z71Girl

Help! I need opinions.


Hey everyone
I recently bought a 97 k1500 silverado z71. It has a 3" lift (aluminum blocks in the rear, torsion bar's are used to lift it in the front, i believe..) anyway, the front end has gone out, causing major 'play' in the steering wheel.

I'm planning on replacing the idler arm, pit man arm, both tie rod ends and both ball joints. Has anyone already done this and have any advice, or know anyplace to buy discounted parts that aren't crap?

Please excuse/correct anywhere i'm mistaken above.. i'm a lube tech but up until 2 weeks ago had no idea what front end even included. Thanks

shamrock246

i just did the upper ball joints and the idler arm and pitman arm on my burb every thing else looked tight,the upper ball joints unbolt if they still have the rivets then just grind the heads off and punch them out,to do the idler arm and pitman arm i had to take the steering box out and the idler arm mount out, soak the power steering hose connection real good with some PB blaster the only tools i needed was a 34mm socket and a ball joint fork,not sure what tools you have but a good set of wrenches,pitman arm puller and access to air tools help,i got all my parts from www.OEHQ.com all AC/DELCO, MOOG i hear is good stuff to i did want any junk

monkey

I had to replace my steering box in my older truck with a new not rebuilt tightnened up one.
Merry xmass

BIGGG11CHEVY

If your not going OEM on front end parts then I highly recommend Moog, all the other auto store brands are crap and they will quickly wear out again. I would especially say go OEM on the ball joints because they are the biggest pain to replace. You can usually find OEM parts on Ebay for about the same price...

z71Girl

Thanks everyone!

Merry Christmas!

basilkies

I recall reading in popular mechanics that there is a new product that lets you switch to a rack and pinion setup that tracks better on turns by allowing the wheel to tilt and line up better and it's for pickups.

country_09

go to rockauto.com...I got 2 new moog upper control arms with ball joints and bushings for like 130 and in store they were 130 a piece..