I bought a 94 GMC sierra Z71 off road. It has 134,000 miles on it and in real good shape but the steering is loose. you can move the steering wheel a little and its still goin straight.i put Rough Country's 2-3 inch lif on it with the T-bars cranked. Can anybody tell me what is wrong with it? The guy that put the lift on said they ball joints didn't need replacing at this moment.  

it could be you tie rods...i was driving a 98 c2500 on the interstate one day and the truck was going staight down the road and the steering wheel could turn from side to side like you were turning it but it wasnt turning.luckily i made it back to the shop and told the service dept the steering felt loose! they told me that the tie rod had about a half turn to go then the steering would be dead and i wouldve crashed the parts truck!...so check the tie rods!  

When you lift a truck you place more strain on the steering components and shorten their life span. This is a foregone conclusion. The only question is how much? With 130K miles the front end and linkages have wear on/in them (make no mistake) and the added stress shows this wear more. I would not have lifted a truck with 130K without first going over the front end completely and replacing worn items to get it nice and tight. You can start by getting under truck and have someone move steering wheel back and forth and few inches in each direction and observe linkages. Check to see if pitman arm is moving smoothly and consistently with steering box input, Next the linkages and idler to see if any play exists. Then there is the upper and lower control arm bushings. These will be a bit loose after 130k and the added stress of a lift and big tires increases stress on them and can make them feel looser which can cause vague steering response as they flex and move from higher loads on them. Then there is the Tbar crank. This is basically a no no for a few reasons. One is that it places suspension at or near top of extension limit which limits its ability to follow road and can cause pitchy ride and handling issues. Next it throws off suspension geometry because the upper and lower control arms are unequal length by design and when placed at correct static height and properly aligned it maintains favorable caster, camber angle and proper toe in as suspension expands and compresses. When you lift it with a Tbar crank and align it the geometry is wrong as it articulates and caster, camber and toe ranges are out of whack too. The "crank" also changes the static angle of control arms and load centers on them and how load it transmitted back to frame and therefore over all handling. People that do Tbar cranks do them because they are cheap, not because it is the right way to do it. Basically if you really want to lift a GM IFS 4x4, you need to do it correctly or not at all. Sorry if I sound gruff but many do what you have done and then would why things did not go as planned because they did not do their homework.  

Well the guys at Rough Country said to get the full three inches is to crank the new heavy duty T-bars. The kit is classified as a leveling kit. It came with new up arms. Summit was runnig all of there steering parts with good prices so if I had to replace anything i could buy the parts. But I would like to try doing the work on it myself because eventually I want to install a three inch body lift with 33-35 inch tires on it.it has 32x11.50 on 15x10 inch rims. which came with the truck when i bought it.  

It is Rough Country's 2-3 inch lift. came with arms T-bars diff drop brackets and add a leaves.  

Rough Country wants to sell you the kit so they do not tell you the quirks or bad sides of it. No sale, no profit. (I am not singling them out as they all do it just like car dealers do not tell you what MPG you are really going to get or how some LD SUV's will lack towing too even though rating suggest otherwise) Tbar cranks ARE NOT the proper way to do it. Lifts the lower diff and replace knuckles and/or control arms while maintaining proper centering in suspension travel and proper front half shaft angles too. Many use cranks because it is CHEAP not because it is proper. I suggest that you lower crank job first then have a front end shop that is not trying to sell you a lift kit, check front end completely. Replace what is bad and then install a proper lift kit that does not require a crank. In reality, you should have dropped some coin and went to a front end shop and had front end checked out before you started this because like I said earlier, you do not take a truck with 130k and no front end check and repair and lift it and not expect to have problems. My trucks do not off road much but they do see a lot of snow plow and towing duty and this is harder on them than off most off roading. (especailly carrying a extra 700 lbs hanging off front of truck and pushing for all it is worth sometimes) I get really good front end life out of my trucks in this duty because I leave them STOCK/OEM equipped for it with no lifts or tires and grease them often with moly grease (not lithium). Ford has long spec'ed tuffer and superior moly grease for chassis while GM has not. I suspect the reason for this is that moly does not play well at all in some wheel bearings and ujoints and they do not want any "accidents" by service techs so one grease does all even though it (lithium) is clearly inferior to moly in high stress chassis apps. Moly grease has little tiny bits of Molybdenum Disulfide/MoS2 in it that prevents metal to metal contact under extreme pressures in chassis type ball and socket joints and has a excellent frictional drag coefficient.  

