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1990 Blazer steering problem, rusted trans cooler lines

Queasyrida

Queasyrida

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Northern Maine
Hi, I recently bought a one owner, 41k miles, '90 K5 (1500). The truck wanders at highway speed, there is about 2" of steering wheel play each side of straight up. I have checked the spindles, tie rod ends, cupping my hand over a joint, no lost motion. The pitman arm looked suspect so I tightened the pinch bolt with my impact wrench. It tightened about a half turn. No noticeable improvement. The rag joint has no play. It goes down the road centered with hands off the wheel. It's been over fifty years since I've worked on anything with kingpins so I may be missing something. Moving the steering wheel when parked, the pitman follows perfectly. Watching the tire the steering wheel will move about an inch from center before the tire moves, 2 inches total play.
The trans cooler line to the radiator blew today, rusted through. Should I try to make one solid line or use two pieces with a coupler? I have a tube bending tool. It looks like a good challenge!
This is my first post and I'm over the hill, so please bear with me.

IMG_20160416_160355229_HDR.jpg
 
First, welcome to CK5!

I also have a 1990 K5 you can see in my avatar picture. Yours is a hell of a lot nicer than mine was when I got it.

OK, so on to your questions/issues/problems...

These trucks have ball joints up front (not king pins), and yours are probably worn badly. Jack a front tire off the ground. Use a bar at the bottom of the tire, or even just your hands top and bottom to check for play. It's not uncommon to have 1/2" of play at the top of the tire (inward and outward) when ball joints are bad. I would replace all the wear points. Ball joints upper and lower, drag link ends and adjuster sleeve, tie rod ends. I would double check steering box bolts are all tight too.
 
Okay! I didn't think I'd have to replace all of the front end components at such a low mileage. The guy I bought it from ordered it through the dealer he worked at. He never "wheeled" it, it spent all year in his garage. He's 80 now, doesn't drive to his camp any more.
As someone rocked the steering wheel, I couldn't detect any loose movement at the tie rod ends, steering box, links, etc.. I assumed it was kingpins as it has no A-arms. This is my first Blazer, should I expect premature wear on the suspension components? The truck is bone stock. I added the running boards.
The ball joints will be easy to check. Thanks for all the tips!
 
These solid front axle trucks will never steer as tightly as a car, but you can get them reasonably tight. I'm going to mention looking for frame cracks around the steering box just to be thorough...but with it's low mile/easy driving history and on small tires I'm 99.9% sure frame cracks aren't a problem on your truck. Still good to get a socket on the steering box bolts and check them though.

Ball joints could just have been not greased much in it's life, it's not necessarily abuse or hard driving that wears them out.
 
Thanks for the tip ! I'm hoping that's what it turns out to be. Are they pressed in? Shouldn't be too hard to change, no spring compressor required!
 
Thanks, Rampage! Now that a complete installation tutorial! Looks like lots of fun ahead, going to check the ball joint play in a few minutes.......
 
You can also replace the factory steering shaft with a steering shaft from a late 80's to a mid 90's Jeep cherokee. Eliminates the rag joint and uses small universal joints instead.
 
Best way to find steering issue, are grab a buddy and have him turn the wheel while you watch the steering components. As far as tranny lines I use 3/8 brake line and bend up all my own. Way easier to get them where you want them and tucked up tight.
 
You may want to make sure the spring center bolt (under the u-bolt pad) hasn't sheared,that will let the axle tube move back & forth before turning the tire--also I've seen many straight axled GM trucks with a bad spring eye bushing up front,or even one of the leafs "eyes" cracked,allowing the spring to slide on its leafs before steering the tires..

All the transmission cooler lines I've made up or patched on my GM trucks were 5/16" tubing,except for an old Pontiac Bonneville ('66) that happened to have 3/8" lines on its TH400...best to match up whats there...

It can be difficult to get at the fittings on the transmission to remove or install new tubing , and bend the tubing to fit there without kinking it--I usually leave the original lines intact at the transmission so long as they look OK and not all rusted,and use 5/16" compression unions to splice in another length of new tubing...ditto if the radiator ends look like the radiator will rip the bung out instead of unscrewing,if its weak--best to leave them be and cut them off about 2" away with a tubing cutter and use compression fittings...
 
Justin V said:
You can also replace the factory steering shaft with a steering shaft from a late 80's to a mid 90's Jeep cherokee. Eliminates the rag joint and uses small universal joints instead.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip! The one in there looks okay for now.....
 
diesel4me said:
You may want to make sure the spring center bolt (under the u-bolt pad) hasn't sheared,that will let the axle tube move back & forth before turning the tire--also I've seen many straight axled GM trucks with a bad spring eye bushing up front,or even one of the leafs "eyes" cracked,allowing the spring to slide on its leafs before steering the tires..

