Facts about steering slop....

[rlith]

You can just fine, you can't swap a 95+ into a 94 or below.... But that said, a 98 would be worn and exposed for 7 years of water, salt, etc... get the absolute latest s10/blazer/trailblzer/escalade intermediate shaft you can to reduce the chance...

[BlazerLT]

I understand that, but you said that the 98+ were a different part number than the 1997 and older?

[rlith]

I never said that (looked at all my posts) Where the shaft meets the column on the later models simply has a metal sleeve instead of the orange boot, that's the only difference, the base (ragjoint) is the same and splines are the same... I'm using one from a 2004 trailblazer with only 8k miles on it...

[BlazerLT]

Originally Posted by rlith

I never said that (looked at all my posts) Where the shaft meets the column on the later models simply has a metal sleeve instead of the orange boot, that's the only difference, the base (ragjoint) is the same and splines are the same... I'm using one from a 2004 trailblazer with only 8k miles on it...

:dance:

Nice!

Boneyard time!

[rlith]

Once the v8 goes in -in april or may, I'm swapping in a solid shaft...

[BlazerLT]

Man, that will be sahweet!

[thehawksters4]

Thanks, I just spent $800 in three trips replacing ball joints and a pitman arm and the asswipe mechanic that claims to have worked at a GM shop for 25 years was telling me that this is as good as it gets. I stood there and turned the steerig wheel back and forth and showed him the slop and then walked over to my aerostar with 200 k on it and showed him how tight it was. He goes that only because that is rack an pinion. Meanwhile you don't dare take your eyes off the road in this blazer for a second or your will be driving off the side of the road. thank you very much for a common sence answer. You have made my day. I can't wait to print this and take it to the garage manager and tell him to give it to his know it all mechanic.

[blazee]

Originally Posted by thehawksters4

Thanks, I just spent $800 in three trips replacing ball joints and a pitman arm and the asswipe mechanic that claims to have worked at a GM shop for 25 years was telling me that this is as good as it gets. I stood there and turned the steerig wheel back and forth and showed him the slop and then walked over to my aerostar with 200 k on it and showed him how tight it was. He goes that only because that is rack an pinion. Meanwhile you don't dare take your eyes off the road in this blazer for a second or your will be driving off the side of the road. thank you very much for a common sence answer. You have made my day. I can't wait to print this and take it to the garage manager and tell him to give it to his know it all mechanic.

Maybe he was a plumber in that area for 25 years, and plunged the GM shop's toilets when they backed up.

[rlith]

Originally Posted by thehawksters4

Thanks, I just spent $800 in three trips replacing ball joints and a pitman arm and the asswipe mechanic that claims to have worked at a GM shop for 25 years was telling me that this is as good as it gets. I stood there and turned the steerig wheel back and forth and showed him the slop and then walked over to my aerostar with 200 k on it and showed him how tight it was. He goes that only because that is rack an pinion. Meanwhile you don't dare take your eyes off the road in this blazer for a second or your will be driving off the side of the road. thank you very much for a common sence answer. You have made my day. I can't wait to print this and take it to the garage manager and tell him to give it to his know it all mechanic.

Ouch! You could have done it your self with a few hand tools and 130 bux in parts... (not trying to make you feel bad)...

[tannerdude]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

TRue, but you said I cannot swap a 1998+ onto a 1995 right?

Yes you can. I just put one in. I ordered one from a company that had one for $22.00 plus $8.00 shipping (buy it now on EBAY). They must specialize in S-10 Blazers. Anyway, it was off of a 1988 or newer. The shaft is about 1/2" longer than the 1995 and has a different red cover. It also has a black plastic cover that will not fit unless you chop off 1/2". Mine no longer has the slop and drives like new. This was very easy to do. Thanks to rlith.

[rlith]

I ended up with one out of a 2004 trailblazer... Worked well..

[BlazerLT]

Originally Posted by rlith

I ended up with one out of a 2004 trailblazer... Worked well..

The s-10 trailblazer right?

[rlith]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

The s-10 trailblazer right?

No, the 3rd gen trailblazer...(see envoy) It only had 8k on the truck

[BlazayBlazerious]

Yes this post is back! rlith, thanks for an awsome post its given me new hope on what I though was just maybe the way Blazers are, since my current '98 Blazer, my former '98 and my '88 S-10 pickup all suffer(ed) from considerable slop.

I'm pretty square on the rag joint replacement, but how extensive is replacing the box? I'm extremely intrigued by getting one with a tighter ratio.

[Allbert]

Just to throw in my 2 cents... I decided to have a look at my intermediate shaft while I was under the hood to replace a water pump anyway, and it turns out the rag joint on my shaft was pretty tight and most of the slop in my steering was in the gear box. I ended up tightening down the sector gear preload screw. I screwed it down a little too much on the first try, but adjusted it better after a short test drive. It's been maybe 800 miles since I did that, and the steering still feels way better so far... like there is an immediate input to the wheels as opposed to 10 or 15 degrees of slop in each direction like before. Does anyone know if these gearboxes had a problem when new with poor preload adjustment at the factory or something, or is this really the result of wear from use? It seems odd that a truck like mine (98 2wd with 155000 miles = mostly highway) would have much wear in the steering since I would imagine most of the miles were in a straight or almost straight line on some highway or interstate.