Sway bar link angle and popping noises..etc

[scott2093]

Thanks. I think I may try to swap that new proforged pitman arm they sent me as a replacement when I did all of this work after that first one was not fitting..This was almost 2 years ago... I ended up putting a Moog on because I couldn't wait... It did go on pretty easy...No coating inside..... Something tells me this other proforged will be the same. Any thoughts on that? I don't know why they decided to coat the splines too but, I think it was more than that. Maybe that'll be a good thing?Nice and tight? But I really felt like it was going to stop and bind up if I had kept going.

That was post #31 on page 4 where I mentioned and added pics of that issue...

Also, really not feeling too good about these tires.. I really feel like I have excessive cupping and other weird things from the suspension issues and alignment going on. It's hard to get good pics but I can surely feel stuff. idk.. I'm sure it's not helping things... they're almost 3/4 through their life anyway I'd guess....

 

[scott2093]

Pitman arm and steering box visual inspection...

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here's before I removed pitman arm... Kinda think the play is the shaft itself tbh..but idk... Wonder if that uneven seal or metal plate at bottom of shaft is a clue... Movement feels very slight but the video shows different ... the entire box is moving slightly if you look down to the left...so hard to decipher...I'll try to investigate more....

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here's a test of the shaft. I can see slight movement... guessing this is amplified when installed..? Just slid pitman arm on to get some leverage....

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Can't even get the Proforged arm to start.... Same issue as the first time...frustrating....of course Holley just boots you off phone when trying to call. Guess I'll have to email...

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[Erik the Awful]

Holley just boots you off phone when trying to call. Guess I'll have to email...

They don't return emails. Ask me how I know. Holley's customer service flat sucks.

 

[scott2093]

hey don't return emails. Ask me how I know. Holley's customer service flat sucks.

Yeah...been a week and nada.... whatever... Same with WIX and AC Delco when I inquired about the oil filter and Harmonic balancer/Damper I got from Amazon....crickets...

The only thing I see for sure is that the Pitman arm splines have relative motion

So it's definitely the steering shaft connected to the pitman that has play. It's obvious in one of the videos...I'm going to reach out to Borgeson and ask about the slop and this issue. Although it wasn't the reason for my highway speed shake... Which I came to update on.

The idler arm bracket shaft also had quite a bit of play which was pointed out in previous videos. Replaced it under warranty. Same exact play in the new one. Not sure if it's a Duralast problem or actually not abnormal. I have video but there's no point in uploading it. Just look at the previous one..lol

So I removed my driver's side cv axle. Took my old one and removed the clip on the splined end and put that in the hub so I could just run the piece without having the front diff connected on driver's side..
The shaking is gone.
Truck really runs nice too. Like there's no parachute slowing it down. No groaning either...(Reminds me that I mentioned spinning the driver's side wheel when raised seemed to be extra slow compared to passenger side. I know it's because it has to deal with the diff gears but maybe it was excessive drag?idk)

I'm going to replace the axle needle bearing ( National B-2012 is what I ordered) and seal (National 710101) tomorrow if they arrive, to see if this is enough to cure the shake . Worried there might be a deeper issue in the diff since it had water in it from the salvage yard I got it from and some resulting cream that has lingered in it. Or if the bearing being bad for so long has caused more issues..... just seeing the seal won't make it here until Thursday. Looks like NAPA has a 12320 seal 30 min away...

My tires have slight cupping and my alignment is probably a bit tweaked now that I've goofed with resetting my ride height while in here..but driving was smooth....

Thank you for the z height advice in the other thread Schurkey. Truck hasn't felt this nice for as long as I can remember. And this is with shot lca bushings. Grabbing a set when I go oot again this weekend since there is a yard there that has some. I'm just going to restore them and swap them out when I get a chance. I've obviously been setting z height wrong previously. And my sway bar end links look much better now.

Will update on how the bearing swap goes....

If not good, is there any reason I can't run with the cv stub in the hub for a while until I can sort out the front diff? Obviously won't use 4wd..

 

[scott2093]

Looking at everything again. I just took this video today. Camera angle isn't good but that slop at the pitman arm and centerlink doesn't look good.
Also, the amount of slop at the steering box is crazy. In the video that's my steering wheel banging around making all that racket. It's actually locked and has that much play..
But anyway, am I correct that the pitman arm doesn't look good? You can see the center link tilting? Warning..Rated PG

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[454cid]

Looking at everything again. I just took this video today. Camera angle isn't good but that slop at the pitman arm and centerlink doesn't look good.
Also, the amount of slop at the steering box is crazy. In the video that's my steering wheel banging around making all that racket. It's actually locked and has that much play..
But anyway, am I correct that the pitman arm doesn't look good? You can see the center link tilting? Warning..Rated PG

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That looks so nice and clean under there!

 

[offroadtahoe]

It's most likely your gearbox.Besides the other thread here that was posted about the new borgeson box that had 15° play in the steering wheel brand new...

That play in the shaft is close to the bad pitman I had.Mine had about 2.5x that play.When I first put on some military Goodyear Wrangler R/T II 36x12.5x16.5 with a extremely bad pitman and bad play idler.The steering wheel and whole truck shook crazy violent I couldn't even go 10-30mph.With stock tires still felt the little play in the steering but it acted fine vibration/wobble wise.At that time before I went all overkill I put a Detroit kit on it and it transformed it rolling smooth.

In my experience from messing with these Gmt400's this long any play in the ball joints that connect the center link (pitman,idler,idler arm,gearbox) can cause a wobble and since the gearbox doesn't usally have play in the splined shaft I can see how it could be your problem.

semi worn upper ball joint's can cause a shimmy when braking
lower ball joints are alot harder to tell by feel when they go bad (jack up and crowbar)
tie rods last a long time on these so never felt those being bad.

all of this especially apply's when you run anything over stock size tire's one thing i would replace the stock uca and lca bushings with poly though only thing u can pretty much get away with replacing once