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#866 of 939 Re: Drifting to the right [ahightower] by kiawah Nov 13, 2008 (6:14 pm)
Replying to: ahightower (Nov 13, 2008 5:18 pm) Hmmm....I just recently threw out all the old receipts since I no longer have that vehicle, so I don't know the costs.   "IF" the ball joint is your problem.....Just purely guessing, I would think a ball joint is around 30-40 bucks a piece, and at least an hour of labor a piece. They put on spring compressors, and un bolt and disconnect the hub from the ball joint. Then use a ball joint tool which presses the old ball joint from the lower A frame. They then press in the new ball joint, and reassemble the hub. Take off the spring compressors, put the wheels back on, and then have to re-align the vehicle again.   Sometimes a ball joint will squeak when it is worn.
#867 of 939 Re: Drifting to the right [ahightower] by troubletroop Nov 13, 2008 (9:51 pm)
Replying to: ahightower (Nov 11, 2008 12:16 pm) if you still have this problem take a look at your front brake lines, i had the same problem but mine pull to left your brake can collapse on inside of lines wind you use your brakes and take hard look at your callipers one of them could be slow in movment wind braking.
#868 of 939 Re: Drifting to the right [ahightower] by arrie Nov 14, 2008 (9:27 am)
Replying to: ahightower (Nov 11, 2008 12:16 pm) A question about the drifting:   You say that "The steering wheel must be held about 10 degrees to the left to keep it going straight."   Do you actually have to hold it to the left or would the car go straight but steering wheel would position itself 10 degrees left if you take your hands off of the steering wheel?   If you actually have to force the steering wheel to 10 degrees left to keep car going straight you definitely have alignment problem and it could be caused by worn out ball joints etc. (I assume the problem occurs on flat unworn road surface. Be careful when diagnosing the problem because so many road surfaces are "round" which causes your car to want to drift off of the road, i.e. when driving on right side lane you need to steer slightly to left. Also, if the road is worn to the "grooves" it makes car steer left or right depending on which "wall" of the groove you are driving on. But let's assume you have this problem when driving on perfectly flat pavement.)   If you do not have to force to keep the steering wheel to the 10 degree left position when car goes straight the problem is not alignment problem between the 4 wheels. A fact telling for this is that you do not see any kind of uneven wear on tires. It is alignment problem between steering wheel position and front wheel turning position, i.e. they did not center the steering wheel properly when setting the front toe.   When I have my car aligned I always check for the steering wheel position myself when alignment is done because almost every time I had alignment done and I didn't check for this the steering wheel positioned itself slightly left or right. This is the reason why I always have alignment done in a small shop where I can get to the car when alignment is done and can check for the steering wheel position.   I have a 2004 Tahoe, which I believe is identical for front suspension compared to your Yukon. I had a problem with inside wear of front tires and had alignment checked by the dealer and they said it is inside GM specification. I installed new different brand tires and they wore and cupped inside edge too.   I then had alignment done at a small shop where they said it is inside GM spec too but I asked them to close toe to the minimum limit of the spec. This fixed the front tire wear problem. With my 3rd set of tires now I have about 18 000 miles and no sign of any kind of uneven tire wear.   I drive a lot of highway, i.e. fast speed and closing toe helps because I believe fast speed induced down force pulls car down and causes front suspension to open the toe slightly so closing it a little bit helps in my situation.   If your tires do not show any uneven wear (which might take more than 1500 miles to show up) and you do not need to fight to keep car going straight but steering wheel positions itself to 10 degree left position it most likely means that your problem is just that when they adjusted the toe they had the steering wheel in that 10 degree left position. This could also be why they had to adjust toe on both sides as usually only one of them needs adjustment (but not always).   In case your car goes straight without "fighting" the steering wheel but with the steering wheel in that 10 degree left position I would suggest you do following:   1.Jack front tires up. One side at the time should work but both sides up at the same time is better. 2. Have someone hold the steering wheel firmly in position. 3. Try to move the wheels in any possible direction to find out if there are any looseness in joints. You really have to jack the wheels off of the ground to do this correctly. Weight of the car on the wheel does not allow feeling all small looseness by hand.   If you do not find any looseness in either wheel you can go back to your alignment shop and tell them that they did not position steering wheel correctly when they set the toe.   If you have to fight the steering wheel while going straight you definitely do have alignment problem and if this is without having worn joints then the alignment was done all the way wrong.   However, if you would find worn joints then you should go back to the alignment shop and tell them about it and question them for not finding that. In every alignment shop that I had my car serviced they ALWAYS tested for worn joints because they know alignment is wasted if they do it and it does not work due to worn joints. Any alignment shop should not do alignment with worn joints.   