Stiff steering

[Bluephi1914]

I recently bought a 2003 GMC yukon xl. I went to have it aligned and i was told that i needed to have my idler and pitman arm replaced. I had the work done and also replaced the bracket.

After the work was done i noticed the steering was very tight and stiff. When i turn a corner, the steering wheel doesn't center itself up anymore... You know how you turn a corner and afterwards the steering wheel will spin back to the center position. It no longer spins Ibackfto the center. if change lanes while driving down the intestate the steering wheel stays slightly turned in the direction i turned. The wheel just doesn't center itself anymore and is extremely stiff.

Any suggestions? Is this normal?

 

[Bluephi1914]

No suggestions?

 

[kwood129]

I would take it back to where you had the repairs done. It sounds like something has either been overtightened or never lubricated properly and binding. It could get worse and lock your steering and that would be a disaster.


Sent from my XT894 using Tapatalk 4

 

[JochenWoern]

i would take it back to where you had the repairs done. It sounds like something has either been overtightened or never lubricated properly and binding. It could get worse and lock your steering and that would be a disaster.


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^ x1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bomba02]

gear box could be bad.......binding....

 

[Bluephi1914]

I was wondering is there was any adjustment that could be made to the idler arm and the bracket. Off the car when the bracket and idler are attached it is very hard for the idler to spin or be turned. Should the idler move freely while on the bracket?

I thought about the great box... But i wasn't having any trouble until the idler/bracket and pitman were changed.

I had my long term mechanic look at it but i thought i would come to a forum before i stated replacing grar boxes, or tried an idler arm and bracket from another manufacturer.

Currently i have " federated auto parts" installed. I was thinking maybe the clearances were off.

 

[Bluephi1914]

I think i found my issue, the bracket and idler armi have seem to be defective. I took them off the car and compared them to the ac Delco brand from the dealer and the idler arm that i have does not spin freely when is on the bracket, even if the bolt isn't tight. It sticks and I'd very hard to spin.

However the gm bracket and idler arm that come pre assembled from the dealer spins smoothly with the bolt on.

I didn't go with dealer parts initially because i heard so many bad things about their quality compared to other brand.

---------- Post added at 08:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 PM ----------

The brand of the parts i have are " SRT" from federated auto parts

 

[wildcatgoal]

I realize this is an old thread, but I experienced this EXACT same thing with Proforged idler bracket, idler arm, and pitman arm. I'm pretty sure the actual castings of each are the same as MOOG considering both Proforged and MOOG pitman arms don't seat as high up the power steering box's sector shaft like the factory pitman arm does (causing misalignment of the drag link). My Proforged idler arm bracket/idler arm combo is so impossible to move I had to use my entire body to shift the idler arm into position for installation. I figured maybe that's just normal... but after installation my steering was insanely stiff. I emailed Proforged and they said they've never heard of this problem. I see this problem reported on MOOG reviews all over.