Hey Everyone,

I recently added Green Keys and H2 Take offs (about 8,000 miles ago. I drive a lot!) I took my truck in for an alignment and some Rancho 9000's and the tech at 4Wheel parts said that the Pittman arm and the Idler arm were completely worn out at 45,000 miles http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Angry.gif WTF!?

Am I going to be replacing steering components at an accelerated rate due to the big tires (315/75/17) and the cranked torsion bars?

Should I have just gone for a 4" rancho lift to keep everything in line?

What can I do about this?

Thanks for any insight!

Jason S.
Charlotte, Earth

I'd definately say you'll see greatly accellerated wear with the H2's. At 95lbs each, they are much heavier than the stockers. I know that unless I'm rolling, I can pretty much forget about turning the tires unless I crank on the steering wheel with way too much effort. All that mass and the much larger contact patch stress all the steering components. The low speed stuff seems to really take its toll.

jasones,


Do you turn the wheels with the truck stopped or do you always let the truck roll before you turn them? I would think that would make more difference than anything. I never turn the wheels without letting the truck roll first.


Dennis

I've noticed the effort it takes to turn those tires, so I always try to start rolling before turning.

It is kind of tough when towing which I do just about every 2 weeks.

Does anyone know of a steering system upgrade?

Thanks!

Jason

I had the same problem with my 285/75r16's. Had my idler and pitman replaced at only 30k. Luckily my dealer did not cause a stink and replaced them under warranty.


Turning up the bars and having wider tires will definately cause more stress, thus making lubes a little more important. The components will still probably wear quicker though.

With only 8 of 45K miles with the 315's I would doubt they're to blame. I have 11 of 13K on mine and I just serviced it with no noticeable wear.


Did you replace original oem shocks? Perhaps they allow your suspension to get hammered? Just a thought.

And idler and a pitman every 45K can be lived with to have my truck off those sissy tires GM sent it home with.

I have 36K on my truck and all but the first 5-6K were with stock rims and tires.


I have run 285's and now 33's on H2's.


Just had my truck in for the last check before warranty runs out and no problems.


I am wondering if the H2-HUMMER's use a heavier duty GM part or the same and we have ??????





Thttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clown.gifNY

Same thing that we have is on the H2s. They are really a 2500 with a shorter nose. I can't tell the difference in most of the running gear.

That's what I was going to say; since the H2 and the HD's use a lot of the same front end components I can't see were adding H2 rims/tires to a HD will cause accelerated wear.

I just got my 02 HD GASSER and have put h2 take off's on it. I have had two 1500 silverado's, 1 tahoe, and 1 suburban, all with bigger tires. I have replaced the pitman and idler arms on all, but the suburban. I installed a rancho stering stabilizer on it as soon as I bought bigger tires. Even though the new silverado is a HD I am going to to instal a stabilizer on it too.