Steering Slack...

silverad03 · December 10, 2006

Hi all,

Over the past few months I have noticed a little clunking sound when the truck hit bumps with one/both of the front wheels. Over time, this clunking sound has become worse. It sounds to me like something is coming loose in the front suspension.

I have jacked up only the passenger side front wheel and rocked the wheel up and down and it was tight in that direction.

Then I rocked the wheel side-to-side and there was some free play in the steering. When I rocked the wheel side-to-side quickly I could hear a "pop" sound that soundwed similar to what I was hearing during driving, like metal hitting metal. It was dark out and I didn't have a helper so I couldn't isolate where the pop sound was coming from but it sounded like it may be coming from the center part of the truck around the area where the steering linkages are, such as the Pitman arm area.

I have also noticed that my truck has some dead slack in the steering wheel.

I am familiar with the intermediate steering shaft issue and this definitely does not appear to be an intermediate shaft issue.

My 1500 Silverado has about 66,000 miles on it and all but the last 10,000 or so have been on the factory wheels/tires. Currently running 285/70/17s on 17x9's. I lube all 11 grease points whenever I change the oil. I put the Ford torsion bar keys about 25,000 miles ago but I haven't gone crazy with the TB crank due to the stiff ride when you go very high. I do like to take corners fast though...

Anyone have any ideas what this may be? I am fairly handy at most minor auto repair jobs but I've never worked with steering components. Is this something I could fix myself in the driveway?

ZZ327 · December 10, 2006

its probably the SHAFT again!

nitro882 · December 11, 2006

Id bet its the shaft. The symptoms you describe are exactly what i had when mine needed to be greased. The dealer greased it and its all better now

sagent · December 11, 2006

I have a 2002 Sierra ECSB with similar issues sice abt 30k on the clock. Steering wheel always had slop & noise. The grease job on the I-shaft helped and got better yet when front end was lubed. Finally with about 70K on the clock I jacked the front end up to check for play and sure enough both inner tie rod ends were shot. The dealer replaced both and also the center link under the extended warranty. The funny thing is I had this truck at the same dealer about a month prior asking them to check the front end for play and they told me everything was ok. It had probbly been out of spec since abt 50k miles.

silverad03 · December 12, 2006

Thanks for the reply sagent...

I honestly don't believe that my issue is the steering shaft issue... the steering shaft would not explain why one wheel turns in and out without the other (only had one side jacked up and moved the lifted side back and forth with my hands). I have had the steering shaft clunk and this is a different issue.

I think the center linkage where it hooks onto the pitman arm might be part of the issue since I can see the linkage move when I put grease in that joint. I too have noticed that the clunk goes away temporarily when I lube the front suspension (not the intermediate steering shaft). I'm glad someone else has had a similar problem.

Anyone ever change the inner tie rod ends or center linkage in their driveway? I don't mind tackling the job if it isn't overly difficult...

Schmids5.3l · December 12, 2006

Sounds like I need to get my shaft greased too

No seriously, my truck does the same exact thing. I need to get to fixin that. My warranty is over so I gotta do it myself, because dealers suck, but greasing cant be difficult. I dont even want to know what they'll charge. I'll ask them on the phone if I'm having a lame day at work and need a good laugh.

BTW Badass truck.

95Sierra2500 · December 12, 2006

I had clunks and lots of steering issues before I replaced both the pitman arm and the idler arm, along with all four tie rod ends on my '95. Only thing left to replace is the steering damper, but I've just been too lazy to do that.

chris_kucia · December 12, 2006

I had to replace the idler arm a couple years back. IIRC, I had to source it from GM, but I see now that MOOG has a version that most parts stores carry.

Something's loose again on mine. I have new hubs coming this week, so I'll be crawling under to see if anything else is amiss while I'm installing the hubs.

yukon4wd · December 12, 2006

Sounds like I need to get my shaft greased too

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You may be too late, from a post I read here on gm-trucks.com it looks like they are no longer going to grease your shaft for you. Now from what I read, instead they are just going to stoke your shaft 5 or 6 times without greasing it first.

I think best is just to drop by your nearest GM dealer, go up to the receptionist, and tell her that you need your shaft stoked a few times. Its a warranty, so it should be a freebie.