LB7: Took the duramax to get safetied/inspected

[Chevy1925]

If you have had yours for 4 years I think I should be alright. I treat my things pretty nicely haha. Don't scare me!!

The one i have is prior to all the issues. about two years after i put mine on was when all the probs came up. most guys broke them in parking lots but id hate to loose one on the freeway. they had minimal miles on them too, round 10-30k IIRC. teabagger (joe) on here was a victim as well.

 

[ACiFiC]

wow so you actually got a new-new factory/OEM steering box???

Yeah it is on the way!

 

[duratothemax]

i really hope that pitman arm stays together for you......

oh great. I just spent $1300 on the full DmaxStore kryptonite setup with new moog pitman/idler arms.

Should I send them back and get GM parts? I only want to do this once. Or do the GM parts not work properly with the Kryptonite centerline and stuff???

 

[ACiFiC]

Ah, well. I could just return it as well. And pick one up online.

 

[Sledheadxp800r]

oh great. I just spent $1300 on the full DmaxStore kryptonite setup with new moog pitman/idler arms.

Should I send them back and get GM parts? I only want to do this once. Or do the GM parts not work properly with the Kryptonite centerline and stuff???

You can use OEM or MOOG it doesn't matter. Just been hearing about more MOOG failures lately.

And if you use an internal pitman arm puller you don't have to remove the box or cut the pitman arm to remove it :thumb:

 

[ACiFiC]

I've returned my pitman and have a GM one coming from dmax store

 

[Chevy1925]

oh great. I just spent $1300 on the full DmaxStore kryptonite setup with new moog pitman/idler arms.

Should I send them back and get GM parts? I only want to do this once. Or do the GM parts not work properly with the Kryptonite centerline and stuff???

Just like sledhead said, you can use a GM pitman arm on it, just use the other pitman arm nut for the cognito braces to thread on the ball joint part of the pitman arm. that nut should come with the braces. i think gold are the GM ones, and the silver are the moog/other brand ones.

for all i know, Moog could have fixed this issue (and i really hope they did), i just dont want to find out myself and would rather you all know as well. Its been a while since i last heard of a failure (about 6 months).

 

[Sledheadxp800r]

I have MOOG on both my trucks with no issues

 

[duratothemax]

argh what to do...trust that Moog "fixed" the problem or go to the dealer and buy a factory one......the thought of snapping off a pitman arm stud scares the shit out of me for obvious reasons.

 

[ACiFiC]

Dmax store sells the GM ones as well. I just grabbed one from them haha

 

[formyla]

adjust it

used to be you could adjust the steering box to remove slack - I'll have to look at mine to see if its still possible.

 

[ACiFiC]

I ordered GM pitman arm from the Dmax store and he sent me a idler arm & bracket lol.

but the arm i said i was going to return i didnt get to doing it yet and now it looks like im just going to use it because i dont have time to wait for the pitman to come here and etc...

used to be you could adjust the steering box to remove slack - I'll have to look at mine to see if its still possible.

interesting... i read a couple things about that.. but i had pulled my box out anyways. and am replacing it with a AC DELCO one.. but when i looked at my old one its quite a bit different then the AC DELCO.. i will post pictures a bit later.

but the one i pulled out doesnt have any adjustment options and i see the AC DELCO has some sort of bolt on it which is probably for that haha.

 

[Harbin_22]

The allen bolt with the jam nut may not take your slack out. I know that on the 1500's, if you tighten it up, it will not return to center anymore

 

[duratothemax]

The allen bolt with the jam nut may not take your slack out. I know that on the 1500's, if you tighten it up, it will not return to center anymore

x2. Adjusting the steering on the saginaw recirculating-ball steering boxes is NOT something that everyone should go out and do just for shits.

It is a specific process that mostly just takes some experience and feel to do properly.

You can very easily go too far, and then you just ruined your steering box.

Honestly, I would just leave it alone...as tempting as it is. IIRC GM says not to mess with it either; its not a documented procedure in the factory service manual

ben

 

[Chevy1925]

x2. Adjusting the steering on the saginaw recirculating-ball steering boxes is NOT something that everyone should go out and do just for shits.

It is a specific process that mostly just takes some experience and feel to do properly.

You can very easily go too far, and then you just ruined your steering box.

Honestly, I would just leave it alone...as tempting as it is. IIRC GM says not to mess with it either; its not a documented procedure in the factory service manual

ben

x3, it doesnt take much at all before you turned it too far and it drives like crap

 

[Sledheadxp800r]

If you do decide to try and adjust it only go about 1/16 turn. Don't sit there and crank on it until there's no play in it. It doesn't take much and If you go to far there's no going back.