SOLVED: Loose steering wheel play -- is this normal?? (see video)

[ggeorgia]

It WAS an 8.1. It's got an LBZ Duramax/Allison in it now. Hence the body lift to clear the intercooler.

Good point on the torque specs. Steering, brakes and suspension are important things to adhere to torque specs for.

Wow, that thing is bulletproof ! I've seen video of Duraburbs, but never heard form anyone on how it work out.

 

[ggeorgia]

Always wondered how good Those new lares boxes are, I have been fighting play myself. Redheads sucked so did reman Delcos best I came up with was a used oem from lkq with 91,000 miles on it

To answer your question, so far the Lares gear box is working pretty well and is pretty firm. I will say, the Lares box is much heavier than the OEM box which I guess is a good thing.

 

[wildcatgoal]

To answer your question, so far the Lares gear box is working pretty well and is pretty firm. I will say, the Lares box is much heavier than the OEM box which I guess is a good thing.

But your gas mileage!

 

[OR VietVet]

After replacing most of the steering and suspension in my effort to get rid of the slop in the steering, and tightening the steering gear box, I drove my '05 for another year before seeing the greatest improvement provided by installing Energy Suspension sway bar bushings. I cannot believe how much that $40 helped the steering. Now, I can feel the sway bar resistance and the steering is tighter on center. I am changing out the rear springs, sway bar bushings and all shocks this week to further improve the ride and handling. I also levelled out using torsion keys.

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

Might want to consider the Hellwig sway bar front and rear kits. The difference is night and day.

 

[Kurupt]

So quick question about the steering box, maybe one of you guys may know. My mechanic is saying somthing about there being 2 models of steering box, one being "luxury" ? doesn't really make sense to me 2003 yukon xl 4x4 1500 is what I have.

 

[Teamiez]

So quick question about the steering box, maybe one of you guys may know. My mechanic is saying somthing about there being 2 models of steering box, one being "luxury" ? doesn't really make sense to me 2003 yukon xl 4x4 1500 is what I have.

only difference I think is if you are 2 wheel drive or 4x4, or z71 off road package vs non z71 package.

 

[Teamiez]

So quick question about the steering box, maybe one of you guys may know. My mechanic is saying somthing about there being 2 models of steering box, one being "luxury" ? doesn't really make sense to me 2003
yukon xl 4x4 1500 is what I have.

I stand corrected there is actually a luxury package gear box according to rock auto, the Yukon I guess is a tad different vs the tahoes?

 

[Kurupt]

I stand corrected there is actually a luxury package gear box according to rock auto, the Yukon I guess is a tad different vs the tahoes?

Yes, I found this out also, I think I figured out what mine is, trouble is I cant find a new one anywhere just rebuilds. Mine is an 02-06 " anything except BPH or Y91 " steering box lol. That's what a gm parts guy quoted, Red head steering gear just informed me to count the number of bolts on the control valve and they'll get it figured for me

 

[Teamiez]

Yes, I found this out also, I think I figured out what mine is, trouble is I cant find a new one anywhere just rebuilds. Mine is an 02-06 " anything except BPH or Y91 " steering box lol. That's what a gm parts guy quoted, Red head steering gear just informed me to count the number of bolts on the control valve and they'll get it figured for me

hopefully you have good results with them, I tried 2 and never thought it would be possible but they were entirely to ‘tight’ and squirrelly and didn’t have a ‘center’ so had to constantly correct the steering. I got a used oem low mile box off lkq for $80 and it was the best

 

[Borge]

Thanks for this info. I’ve been trying to track down a similar issue after placing the intermediate shaft, column bearing, steering box, idler, pitman and tie rod ends I still had this slop. I’ll try the lower shaft as well. During my research I came across another part number for this lower shaft (25958108). It appears this part number is for the 2500HD/3500 trucks. So for reference : 25958109 is for all 1/2 ton trucks and suvs and 25958108 is for all 2500HD/3500 trucks or any 1/2 ton with a body lift. It’s a bit longer to take into account the factory body lift on these models. This applies to gmt-800 only. These part numbers might fit other years and models

I mention this because of my situation. I have a 2500 Yukon xl with a 1.5” body lift up front. So I ordered the longer one (25958108). The upper or intermediate shaft is the same per number for all models in this series.




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Hi. Did this fix your sloppy steering as well? I have changed more or less the same parts as you, and I still have a lot of play.. Wondering if I should do the lower steering shaft next…

 

[OR VietVet]

Hi. Did this fix your sloppy steering as well? I have changed more or less the same parts as you, and I still have a lot of play.. Wondering if I should do the lower steering shaft next…

Welcome to your first post on the forum. That steering shaft made a big difference on my rig and I literally changed everything else, see my Build Thread.

 

[BigDogYJ]

Hi. Did this fix your sloppy steering as well? I have changed more or less the same parts as you, and I still have a lot of play.. Wondering if I should do the lower steering shaft next…

Actually the lower shaft did resolve a rotational clunk feel (not to be confused with the intermediate shaft clunk - usually noticed over bumpy/rough roads), but this lower shaft unfortunately did NOT resolve my sloppy steering. I ended up replacing the Steering gear box and pump with PSC units. Expensive parts but my steering is dialed in perfectly now. Thanks for posting here, forgot to update it myself. I will add I previously installed a "rebuilt" GM AC Delco steering box which solved a few issues but still sloppy. The PSC box resolved all the issues I had that persisted after everything else was replaced. I'm very happy with it. I've had it installed for a little over a year now and probably 12k miles.

Power steering pump: PSC SP1404 (1500/2500/3500)
Steering gearbox: PSC SG039 (for 2500/3500 series only)

 

[rockola1971]

The C and K chassis are well known to get super sloppy at the steering gear box once they have a substantial amount of mileage on them. They of course have the lash adjustment that takes out the slop but even it can only fix so much wear and tear on the gear box. The slop comes from engagement between the input and output shafts of the gear box. Once the steering column/shafts are ruled out and they tend to have their own problems as well and can cause slop too then it usually ends up being the gear box.
You get a 200k C or K chassis that has had no front end work done on it you can almost always plan on a full front suspension rebuild (Tie rods, idler and pitman arm, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, upper and lower ball joints and stablizer link kits) along with a new/reman steering gear box and steering column and shaft parts too. Not too ridiculous if it can be done DIY at home but can really rack up a bill if a shop has to be paid labor and parts markup.