[ehenle4188]

Installed the 98-99hd steering on my 1997. Steering is still as sloppy as ever after replacing the gear box and track bar. Crawled under to see where the play is and when sawing on the wheel the entire tie rod connecting the wheels together is rotating/flexing. Any ideas what would be causing the entire thing to rotate like that. Will try to get a video.

 

[Cheeze]

Probably the pitman arm and idler arm.

 

[bigfish95971]

Make sure all tie rod ends are pointed evenly and at 90* to their cap. Meaning straight, not off at at a bit of an angle, Same with the drag link joints. That should prevent rotation.

 

[alanack6795]

They 98 style just rolls that's how it is. They make bushings that hold it tighter and prevent the roll.

Also I think the steering stablizer on the 98 trucks changed to help hold it straight.

 

[ehenle4188]

Ok I didn't realize that the roll was normal. I don't have any stabilizer on it now because from what I read online people said it drove better without. I may just weld up a bracket on the axle and throw a stabilizer on. Would this rolling cause slop in the steering? The only steering components that I have not changed are the steering shaft and pitman arm and I still have TONS of play in the wheel.

 

[Cheeze]

I don't know how my 96 2wd differs from yours but I replaced most of my front end and had lots of play left... ended up replacing the shaft after seeing how much play was there and it fixed the rest of my problem. When my center link was rocking up and down, it was the pitman arm and idler rocking with it. I put some Moogs on and it solved that problem... didn't know the later models were known to have this problem.

 

[alanack6795]

His truck is 4x4 different steering setup.

There's an aftermarket bushing that goes above the boot and hold the tire rod tight reducing roll.

 

[ehenle4188]

Do you by chance have a link to that bushing, did some searching but didn't see anything.

 

[ehenle4188]

Ok seriously how are people getting the steering fixed on these 2nd gens. New track bar, HD steering upgrade, new blue top steering gear, new steering shaft. Ball joints and wheel bearings are good to go. I love everything about the truck except the steering, realize it's not going to drive like a car but I'm constantly bouncing from line to line and correcting the steering. Only things I haven't done yet are sway bar links and I did not throw on a dampner after the HD upgrade because people seemed to say it drove better without.

 

[alanack6795]

I think rough stuff makes those bushings.

A steering damper helps absorb impacts from potholes and prevents the truck from bouncing around off potholes.
It also protects the steering gear.

Steering box brace will also hold the steering box straight and prevent sector shaft from wearing and causing the truck to wander.