Steering 99 Astro

[Short Cat]

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Vehicle REALLY drifts all over the road.
Some play in steering.
What could be the problem?
Steering box, alignment, etc., ?
Any advise would be greatly appreaciated.
Car's in the drive way until it's fixed!

[VABchRick]

Originally Posted by Short Cat

DarkRed Arial Narrow

Vehicle REALLY drifts all over the road.
Some play in steering.
What could be the problem?
Steering box, alignment, etc., ?
Any advise would be greatly appreaciated.
Car's in the drive way until it's fixed!

If it's drifting without any input to the steering wheel, then I'd say it's in the steering box.... Good Luck.

[astrobob]

My 1999 astro use to drift until I tightened down the steering box adjuster. Just jack the car up and you will see a screw sticking out with a nut holding it down. Losen nut and with a hex tool tighten screw down 1/4 turn. tighten down and drive it and if it feels ok leave it alone but if it is still loose tighten down another 1/4 turn . Do this untill you get the drift out of the steering. This only works if you do not have any other problems like, balljoints, alignment, pitman arm ...
astrobob

[Kanelr]

Originally Posted by astrobob

My 1999 astro use to drift until I tightened down the steering box adjuster. Just jack the car up and you will see a screw sticking out with a nut holding it down. Losen nut and with a hex tool tighten screw down 1/4 turn. tighten down and drive it and if it feels ok leave it alone but if it is still loose tighten down another 1/4 turn . Do this untill you get the drift out of the steering. This only works if you do not have any other problems like, balljoints, alignment, pitman arm ...
astrobob

My 1999 astro is all over the road too. It began after getting a wheel alignment. here's my theory. (only for awd model) Up through 99 the toe in specs for awd was no toe in. Zero preferred with a tolerance of plus or minus 1/2 degree. In a normal car there is some toe in applied to help the car go straight, but with all wheel drive it is not applied so that all driven wheels are on the same page so to speak-here's whatI found though. 99 was the first year of the new not always on awd and the car is essentially 2 wheel drive until slippage is sensed then it goes into awd. Well, beginning in 2000 they began spec-ing toe in on these awd. -.10 left and -.20 right I assume they figured out that they could and it was a result of service dilemmas. This is a theory because I have not as yet been able to find anyone at the dealership or at GM direct to actually address this. In fact the dealer claims that they don't even know the specs until they get the car on a machine. (which is a lie ) Let me know if this helps. I am having mine set to the 2000 specs this week.

[drew300]

I've read that these vans go thru tie rods. My own, bought used, had new ones in it. Cheack out all the moving stuff, including tires, in the front end end before tightening that steering box.

[Kanelr]

Originally Posted by drew300

I've read that these vans go thru tie rods. My own, bought used, had new ones in it. Cheack out all the moving stuff, including tires, in the front end end before tightening that steering box.

I agree with drew except it's really the idlers that go quick. I had to put 2 idler arms on mine even though the existing ones were new looking. Apparently they receive a lot of stress. I used enhanced design ones by moog-it helped. Also the alignment guy mentioned to check the rubber bushing around the bolt that connects the sway bar to the control arm, they wear and allow sway which can affect stability.
LK

[drew300]

I stand corrected. It was warm outside the last time looked under there.

[skiboyne]

If you have an astro you probably 2 new idler arms. GM built these vans with sloppy front suspension, when you put new ones on I recommend the heavy duty ones.

[astrobob]

Hi guys!
thanks for the replys! and Happy New Years to all! The new problem on my 99 stro is that the ball joints need replacing. My passenger side tire wears on the inside and my driver side wears on the outside. After i tightened down the steering box on my van it took out a lot of the sloppiness in the steering. I still have maybe a 1/2 inch of play that i cannot get rid of. When I replace the ball joints I will update this message.

Thank you all!

[drew300]

-just make sure the box isn't too tight. You can break it, or make it wear quickly. There should be a small amount of sloppiness at the box.