I own a 1998 4x4 blazer with 166k miles on it. a little more than 1k miles ago I replace some front suspension components such as upper control arms, ball joints and tie rods. Now before I replaced these items I had play in my steering wheel. When I replaced these components and drove it to get gas and what not the play in the steering wheel was almost non existant. The next day I took it for a alignment took few hours and they gave me a paper showing the old and new results. Everything was where it was supposed to be after they done so, but when I got the vehicle back it the play in my steering wheel came back? Does anyone know why this could be or give me an idea of something to replace or check to fix this issue?

 

How reputable was the shop you took it too? Two things come to mind. The nut holding the pitman arm is loose or gone, or the steering gear box needs adjustment or replacement.

 

Also check the "rag joint" is ok. I had issues with my steering being loose but then I realized it was the joint between the upper steering shaft and the steering box.

 

took it to a tires plus a couple miles from my house 3.9 stars on google so not so sure

 

I eliminated mine with a Flaming River joint and I still have play in my 04...

I gave up, I just live with it. It's a lifted 4x4 with oversized tires, I just give it room to "wiggle" lol. If I want to drive something that rides on rails, I drive the wife's car

 

What about replacing the steering box with a ZQ8 one? That's on my wish list.

 

LOL I'm at the same point with my rig. Someday I'll replace the steering gear box but for now I just live with it.

 

depending on what has been done to the suspension there is a lot of places where blazers can develop the clearance which leads to play in the steering.

To find out you would have to define the basics first.

Is the truck OEM?
Check for clearances in the whole suspension of course including all the joints related to the steering.

The blazers by design have little to no toe-in with a positive to zero camber.
Add the small rims and high tires and you have a recipe for a steering that is not very precise when going straight. Once you start turning and the wheels turn a bit it stabilizes.

Now add the sway bar and supports to the checks.
Also have a close look at the tires. There are brands which are notorious for bad quality, out of round. Then there are threads which lead to a very mushy feeling. Not to forget the correct tire pressure.

Good luck on the fix.

 

As Christine said, definitely take a look at the Rag joint in the steering shaft. It is a rubber cushion that over time can deteriorate and cause play. It is relatively inexpensive replacement part and watching the You Tube vid below pretty straight forward. To inspect it for play requires you remove the air box and then you can move the steering wheel back and forth to see how much play is there. Here is an excellent How to vid on a 2003 S10 pick up which is the same 4.3L and steering set up as the Blazer /Jimmy. Remember most of our SUV's have over 150 k miles and they can be hard miles. The purpose of this rubber cushion is to isolate road vibration from the steering wheel.

He says the hardest part on this procedure is cutting off the four old factory rivets that hold the rag joint in. The new rag joint is bolted on with four new bolts that should be provided in the kit. He gives some excellent tips on how to lock the steering wheel in place and how to mark the shaft to get in back together correctly. There are two popular but pricey upgrades to the stock style rag joint. They are the Borgeson and the Flaming River steering shafts. One low dollar approach to these two pricey upgrades are using the Jeep Grand Cherokee steering shafts. Go to Your Page Title for more info on that upgrade. Caution: this mod may require cutting or other modifications to make it fit the S10 Blazer. Cutting with a torch can weaken the steel. Plus the Jeep Grand Cherokee design may give up the collapsible feature built in to the GM steering shaft. I like the GM design.

 

When I had my truck's front-end aligned, I was surprised that the shop had overlooked the slop due to the bad rag-joint. I replaced mine with the Flaming River U-joint but a regular new rag joint should get you another 80,000 miles at least.

The other notorious origin of slop is the idler arm. The OEM style ones are known to be weak. The ones by Moog and ProForged are thought to be the best. You are tough on your front end, then the next step up is to get an adapter so that you can install a 1-ton idler arm axle and arm. The pittman arm can go bad but I don't hear much of that.