Steering parts recommentations

[Cougar281]

With my truck up over 190k with all original steering & suspension parts, and the alignment not holding, I'm going to go through and overhaul the steering & suspension on my truck.

Right now I have all stock components with stainless sleeves on the tie rods and the Cognito brace kit. I WAS going to replace everything with OE parts and have more or less the same setup, but then in looking around, at All season, I found 'Heavy duty Tie rods' (which appear to be 'Super Steer') and the 'Super Steer Idler arm' (It's actually the Idler arm bracket).

At the moment I have new Moog upper control arms w/ ball joints, lower ball joints and sway bar links. I still need to get new idler arm, pitman arm, pitman arm bracket and inner & outer tie rods. Anything else I should replace there?

I haven't been able to find a ton on the Super Steer parts, although I found a little on the pitman arm bracket. Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on what I should replace the OE parts with?

 

[kivetts04dmax]

Check out dmaxstore.com they have their Kryptonite series steering parts that are awesome! they also come with a warranty, some stuff is lifetime. All season has some nice steering line I just purchased if your lines are leaking.

 

[btfarm]

I just did my front with all Moog problem solver stuff from Rockauto. UCAs, lower balls, inner and outer tierods - but didn't do the pitman and Idlers. I had already done those sometime back. Next time for those I'll give serious thought to the supersteer stuff.
BTW, after alot of the pics I've seen, I won't run Cognito braces. I know there's guys that swear by 'em but the engineer in me doesn't like the geometry.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

You say you "have" the upper control arms, but they are not installed yet? Reason I ask is, there are aftermarket control arms that have serviceable ball joints, poly bushings and offer a tiny bit more travel. Also, there are sway bar end-links that have poly bushings and are heavier duty as well. From my understanding, the O.E stuff is the best for pitman and idler arms, moog and o.e is what most use.

As for the stuff you "need" to build up the front end a bit would be the idler pivot assembly and better tie rods. The super steer idler pivot mechinisim is the only one I know of, companies paint and badge them, but every one I've seen has in reality been a super steer. I run rare parts tie rods and they work well, I like them because they are a single piece of drop forged steel. You may want to look at the swaybar bushings themselves too, and since your diggin in, check out hellwig suspension products, I have been running their sway bars for years and love what they do for the vehicle.

Make sure to check your p.i.s.k braces, make sure they are not worn out or bent/cracked. Replace them if need be of course

Dmaxstore.com is one of many online stores that has front end kits that address everything with high caliber parts combined into complete kits.

Typical COCOAL front end build/re-build, of course all these things aren't "needed"

Timken wheel bearings
Cognito uca's
Cognito p.i.s.k
Idler pivot assembly
Heavy duty tie rods
Steering stabilizer
Poly LCA bushings
Mono tube shocks
Stainless steel braided brake lines
Swaybar

Mmmmm, that's about it:spit:

I know its allot, but it will feel better than new after all that, and really, it will be better than new

 

[Andrew]

im running the dmax store comp front end package with all the add ons on my truck little pricy but never had an issue an i believe all the parts have a lifetime warranty

 

[btfarm]

For illustration purposes in this thread

Here's a supersteer vs oem style Idler arm bracket.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

What's the application, 1500 chassis? Looks different than the ones on the d-max? Oh, wait, is that for the gmt 900 chassis?

But yeah, same principle, much beefier, and roller bearings vs brass bushings for the pivot "bearing". It really makes for a smoother feel while turning the wheel, but then I have all the other goodies too

 

[Cougar281]

I have the UCAs, Lower Ball Joints and sway bar links in the garage, but I am not going to put them on until I have all the parts and will spend a weekend replacing everything.

The main problem I'm having is a lot of road noise and the inside of my passenger tire is wearing a LOT... Alignment is definitely off even though I just had it aligned not too long ago, so it's not holding alignment any more. I desperately need new tired (They're basically slicks) but I'm not putting new tires on until I get the front end fixed... I don't want to shred brand new tires...

I was looking at Dmaxstore and the Kryptonite parts look pretty good... I suspect the Idler support is actually a Supersteer unit (not that there's anything wrong with that), and everything else looks very beefy... I'm thinking about getting their Kryptonite Centerlink/Tie Rod package and Kryptonite Idler side package with GM pitman arm... Pricey as heck, but the parts *appear* to be darn near bulletproof, and then I would no longer need the Pitman/Idler support kit or sleeved tie rods... That, along with what I already have, should replace all of the wearable components in the front end, unless I"m missing something...

 

[Hot COCOAL]

Couple things...

Have you checked the torsion bars? When the torsion bars are run at too low a setting, the tires will camber in too much causing wear on the inside of the tire, the truck can be aligned to run with the t-bars low and eliminate most of the camber associated with running the bars low. another thing to look for is, a bad wheel bearing, that could cause excessive tire wear and road noise, so will bad tires through

You will be very happy with the kryptonite kit from dmaxstore, and it should only take a Saturday afternoon to get everything installed, well, I've done all this stuff a few times now but nothing you are about to undertake is very demanding

Good luck:thumb:

 

[Cougar281]

well, I haven't checked the torsion bars, but I also have never touched them in any way... Unless they adjust themselves, they are exactly where they were when the truck left the factory.

The wheel bearings are 'relatively' new, and the wear on the tire is at an accelerated rate that I don't think can be anything other than an alignment issue... Last time I saw wear like that was a long time back on my car when the front end alignment was WAY off and it ate the tire down to the belts on the inside in no time flat.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

well, I haven't checked the torsion bars, but I also have never touched them in any way... Unless they adjust themselves, they are exactly where they were when the truck left the factory.

The wheel bearings are 'relatively' new, and the wear on the tire is at an accelerated rate that I don't think can be anything other than an alignment issue... Last time I saw wear like that was a long time back on my car when the front end alignment was WAY off and it ate the tire down to the belts on the inside in no time flat.

:thumb:

I have heard of torsion bars that start to "sag" idk if that may be an issue, probably not, if the wheel bearings are relatively new that's prolly not the issue either, just a couple thoughts I figured I'd throw out. I had a wheel bearing go on a trip from Washington to Cali, ate the passenger tire to the cords in less than 500mi, the tires were TOYO mt's with 50% tread too!

 

[Noreaster]

I like GM steering arms, Super steer idler pivot, Moog ball joints
I run rare parts tierods, guess its everyones preference on tierods, Ill never run sleeves in the salt belt again

 

[kaylabryn]

I would take a quick peak and make sure the last time they aligned your truck they got your control arm adjusters tight. I had to take my truck back three times before I finally set it and tighten them myself. Now they do not move.