Is my steering box bad?

[Buddha.]

Truck is a 2011 2500hd gasser, I bought it three years ago at 90k and now it’s at 150k.

The steering got significantly sloppier the first year I had it. It hasn’t gotten much worse since then I feel, but it hasn’t gotten better.

I have been doing all my normal checks of tie rods, ball joints, and wheel bearings and haven’t been able to find any slop. Today I had the drivers side battery out for a headlight change which gave me a good view of the steering box’s input and output. With engine off I seem to be able to get excessive/noisy movement out of the steering shaft with no movement of the pitman arm. I don’t think I’ve ever checked a steering box before, are they a weak spot on these trucks? My truck is all stock and everything is still original I think.

 

[Buddha.]

You can see the input shaft I’m moving and the pitman arm.

 

[Chuck1]

Have you looked to see if its adjustable to remove slack created by wear, should be on the center line of the output shaft on that box if i remember right, on the opposite end.

 

[vintageracer]

Any lift or larger tires?

These can add significantly to long term wear on a steering box.

There are 2 adjustments on a steering box that is a worm and sector type of box. Most people just adjust the worm gear because it is easy and can be done with the box still mounted on the truck. Adjusting just the worm gear a half ******$ way of doing a steering box adjustment as you are only adjusting one part of the box when both need to be adjusted to properly set the worm and sector gears together to adjust for wear. Since the box has to be removed from the truck to adjust the sector must folks just replace the box with a rebuild. Unfortunately most so called rebuilds may not be much better than what you have. Pay particular attention to the supplier and box rebuild reviews when purchasing a rebuilt steering box. All rebuilds are NOT the same! Most rebuilds are new seals, a worm sector gear adjustment and new paint.

Buyer beware!

Not sure if your truck has a rag joint between the box and the steering column. If so those also go bad and are not hard to replace. Also look at your drag link and pitman arm joints to check for wear. A little bit of wear at multiple locations can add up quick to a lot of slack/play in the steering wheel inside the truck. Another unlikely source of play could be a bad lower steering column bearing at the firewall side of your steering column. Worth a look.

It could be just the box is worn/bad however with 150K miles on your truck I suspect you have have slack/play at several locations causing the excessive play in your steering wheel.

 

[Buddha.]

I don't want to try adjusting the box because I've heard it's not all that straight forward.

Truck is stock height with stock 32.5" tires. I don't see a ragjoint on this one. I've had several 4x4 s10 trucks, almost all I replaced front end components on so I'm very familiar with worn out steering on a gm ifs trucks. I'm just not finding any slop in the normal places.

Even the reman units from the local parts store are $601.99 and $755.99. plus core. The ones from red head are cheaper and probably better. I guess I'll probably throw one of those in.

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Yes

 

[twodollars]

Rock auto has a cardone for under 300, plus core of course

 

[tacobronco]

I replaced the box in my 2010 Suburban 2500 with one from RedHead, and the feel was quite good. However, it developed a leak just out of warranty, so I tried an AGR box. What junk, it had massive amounts of play, and leaked like a seive. Sent it back and called RedHead, and they gave me a significant credit on a replacement box. This one has been installed for years without leaking, so I assume the first leaky one was just a fluke. Even though the product wasn't perfect, RedHead stood behind it and I could always get them on the phone, which is more than I can say for AGR. I wish I had contacted them initially, and I wouldn't hesitate to order from them on my next project.

BTW, I thought you were supposed to check for play in the box with the engine running on power steering vehicles?

 

[Deleted member 9101]

9 years and 150k can definitely wear out a steering box.

 

[Buddha.]

BTW, I thought you were supposed to check for play in the box with the engine running on power steering vehicles?

Hmm, I’m not sure.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Yes- get a Red Head.

 

[1stDeuce]

If it happened all of a sudden, perhaps a thrust washer let go, or something like that. It looks like the slop is coming from radial play in the sector shaft, not internal play that causes everything to be still while the input shaft turns... There should not be radial play like that, so something is not right.

FWIW, I've got 290k miles on my '06 2500 with a winch hanging off the front and 285's or 255/80's for the last 180k miles or so. It gets driven plenty of back roads. Has hardly any slop.

Reman story: Our 2005 3500 brush fire truck had a little leak from the output, and instead of putting a seal in it like I wanted to do, we ended up putting a reman box in from Oreilly. The new box doesn't have much slop, but it has NO feel at all. It's like driving my dad's 66 Galaxy down the road, when power steering was new and cars had no caster. In short, it sucks, IMO, but it doesn't leak...

I would probably get a junkyard box out of a lower mileage truck before I would consider a reman box. If you put new seals in it it should last a LONG time.

FWIW, the short wheelbase '11+ trucks have a rubber damper in the steering linkage somewhere. It might be on the output shaft, so have a good look for that... Perhaps when the rubber lets go, you get what you've got. I would think a loose pitman arm would behave like what I'm seeing. Verify the whole output shaft is rocking like that, not just the arm...

 

[Buddha.]

FWIW, the short wheelbase '11+ trucks have a rubber damper in the steering linkage somewhere. It might be on the output shaft, so have a good look for that... Perhaps when the rubber lets go, you get what you've got. I would think a loose pitman arm would behave like what I'm seeing. Verify the whole output shaft is rocking like that, not just the arm...

It’s hard to figure out if these trucks have issues with the steering shaft etc because everything online is talking about the previous generation truck.
What do you mean short wheelbase trucks? Mine is a crew cab 6.5’box.

 

[1stDeuce]

Sorry, short wheelbase is reg cab. Not yours.

I don't think you are having a "common" problem... That's why I think a lower mileage box from a junkyard might be your best plan...

It appears that gear is used in 2011 through at least 2019... Should be plenty of good units at a salvage yard.



Sent from my ADR1776 using Tapatalk

 

[jonathon]

From what you describe it sounds like you’ve isolated the play to the steering box. I have a Red Head in my K2500, it works great. I will never buy a parts house steering box.