If they indeed did alignment with worn joints they should refund for it, but they will not. You could get them to do alignment as warranty service if you have worn joints and that same shop would change those parts for you.   If you go back to the same shop be careful that they suddenly do not find all kinds of loose parts to cover up their mistake. That is why I would very carefully check for looseness by jacking the car up on each side.   For changing the joints it should not be very difficult. I have not done it for my Tahoe as I have not needed it yet. One of the posts for you suggested that the spring must be compressed. Your Yukon does not have a coil spring in front if it is the same construction as my Tahoe, like I believe it is. It has a torsion bar as a spring. When you jack the car up to get wheel off of the ground there is not much spring force left on suspension and if there is any I believe it can be relieved by the adjustment screw in the back end of the bar.   The best way to do this is the same as how they do it at the shop, i.e. jack both front wheels off of the ground. For this you need jack stands on both sides to keep both wheels of the ground at the same time. This is important because of the sway bar. If one side is on ground it causes the sway bar transfer force to the other side and that suspension then is not completely force free.   Anyway, you do not want to take any joints loose with any spring or sway bar force induced in the wheel suspension. You would not be able to put it back together if you did and could hurt yourself in the process. I believe though that when the front wheels are off of the ground at the same time there is no force induced on the suspension from either torsion bar spring or the sway bar.   Arrie Replies to this message: ahightower (Nov 14, 2008 12:15 pm) ahightower (Nov 17, 2008 8:12 pm) arrie (Nov 19, 2008 10:54 am)
#869 of 939 Re: Drifting to the right [arrie] by ahightower Nov 14, 2008 (12:15 pm)
Replying to: arrie (Nov 14, 2008 9:27 am) To clarify, the steering wheel must be held to the left. It wants to rest in the "correct" position, and then drift right. It's somewhat better now than it was before that last alignment, but it's not completely gone. Happens on any road surface, I've been very careful to make sure it's not just do to the particular road I first noticed it on.   I'll try getting it on jack stands and checking for looseness. Then I'll take it back where they did the alignment and ask them to check the ball joints and alignment again. Wish I could find the dang receipt, but I'm sure they won't give me a hard time as it was only one week ago today.   Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond, I really do appreciate it. I'll keep you posted. Replies to this message: ahightower (Nov 17, 2008 8:12 pm) arrie (Nov 19, 2008 10:54 am)
#870 of 939 Re: Drifting to the right [ahightower] by ahightower Nov 17, 2008 (8:12 pm)
Replying to: ahightower (Nov 14, 2008 12:15 pm) Long story short - alignment is fine, tires balanced and rotated and problem solved.   Short story long - I went back to the shop that did the alignment, and they put it up on the rack and confirmed that the suspension and balls joints were in good condition, and that the alignment was still exactly to spec as adjusted 10 days ago. The mechanic took it for a spin and agreed it was pulling to the right, so they cross-rotated the tires (switched RF with LF and RR with LR), and it was pulling a bit to the left (although not as strongly as it had been pulling to the right). The diagnosis was "radial pull", which apparently means an inherent problem with the tire. They didn't charge me anything and suggested I go to the tire shop. So I did that, and they seemed skeptical but agreed to look at everything. They didn't notice any problems with the tires themselves, but he did say that front left wheel/tire was out of balance. So he re-balanced it and asked me to drive around for a while and stop back by to let him know if it seemed any better. I did so, and it seems perfectly normal now. Tracks very straight.   So I guess the problem is solved. I'll keep paying close attention to it and see if anything changes, but pretty happy for now. I really wanted this corrected before we took a trip that we have planned for mid December towing a travel trailer.   Thanks again to all for all your assistance. Because I sounded like I knew what I was talking about, I was taken seriously and given good service at both shops today. Replies to this message: arrie (Nov 19, 2008 10:54 am)
#871 of 939 Re: Drifting to the right [ahightower] by arrie Nov 19, 2008 (10:54 am)
Replying to: ahightower (Nov 17, 2008 8:12 pm) Great to hear it tracks straight now!   And it is probably even better for you to know that the shop who did and re-checked the alignment is a good shop to go back to as they re-checked it for free. And they rotated tires and all for no cost for you. They obviously want your business and so far what you told us they might even deserve it.   Some shops do not re-check alignment and if they do and find it being correct they would charge for it again.   Happy Trails!
#872 of 939 STEERING WHEEL LOCK by staceyrena Nov 19, 2008 (1:24 pm)
I OWN A 1997 CHEVY SURBURBAN AND JUST HERE LATELY I HAVE HAD TO PULL THE STEERING WHEEL ALL THE WAY TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT IN ORDER FOR IT TO START? WHAT IS IT THAT MADE IT START DOING THAT? Replies to this message: kiawah (Nov 21, 2008 4:17 am)
#874 of 939 Re: STEERING WHEEL LOCK [staceyrena] by kiawah Nov 21, 2008 (4:17 am)
Replying to: staceyrena (Nov 19, 2008 1:24 pm) Sounds like your key switch (in the steering column) has gone bad.   You might try typing without your CAPSLOCK on, it makes it easier for everyone to read.
#875 of 939 Diesel, Diesel, Diesel by murphy4 Nov 21, 2008 (11:07 am)
Why no diesel option in a new Suburban?

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