loose steering

Steering Gear Box! Move the wheel back and forth and look at the pitman arm and see if it's even moving or if all that slop is in the box.

Will check it in the morning. If it is the steering box, can it be adjusted?

Thanks!

The first thing you should do is make sure the gear box is tight to the frame. I had the same problem on my suburban and decided to replace the gear box. Of the three bolts that hold it on to the frame all three were loose but one was about to fall out. I went a head and replaced the box since I had it (it was less then $120). So now the truck drives like new.

So my vote is to check the bolts, if they are tight then replace the gear box. I will warn you it is a real PITA on a van. But take your time and use new bolts.

Good luck. mark

Idler arm, also the rag joint(more correctly called steering coupler, located under plastic cover at base of steering shaft, connects steering shaft to gear box) Of course if you had it aligned after you replaced the ball joints and tie rod ends, person doing it should have checked all that, then again the key words are should have.

Whitelightning

I ended up replacing the pitman arm and idler arm. Parts cost $65, so just decided to do it since it was relatively cheap. So along with having done all the ball joints and tie rod ends, I am stopping there. As it sounds like there can be some problems with adjusting the steering box, I will leave that 5 minute job to the GM dealer where I get it aligned. Although I will not mention the 'rag joint' or they will want to replace just on principle, it already feels much better than it did. Thanks to all you guys that responded,. Groups like this are keeping my vehicles on the road!

"backally" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Howdy BackAlly Check this part anyway. It is a rubber/ cloth composite, like a fan belt. Heat, time and ozone will cause it to crumble, resulting in a hell of a lot of steering wheel freeplay. You really do not want it to go suddenly. BTW it is a cheap and easy job.