All the transmission cooler lines I've made up or patched on my GM trucks were 5/16" tubing,except for an old Pontiac Bonneville ('66) that happened to have 3/8" lines on its TH400...best to match up whats there...

It can be difficult to get at the fittings on the transmission to remove or install new tubing , and bend the tubing to fit there without kinking it--I usually leave the original lines intact at the transmission so long as they look OK and not all rusted,and use 5/16" compression unions to splice in another length of new tubing...ditto if the radiator ends look like the radiator will rip the bung out instead of unscrewing,if its weak--best to leave them be and cut them off about 2" away with a tubing cutter and use compression fittings...
Click to expand...
Thanks diesel4me.....The cracked spring eye sounds like something that this problem will turn out to be. No play at all on the tie rod ends, ball joints, etc.. A very small amount of play in the driver's side wheel, like a wheel bearing that needs to be tightened on a front wheel on a rwd truck.....

Undecided about splicing the old trans line or replacement....Both repairs have merit. The trans ends are a pain when the trans is in place......
 
That is a really nice looking truck! (except the running boards) :D
 
Queasyrida said:
Thanks diesel4me.....The cracked spring eye sounds like something that this problem will turn out to be. No play at all on the tie rod ends, ball joints, etc.. A very small amount of play in the driver's side wheel, like a wheel bearing that needs to be tightened on a front wheel on a rwd truck.....

Undecided about splicing the old trans line or replacement....Both repairs have merit. The trans ends are a pain when the trans is in place......
Click to expand...


The wheel bearings being loose can also cause a lot of "slop" in the steering,and sometimes its not easy to notice that just driving it too--but you say you've jacked it up and checked for that...

I had to replace my tranny cooler lines "completely" the last time,they were extremely rusted all the way to the tranny fittings.
.
It was no fun trying to get them off,I ended up using a sawsall to cut them right close to the fittings,so I could use a 6 point socket on them,after the flare wrench started rounding them off--then fought to get them loose...one of the fittings came out of the tranny too,and I had to clamp it in a vise so I could get the line nut out of it...

I was worried the case on the tranny might strip or leak after I put the fitting back in,it went in rather hard..but it didn't...it was one of those jobs that should take a half hour,that ended up taking most of a day...worst part was trying to get the new line fitting to start into the transmission fitting...:(
 
tRustyK5 said:
These solid front axle trucks will never steer as tightly as a car, but you can get them reasonably tight. I'm going to mention looking for frame cracks around the steering box just to be thorough...but with it's low mile/easy driving history and on small tires I'm 99.9% sure frame cracks aren't a problem on your truck. Still good to get a socket on the steering box bolts and check them though.

Ball joints could just have been not greased much in it's life, it's not necessarily abuse or hard driving that wears them out.
Click to expand...
Okay. Here's an update: raised the axle off the floor, used a six foot bar under each tire, no discernible play. I did detect a very small amount of wheel/tire play on the driver's side wiggling it by hand, top and bottom. You could feel it more than you could see it. No play at all on passenger side. I did remove the hub cover but I was in unfamiliar territory..... Steering box bolts tight, no frame cracks. It's all very clean there.....
 
Queasyrida said:
I didn't like the running boards either, but the Misses is handicapped but wants to ride, too!

Oh, did I mention she does all the shopping and cooking......
Click to expand...

If there is a good reason for them, then I certainly can't argue with that!
 
diesel4me said:
The wheel bearings being loose can also cause a lot of "slop" in the steering,and sometimes its not easy to notice that just driving it too--but you say you've jacked it up and checked for that...

I had to replace my tranny cooler lines "completely" the last time,they were extremely rusted all the way to the tranny fittings.
.
It was no fun trying to get them off,I ended up using a sawsall to cut them right close to the fittings,so I could use a 6 point socket on them,after the flare wrench started rounding them off--then fought to get them loose...one of the fittings came out of the tranny too,and I had to clamp it in a vise so I could get the line nut out of it...

I was worried the case on the tranny might strip or leak after I put the fitting back in,it went in rather hard..but it didn't...it was one of those jobs that should take a half hour,that ended up taking most of a day...worst part was trying to get the new line fitting to start into the transmission fitting...:(
Click to expand...
I did post to trustyK5 that I did find a small amount of play like a loose wheel bearing, drivers side only.... I need to know what to do from here.

Your method of removing the lines is exactly what could be done. When I r&r a tranny, I undo the lines as it's lowered a little and the same going back in. At least you can see what you're doing.
 
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