tommywass

I just purchased a 1998 K1500 Suburban. I'm really looking forward to road trips in this vehicle but I need to iron out a steering issue first. I've read a lot concerning the steering sensor but let me explain the symptoms and what I've done so far and see if any of you have some insight.
So far I've replaced the tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, idler arm, steering box and steering sensor. I have no visible play in all those components.
When I bought the vehicle I test drove it and the steering seemed pretty loose (not really play, more just easy to turn the steering wheel). I got home and hooked up a pop-up trailer and headed to the highway. When heading down the highway I began to overcorrect. The whole time I was out there it was a handful just to keep it going straight.
I replaced the steering box first and when finished, the steering wheel was no longer centered when going down the road. The steering wheel has to be turned about 20 degrees to the right in order to drive straight. I began to notice that now when I turn left, there is a little bit of resistance I have to fight through and then the wheel loosens up as I continue to turn the wheel. There's none of this resistance when I turn right. I pulled the sensor wire at the steering pump and the left turn resistance went away and the steering wheel was very loose through the whole range of turns, left and right. If I plug the wire back into the pump, the left turn resistance comes back. I've also noticed that when coming out of a turn, the car doesn't want to fully return to a straight track down the road. I'm not sure if that's related or not.
I also installed the steering sensor after all the other work that I've done. I think I messed up the install. I have some questions about that. Do I need to "clock" the sensor or just click the old one out of the housing and click the new one in? It seemed easy, but afterward the steering wheel is now rotated 180 degrees from where it was before. I test drove it like that and it didn't drive any different. Still had the loose steering and the slight resistance in the left turns. I assume the wheel just turned 180 degrees when I was doing the install and now I just have to pull the shaft, rotate 180 and put it back on.
I'm wondering if the steering wheel not being centered after my steering box installed will cause the sensor not to function correctly. I'm sure it being upside down after the sensor install isn't helping.
I'm looking for any insight on this situation. Do you think I should fix my messed up sensor install by separating the steering shaft and rotating it 180 and hooking it back together, and then follow that up with an alignment to take out the slightly right steering wheel (from my box install) to make it straight again? I guess the question is, for my new sensor to operate correctly does the steering wheel have to be totally straight when driving straight and (assuming I separate the shaft and rotate 180) have I installed the sensor correctly?
Sorry for the long post!

blueinterceptor

I was thinking alignment.

mulmur1

I agree with blueinterceptor. You have done a lot of steering work and an alignment is in order.

tommywass

Thanks guys. I'm planning on getting an alignment tomorrow. I flipped the shaft 180 and back to just having the wheel slightly off. While I was out and about today, I noticed that the truck drives like my pickup does with a full load of dirt. I'm now suspecting the suspension as the problem. It seems like when I go into a turn, when the weight has shifted to the side of the truck on the outside of the turn, it wants to turn even more into the direction of the turn. Does anyone with suspension knowledge know if this could be a potential source of my problem?

73shark

I think you need to get all of your front suspension components checked out before you have an alignment done.

tommywass

Ok. So I took it in for an alignment and they said it could not be done due to the fact that my steering box has too much play in it and my lower control arm bushings are worn out. I hope fixing these things fixes my problems. I got the remanufactured steering box from NAPA. I'll be heading back there to swap it out for another one. I just hope I don't get another bad one. Can anyone recommend a good bushing set for the control arms? I'll probably do the uppers also while I'm at it.

mulmur1

I am glad that the shop did a review of the front suspension components. If you are looking at doing bushings, you may want to look at energy suspension products. They have high performance polyurethane bushings. energysuspension.com | Welcome

Hopefully your second steering box works out.

73shark

Might as well do the ball joints while you're in the neighborhood unless they have already been done recently.

tommywass

Mulmur1, I was just looking at the "Energy Suspension 3.3180R Front Control Arm Bushing Set for 4WD" on Amazon. I've never done bughings so I was wondering if you could explain the parts to me. I see 4 long red sleeves, 4 short red sleeves, 4 metal sleeves (which I assume fit into the long reds, once installed), grease and nuts. I'm not sure where the short reds go. I've looked around the internet to see how these bughing go together and I don't think I'm seeing the part that needs to initially needs to be pressed out and new ones pressed in. Does this set have everything I need to do the whole job?

73shark, the ball joints were replaced right before I got the however the truck does not like to return to straight driving after going through a turn if you let go of the wheel. The garage told me that the ball joints may have been overtorqued during the install. I wasn't sure what he was talking about as I've only done ball joints on my Dakota and there was no adjustment to the tightness of them so I wasn't sure what he was talking about. I have to take a look and see if I can see what he was referring to. He hadn't looked so he wasn't completely sure they were adjustable but he said most Chevy's of this vintage are. He was just throwing that out as a potential source of the problem. He also said the steering bow could be causing it to. All that said, the ball joints are new, but may need to be checked for proper torque.

73shark

Caster is what makes the steering wheel want to return to center. If either the caster is not correct or the suspension is too loose, that will not happen. I am not sure what he meant by over tightening the ball joints. They are not adjustable as far as I know and are simply tightened to a specified torque.