Replaced some parts now have steering wander

[shultzee13]

2005 Chevy LT suburban 2wd.
Replaced pitman, idle arm and bracket cause shop said i had too much play. Bought AC delco new parts and shop put on then i had it aligned.
Steers terrible. Feels too tight and has a lot of play in the wheel like I’m
Constantly moving the wheel while driving.
I don’t understand what happened. It drove great before but was wearing out tires so i knew there was play in in old parts.
It feels hard to keep wheel center when driving but when i let go it stays straight. I liked it better when old parts were on.
Any suggestions? I did have tires rotated. Shop says i need to give it a week or so to wear in.... hmmmm
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[Palf70Step]

I had thought these years were all rack & pinion steering. Anyways, 2 things come to mind. Just because they are AC delco doesn't mean they are good parts. The wandering sounds like an alignment issue. What shape wear is currently on tires? It could be the rotation, depending on how they rotated them, will mellow out some in a week, but that comment make me a bit leary about the work.

[hatzie]

IRC It was the T900 chassis that started with rack-n-pinion.

First off. A decent alignment shop should check the steering components for play and refuse to align it til they are fixed.

How far do you have to rotate the steering wheel to get movement at the wheels?
If you have a bunch of play check for rotational play in the universal joints on the intermediate shaft between the steering column and the steering box. This shaft is two parts... upper and lower. If the upper is whipped and the lower isn't... just replace the upper.
You can check for play in the steering box by grabbing the intermediate shaft and turning it. You should see the pitman arm move in time with the intermediate shaft. If there's significant rotation before the pitman arm begins to move the steering box has issues.


Again a good alignment shop will check the steering parts for wear but...
Have you checked upper and lower balljoints, upper and lower A-Arm bushings, steering idler assembly, tie rod ends?

AC Delco is sourcing their parts in China and India now. IMHO the bean counters are taking advantage of their good name and selling cheap third world parts for a huge profit. Apprently the fate of other companies that tried this and ended up circling the drain was not proof this was a bad long term idea.
Moog might or might not be made in Western world manufacturing facilities. Check the boxes. Taiwan and South Korea are generally OK quality parts... I've had good results with bearings produced in both countries by Japanese companies. Probably has something to do with the Japanese QC methods being employed in the factories.
The Baltic nations along with Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in Eastern Europe generally produce excellent quality parts. Western Europe the same way. I've owned several Soviet era firearms and the best fit and finish came from The DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), Poland, The Baltic nations, and, Czechoslovakia.

[Palf70Step]

Hatzie, I did not know that. My 02, 06 & 07 silverado work trucks all had the rack & pinion setups. Maybe the 1500 SWB were the only ones? Thanks for the info.

[hatzie]

It wouldn't shock me to see the rack N pinion on the Colorado size trucks.
According to Rockauto you are correct the 1500 series T800 trucks used rack n pinion. That's surprising I thought they started with the GMT900 chassis.

My 2005 K2500HD T800 has a regular good old fashioned steering gearbox and so do the 3500 trucks. Not sure what the 1500HD used.


The T800 SUV chassis used the regular steering gearboxes just like the heavier pickup trucks.
Here's a video on replacing the box on the 2000-2006 Tahoe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKeFqHLuRQ0

[95 S_Trucker]

Originally Posted by hatzie

It wouldn't shock me to see the rack N pinion on the Colorado size trucks.
According to Rockauto you are correct the 1500 series T800 trucks used rack n pinion. That's surprising I thought they started with the GMT900 chassis.

My 2005 K2500HD T800 has a regular good old fashioned steering gearbox and so do the 3500 trucks. Not sure what the 1500HD used.


The T800 SUV chassis used the regular steering gearboxes just like the heavier pickup trucks.
Here's a video on replacing the box on the 2000-2006 Tahoe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKeFqHLuRQ0

1500 2wd had rack and pinion that started in 99. All other GMT800 trucks had conventional steering

On the GMT900 trucks, all 1500 trucks(2wd and 4wd) and all 1500 SUVs(Tahoe/suburban) had rack and pinion.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker

1500 2wd had rack and pinion that started in 99. All other GMT800 trucks had conventional steering

On the GMT900 trucks, all 1500 trucks(2wd and 4wd) and all 1500 SUVs(Tahoe/suburban) had rack and pinion.

Yet another reason to stay away from the 1/2 ton trucks

[shultzee13]

Its been a week now and still feels bad. There is a constant "half left wheel dip on the steering wheel then back to center on the steering wheel" the entire time I am driving. It's driving me crazy. It was not like this before I did all this.
Yeah tires wore down some from non rotation because I knew that parts were out on the front and I didn't want to mess up the back tires. I guess my best move is to take it to the best alignment shop in town. No choice at this point. Maybe it is tires. They were in great shape before all this started and still don't look bad.
My comment above means the steering wheel constantly moves to the left then back to center the entire time I am driving.
If you are sitting still with the car running and you put your head out the window...you turn the steering wheel slightly but it doesn't actually move the wheels until you turn the steering wheel a little more.....its that kind of slop.

[Palf70Step]

My friends old 94 did that some. WE placed the intermediate shaft and it seemed to cure his. I would let a good alignment shop check it out for you and find out what it is.