Replacing speedo cable and steering problems-HELP!

[AbramJ]

Hi guys. So my '75 Suburban's speedo wasnt working when I bought it. The upper cable looked new, the lower cable wasnt. I pulled it off of the cruise control side and it looked fine. I got under the truck and pulled it off of the transfercase and found this:

The cable shredded. I tried pulling it out with pliers and it won't budge. Any ideas of how to get it out?

Also. Before I take the truck to a repair shop I was hoping you guys might be able to help me with my steering problem. The truck's steering is loose and the steering wheel never goes back to its original position after I make a turn. The truck likes to wander a little too. At times it'll also fight me when I go to make a turn. I don't think its to do with the power steering because that seems fine to me. Its hard for me to explain the problem without you actually just driving the truck to feel it. So I hope I made enough sense that someone knows what I am talking about.

The truck is a 1975 Chevrolet Suburban 4x4 with 400ci engine, 400th transmission, the transfercase is an NP20?. The reason for the question mark is the shifter inside is for a full time 4x4 but there are manual locking hubs on the front. Where can I look on the transfercase to determine what it is? I was using my wire brush to get the grime off and found this, but there were no more markings I could see:

 

[dremu]

That's an NP203, fwiw. It may or may not have a part-time kit installed. I woulda grabbed the needle nose Vise Grips to get that cable fragment out; it's got a square drive on the tip, maybe an inch or so long, so it may take some finagling.

As for the steering, I'd put the thing on stands and go through the steering components. The tie rod goes side-to-side, and there shouldn't be any visible slop in the ends. The draglink is front-to-back, and same thing for slop.

Could be anything from out-of-balance tires to worn balljoints to loose bearings to bent stabilizer... whatever... but check for the easy stuff first. If you push or pull any given component and it moves when the steering wheel doesn't, that's prolly bad =))

-- A

 

[496truck]

I've got $1.00 that says it's the front axle u-joints. Old rusty binding u-joints.

Trust me, I've been down this road before. You may have other issues in conjunction with these being a major factor to the problems you described. So, if you tear down the front end to get those axles out, you'll find out pretty quick if you need ball joints too.