A steering shaft is cheap in comparison to the pump and the rack.. ouch!

 

Update: So my genuine replacement failed. Couple weeks ago steering was tight, across the spectrum. It may have actually started long ago because I did notice my neighbors LR3 has much easier steering. But last week it got really bad. Since there was no slop that I could feel or notchy sorta feel I felt it was my rack this time. Especially since my lower shaft had under 100k miles on it. So today I finally got around to it and pulled the lower shaft just to inspect. If it was fine I could then work the rack and column separately. But it was indeed the shaft. One set of bearing was perfect, the other was super tight.

So I pulled another from a parts truck, it was worse than mine. I cleaned the shafts then lifted the rubber bearing seals and sprayed tons of silicone spray into them to flus it out. Working them they eventually returned to normal with some more spray here and there. Then I cleaned again and lifted the seals to put some gear oil. Both shafts are great now. One had some super slight notchy sorta feel so I am keeping it as a spare. The other is in the truck now and steering is once again easy.

Kinda annoyed it went bad with less than 100k miles. But I do water crossings, so maybe that is part of the reason. I certainly get a lot of mud up there too. Also I forgot how hellish install can be when I refuse to remove anything to do the job. I did find an easier way to do the lower bolt by using an extension parallel to the CV and above the lower arm. Straight on shot to that torx bolt. I will order a new shaft though, the lubrication I expect to be a temporary fix.

 

How difficult is it to remove and replace? I have a new one but am just vaccilating about replacing...

 

Removal is easy. The only cautionary bit is to ensure the steering wheel does not rotate too much because you want it aligned the same during install of the replacement. Each end is keyed, but you can be off by a half turn and that could, in theory, damage the clock spring when full over if you are off. Though not 100% sure since I am not sure how the clock spring is designed on these trucks. Even so, you have to reset steering angle if you are off. And the other gotcha is no two shafts are identical. My steering is off by just 3 degrees now with the replacement refurbed one. I recall the same happened with the new one. Due to minor differences in manufacture I suspect. One may want to mark the upper shaft across to the lower so when putting the new one in they match.

Install, helps to have two people. This was the not-so-fun part. Getting that upper shaft back on was not easy. If one can guide it from above and someone push the shaft from below it is not so bad.

 

Thanks, I'll keep on with the old one for now but good to know that it's not too difficult, I likely should have changed it when I replaced the engine, lots of room and easy to get to at that time...

 

Update. The refreshed lower shaft got tight again, very tight in fact and it happened pretty fast. So for now I put a cheap aftermarket shaft in, something I am not too keen on doing. They sure are not as nice as OEM. The sliding portion is very stiff and hard to slide. But I needed on fast before. trip and Amazon wins in that area. But then I go on my trip, with much better steering, and travel about 5 hours before finding some technical trails. I had a horrific clunk from he column area. Even metal on metal squeaks. It concerned me enough that I tried to avoid rough trails the rest of the weekend. But this time I am certain it is the upper shaft. My neighbor noticed when turning the steering that were it goes thru the firewall it was going in a circular motion. Not just turning on its center like a straight shaft should. I feel the lower was so bound up it damaged/bent the upper? Either way the upper seems to be bend and likely has u-joint slop. New OEM upper should be here soon and will go in. Changing it looks really easy. I will also be ordering an OEM lower and just keep the cheap one as a spare for trips.

 

If it off about 3 degrees, but otherwise runs straight down the road, I would lock the steering with the ignition switch, pull the steering wheel (after deactivating the airbags) and rotate it back to horizontal. They do at the alignment shops all the time.

BUT if you are pulling the rack, just get an alignment.

Just a thought.

Jeff

 

If any alignment shop pulled a steering wheel to get it "right", I would avoid them like the plaque. Adjusting the tie rods is not only easier, but the correct way to center steering. Not to mention that if you do that, you have to reset the steering angle sensor otherwise you can end up with some odd faults.