The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post

**mr48chev** · 01-01-2010, 03:10 PM

Put it up on ramps so that you can see/get under it and watch the linkage as your helper gently rocks the steering wheel back and forth.

Start at the rag joint or connection to the box and work your way through the steering. Usually you can see of feel the movement in tie rod ends or the idler arm. One pieces moves before the other instead of both moving together as a unit.

You can also check the lower ball joints by putting the floor jack under the lower control arm pretty close to the tire and jacking it up so that the tire is far enough off the floor to slip a pry bar under it about half way, either lift up on the pry bar so that you can see how much if any the tire moves before it stops. You can watch the movement from under the truck and if it is excessive the ball joints need to be replaced. At the same time you can also grip the tire front and back and check for movement in the linkage and see if there is movement in and out with the upper ball joint. Uppers usually don't give much problem on that suspension if they are lubed on a regular basis unless they have a lot of miles on them. Mostly it is wiggle and watch for movement that shouldn't be there.

01-01-2010, 03:10 PM	#12
mr48chev Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Toppenish, WA Posts: 15,824	Re: Loose steering Put it up on ramps so that you can see/get under it and watch the linkage as your helper gently rocks the steering wheel back and forth. Start at the rag joint or connection to the box and work your way through the steering. Usually you can see of feel the movement in tie rod ends or the idler arm. One pieces moves before the other instead of both moving together as a unit. You can also check the lower ball joints by putting the floor jack under the lower control arm pretty close to the tire and jacking it up so that the tire is far enough off the floor to slip a pry bar under it about half way, either lift up on the pry bar so that you can see how much if any the tire moves before it stops. You can watch the movement from under the truck and if it is excessive the ball joints need to be replaced. At the same time you can also grip the tire front and back and check for movement in the linkage and see if there is movement in and out with the upper ball joint. Uppers usually don't give much problem on that suspension if they are lubed on a regular basis unless they have a lot of miles on them. Mostly it is wiggle and watch for movement that shouldn't be there.