Steering was VERY sloppy in my truck. Bought the tie rod end rebuild kit and was about to have a go at that today. Checked the ones in the truck and there was no appreciable wear so I went on to steering box adjustment as I was going to do that first anyway. Followed the procedure EXACTLY as it is laid out in the factory shop manual and adjusted both the worm gear adjustment (bottom of box) and the lash (side of box). Manual called for using a spring scale to check pull tension on the wheel for proper adjustment. Now where the heck am I going to find a spring scale that reads between 1 and 3 lbs.??? So...using my head I pulled out my hand held digital scale that I use when bass fishing and it worked perfectly. I now have a truck with ZERO play in the steering and it drives like a totally different truck Next improvement is a sway bar as I know someone who installed one and he loves the improvement on the ride. Andy
New tires Andy, I did mine using the "Nate methodology", jacking up the front and adjusting. I didn't have a scale so I used my 2 pound finger tip which seemed to work fine. Got rid of most of the play which made a big difference. What helped the most however was getting rid of the 8" alloys with bias ply tires and getting 16X5 origianal steel rims with new 21570R16 liite truck steel belted radials. They improved handling 100% and now I can even steer the thing! Before the new tires it took both hands and about 50 pounds of force to get out of my driveway, now I can palm it! (well almost)
Steve, I was surprised to see how much I had to tighten down both adjusters to get the required 1-1 1/2 lbs. for the worm and 2-2 1/2 lbs. for the lash. I have adjusted steering boxes before and I NEVER would have made the adjusters that tight. But according to the scale and the shop manual, that's how tight they needed to go. Andy
Good info! Andy, thats some good info. I suspect mine is still a little too loose based on what your saying. Sounds like I have another adjustment coming in my future.
Just Remember : That pre load is for setting up a new steering box , once the worm is worn (it always wears in the center so all adjustments MUST be made after centering the steering box) , adjusting the sector just to zero play and no real pre load , works out fine . The worm adjustment (bottom of the box) you can preload a little bit regardless of wear but I like 'em set to zero play then a finger pull of pre load as Steve did , that's worked well for me and like I always say " if it steers like like a truck , something's amiss..." it really should turn easily as long as the wheels are rolling , GM designed it that way , sold lots of trucks being easier to steer than the competition .
It does indeed turn really easily after the adjustment. I have an extra box here so I'll let it go according to the manual as it does not bind at all when steering it stop to stop disconnected from the steering link or after re-assembly. Andy
Re-build kit Andy - I used the tie rod rebuild kit this weekend. Check out this picture carefully. The upper parts were removed and replaced with the rebuild kit parts pictured beneath . The rounded bearing surfaces are worn knife thin on the edge, badly pitted and the spring was broken into 3 parts... Larry
Point well taken Larry, I will do the rebuild next for sure. How tight did you crank down on the screws? How difficult a job was it to do the rebuild? Andy
Andy - Tight and then back off to get a cotter pin across the end. It was easy. The hardest part was getting the old parts out (the grease from the gun pushed the end parts enough to wiggle 'em free). I had previously adjusted all the play out, not realizing that spring was broken until disassembly yesterday. Larry
Tierod / Drag Link Springs Be aware ! some (used to be all) of the repop springs are WAY too stiff to assemble , I got a good used one from a listere here when I repaired my drag link a while back.... Even if the balls are worn egg shaped (common) you can replace the seats and broken springs , adjust as above to eliminate the play . Play anywhere in the steering or suspension is death to the good road manners built into these trucks .
tie rods Just for info, I replaced my tie rod ends and bar with the larger, new style from CPP. The center bar is a 1 inch, and the ends are a modern style with tapered stud. It takes some of the flex out of the bar, and makes the ends turn real nice. It was not hard to do. I personally think it is a safer design as well. I am researching replacing the drag link with similiar setup in the near future. Just a thought.....Mike P.S. I installed a front sway bar quite a while back, and think it is very worth the effort.
