How Good/Bad is your Steering Responsiveness?

[TheWhiteElephant]

I have gone through all my suspension, replaced all ball joints, tie-rods, and a reman steering gear on my '73. Frame is perfect at the steering gear mounting points. Only thing I did not replace is the infamous rag joint, but it looked to be in really nice shape. Truck is lifted 4" with 235/85/16s.

I have to admit, I was expecting a firm/tight steering wheel, but during my initial testing (driving in a straight line and pulling the steering wheel left and right), I am a little disappointed. Of course I wasn't expecting sports car steering, but was hoping to get a better feel for the road than what I got.

I haven't driven one of these trucks in a few years, and of course I'm comparing it to my daily drivers which are newer vehicles, but I'm wondering, am I expecting too much? What are you guys' honest opinions about how good the steering is on your truck?

[donut]

IMO, the steering was good on my '73 for what it was. Late model rack and pinion it's not, but having driven numerous older trucks, it's about as good as it's going to get.

It was a big difference going from my truck to the wife's '03 Trailblazer, but the TB seemed like a wallowing pig, suspension wise compared to the truck.

[Mr. 250r]

I now have a dana 60 under my suburban and the response takes a slight moment but i think its just fine and i haven't touched the steering besides dual steering stabilizers and a new steering column but compared to my 10 bolt this thing makes much wider turns which is a little upsetting for me the 10 bolt turned as nice as my lifted 03

[BMERDOC]

I've been studying steering boxes for the last coupla days trying to figure out what I need. I found that most of the reman boxes aren't any good because they are disassembled, cleaned and resealed. If the hard parts haven't exploded they are reused!! Which may explain a new box with no improvement in road feel. I learned that only the best reman'd box should be used. I also learned that the later square bodies (80-87?) had a variable ratio steering box and it really wasn't a "quick ratio" box. I have a manual '67 box that is 5.5 turns lock to lock . I found that the later boxes were 4.5 and 3.5 L T L, quicker than what I have. I found that the Saginaw 800 that was used in GM cars were mounted on the inside of the frame and I know that the trucks are on the outside. The cars do have quicker ratio boxes (as low as 12:1). In the end, and sorry for being so long winded, I was thinkin that even if the boxes were mounted on opposite sides of the frame it is entirely possible that the guts could be swapped out of the car box into the truck box. A new performance box can be over $500. A junkyard kit-bashed box might be closer to $100. Still haven't completed my research but I wanted to share with you what I've found so far in case it helps you.

[TheWhiteElephant]

Originally Posted by Mr. 250r

I now have a dana 60 under my suburban and the response takes a slight moment but i think its just fine and i haven't touched the steering besides dual steering stabilizers and a new steering column but compared to my 10 bolt this thing makes much wider turns which is a little upsetting for me the 10 bolt turned as nice as my lifted 03

I think I may just be expecting too much. I also have a new dual steering stabilizer on it.

[Mr. 250r]

I think that may be part of the problem whenever i rebuild the front of my D60 to remove the death wobble i will put it back to a stock single steering stabilizer and hopefully not look back from there

[TheWhiteElephant]

Thanks for the input, guys.

BMERDOC, you are correct. some of the reman companies will only replace the soft stuff, I learned that a while back. My truck originally had the box with 4.5 turns lock to lock, and it was pretty loose. I had to constantly turn the steering wheel left and right to keep the truck in a straight line. The Autozone box I got is 3.5, and that certainly is a great improvement. I haven't yet aligned the truck, and I hope this helps in some way. I believe the toe is off just a tad. Another issue is that I'm having is that I started this build as soon as I bought the truck, so I've never gotten to get to know it.

The K5 I had had 7" of lift with a reman box and I also used a Borgeson shaft, and I honestly don't remember the steering response on it, but it was pretty good for a big truck. I sold it about 7 yrs ago, though.

[special-K]

The stabilizer won't have an effect on steering responsiveness. I have the same problem with my '72 K2500. Everything has been replaced. The steering box is a known to be good unit from a friend who converted to crossover. My shocks are crapped out and I know that makes the truck toss around,which can cause some wondering. But,the steering wheel to wheels has lag. I've been living with it and don't drive it much.I have lift springs,shocks,and good tires to put on and I want the steering right. I have hydroboost from my '91 Suburban I'm parting and think I'll put that on there. It handled well when it was running. I also have a Dana60 for the front but think it will have to wait and go in later when I can afford to go over it. I know the Dana44 has all new stuff.

[thirdstreettito]

Mando, try a Borgeson Steering Shaft. It has u-joints instead of rag-joints. I've heard nothing but good thing about them. Also, you could change the steering box to a 12:1 ratio to make it tighter.