Monthly So Cal Off-Road Run

Or stupid. That water bottle was the only one.

 

It’s just so nasty outside. One of the cons of socal’s basin. I’m glad I finished detailing last week. Stay safe out there boys. Tons of fires surrounding the inland empire.

 

Whats crackin this weekend?

 

I imstalled reflectix on my camper shell, idk what help itll do in this heat tho

 

My truck is in need of some work before I can wheel again - need to replace my steering rack bushings (rack is moving a lot with the steering wheel), LCA bushings and figure out a bad pull I've got going on that alignment can't seem to fix. Also need new tires but gotta get the rest taken care of first.

Should be good to go after the hot weather is behind us

 

I recently replaced my steering rack bushings on my 2gen as well but still have the death wobble. Now in the process of finding an oem replacement.

 

Just replaced mine over the weekend, wasn't too bad of a job but sucked in the heat. Neck is killing me from holding my head up for so long while under the truck lol.

I never had the death wobble, just a sort of 'looseness' in the wheel while driving. Seems to have gotten a lot better with the new bushings.

Are you sourcing a new steering rack or? I wonder if it's your tie rods, inner and/or outer

 

Well I've been chasing this knocking coming from the steering rack on the driver side. Thought it was the inner tie rod so i replaced both inner/outer on both sides of the truck and no luck...changed the bushing at the same time. But the wobble is still there going between 50-65mph. Tires been rotated, rebalanced etc. Went to a friends place with a lift and realized there was a lot of play/movement when moving the wheel left and right with the new bushings. So now I'm debating on getting a new OEM steering rack from dealership for about $600....haven't pulled the trigger yet.

 

Did you go off of just the tire moving or could you see the rack moving as well?

 

Are the wheel bearings good? That could cause wheel movement, a bad one will make noise when spinning with little load like on the inside of a high speed turn.

 

Yep. LCA bushing also cause wobble and 3 to 9 tire movement.

 

What if they both (wheels) move the same when you move one of them?

I could see a bad wheel bearing letting one wheel move (the one you're testing), but if both wheels move simultaneously that would be something with the steering yea?

That's what mine was doing, could also see it in the rack itself...which is why I replaced the rack bushings. But if he's still got movement in both wheels side to side then it could be the LCA bushings?

Just curious because I might be doing my LCA bushings next and am curious to see if there's still any movement

 

1st gens had the issue with the slip joint in the steering column, solution is to tack weld it. I believe 2nd gens have a similar problem as there is a rubber bushing between the steering wheel and rack.

 

Yeah the slip joint tack weld mod is on the list. My bushings were over due though as the rack would shift side to side with the wheel turning

 

I don't know what your talking about. lol

 

Jesus mine didn't look anywhere near that bad lol. In fact I thought they looked ok upon removal but the rack moving said otherwise.

 

I play a lot which means I pay a lot. They look like that every 3 months. I had my dealer order me 8 d-mounts. They bend real bad in the rocks. Eventually I'll just put full hydro in the damn thing. lol

 

I wonder if my D ring mount might be a little bent, I didn't think of that. But both the old and the new D mount bushings seem to get a little warped by the D mount when I torque it down.

edit- at least I think that's the D mount, what you posted in your pics

 

Did the tack weld mod back in 2015, massive difference especially on washboard roads. I'm in the middle of replacing my rack bushings now, mine has significant play when I move the wheel.

 

You could see the movement from the rack itself "with new bushing" when someone would move the steering wheel left to right or visa versa.

In the picture below where I have a red circle, that part has a lot of play whenever the steering wheel is moved.

Wheel bearings are good. I replaced those when i had 93k miles...currently have 116k

I took the truck to Jason @Speed Freek and RPMGarage and they both suggested my steering rack is shot...I'm trying to upload the video of the issue but aint working lol

I haven't checked the LCA bushing yet. But my ball joint boots is ripped a bit.