First off im 15 and dont have alot of money. second it was for christmas. Plus my Family couldnt afford a thousand or two thousand dollar lift. So i had to go cheap for now Bud. And the damn company shouldnt have made where you could adjust the torsion bars. Where i come from you either farm or work for tva. and simple CHEAP ways to lift trucks has to do.  

I dont where your from but im from the south and i really dont care if i have to rebuild the front end on my truck. because when i git the MONEY ill Put a BETTER LIFT ON IT. But for now this has to do i asked a simple question to wut in the hell it might be makin my truck's steerin loose.  

seein how your 15 and it sounds like everything was a gift?, you could go over everything on the frt susp. and school yourself and become a better frt end mech to the truck, the more you do the better you'll be a fixing ifs chevies and dont be discouraged about anything and take your time.(now you know,and knowing is half the battle,
GI JOE!) oh your too young for that or im too old LOL!
good luck

rock on!!!  

Scottsdale-K10:
First off im 15 and dont have alot of money. second it was for christmas. Plus my Family couldnt afford a thousand or two thousand dollar lift. So i had to go cheap for now Bud. And the damn company shouldnt have made where you could adjust the torsion bars. Where i come from you either farm or work for tva. and simple CHEAP ways to lift trucks has to do.

I do not think you are understanding me here. This is one of those things that if you do not have the money to do it right, do not do it!! Given your age and lack of driving experience, you need a predictable truck handling wise while you are learning not one full of surprises. You might think I am picking on you (I am not) but you need to be safe about this too.  Most 15 and 16 year drivers know just about enough to be dangerous at times. Slow down and do it right, you will have plenty of time to do it correctly later. World will not end if you do not get it lifted but it could end for you if it is unstable and you have a wreck with it. I am really trying to help you more than you think right now.  

I talked to my dad about it and since it was a gift and didint know anything about it he said the guy checked all the tie rods, ball joints, etc. he said they were fine and had been replaced. Could it just be somthin is this model truck?  

I talked to my dad about it and since it was a gift and didint know anything about it he said the guy checked all the tie rods, ball joints, etc. he said they were fine and had been replaced. Could it just be somthin is this model truck?  

Scottsdale-K10:
I talked to my dad about it and since it was a gift and didint know anything about it he said the guy checked all the tie rods, ball joints, etc. he said they were fine and had been replaced. Could it just be somthin is this model truck?

You clearly have some play in front end and/or alignment issues too. When you lift a truck is places a LOT of added stress on front end parts and unless it is pretty tight, the problem will be amplified. Many never even remotely consider the added stress this places on front and and think they are making it HD when in reality you are making it lighter duty because of higher stress loads place on it in normal driving and extreme loads places on it when you play hard. Left stock with stock tires it will take a pretty good beating and hold up well and track good even with a little wear on it but with a lift it is a whole new game. If you are POSITIVE the front end is tight, the next step is to go to a alignment shop and have it checked out and aligned and to post the figures here as to what front end is set at. Factory specs are a guideline for stock setups and you really need to modify them with a lift.  

Its been aligned when i had the lift put on it and i called the guy and he said that he did not crank the torsion bars because it sat pretty high....when i got the truck it dont have a steering stabilizer. Is there any way I could put one on there?  

This is the highest i will probably go on an IFS truck i have and old scottsdale that me and my brother are goin to fix up. but i plan on puttin 33's on it eventually and maybe buy sone bushwacker cut out flares to fit at the most 35's.