Frontend/Steering Question

[07radoman]

Greetings......My Yukon XL (2002) does not seem to hold a line when driving. Basically while driving the truck seems to drift from side to side. Its not pulling one side, but again, seems to drift side to side. There is not a lot of play in the steering wheel itself, which would lead me to believe it is somehting on the front end? The vehicle does have 20X9's, but has had them from day one, so do not think that is relevant. Alignment has been done, front end is always lubed when oil is changes so at a loss of what it could be?

Thanks in advance for the responses.
Mike

 

[JKmotorsports]

I would start with the tie rods and pitman arm. With larger than stock wheels, the added weight and contact patch adds stress to these parts and wear them quicker, even with regular maintenance.

 

[07radoman]

Thanks for the information....Would there be something visible to look for as I jacked the front-end off the ground and tried to moved the wheels in and out and side to side and there wasn't any play? Likely entertaining the neighbors

Gig'em - Thanks again for the suggestions/starting point.

 

[boostaholic]

Check the wheel bearings, balljoints, pitman, idler, and tie rods. These trucks seem to eat tie rods bout it could be a number of things. Easiest way to check the balljoints and wheel bearings is to jack the truck up and stick a pry bar under the wheel while applying upward force. Have a friend look at the upper and lower balljoints and at the inner face of the wheel for play in the wheel bearing. Then have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while the truck is on the ground to check for play in the tie rods and or pitman/idler assemblies. My truck has tight steering but I'm still upgrading the tie rods and pitman/idler arms to beefier stuff from a company called cognito. They make some really burly sh*t that is much less prone to wear then the stock parts. From my experience working with these trucks in lifted applications I can tell you the 1/2 ton ifs is fairly weak but once replaced with quality parts (napa premium, moog, or better aftermarket brands) they drive a million times better and you shouldn't have any issues from that point forward. Check out www.cognitomotorsports.com for info on their steering and arm upgrades, I'll have a write up with some pictures once I do mine this spring

 

[07radoman]

Thanks for the detailed response and suggestions...I will try that tonight!

Mike

 

[bzbatl]

Sorry for my ignorance here, but I have the same exact issue (and I've had my alignment done twice in 2 years - to the point of my tires getting eaten on the edges both times!)

The kits you pasted above look like a bunch of bolts and nuts. Is it as simple as locating these parts and bolt-on?

 

[boostaholic]

Essentially yes but the main reason for the upgrade lies in the build quality of the stock steering parts. If you look at this picture you can see how the arm assemblies have a serious issue with lateral movement outside the correct arm radius

The little bracket and double captured nut on the lower part is the upgrade which boxes the arm and creates a lower support structure that will move with both arms as your steering articulates. The terribly thin wall tie rod sleeves are replaced with solid DOM tubing replacements and utilize heimed ends which are a billion times better than the garbage stock units. Even replacing the stock parts with napa premium parts is not enough in my opinion. I deal with front end rebuilds on these trucks daily and even though my shop doesn't sell any upgrades (beyond getting the napa premiums) I suggest the cognito kit or something similar to most of my customers, we have installed a few kits as well. In a stock application the upgrade isn't as much of an issue but driving a truck with the cognito parts and the pitman/idler supports is like night and day compared to a stock truck with fresh parts. I'm hoping to eliminate some bump steer on my truck with the upgrade as well.

 

[bzbatl]

Ah much better picture, thanks.

That cognito kit is a bit pricey for what it ends up being - what's the price/performance difference between the cognito vs napa premium?

I realize it's a bit subjective - but my wallet's been pinged $200 each time... for every single thing I've done to the truck in the last month :lol:

 

[boostaholic]

Napa stuff is a definite upgrade, with my driving and the roads here in denver I'm gonna build a similar setup with my own materials for cheaper but anything other than stock is much better.