Blazer steering wheel play?

[rfischba1]

Brought my Blazer home from Ft. Meade yesterday, truck starts and ran great, I did notice a fair amount of play in the steering . I had to adjust the wheel a little bit to stay straight. Something must be out of alignment?
Is the front end worn out, tie rods?
Tires are not worn at all .
Any suggestions as to what causes steering wheel play?
Thanks

 

[CARNAC]

If you are saying you kept the steering wheel straight and the vehicle went one way or the other...

check your Pitman Arm. Have someone move the steering wheel while you hold the Pitman Arm. If you feel it pop, then you need to replace it.

Highly suggest downloading the -20 and -34 and their parts manuals for the CUCV. They help a lot!

 

[Rocco]

Whats that marking on the side of the door?

 

[rfischba1]

The marking on the door is from a maintenance unit out of Ft. Drum, I want to contact Mark Schriver and see if he can make a stencel so once the truck is painted I can add the unit markings.
It show a crossed wrench and M16 rifle.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

These things aren't known for their super dooper steering. Check to see if any of your steering components are loose.

Also check the rag joint in the steering shaft. Not uncommon for them to get a bit more flexible than they should be in old age.

 

[Bozor1000]

You can also adjust the worm gear on the steering box. It is the allen nut and 5/8" bolt. Just gradually adjust the allen nut to clear up the play. First you have to loosen up the 5/8" nut then gradually turn the allen head to clear up the slack. If you tighten it too much, you will have a lot of drag in your steering. I had an 1984 K20 pick up on 40" Boggers and the steering wheel was all over the place. When I did this, the steering wheel would not float like it did before.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

you can only tighten a box so much, and if you do tighten it the wear will be accelerated greatly. the two joints on the drag link (goes from pitman arm to the steering arm on the axle) are the first to check. once those are ruled out, check the rag joint as listed above, then the next part to replace is the steering box itself.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

The Jeep Cherokee XJ steering shaft replacement is a big thing now over on CK5. Eliminate the rag joint completely.

 

[BKubu]

If you have the inclination, replace the entire front axle assembly. You can get them brand new in a crate for $375. John Winslow in NC has them. You will have a brand new axle from hub to hub including the brakes and some of the steering components (at least those that are on the axle), which is nice. I did this on a Blazer that had a bad hub and, man, was I satisified. It changed the steering characteristics of the truck. I drove it before and after and could not believe how good the "after" was. Just my $.02...

 

[Staffsargent]

I also say, tighten up the steering box.

 

[Bozor1000]

Also make sure that the bolts for the box are tight on the frame. This can also cause some play.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Sloppy tie rod ends and drag link ends are top on my check list too.

Check the frame where the box mounts too. That is a notorious area for cracking. A couple of companies make a steering brace for the box that really helps if you are going to go bigger on the tires.

Borgeson makes a really nice replacement for the steering shaft. It uses a u-joint instead of the rag joint.

AGR makes a really nice steering box if you go that route. They also sell a beefed up pump, which would give you better flow at low RPM's off-road and better hydro-boost.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Check the frame where the box mounts too. That is a notorious area for cracking. A couple of companies make a steering brace for the box that really helps if you are going to go bigger on the tires.

Frankly I'd say run the bolt in braces on stock rigs. GM just did a poor job of forecasting the stresses their so-so steering setup would put on the frames of these trucks. There's been more than one report of bone stock trucks of this era with cracked frames. For less than $150 delivered the bolt in brace is cheap insurance.

Borgeson makes a really nice replacement for the steering shaft. It uses a u-joint instead of the rag joint.

Before spending the big $$$ on the Borgeson unit there's the XJ steering shaft swap that I referred to before that is now popular over on CK5. There's a write up on it over there. Mine should cost me the $35 I paid for the shaft. It has a u-joint as well.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

dont spend the $500 on the borgeson shaft, the XJ shaft is the same style and much cheaper.

 

[steelsoldiers]

It's only $245: http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/79-91-Fullsize-GM-Truck-Borgeson-Steering-Shaft-p-2125.html

I was not aware of the jeep swap. I have been out of the CUCV game for too long

 

[AJMBLAZER]

In all fairness it's only been about two years since someone figured out it would work. Here's the (very extensive) thread about it on www.ColoradoK5.com :

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169874

I'll let you guys know how mine turns out. Hope to be doing it shortly but pretty much everyone says it's a marked improvement.