Loose steering gets looser after rough road

[Green K20]

When I bought my truck I knew it had loose steering. It wasn't enough to be dangerous. I could keep it in the lane when out on the highway.
I took it to our mechanic, who owns two 67-72 C/K pickups, and he said his 4WD truck steers the same way. I was ok with that. I drove it like that for a week until I got the idea to go muddin' with a friend of mine. We went down this minimum maintenance road that was full of big holes and ruts. It had just rained, so there were lots of big puddles.
Anyway, I found out that my truck is not ment for that kind of thing. It is too slow. I bounced and splashed my way through the puddles and ruts, spraying muddy water everywhere. Afterwards, I noticed that it wanders even more now. The already loose steering has gotten worse. Could it be the steering gearbox? What is excessively worn or broken, and how would I go about repairing it? Thank you in advance.

[dan42]

4X4's are usually pretty worn out if they haven't been gone through; you probably just knocked off a couple layers of dirt/grease that made it seem a little tighter. Steering box/tie rod ends is where I would start.

[67chevy1series]

definatly the tie rods my dad has a 70 chevy 4x4 trust me i know

[ChaStur]

The pitman arm on my 2wd was on it's last thread. Might be another place to check.

Good luck!

[cdowns]

to bring back to factory type specs buy all new parts and do a major rebuild or wait for things to fail one at a time and risk loosing everything

[71tahoe]

Originally Posted by cdowns

to bring back to factory type specs buy all new parts and do a major rebuild or wait for things to fail one at a time and risk loosing everything

Amen to that! Check everything including the steering knuckles.

[mexgrhd68]

check your frame where steering box is......may be cracked.

[Bluehealercsf]

Mine was the same way till I replaced tie rod ends and ball joints, rebuilt steering box, changed stearing stabilizer shock and front/rear leaf springs. It now rides at least as good as my 05 Chevy 2500HD

[Green K20]

Thanks, guys!

I did forget to mention one thing though, my plain "base model" K 20 has manual steering. Replacing the gearbox and tie rod ends was what I was thinking, but that would cost over $300. Normally I would'nt have a problem spending that kind of money, but my Explorer just took a dump and now I may be facing a $5-600 repair bill for that. Oh well, I may have to dig deep in my pockets and see what I find.

[vectorit]

If it's a manual steering gear box, and you want to R&R like for like. Then expect to spend close to 400 bones for just the box.
But, if your rig is able to be converted to PS (Frame dimple) then you may think about taking this opportunity to upgrade to PS? Doing the conversion will be just as spendy if not more, but at least you will now sport power steering.

[ubtripn]

I'm always for checking the idler arm. Just replacing that can take out tons of play.

[Green K20]

4x4 trucks didn't have a idler arm. What else could be causing this? Is it possible that it could be the steering stabilizer? Or what about the drag links? Replacing all of those would be a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing the steering gearbox.

[AirSpeed]

My GMC 4X4 had the same problem, I checked the tie rod ends and discovered all of them were loose, not worn but loose. I pulled the cotter pins and tightened each one up and was amazed how much tighter the steering was. The tiniest bit of play under the truck translates to a lot in the steering wheel!