Loose Steering after full rebuild

[Waldo]

Howdy,

I recently did a full rebuild of my front steering components (including xj steering upgrade, new box, new tie rods, new pitman arm, new idler arm with bracket, new upper and lower control arms with new bushings), and by the wrath of satin himself, i still have quite a bit of play. I got everything aligned by a professional shop and I asked them to dial in the new box (which im unsure if they did anything). I even myself tightened the box a bit, making special sure that there was zero binding. The looseness makes it difficult to not ping pong going over like 40 so i have to stay off highways which is starting to wear on me. I am open to suggestions of anyone else with this issue which is why i started this thread. The box i purchased was a rebuilt cardone. Thank you for your time.

I have a stock 96' 4.3 k1500 for those wondering.

 

[RichLo]

Just a heads up, the XJ shaft in a 95+ isnt recommended because of the additional u-joint can cause the shaft to wobble and bind during panic turns. I personally just do the flaming river u-joint on the factory shaft to everything.

As for the loose steering, did you replace the wheel bearings also? How about shocks?

The 'rebuilt' steering boxes could be suspect, especially if you had to adjust it yourself. I am a fan of Redhead boxes, pay more up front but you dont have to go through the hassle of warranty returns. And you can get a quick-ratio box from Redhead that really tightens everything up.

 

[1998_K1500_Sub]

i still have quite a bit of play

Crawl under the truck. Cancel all your life insurance policies; make sure you're not worth more dead than alive, and have someone you know and trust jump in and start the engine. With that step complete...

With the vehicle stationary and in park (did I have to say that?), have them wiggle the steering right and left, back and forth, enough to get some motion in the front tires' sidewall (one needn't scrub the tires, just make the wheels move against the sidewalls, so that the steering and front suspension components are put under stress).

Now put a hand on every joint in the steering lineup (from steering shaft to the ball joints on the control arms to the bushings on the control arms, one by one, and everything in-between); feel and visually look for play while the steering's being wiggled. Take your time... .030 play in a ball joint / tie rod may be hard to observe.

Don't forget to watch for play between the wheel and knuckle as well (as @RichLo mentioned), which is indicative of a bearing / hub issue.

This is the approach I use.

On a different note:

- that XJ shaft sounds like trouble waiting to happen. Go back to the old shaft, cut off the rag joint with a cutoff wheel, and install a U-joint (like @RichLo mentioned). I've used Flaming River FR1746DD Billet-Joint 1"-DD X 3/4"-30 Steering U-Joint and Borgeson 015231 1" DD x 3/4"-30 Steering U-Joint on my vehicles.

 

[Waldo]

Jeez! Thanks for the quick responses!

I should add a little more detail, shouldnt I? The wheel bearings and hubs have all been replaced as well. While doing the XJ upgrade, I took out the second u joint and welded the new one with the old one to get it to work properly. It is essentially the factory one with a u joint.

Now all this being said, I have not touched the shocks yet. They seemed decent enough to reuse but I could be incorrect.

Sadly, I cannot replace the steering box as it has been sitting on it for a while. When I go to college I leave the truck behind so it goes through periods of sitting.

 

[Orpedcrow]

I. Hate. Cardone. Steering boxes…

Not saying that’s your issue but I’ve had more bad ones than good ones.

As a side note, the person doing the alignment should’ve at least mentioned something about it.

 

[Orpedcrow]

Crawl under the truck. Cancel all your life insurance policies; make sure you're not worth more dead than alive, and have someone you know and trust jump in and start the engine. With that step complete...

With the vehicle stationary and in park (did I have to say that?), have them wiggle the steering right and left, back and forth, enough to get some motion in the front tires' sidewall (one needn't scrub the tires, just make the wheels move against the sidewalls, so that the steering and front suspension components are put under stress).

Now put a hand on every joint in the steering lineup (from steering shaft to the ball joints on the control arms to the bushings on the controls arms, one by one, and everything in-between); feel and visually look for play while the steering's being wiggled. Take your time... .030 play in a ball joint / tie rod may be hard to observe.

Don't forget to watch for play between the wheel and knuckle as well (as @RichLo mentioned), which is indicative of a bearing / hub issue.

X2

 

[east302]

Here’s the adjustment procedure, but it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if the box was bad when you got it. I had a Delco reman that was like that, so even they aren’t a safe bet. They probably all come from a small group of suppliers overseas that just toss in new seals, slop some paint on it and call it a day.

Is there a delay in the turning of the steering shaft and pitman arm?

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[Caman96]

What brand front end parts did you use?

 

[1998_K1500_Sub]

Is there a delay in the turning of the steering shaft and pitman arm?

@east302, what are the test conditions for this?

Engine on, wheels on ground?

Engine off, wheels off ground?

Something other?

I would think the first, but that's just me.

 

[GrimsterGMC]

When the wheel alignment was done did you get a printout showing the before and after settings? A lot can be seen in these that explain different issues as the alignment is a very exact science and tiny differences in setting can make big issues in driving. It also helps to keep on hand so that when you get it dialled in and need to realign it in the future you can have them reset it to the same setting and know that it will be correct.