Front end Alignment

[MalibuSSwagon]

On my 99 Suburban, I replaced the pitman and idler arms, upper and lower balljoints. Steering still feels loose and wanders alot. Figure I should replace the crusty tie rods, sleeves and the upper control arm bushings as they look pretty bad. The alignment is where I have questions and before I start throwing parts at this, I want the scope on any updated parts I should install to help correct any issues. There's a alot of info if you google and not all of it good. Also, for the local guys, any good places for getting the alignment done? Or maybe someone can show me the ropes of doing the alignment myself? Thanks.

[Palf70Step]

If the tie-rods are still firm, keep them. Normally my alignment guy s the one that lets me know which ones need fixed, as I have always had bad luck testing/guessing if they are bad.

[clay68c10]

Your steering box may be loose too, there is an adjustment for it. You can tighten them up a bit to compensate, but only so far.
You're better off having a good front end guy look at it and determine what's worn out.
If it's never been aligned before, the upper control arms will have to come out so they can take out the adjustment slot knock outs.
Best thing to do is find a shop with an experienced alignment tech, probably not one of the chain places.
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[OutlawDrifter]

i just did this on my pickup, but i did all of it. pitman, idler bracket/idler arm, inner/outer tie rods, adjusting sleeves, upper/lower ball joints, and the sway bar end links. about 2 weeks before that, i replaced the evo sensor on the steering column, for the power assist. after an alignment it drives like a new pickup. when i first bought it, you constantly had to "steer" it.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Well I'm going to have to pull the upper arms anyhow to replace the bushings, so while I'm there I could knock out the slots. But, what was the original purpose of these tabs in the slots? Was it to align them at the factory? Just wondering, because I would think the alignment was done by the camber bolts on the arms.

Taking the truck for state inspection this weekend, I'll have my guy take a good look at the tie rods. I'm leaning towards replacement regardless but would like a second opinion. Also shopping around for a GOOD alignment shop. Most places have the fancy computerized rack, and the guys running it just know to put it in the green and be done.