1987 Chevy full size Blazer K5 - steering/front end issue?

[Woogeroo]

This is from a pal of mine with a 1987 Chevy full size Blazer K5.

It has 38" swampers, suspension lift, etc..

-W

----

I'm outta ideas.

Took my front end nearly apart yesterday.

Ball joints can't be budged with a 6 foot iron bar and a guy strong enough to rip the tires off my truck.

Wheel bearings have zero play, no chips and plenty of grease.

Hubs are working properly (one side not stuck locked in)

Tie rod ends are solid.

No excess play in the steering wheel, none in the shaft knuckle or the rag joint.

New steering box has no play and no leaks.

Tie rods/drag links between New pitman arm and re-curve arm are good, no play.

New p/s pump has no play and no leaks.

Brakes are still almost new and working fine. Rotors not scored or warped, pistons operating normally.

Tires all have 28 lbs of air.



The Issue:


But still RANDOMLY and OCCASIONALLY, it tugs slightly right...
and still RANDOMLY and OCCASIONALLY (altho becoming more often), when you turn right, it doesn't want to come out of the right hand turn.

When it does come out of it, it jerks/over steers to the left.

Most of the time it goes down the road straight and stops straight.


My steering set- up isn't all that common but it's pretty simple:

[sandnuriz]

Have you got it to the Diff. yet and checked your ring & pin.

[scsindust]

I noticed my 89 started doing it now that I put a lift on it. I put a new steering arm on it to level out the steering.

I know that on older ford trucks, an over tightened steering box will keep the steering from centering itself. But I ruled out that since it centers from left, just not right. I did notice on mine that my right caliper is either sticking randomly or a bad bearing. I did the wheels bearings about 500 miles ago, so I too an clueless.

What got me thinking was when I lost my serp belt, a neighbor pulled me home, and my right wheel randomly squeaked. I only heard it cause the truck was off. I am gonna have to dive in and see if that noise might be related to the steering issue.

Just a thought, but maybe you have something similar?? If you figure it out let me know, otherwise, I'll let you know if i find anything useful when I tear into it.

[tantrumpipeline]

blazer I had was an 85 and I replaced everything to find out my swampers were bias play and the cause of it all, also found out that 44's are great for cracking the frame right behind the steering box, definitely brace it if you haven't already, and how about some pics of this beauty

[motornut]

with your symptoms,i was wondering about cracked at the steering box too

[Woogeroo]

From my pal with the Blazer:

THANKS FOR POSTING.

I'm taking it back to the alignment place today to get that checked.
I'm grabbing at straws now.

Forum replies:

I've had my 8" Skyjacker lift, 3" body lift and 38" RADIALS on there for over 10 years now - so - not the problem.

My frame is not cracked at the brand new steering gear box. (I know a lot of them do)

My brakes are operating properly and the truck stops straight, no hands.

I'm thinking that if it was in my front Differential - it would happen all the time, not just randomly/occasionally.

But at this point, I'm almost willing to take it apart, gagging on the smell of gear lube to have a look.

The guy who said he hears a "squeak"? I thought I might have heard the same thing,
but it was only for a second or two and may have been a car next to me - I wasn't using
my brakes when I heard it.

Let him know that if his squeak is coming from the rear tire - he needs to do axle bearings.

Thanks again, everyone.

---------------------------

-W

[scsindust]

I know my squeak was without using the brakes. It only happens when I first take off. I swear it came from the front, but not for sure. It is very faint though.

[motornut]

Originally Posted by scsindust

I know my squeak was without using the brakes. It only happens when I first take off. I swear it came from the front, but not for sure. It is very faint though.

Hows the pads?

[scsindust]

new

[Woogeroo]

from my pal with the '87 blazer:

**MYSTERY SOLVED**

Took it back to the old man who aligned it to have the alignment checked.
Alignment was dead on. The old guy already had my truck on the rack, front jacked. So I figured maybe we could look around again. As I was telling him the problem......

He went and got a wrench - took the tie rod off the right wheel..... looked at me and said,

"Ya front u-joint's junk, it's lockin' up ya wheel."

Sure enough, he moved the u-joint a bit with a big screwdriver and the wheel turned just fine. Moved it again - it locked up the wheel.

So a couple u-joints and might as well do bearings while I'm in there.

Then I can get off the Short Bus.

---------------

Thanks everyone for the replies.



I'm trying to get 'em to join our cult here... er, I mean the site , but no luck so far.


-W

[scsindust]

Hmmmm... I never expected that one. I'll have to look into that too. I guess those two ujoints are always the ones to get neglected....

[1-tonmudder]

The Dana 60 thats under my blazer was under a truck before that and it did the same thing.The ps u joint was froze and would not turn in one direction causing it to have a bad pull in that direction.

[Woogeroo]

Here are the action... or I guess destruction shots of my pal fixing up the blazer.

I asked if it was OK if I shared with the rest of the class, so in the interest of helping out someone else in the future...

Here are some pics, with captions!

-W


here we go:


My u-joints were..... there are no words.

The last time my front end was done was 2001.

It has been hundreds of thousands of HARD miles since. From the frozen north and road salt, to the 130 degree desert, to the swampy wet south.

Spent the last couple days taking it apart. All my wheel, spindle and axle bearings were perfect, had tons of grease, the races were mint, the seals were all good, hubs great, lots of good thick clean grease everywhere.

Even the spindles were good.

The ball joints, tie rod ends, drag links were full of good grease...............
and yet my u-joints had NO PINS left in the end caps, just rusted dust.

Empty end caps.

The end caps themselves were either broken, split, cracked, or half gone.



Amazing. My Blazer is Amazing.

I do need a few Spindle Studs/bolts.
I memba seein 'em somewhere but don't memba where...so I'll start searching again.

[Woogeroo]

one more shot, what was causing the steering issue:

-W


---- not my truck ----

Here's what was goin' on,

[scottsdaleowner75]

Yup that will do it. I have only seen this on one other truck/blazer and that too was after well over 100K miles of hard use.

[scsindust]

I was thinking, I have manual locking hubs, so my axle shafts should not be spinning. Technically, even autos shouldn't be spinning. Am I right?

[motornut]

Originally Posted by scsindust

I was thinking, I have manual locking hubs, so my axle shafts should not be spinning. Technically, even autos shouldn't be spinning. Am I right?

You should have to engage the front axle (shift into 4x4)inside the truck to engage the front axles as well as the hubs?or is it full time?

[scsindust]

I didnt think they had full time 4wd suburbans... anyway, at least mine is part time

[motornut]

Originally Posted by scsindust

I didnt think they had full time 4wd suburbans... anyway, at least mine is part time

Nope don't think they did,i was thinkin blazer like my jimmy