My son's 2002 Suburban 1500 LT 4WD has approx 125K miles and runs excellent. Just state inspected and all front end components are good ie tie rod ends, shocks, control/idler arms etc. Truck drives fairly well on any road.

Problem: when cutting the wheel lock to lock in straight 2WD, it acts as if the front tires are being pushed so hard as to hear them dragging hard against the road surface when going forward. In reverse with wheel lock to lock, it's like the front wheels are being dragged sideways instead of turning smoothly like other cars do.


This has worn a set of tires (4 ply only and not load rated) in less than 10K miles. They are just shot. Three alignments completed but to no avail. It bucks like it is in 4WD but yet it's not. On the rack we could engage and disengage the 4WD at will with no issues. So anyone here have any idea what is going on?

 

hard to say without seeing wha'ts going on. Here's my best guess. do the tires have feather edge wear on the inner or outer edges? if yes, did they check ackerman's angle/toe out on turns angle during the alignment?
Was the vehicle ever in a accident?
Any movement in the control arm bushings?

 

Sorry, new term for me. Just ordered new load range E tires for it even though the truck never tows anything. When I have the Chevy garage align the front end, I will tell them about Ackermans angle.
Tires are feathered heavily on outer sides to the wear bars.
Never in an accident. No movement per last weeks maint appt.
Thanks for the great tip!

 

ackerman's angle is built into the front suspension by the steering knuckles, there is no adjustment. the purpose is to allow the inside tire on turns to turn a tighter radius. the inside tire should turn 20* and the outside tire 18*. If the steering knuckle arms that the tie rods bolt to are bent the angle will be off and the tires will scrub when turned to the stops, even though the toe setting is correct.
I don't know if this is your problem, diagnosing over the internet is sketchy.

 

Funny thing, not one shop or Chevy dealer shop ever heard of this. I looked it up on Wikipedia and their explanation is well over my head. But I understand yours much better. I will give this info to them when I get it aligned. Thanks. Good stuff!

 

service writers aren't technicians so they wouldn't know. Again, this is my internet guess. duplicate the concern for the technician so they see what you are describing or else I fear this will be a no fault found.

 

This sounds like another problem we discussed, where the (fr) Pinion had separated from the Actuator, and was holding the fronts in 4wd all the time, regardless of settings.