Last year I had the front end of my 2002 2500HD Duramax rebuilt and the steering box changed. Not sure if it was a RedHead or not, but it was supposed to be substantially better box than stock. A month or so after that I started to feel inconsistencies in steering pressure on right hand turns at speed. It would be in a turn, and then lose a bit of pressure, and then it would come back. It is way worse when I am pulling a trailer. I talked to the shop that did the front end and he was sure it was something else, mostly because the truck has 257k on it. I had him do the HyrdroBoost next, which I knew there was problems with. It helped my brakes a ton ,but I still had the wandering on right turns, in fact the problem has gotten worse. I'll be at the top of Soldiers Summit and starting down, either side, and be in a right turn, and I have to chase the front end, sometimes feeling like its on ice. The shop is recommending I change the pump next, and I'll probably do that, but again, I'm not sure why that would cause the problem I'm having. Any suggestions?
Steering Woes
- Thread starter Bart
- Start date
RockChucker
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
I’d agree with trapped air as a first check. Best luck I’ve had bleeding systems is with the front end off the ground, vehicle off and steer it lock to lock with the reservoir cap off for what feels like days. If it got worse after the hydroboost replacement this sounds most likely. Also worth checking the idler arm to make sure it doesn’t have any sticky spots in its sweep?
DaveB
Long Jeep Fan
- Location
- Holladay, Utah
I just fixed the steering on my daughters Jeep yesterday. It would have pulsing steering pressure when turning. The power steering gearbox was leaking a bit so I figured it needed a change. We put the new box and decided to bleed the air out without the steering hooked up. After bleeding the air out I had my son steer the jeep while I spun the tires which exposed the real problem. The drivers side axle u-joint was seized up. After swapping out the joint there are no more issues.
Funny you should ask. After the heavy duty steering box, and the hyrdro boost, the only part left was a power steering pump. I had my shop put one of those on 3 weeks ago. Changed it a bit, but didn't fix the pulsing. The pump failed in a week and the truck was barely steerable. I left it with the shop for the week that we were out of town, and they ended upreplacing the heavy duty box and the PS pump. I picked up on Monday and it's finally fixed. I think the box went bad and was just getting worse, and was the cause of the pump failing. Luckily for me they did the work all under parts warranty and all I paid for was an alignment. It's nice to be able to drive again without questioning my steering.