Loose steering on 96 Tahoe?

[Undecisive]

I wanted to post up an issue I'm having and see if it has been a common occurance for anyone else. I've got a 96 2 dr. Tahoe Sport. It has an all stock suspension and a set of 30" BF Goodrich tires. It seems to have a good deal of play in the steering when driving. I tend to have to move the steering wheel back and forth about 2" each way to keep it in a straight line. It feels somewhat sloppy to me.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do to correct it? I'm personally thinking pitman and idler arms myself. Anyone know a ballpark on what I might be looking at to fix this as far as cost goes? Other suggestions on what might be the culprit are welcome as well.

Thanks!

 

[GMCYukalade]

Asides from the pitt, and idler, check the tie-rod ends.. and the joint that connects the steering wheel to the actual gear box

 

[Slammed]

yeah its most likely the idler arm

 

[Biggwaukegan]

could be the steering sensor on the steering column

 

[GMCYukalade]

If it is the ideler arm - than you also can not get an alignment..

 

[bsamoul]

i had that same problem and it got fixed a week ago. apparantly when i got it aligned, this place told me that these cars have another adjustment that you have to do, that not many other people know about to fix it, and now it drives amazingly.

 

[Biggwaukegan]

and what adjustment would that be? where did you have it aligned

 

[bowtiefreak]

EVO sensor? I had two go on my 1997 tahoe. Steering would be tight then go loose for no reason. I thought I was crazy for a while

 

[NoEcm]

To the original poster: I don't think the 1996 Tahoe has an EVO sensor.

 

[Biggwaukegan]

to the orginal poster.....what adjustment did they do?

 

[96tahoe2door]

1996 didnt have one....read this in 1997
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/csd/full.aspx?Page=9


My steering is loose as well though. I know I need ball joints and I think some play is coming from the steering box.

 

[Undecisive]

I don't drive mine very often so I haven't even touched it since I posted this up. I have a friend that said his wandered and he had the idler arm and pitman arm replaced. Is this a hard job? And how expensive is something like this?

I just got it out of the shop two weeks ago. Fuel pump died, and after some checking, he found that the wiring beneath the relay burnt up. He fixed that part of it, but now it needs to get the exhaust replaced and O2 sensors replaced. It has a slight miss when driving (new cap, rotor, etc...) so I'm trying to figure out how much more money I'm going to have to spend to fix it all.

I have put MAYBE 350 miles on it since I got it, and even though I love it over all, I am not impressed right now with all of the issues it's had. It's also got a brand new engine in it (157k on the odometer).