K3500 Steering Box Slop...

[Avery4jc]

I took my tow rig into a shop a couple weeks back because I just couldn't take it any more... the truck has been reliable but the steering is an absolute joke. It had TONS of slop in it and although it tracked fairly straight once you got going I wasn't going to put up with it anymore....

So the steering/alignment shop puts it up on the rack and goes through the whole front end... they come back and say it's my steering box (which is what I was thinking too but wasn't sure) because the steering shaft going into the box had about 1/2 a turn of free play and a ton of side to side slop.

So $450 later I have a new box in and I'm going down the road... it wasn't off the show room floor tight but it was a lot better and I could easily live with it for the next couple of years until I get a diesel.

Sooooo fast forward about 4 weeks and all my slop is back! It was starting to come back little by little and then we took a trip to the dunes and on the way home I really started to notice it again and then this whole week going around town it's basically loosed back up to where it was before.


Soooo any ideas? I guess it's possible to get a bad box but why would it have been tight when I left the shop? I'm busy this weekend but if I can't figure it out I'm headed back to the shop that did the work to see what they think.

Oh and I guess I should clarify by "slop" I mean when the wheel is at top dead center there is about an 1/8 of a turn in both directions of absolute free play and then it's tight all the way through the turn. It doesn't seem bad but since you spend most of your time at and around top dead center it's a chore just driving down the highway because to make small corrections I have to turn the wheel enough to take up the play before it moves the front end.

 

[GNERGY]

Check to see if the mounting bolts might of come loose or the pitman arm bolt.
Tarey

 

[Avery4jc]

Yeah I've checked that stuff and it's all tight... it's somewhere between the steering shaft and the box....
I checked the steering wheel to steering shaft for play and it's 100% locked. When the wheel feels like it's loose it's still rotating the steering shaft.

 

[daleearnhardt01]

How many miles are on the truck? Have any other steering components been replaced?

Usually on those trucks when it gets sloppy its time to replace everything. Pitman arm, Idler Arm, tie rods, etc etc. Be forewarned quality Moog components are not cheap for that job.

My 98 with 74k miles is starting to get sloppy on the right side when I had it on the lift last. Looked like the idler arm but if I am going to replace that then all of it is getting replaced.

 

[Avery4jc]

Truck has 130k miles on it and I'm not sure if anything has been replaced but I doubt it. I put the front end up on jack stands and physically moved all the TRE's and rocked the wheels back and forth to check for large amounts of play and everything was tight.

 

[twoslo4five0]

mine is really really bad.it needs a new idler arm,pitman arm and tie rod ends.i gotta get on this it sucks towing for hundreds of miles at a time like that

 

[Avery4jc]

mine is really really bad.it needs a new idler arm,pitman arm and tie rod ends.i gotta get on this it sucks towing for hundreds of miles at a time like that

I know exactly what you mean... I towed 300+ miles last weekend and it sure takes a lot more energy when you're constantly going back and forth with the wheel.

I have a break between classes tomorrow so I'm going to take it back by the shop and see what they say.

 

[CGT80]

I just had this same problem with my truck. I had a leaking pump and box, so I replaced them myself. The steering was still loose so I had the front end rebuilt. This helped greatly but I am still running on tires with a jagged wear pattern from a bad front end. Just last week I decided that the steering definitely had play in it again. I was told by the steering guy that the box would break in after a few thousand miles and that I would need to take up the play or have him do it. I had adjusted my old box, so I did this one by myself. To do this, loosen the nut on the top of the box and turn the Allen screw inside of it clockwise, then tighten the nut. Have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth and watch the input shaft vs. the output shaft on the box. You will see the play change when you adjust it. I was told that if you make it too tight the steering will be stiff in the middle. The correct way to set the play is to use a torque wrench, but I didn't want to mess with it and my mechanic didn't seem to think it was a must. My box took 3/4 of a turn to take out the slop after 6 months of break in. I was surprised at the difference it made. I don't want to pay for new tires, but I will be happy when these wear out and I have a good tread to work with. Even on old tires this adjustment makes a big difference.

hope this helps.

 

[Avery4jc]

Good thinking... my dad and I adjusted the box in his '75 Ford but I wasn't sure if these boxes had the same adjustment. I'll take a look today.

 

[Xtremegmc80]

my 03 silverado has 111 k miles, and i have had a slop since 80,000 miles. started to get annoying so a few days ago i adjusted the steering box and checked my air pressure to make sure they all were the same, took it for a ride, it was night and day difference!

 

[Avery4jc]

I went to the shop this afternoon and the alignment/steering guy took a look with me in the shop so we could figure out what's going on. Long story short it looks like it's a combination of two things. There is a little play in the rag joint but the major one is the extension/coupler unit the previous owner used to extend the steering shaft when they did the body lift. It's made out of aluminum and is slowly wearing out.
We torqued the bolts going through the coupler down and it helped but it's not perfect. I can live with it now but I'll have to make another coupler down the road to completely take care of the problem.

 

[cdoggwsu]

I don't know much about the 1 tons or the newer trucks for that matter, but would an XJ steering shaft fit?

 

[k204dr]

yeah I see no reason not to go to the xj shaft. it was way too long on my truck so you should be fine.