2001 4X4 4D Blazer Suspension/Steering Problems
 

I am hoping to find a cheep answer to why my recently acquired Blazer rides poorly (especially on the highway) and steers poorly.

Ride: very unstable and hard to keep in lane at highway speeds. Hard to keep from bouncing around all over the place at all speeds. There is just way too much movement going on.

Steering: for about 2-3 inches off center when moving the stearing wheel, the truck does very little turning. Then when you get past that, it gets much harder to turn the wheel, making maneuvering pretty hard.

When this truck is rolling down the highway, I look like a drunk driver! The truck has a heap of problems, but I want to start here. It has 110k miles on it, and I hope to make it last.

The story with the truck is that it is my brother's and he is shipping off to Iraq (Army) in August. I have it for the year, and I want him to come home to something a bit nicer. I also don't have a lot of money...so, I want to do the work myself. I'd like to hope that there are a lot of install guides out there for this stuff.

So basically, I need to know what to do, how to get the best bang for the buck, when to do what. Mostly, I need to know what are the best parts for the money for what I need to fix! Thanks in advance for the advice.

What kind of shape are the tires in? Sounds like you need a new set of tires and shocks... Get a floor jack under the bottom A-arm and lift a front tire while keeping weight on the suspension. Now grab the top and bottom of the tire and "rock" it to check for movement. There should be none... if there is then investigate the ball joints and wheel bearings... could be one or all. Don't forget about those tie-rod ends either.

First things first. If your steering is sloppy start at the tie rod ends! then check the pitman arm, the idler arm and finally the steering box. If it's as sloppy as you say especially with the hard sterring you probably have a bad box(not cheap or easy) sorry. Of course ball joints could be crappy, but your steering symptoms should be alot more than a ball joint issue.

Blazer suspention issues
 

The S10 Blazer is prone to suspension issues especially ball joints and idler arms. I would change the idler arm with a heavy duty AC Delco or a Moog. Jegs sells them for $40 and Advance auto will match the price. Be careful all idler arms are not created equal. You also can do a google search to see how much parts will cost and price match at a local parts supplier.

The ball joints and pitman arm can be more challenging if they are original. It may be best to get a diagnosis from a quality alignment shop and then do the work yourself with a buddy.