2006 Silverado Alignment Issue

[JimH77]

I have a 2006 Silverado 1500 - CrewCab - 4WD - 5.3L engine. The truck has never been wrecked and alignment prior to the work - was fine.

I had the following replaced due to age and wear indications: Upper and Lower Control Arm Bushings (with Poly), Sway bar Bushing (poly), Upper and Lower Ball Joints, Shocks, Tie Rods and Ends (i.e. entire assembly), Pitman arm, and Idler arm and Bracket (i.e. the pivoting assembly).

 

Took the truck in for alignment - and basically while everything appears fine and aligned without issue - the steering wheel is about 45 degrees to the right. The alignment people stated that the pitman arm was probably mis-aligned and they could not straighton the steering wheel without bottoming out the tie-rod on one side and that this would not be good.

 

So took the truck back and had the pitman arm alignment checked - it was fine - even had the old one re-installed to check things and there was no difference (i.e. the new one was not keyed wrong or mis-aligned).

 

Everything has been double checked and still the alignment of the steering wheel is off.

 

Verified that the part numbers used were correct and that there was no "difference between 2wd and 4wd or in the various years.

 

SideNote: the steering shaft was NOT disconnected to check the pitman arm.

 

Comments or thoughts?

[Jsdirt]

A crooked steering wheel is usually a sign of a lazy alignment guy. You have to start out with the wheel dead straight in order to end within the specs and still have the wheel straight. A rookie or someone in a big hurry will not want to fuss with the wheel after forgetting to set it straight, or just not even noticing it altogether, and they'll send it out the door.

 

That right there is one of my biggest pet peeves. I'll whip a U-turn 100' feet from the shop and tell them to do it again. That's just sloppy workmanship, IMO.

 

I've had cars come back with not only crooked wheels, but loose collars! Seems like I have to fix EVERYTHING myself these days ...

[Doug_Scott]

I would tend to steer clear(no pun intended) of the shop that you took the truck to for the alignment. A technician that tells you the pitman arm is not indexed correctly is one to never return to. I have never seen a pitman arm that was even able to be incorrectly installed and still be able to connect to centre or drag link. Every pitman arm I replaced had a keying system that allowed it to be installed in one of four locations. This may be different now, but, they will always be indexed in at least one location.

 

The tie rod ends are installed into a threaded sleeve. Generally if you are replacing all 4 tie rod ends, you also change the sleeve. And any technician that knows what he/she is doing will simply remove the old tie rod assembly, and then use the old parts to set the length of the new parts, keeping the two ends approx equal number of turns into the sleeve. Centering the steering wheel on a 2 wheel alignment is simple to do, all that is done is whatever is done to the right side of the truck tie rod ends is done in the opposite direction on the left tie rod ends. The only time I have ever had an issue with centering the steering wheel was when the rear end wheel alignment was out of spec. Note that a bent rear axle will also give you an off-centre steering wheel, and the truck will crab-walk down the road.

[JimH77]

I appreciate everyone's responses - however - it is not the shop or general alignment issues.

I have been to two shops (both recommended ones) and had 3 different techs looking at this and no-one has the answer yet.

The basic alignment is solid - tie-rods are balanced for length and all measurements of relay-rod (connecting rod) are fine. Pitman arm is properly aligned (not that you can really "get it wrong").

 

In short everything looks perfect. And nothing above the pitman arm was touched or disconnected (steering linkage wise).

 

However at this point - to NOT have the tie-rods max-ed out (i.e. one bottomed out and the other near the end of threads) - the steering wheel is off 80 degs to the right.

 

NOTE: Steering is solid - no noises, no wander or pulling - and good on-center feel.

 

At this point everyone is baffled. Both on how to correct this (i.e. there is not a non-keyed spline point anywhere in the system) - and further what could have occurred to create such a massive issue.

 

Also the shops are using a 4 wheel alignment - so thrust vector is being verified. And final note - truck was riding and tracking perfectly prior to the front-end work (really wonder if the ball joints and bushings were that bad :-) )

 

 

Thoughts or comments?

[Jsdirt]

Someone might've installed a tie rod that's been cut/modified, or too short, trying to save a buck. Unless the truck was hit and the frame bent, can't think of anything else that would throw it that far out of whack. It doesn't take much for these newer trucks to bend either, so that's a possibility ...

[Doug_Scott]

If the steering wheel was centered before the front end parts were changed, and was not centered afterwards, and not able to be centered by the standard means, then they must have either incorrect or defective new parts. Hopefully you still have access to the old parts. If you do, compare all the parts, one by one to make sure all measurements and angles are the same.

To be off that far you have to have something mismatched. Make sure centre link is correct length, and that all mount/attachment points are the same as the one that came off. Same for idler arm and frame mount. Make sure idler arm is mounted to correct holes in frame.

 

This will be something stupid wrong when you find it. With all the angles and pivot points involved it does not take much to have a major impact. A half inch out at one pivot point can create a steering wheel to be off by a quarter turn. Verify all parts are actually correct, and don't just check part numbers, check the actual part.

[2006chevy4×4]

So I did almost the exact same work you did to my 2006 silverado 1500 4x4, and my issue is that after my alignment there is steering wheel slop when the tires are pointed straight. I was in the shop when they were lining it up and the little notches on the screen turned green and they were within a few degrees to 0 so I am pretty sure its aligned. When I took the pitman arm off I had to remove the steering gear from the frame, when I did I left everything connected but when I went to reinstall the steering gear I had to push it back up so at some point the shaft can translate. I am not sure if this is why I have slop, or if this could be where your problem is coming from but I figured I'd throw it up here in hopes that someone with more knowledge will see this and possibly enlighten us both. Let us know if you figure this out, it has me extremely puzzled. 

[Sierra/hpunlimited]

All u gotta do is turn both tie rods the same amount and in the same direction usually in the direction that the steering wheel is off tell it’s straight . It’s that simple. 

 

[natseel]

J ,Did you ever find the problem?