Recently purchased a 1999 Blazer S10 2dr for my father with 170k miles for $1500. Short on cash, it was the better option out of what we checked out.

When I test drove it the steering had a little play in it but we were in a punch and bought the Blazer. I took the car to a Firestone(close to my neighborhood) for an alignment thinking this would fix the problem. They came back and told me the steering wheel was locking up on them and they could not use the alignment machine. I asked if it was the tie rods and he said his mechanic looked under there and could not see anything visibly wrong

They suggested I start at one hour or labor for $150 to find out what it was, I declined at the time because we were in a rush.

My father called me and said once you get back 60 the car starts to have a mind of its own

I'm now trying to find out what is the issue so I can possibly fix it myself to avoid shop costs. My guess is something in the steering box?

 

I've had a lot of experience with steering issues in the past year. You'll need to check and test the following components: upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, Pitman arm, steering gearbox, and rag joint. Each of those components can affect steering response. On a truck of that age it wouldn't be unusual to have all of those worn to some degree.

Explaining how to check each of those would take quite a bit of writing. You should be able to find testing procedures by searching here on the Forum. You'll definitely want to have a friend available to help you while you're testing. You will also want a floor jack for some of the testing.

Good luck!

 

I figured as much, it would definitely have to be something in the suspension. My dad is 2 hours away from me in College Station so testing is a little difficult, I'm just trying to make sure he isn't getting swindled.

Looked briefly but I cannot find a solid link on testing specific suspension parts.

 

Learning to diagnose steering and suspension issues can take time. Do a lot of reading.

In the meantime, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. To check lower ball joints, jack the truck up under the control arm of the wheel to be tested. Put a bar or 2x4 under the tire and have someone lift up on it while you watch the ball joint and lower control arm. If the tire and steering knuckle move independently of the control arm you have a bad lower ball joint.

2. To check upper ball joints, jack the truck up and move the top of the tire in and out. If it moves at all you have bad upper ball joints.

3. To check outer tie rod ends, jack the truck up and move the tire back and forth at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions. If the tire moves independently of the steering linkage you've got bad outer tie rod ends.

4. To check the idler arm, have someone move the tires back and forth. If the idler arm moves up and down any you've got a bad idler arm.

Check out some videos on YouTube. That will give you a good idea of what the kind of motion you're looking for when doing the tests.