realigned and its nice and tight. I do have some slop in my steering gearcase. Im going to see if I can adjust enough of that out via the lash adjuster. If not then ill replace the whole gearcase. I like to do it all then not have to worry about for years. My 03 Tahoe LT is next up for a complete frontend rebuild, it has 215k on the clock. Denali was almost 300k!