1993 chev c 1500 front end

[Bob252]

I just turned 400,000 miles.
I know I need to replace a lot of parts but can't afford them all at once. Can anybody tell me the part or parts I should replace first. I don't want to ware out another set of tires. I basicly need to replace all relevant parts on the front end.

[abig84]

its one of those situations where you should really do them all at once if everything is really bad so you can get a alignment and just be done with it. if your pitman and idler arm are really bad you can swap those out as they shouldnt mess with the tow of the steering at all.

[Bob252]

So I have to wait until I can afford all parts?

[abig84]

anytime you replace any steering parts like the tie rod ends youre messing with your alignment unless you are sure you can get them exactly back to where you took the old ones off so its always a gamble just swapping a few items at a time it might throw your steering out of wack and just wear down your tires faster

[rickpilgrim]

At 400K mi if nothing has been replaced than you definitely should do all.
If you put a jack under the front lower control arm and grab the top of the tire does it move in and out any amount? Do the tie rod ends or any steering joint move up and down or have a lot of slop? Is the steering very sloppy from left to right?
If the answer to any of that is yes then it's time to park it until you can afford to fix it.
My 92 K2500 I did all on and the inner and outer tie rod ends, pitman arm and idler arm cost me $172.48 on my Amazon account. My ball joints came in a set from ebay for $92.00 so don't limit yourself to the local parts house with your budget.
All of our 88-98 trucks wore the idler arm out first and You notice that by a lot of toe out tire wear.

[SiCk_DiAbLo]

I'm just amazed at 400 thousand miles...Is that on the original motor?...