Alignments Suck -- What Am I Missing

wildcatgoal said:

On my 2002, I replaced LITERALLY EVERYTHING under the front of the car from ball joints to bushings to pitman and idler arms to shocks to camber adjustment pins and cams. All of it. Why? Because at 192K I decided to do a complete refresh of the front while parts were still available. Give me something to do during the COVID-19 disaster we are experiencing.

Anywho, I have taken this lumbering pile of Chevrolet to 2 different places to get an alignment now. It's had 4 alignments total. I cannot get the steering wheel straight (it wasn't before all of this work either). It's also floaty on the highway and wont track on center as well as other similar gen Chevy trucks I've driven. I know you can center the wheel and I know these drive pretty well... I've driven many.

Now, I have bigger BFG A/T tires on 2014 Silverado/Tahoe wheels. They're heavy. I get they will degrade handling some. They aren't a cush highway tread tire. Got it. But the other Silverado/Tahoe/Suburbans I've driven have had similar type tires as well. I do not have any form of lift parts. Stock everything.

There should be no play from aged parts.

Why can't I get a good alignment? What else am I missing?

I spoke to an off-road shop figuring they'd know the best place to get an alignment on these old dogs and he said our trucks are like driving a boat and he could never guarantee a straight wheel. Huh?

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DansOtter said:

Check the orientation of your steering linkage; the bar that your tie rods thread into, and your pitman arm and idler arm connect to that same bar. Each end should be angled DOWN and to the REAR of the truck.

I did the same repair a couple years ago and missed that; which, ya know... my bad. Should've paid more attention when I disassembled. But I had it aligned 5 times at 3 different shops; none of them noticed, and it was within spec. But it was wandering all over the damn road.

Tried to install a steering stabilizer kit one night that was supposed to be a bolt-on, and was getting all kinds of interference when I turned the wheel, and then it hit me... "I've got this F-ing thing backward!"

Unbolted, flipped it, took it back for one more alignment the next day, and it's been good since.

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