I know i have a lot of movement in the steering wheel/play, and thought that may be whats causing it! Not sure.. Didn't know if maybe adjusting the steering box would remove the play and also solve the swaying problem....

 

I dont like sears sevice department.... they broke a rear caliper on my 98 mustang and weren't gonna tell me..... they just acted like nothing was wrong...... then wanted me to buy a new one from them???? and of course you have the classic ron white lug nut story... hahaha.... but yeah.... sear is alright, but I would take it to a place that specializes in front ends and wheel alignment.... get a second opinion from a person that is trained specifically to work on front ends... not the do-it-all guys at sears or even firestone or wherever...


BTW... did you do the work of tie rods, ball joints, etc..??? if so did you use a torque wrench?? things may not be torqued to proper specs and could be coming loose a bit?? i dunno im just going out on a limb here.. . . . .

 

I have the same problem and have done almost all of the corrective actions you have done: ball joints, alignments, linkages, etc. Did you ever get the problem fixed? If so, what did you do? There is an adjustment screw on top of the steering gear box to adjust the play in the steering. Be careful, not to tighten it too much.

Would like to hear from you on the swaying problem.
MWoody

 

MWoody,
I had the same exact problem early last year with my 98, Here's afew questions for you...
Is your truck hard tocontrol on the expressway?
Does it feel like it wants to go into a different lane on it's own?
Are you constantly making steering corrections while driving?
What year is your truck and miles on it?

 

I don't know about Mwoody, but I have 97 Blazer with 170k and would have to answer YES to all 3 questions. What's Up.

 

Blazwest, Here was my cure......
I replaced the WORN OUT P.O.S. STEERING box in it (80,000 mostly hi-way miles) I had to relearn how to drive it afterwords.It's a 1hour job. It now steers almost like a Corvette. I can now let go of the steering wheel 65 mph on the X-way for blocks at a time. Even on thestrong wind day's, i have full control... $195 bucks, and a Lifetime Warrantee at Murrays auto parts.

If your front end is tight and you want to test your steering box for SLOP, simply start your engine up,CENTER your steering wheel, stand outside with the window rolled down, Looking at your front tire, SLOWLY turn your wheel to the left and see how far your wheel went before your tires moved. If you moved your steering wheel more then 1/2 to 1 inch and see no movement from the tires, Your box is bad.

 

Hey, Thanks for the advice. I"ve had my suspicions about the gear box, after going thru front end and the only thing i found was marginal lower ball joints, which I replaced. The steering gear did not look to friendly to replace, so I kept putting it off, especially without more evidence. The front end seems prettytight, so I went ahead and did the slop test.Let's just say it was less than perfect, much less. Probably a couple inches each way.You said it only took about an hour, maybe its not as bad as it looked. If the temp. ever gets above 20, I give it a try.

Any tips on the repair you could offer would be great.. Thanks

 

Also check the "RAG" joint under the plastic cover that connects the steering shaft to the box....there are a few ways to deal with this and they are a better fix than just replacing the joint with another one.

Check out s10Forum.comfor tight steering...the thread tells how to replace that short section of the steering shaft with a dodge/jeep shaft that has u-joints on both sides. And depending on what year your Blazer/Truck is depends on what year Jeep Grand Cherokee steering shaft you can use to replace it with...

 

Blazwest,
This is apretty simple job. You will need to buy a pittman arm puller ($10 bucks) andi've been told that on the 4x4's you will need to replace the pittman arm also, Mineis a2x4 and it was reuseable.First thing I did was Jack car off the ground. then I removed the (Large nut 1 1/4 i think? with breaker bar )from the pittman arm. Then I used the puller on it to remove it from the steering box only, remove the plastic rag joint cover where the shaft meets the box, it opens from the bottom with the help of a screwdriver, then remove the steering shaft at the box ( 1 bolt 10mm i think?) slide the shaft towards the fire wall.then remove the two power steering lines from the steering box. (make sure you have a drain pan under them and drain the pump resivior completley) ThenI went through the wheel well to remove the(3 bolts 17mm i think?) that hold the pump to the side of the frame. Minipulate the old box out, Install new box in reverse, In your case carefullymark where the pittman arm is at before installingyour new one. I filled my new box up with synthetic fluid, started truck and turned thesteering wheel left to right and keep checking the fluid, after the pump primed the box, it was like new.

Sorry I can't remember all the nut size's or the torque spec's, That's what happens when you start to getold.........
Look things over carefully, and make sure you have all the correct tools before you start the job, use common sense, you will be fine, Oh and DO NOT turn the steering wheel inside of truck orthe tires until everything is buttoned up.
I markedmy tireswith white chalk on the ground before I jacked the truck up...I had my son in law as a helperfor some of the three handed things and fetching me some tools. Again, you will be fine doing this job, afterwords, you will be oversteering the truck ( because of the sloppy steering you were use too) til you relearn how to drive it.

 

just wondering if this is the same problem that i hadand was talking about in another post... now mine is a 2000 but i figure they're pretty much the same.. my question to the people posting about this problem is..

1. does the vehicle seem finewhennormal city driving at lower speeds..???

2. and by swaying do you mean when you get up to highway speeds the rig feels like it could sway hard in any direction espicialy when going over bumps, bridges, ect..??

and if so.. if you ever fix it.. please let me know how lol