looking for heavy duty/upgraded steering for my suburban

[dfarm]

So, we started getting a vibration that pretty rapidly (about 2 months from when I first noticed it) turned into enough to really bug me, and to make it better, yesterday it started with a steering wobble when slowing and turning the wheel slightly(reminds me of "death wobble" from my jeep days).

I watched under the front of the truck while my wife turned the wheels side to side and found that the pitman arm and idler arm ball joints have a bit of play in them.( up and down play when the steering changes directions).

The vehicle is a 2001 suburban 2500 with what appappears to be 6" of lift and 35" tires.

I want to upgrade the steering parts to better deal with the big tires and off road use. (I don't plan on jumping the thing, but I don't want to worry if I drive over a curb or a beat up logging road at speed or things of that nature )

What do you guys recommend for beefed up steering and front end components for these rigs? Thanks

 

[chaos616]

Places like cognito: http://www.cognitomotorsports.com/chevy-gmc/2001-12-2500-suv/steering-upgrades/ , have upgraded parts, there are others and i'm sure people will chime in with those. However I don't know if there are many choices for heavier pitman arms or idler arms. Possibly some brace options.

Sorry i'm not more help with this. I can tell you i put moog stuff on my truck before the SAS and it was decent stuff, but honestly I couldn't tell much difference from stock. It held up find until the SAS so no complaints.

 

[dfarm]

The truck appears to have stock stuff in it now, and it may be original stuff, so stock could very well be strong enough.

That has never stopped me from looking for something stronger or better though. Lol

 

[dfarm]

I think I'm going to go with moog "problem solver" parts.

I'm also considering the braces for the idler and pitman arms as well as the idler pivot assembly from cognito.

Does anyone have any experience with these parts?

Thanks again.

 

[02TahoeMD]

That has never stopped me from looking for something stronger or better though. Lol

If you are willing to spend the money I would recommend researching Rare Parts steering components.

 

[chaos616]

I've never seen those rare parts steering components before, they look beefy for sure. The extra heavy duty stuff is sure expensive but if its going to hold up that much better than maybe its worth the money.

 

[snowblind]

Kryptonite. How heavy duty do you want to go? :Wow1:

http://dmaxstore.com/products/?route=product/category&path=17_347_349


Matt

 

[dfarm]

does anyone know of a forum where people "build" ifs trucks? I've been looking around for a bit trying to find some reviews and first hand knowledge about these products and these trucks in general, and I'm not having much luck.

All of the parts you guys have linked me to have the kind of stuff I'm thinking about, but I'd like to see some folks that have used them.

Thanks again

 

[J.R.]

I know the guys building pulling trucks and drag racing trucks are building their front ends to withstand boosted launches and whatnot. Id suggest haunting a duramax forum.

 

[AA1PR]

does anyone know of a forum where people "build" ifs trucks? I've been looking around for a bit trying to find some reviews and first hand knowledge about these products and these trucks in general, and I'm not having much luck.

All of the parts you guys have linked me to have the kind of stuff I'm thinking about, but I'd like to see some folks that have used them.

Thanks again

a whole lot of us on GMC4x4.com are doing just that

 

[dfarm]

I've changed my mind a little on the direction of the repair. I was going to use the moog heavy duty parts and put the cognito braces on them, now I'm just ordering the regular moog parts.

I went out to double check the spline count on the pitman shaft and noticed that a part of my lift kit includes a brace for the center link that works like another idler arm in the middle of the bottom of the center link drop bracket. With this extra brace in there, I believe my steering is supported at least as well as adding the bolt on braces to the arms themselves, but my guess is that it's stronger because there is more seperation between the arms.

I wish I knew who made the lift kit that's on this thing, as it would make a lot of this stuff easier. I don't even really know what is stock, or stuff that was modified or added on. I guess that's just a part of buying an older modified vehicle.

Thanks for all of the help. Through looking at all of this stuff I definitely have some ideas for other things I want to upgrade , like control arms and tie rods.