2003 Suburban With Steering Wander

bry21317 · April 9, 2009

I have a 03 Suburban LT 4x4 with the 5.3 engine. The truck has 99,500 miles on it, and runs and drives great. The problem is that I am having a hard time getting rid of a wander in the Steering. I am hoping you guys can help me.

Here is what I have done so far, my steering gear box was bad so this was replaced with a rebuilt one, as thats all you can get. The Idler arm and Pitman arms were also both replaced.

The Tierods, Ball Joints and all other Susepension was checked out by an ASE mechanic, and said to be good. He is also the one that installed the Steering box for me.

I then had the Alignment redone and it is in spec now, the Toe and camber were out after the suspension work. The tires were Rotated front to back to make sure the tires were not causing any problems. My shocks are Aftermarket Bilstein's and only have about 30k on them. They are good also.

What happens is when driving down the highway and the road is bumpy, the car will want to wander some, its not near as bad as it was now that the stearing gear was replaced. Before that you could hardly keep the car in your own lane. What I do notice is that it almost at times feels as if the car is wobbling from the Passenger side front to the driver side back. Not sure how to explain this feeling but almost as if it is floating on that front side at times. what I am wondering is what could cause this?

How do you know if you have a bad Wheel Bearing or Hub? I am wondering if maybe this is the feeling I am getting. I do not have any noises from the front end of the car at all though, it is all tight and good, except whatever is causing this problem. The sway bar is ther eand the links are also good.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Bryan

grogman45459 · April 9, 2009

I have a 03 Suburban LT 4x4 with the 5.3 engine. The truck has 99,500 miles on it, and runs and drives great. The problem is that I am having a hard time getting rid of a wander in the Steering. I am hoping you guys can help me.

Here is what I have done so far, my steering gear box was bad so this was replaced with a rebuilt one, as thats all you can get. The Idler arm and Pitman arms were also both replaced.

The Tierods, Ball Joints and all other Susepension was checked out by an ASE mechanic, and said to be good. He is also the one that installed the Steering box for me.

I then had the Alignment redone and it is in spec now, the Toe and camber were out after the suspension work. The tires were Rotated front to back to make sure the tires were not causing any problems. My shocks are Aftermarket Bilstein's and only have about 30k on them. They are good also.

What happens is when driving down the highway and the road is bumpy, the car will want to wander some, its not near as bad as it was now that the stearing gear was replaced. Before that you could hardly keep the car in your own lane. What I do notice is that it almost at times feels as if the car is wobbling from the Passenger side front to the driver side back. Not sure how to explain this feeling but almost as if it is floating on that front side at times. what I am wondering is what could cause this?

How do you know if you have a bad Wheel Bearing or Hub? I am wondering if maybe this is the feeling I am getting. I do not have any noises from the front end of the car at all though, it is all tight and good, except whatever is causing this problem. The sway bar is ther eand the links are also good.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Bryan

I had some of that "wandering" going on when my intermediate shaft was toast, but more of a looseness in the steerring wheel. Also you may want to have the allignment checked, if you haven't. I had one shop tell me it was alligned dead on the nuts even though the truck pulled to the right. Had someone else look at it and it turned out it was off by a good amount.

Draenor · April 9, 2009

Was the rear suspension checked?

bry21317 · April 9, 2009

I had the Alignment done on Tuesday night and it is good, by the print out of all the angles. It does not pull at all, and will now drive straight down the road.

The Intermediate Steering shaft had the clunking noise when I got the truck, and it was replaced by the dealer for this. So this part is only about 1.5 yrs old, but the wander is actually in the tires more so than the steering wheel.

It is much better than it was before. But still not perfect.

The Rear Suspension was not checked, but it does have Bilstein shocks back there also that were new 30k ago. I also have the Airlift 100 Bags in my rear coils, I checked both Pressures on these and actually added some air to both to see if it would help any, but still no different.

It almost feels l ike the passenger side front wheel, slips towards the outside of the car at times while drivign, to make this hovering feeling. Thats why I was wondering if the bearings in the wheel would do this.

There did not seem to be any play in the Hub, when the tires were off, but I have read on here it looks like some may have had the same problem and this caused it.

Bryan

ScottyBoy · April 9, 2009

USUALLY, but not always, you will hear a humming sound coming from the hub if the bearings are bad. This happened on 3 different cars that my brothers have owned. The humming would increase and get louder the faster you drove. Also, if you have anywhere near you where you can take turns at a pretty quick speed like 30mph or so (like the interstate on ramp or off ramp) that will help you diagnose it. My brothers car would hum real bad but it stopped when he was going into a left hand turn and most of the weight shifted to the right of the car. Turned out that the left hub was bad. Same thing happened on another brothers truck about a year later.

I would also have all the tie rods and end links double checked.

98 Z71 SLT · April 9, 2009

sounds like somebody cranked up your torsion bars...that's where I'd look next...I'd seriously invest some time into actual ride height...

Your hub bearings are ok

Mojavered · May 3, 2009

What about the tires themselves? Is it possible that they are bad? If you were having a pulling problem for a while, then replaced some of your parts, it may be that the tires are bad. I know that you said that you had them rotate the tires (front to rear) to check it out, but......you never know. I would like to know what the problem is when you find out.

sjp1311 · May 3, 2009

Seems simple enough, but check air pressure in tires/tread depth and air bags in rear. I was driving a big truck from VA to SC, same symptons that you are complaining of, at first fill up dropped pressure in tires, and rode like a dream after that, no more fighting.

superjim · May 3, 2009

There is a possibility that you have a broke belt in one or more tires.

From your description...probably right front.

Broke belts can cause all kinds of weird driving sensations.

If your spare is good, and the same type tire...try putting it on one wheel at a time.

Or if you know someone that you can borrow a KNOWN GOOD wheel and tire that are like yours, put it on, and switch it around till you find which one of yours is bad.

jblakeney · May 4, 2009

Sup,

The bearing can absolutely do this... Check the front tires for a tapered tread pattern on the tire that the truck is pulling towards. Also, pull up somewhere drive straight and stop. Then get out and look how straight up the tire stands from side to side. Past that... You said they aligned the truck.... Check how tight they tighten the control arm bolts... If they have the top loose the truck will pitch and run in an odd direction. GMT trucks are pretty quite from the factory... A good many of these front wheel bearings I have changed people said that the tires needed rotating or something (i.e. the tires had an odd tread wear)... Also, if its the bearing find a new alignment shop... B/c they suck.... The truck could not have been aligned if the bearing was bad... It would have gave a different reading each time...... (i.e. they did not check it twice)

JBo