This is what I know about the SUV.
1986 chevy s10 blazer
2.8L engine
year old clutch and tires
4wd but needs work
Steering loose, not sure whats wrong
runs good


I am going to pay $300 for it, and looking at it in a few hours. My question is what can cause loose steering and is it easy/cheap to fix? I am looking for a car move with from WA to CA. I am on a limited budget so I would be fixing it myself.

Thanks

 

Ok. When the car is jacked up both tires move when wiggled front to back. The passenger side is worse and I can see what I assume to be the tie rod move in and out of itself.

 

hard to say, sounds like a tie rod replacement is in order but for 300. you may have a completely worn out front end..mine was put front end up on stands and get a good size bar to check stuff, also put bar under tire's and lift up for looseness in ball joints and/or wheel bearings.

 

Thanks for the reply. It was the tie rod adjustment sleeve thing. The part the inner and outer tie rods connect together with. It was stripped. We replaced the tie rods on both sides and the adjustment sleeve. The parts were only $85.

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed. I hope you had the truck aligned afterwards, otherwise you'll wind up killing the tires in short order.

Just as a heads-up; another common fail point on those trucks is the idler arm. It's what holds up the passenger side of the center link. When it fails, it can cause looseness in the steering. It's a fairly straight-forward repair, just don't let the bolts that hold the idler arm in place fall inside of the frame rail, otherwise you're going to be going fishing with a magnet-on-a-stick.