2006 Silverado z71 power steering problems

Aaron Dosentcare · July 11, 2019

I just got a 2006 Chevy Silverado z71 from my grandfather I've had it a week at most and haven't had any problems with it until today I was driving and while turning I noticed that it got real hard to turn so my first thought was the belt came off or broke so I pulled over and popped the hood and the belt is fine check the power steering fluid level and it's full there is no leaking or anything got ahold of my grandfather and he told me that it happened to him a couple times but he just kept driving it anyways and he said that after awhile it started working properly so I'm trying to figure out what is causing this to happen its still hard to turn both ways while stopped and while driving please help the truck has 116xxx miles on it

davester · July 11, 2019

Is the PS pump making a whining sound like it's working hard when this happens?

Do you still have power brakes when this happens?

Aaron Dosentcare · July 11, 2019

3 hours ago, davester said:

Is the PS pump making a whining sound like it's working hard when this happens?

Do you still have power brakes when this happens?

The breaks work fine I haven't noticed any difference in them and there is no whining noise or any noise from it at all

Mojo88 · July 11, 2019

If no whine, and the brakes are OK, then I would suspect the steering box. I would jack up front end on both sides on lower control arms and swing the wheels side to side by hand, just to make sure it isn't something silly like a frozen tie-rod end or ball joint. With no weight on the wheels, they should swing pretty easy by hand.

Steering box is a real cheap item at junkyards nowadays, usually about $50. It's not all that hard to install either. You'd need a Pitman arm puller, which Autozone will usually loan you for free. Junkyard box may come with usable Pitman arm already attached, so you might not even need to swap them out. A few small things to be careful of, if you swap the steering box, so do your homework!

Second guess would be power steering pump, but they almost always make noise when failing.

Either way, it's a fairly inexpensive fix. Good luck.

Aaron Dosentcare · July 12, 2019

I will Jack it up this weekend when I have the time and let you know what I find out I've only had this truck for a little over a week and it was whining a little more than normal my grandfather had it almost a year before I got it he said that it got hard for him to turn but after driving it for a little while longer it started acting normal