A shimy ? Left right throw *RESLOVED*

[Gdsmith07]

05 Yukon, 4.8L 4x4

When I bought the Yukon the 4WD was not being used due to there being an Axel seal leak in the front differential. Did a full rebuild on the front suspension/steering sans the pitman/idler arm as I did t have the help to test it properly, second set of hands, and didn’t have the parts available at the time.

I replaced the front Axel seal, easy job went smooth after having to get the correct seal a 3rd time, and did a full rebuild of the front end including :

Upper control arms

Lower control arms

Front hubs driver/passenger

Front sway bar link

Front sway bar bushings

Tie rod ends

Inner/outer tierods

Cv axels driver/passenger

Cleaned the front knuckles up

Cut/cleaned all threads and bolts

New struts.


So here’s why I’m running into, I’ve kind of asked around before but no one could really give me a direction.

I’m getting a throw left and right but it only occurs when 4WD is engaged.

When driving in 2wd I don’t have a throw and if it’s there it negligible I can’t feel it or decipher it through the terrible road conditions.

Now a little insight, I can’t really
Get a true alignment. There’s no alignment rack here and “driving to a alignment shop” isn’t an option. As there’s no road out…. So I did a tow alignment on it myself before rolling it out.

The only two things that I can’t think of is that either the camber/caster is so far off that it’s throwing it out of whack and when engaged in 4WD with power to the wheels it’s causing a throw that’s being able to be felt in and seen in the steering wheel.

OR

The pitman and or idler arm are bad and I’m getting throw when engaged in 4WD because I have power to the front wheels which in turn causing in loose feeling in the pitman/idler to be felt exponentially through the wheel.

I don’t I ordered the Quicktrick alignment system to be able to actually do an alignment just waiting for it to come in. I also have a pitman and idler arm ready but I need a second set of hands to help
Turn the wheel so the play can be checked.

What do you guys think? There’s nothing in the differential that I could think of that could be causing a literal throw like that, that wouldn’t just make the differential
Go boom. I mean they’re decent but they don’t that strong to sustain that much damage.

Hope someone chimes in on newbie and maybe helps point him in some other directions.

 

[Scottydoggs]

you can jack up one wheel at a time and push and pull on the wheel and check then see/feel play in them parts.

sounds like you just need a better alignment. with any luck the alignment tools you bought help out.

 

[Gdsmith07]

you can jack up one wheel at a time and push and pull on the wheel and check then see/feel play in them parts.

sounds like you just need a better alignment. with any luck the alignment tools you bought help out.

Scotty dogs didn’t see your response until now!

So I was able to get a helper and climb under the Yukon while they turned the wheel. I had a little bit of play in the pitman arm and it looked like I also had some play in the input shaft on the steering gear box. Don’t know if that’s common.

So I tackled a rather big job yesterday, replaced the pitman arm, idler arm, idler arm assembly, center link, steering gear box, and while i was at it I did a power steering flush and replaced a slightly noisy power steering pump.

I must say….. it it steers like hot icing, just creamy.

I then went ahead and did a toe alignment on it just to get it somewhat squared away for a road drive and my jerky characteristics are all gone.

I’ve got somewhat wider tires as well and they used to follow holes rather aggressively. Now not so much.

 

[Gdsmith07]

So wanted to give an update on the thread, and mark it as resolved in case anyone in the future stumbles upon this with similar issues.

A little background and I’m sorry this will be a little long.

I bought the Yukon knowing it needed to some front end work the PO had done work himself and had been completely
Honest when he said he didn’t know what he was doing. But $2500 it was still a deal.

I went to work replacing the front end did the usual; upper lower ball joints, inner outer tierods, cold weather cv axels, from hubs, front and rear sway bar bushings, front and rear sway bar links, LCA and UCA’s, front and rear struts, basically the entirety of the front suspension and whatever I could see was neglected or worn.

I had also been told that the 4WD hadn’t been used due to a leaky front Axel seal and a fear of destroying the diff so I replaced the drivers side front Axel seal.

When i first got the Yukon it was a pretty jerky had a definite bad tierod feel. So after all the new parts and a first test drive I was pleased to have no such feel UNTIL I engaged 4WD. As soon as I engaged 4WD the truck wanted to jump from one side of the road to the other.

Fast forward I finally was able to diagnose a bad pitman arm and oddly, I dunno if it’s common on these trucks, my input shaft on my gear box had some play.

After replacing my pitman arm, idler arm, idler arm assembly, steering gear box and a power steering pump to get rid of a noisy pump I’m happy To say the truck
Isn’t jerky anymore. It steers rather nicely.


So in case anyone stumbles upon this with any similar issues. Before throwing parts at it get a helper and climb under the rig and check the pitman arm and idler arms. There should be no play whats so ever. My pitman arm after pulling it out had the slightest of play in it and it wa causing severe left right throw under load from the front diff.

I was finally 100% able to narrow it down to something in the steering when I was performing my own alignments and done an alignment went for a drive and rechecked my measurements when I noticed my toe was extremely outside of the parameters that it had just been in which gave me the indication to move forward under the truck.


Hope this helps someone down the line!

 

[S33k3r]

Knowing how many miles you have on it could be helpful, but I have a 2005 Suburban 2500 that had a worn out gearbox as well. I haven't had time until this past year to my own work, but I have a mechanic I trus (and recommend to anyone who will listen), and I asked him to adjust my gearbox -- which is how we figured out it was shot. Adjusting it pretty much did NOTHING to it.