85 K5 Blazer, 4"-5" lift Steering Problem

[RSAP]

Just got my K5 few months ago.. noticed it was over steering, bad brakes and hitting a bump in the road will nearly throw you into the next lane. Not a mechanic, but handy with tools and some basic mechanical skills.

I've replaced the following so far and still have steering problem:

1) New ball joints (all up front)
2) New inner and outer tie rods
3) New sway bar bushings
4) New steering stabilizer
5) New steering gear box
6) New brake lines, front calipers, rotors
7) New front wheel bearings'
8) New Axle U joints up front
9) Fresh alignment

Next steps and some questions... numbered them for easy responses.. sorry for the long post..

1) I am guessing it has between 4-5" lift... not sure how to tell the lift size or manufacturer.. Thoughts? Seems to be first question everyone asks when I describe the problem..
2) I am often asked what axle I've got.. how can I tell? It's got 8 bolts with locking front hubs...
3) Latest alignment shows the caster is way off: 2.3 degrees on left and 2.0 degrees on right. Specified range is 7.5-8.5...
3.a) A friend of a friend who fabricates suspensions recommended the following:
- Making longer shackle on rear mount of the front leaf springs to adjust caster and possibly adding shim
- Also says front is super stiff, and current dual shocks not required (i don't offroad, just need to tow 5 miles to/from lake), so I could go with single that's not so stiff. Says if I want the look of dual that I could get a second dummy shock just for looks
4) When looking at the existing shim, the shim is installed with fatter part to the front of vehicle.. is this correct?

Picture of my leafs and shims attached

 

[Justin V]

Lot's of thing to unpack there...

First, you have a GM corporate 10 bolt front axle.

Second, you have only one tie rod, with two ends, and the other is the drag link, also two ends. The tie rod goes between the wheels, and the drag link goes from the steering gear box to the axle.

Third, assuming that the caster numbers you have provided are accurate, eliminating the shim between the spring and axle should get you much closer to proper caster angles. The downside to this is that you effectively lower the front pinion, which will hurt the u-joint angle at the driveshaft to pinion location.

 

[Justin V]

The going recipe around here is a single Bilstein on each corner, usually rides very nice.

The sway bar may be adding to the stiff ride as well, lift springs travel in a different arch than factory springs, which is a problem because the sway bar doesn't have links like most vehicles. The arch of travel of the sway won't match the arch of travel of the lift spring. You can get some Offroad Design sway bar disconnects to provide a third dimension of movement there. They can be left connected all day, every day, but allow the sway and spring to live happily ever after.

You should also post a pic of the draglink with the wheels straight and on level ground, there could be some more stuff going on there.

 

[RSAP]

Awesome, so going with the single sounds like a good idea. Also, makes sense with the sway bar adding to the stiff ride. Here's some more pics of front end suspension

 

[Justin V]

Overall, I'd say things appear to be assembled correctly. I'd also say that your 4-5" lift is probably right. I would take the sway bar out and one shock off of each side. See how it drives. They can always go back on if you don't like it. Also pull the shim out from between the spring and axle.

I bet you'll be much happier.

 

[obijuank5]

Are you still having the steering while braking issue? I diagnosed one a while back with the wrong size bolt in the front spring hanger.under braking it would pull crazy.

 

[shady]

I know you said you don't wheel.... But on a separate note, your rubber brake lines look too short to me.

Just an observation

 

[RSAP]

I know you said you don't wheel.... But on a separate note, your rubber brake lines look too short to me.

Just an observation

I went with original replacement, no problems so far, but I’ll turn wheel and check for any problems. Thanks for feedback.

 

[shady]

It's not the turning that matters. Any lifted truck should have extended brake lines. In the event of a wheel droop even turning into a steep driveway can stretch or tear your brake line. That's all I wanted to point out

 

[Justin V]

There is a factory front line that can be had for relatively cheap that is longer but has the same ends. I believe it is from a similar year van. Hopefully someone can chime in and confirm.

 

[Larry]

Don't forget to look at spring bushings, specifically on the shackle ends including the rear. Overly tight or seized up spring bushings not allowing the spring to move freely will cause bump steer and often brake pulls too. Been through that chitshow once and just about pulled my hair out chasing down the problem

 

[sweetk30]

few things i skimmed over and noticed .

has front wedges on the springs to help with pinion angle . but these kill caster angle a lot of the times and make the steering funky .

also the drag link from the steering box / pitman arm to the axle arm / steering arm looks to be about dead level . stephen from offroad design did this super WRITE-UP on why level is BAD and you need some down angle to the rear . i think it has to tall of a steering arm on the axle side .

for a better ride ditch the inner shocks on the front . thats way old school tech and found to give a hard ride .

if you still wish to have a sway bar but not be bound up get this kit . disconnect kit . helps with lift correction and lets the bar flex and swing as the axle moves forward and back in its arc .

 

[RSAP]

Made some progress and got the new shackles installed, removed the shins, and new shocks. Ride is better but now the exhaust is in the way with front driveshaft. Had to remove driveshaft until exhaust gets modified

 

[RSAP]

Another angle

 

[6872xtc]

Lots of good help and information has been posted here. I bet that you will find some improvement in how it drives with pulling the shim out and getting the caster angle correct.
If you don't find some improvement in the ride with the suggestions posted, my opinion is that the springs are too stiff. They look like they are kinda thick leaves to have that many in the pack. But I am very partial to custom ones from Offroad Design.

 

[Big Ray]

By the time you're done here you'll have a PHd in GM 4x4-ology!

 

[RSAP]

Agree with you on that. This project takes me back to being a teenager when my friends dads had their squares. I tell ya, having a square is a conversation starter with anyone.

 

[sweetk30]

last pic = frame death . remove the drop spacers on the t-case crossmember and correct the drive line angles before the frame gets worse as i can see its already bent .this might even make the d-shaft clear before moding the exhaust .

good so far on the fix's and tweeks . best to get a angle finder and check the ground were its parked for a base line * number and then measure the drag link and compare them .

who's shackles ? this angle of pics they look thin .

 

[frankin5]

Either get sway bar disconnects or put a lowering kit on the sway bar frame mounts. The sway bar is binding the axle movement.

 

[Stephen]

These guys pretty well have it nailed. A slightly unrelated part that can play in is a steering box brace too. Getting a little flex out of the frame area there can help.

And watch out for the stupid little stuff that matters like the seized up bushings and wallowed out mounting holes mentioned above. Another sneaky one is sticky or tight ball joints and tie rod ends. We fought a superduty pretty hard till we found the ball joints were really tight and it wouldn't return to center and hunted around on the road pretty bad. Another fine tuning thing to look at is a tire swap. We've messed with lots of things on a vehicle trying to make it go down the road nice and switched tires as a last resort and it turns out we should have started with the tires because they fixed it. And I'm talking some big brands and nice tires that just didn't gel with the vehicle so it's not like we were getting rid of super crappy tires and putting on nice ones.