NEED HELP Play in my steering

[Chance27]

Hello, Newcomer here.
I have a 2005 Trailblazer LT EXT ~170K miles with some play in the steering wheel.

I don't hear any noises while turning the wheel, there also isnt any major drift while driving, certainly not enough for me to really notice. I checked ball joints, bushings, tie rods and steering rack bushings, all checked out. Shocks and struts are about 2 months old at this point, alignment was performed after replacement with no issues reported by the shop. Tires also in good ccondition.

I held onto the steering shaft that's accessible from behind the gas pedal with a pair of vice grips and wiggled the wheel at the same time. I could not detect anything wrong so it's gotta be down below.

I took a look underneath, moving the boot upwards on the lower U joint to take a look, now this is my first time doing anything with steering components, but the U joint didn't seem loose to me. I also had someone move the steering wheel while I was down there, there weren't any noises.

So that would just leave the gears in the steering rack as the main culprit, or have I missed something? I also have some videos when I had it up on the jack showing the play and the sort of springyness of the wheel when jiggled around. I'll get those uploaded as soon as I can.

 

[Mooseman]

I have the exact same thing. About an inch of steering wheel play that feels like there's nothing. This is a fairly new rack and pinion too. I think it might be the pinion bearing play adjustment. Did find this over at the TBSS forum:

Adjustable Steering Rack?

Hey Gents. Well the dealer finally broke down and they're replacing the 2 bad tires which wont force balance out. After 14K miles I'm thinking the play in the steering wheel was caused by the out of balance front wheel. (ball joints and bushings all OK) Naturally the tech that I did the ride...

www.tbssowners.com

And also found this Reddit thread with a picture:

https://www.reddit.com/r/E46M3/comments/1d8jnf3/finally_removed_steering_free_play_at_the_center

The next time I have mine up on ramps, I'll give this a try.

 

[Chance27]

I have the exact same thing. About an inch of steering wheel play that feels like there's nothing. This is a fairly new rack and pinion too. I think it might be the pinion bearing play adjustment. Did find this over at the TBSS forum:

Adjustable Steering Rack?

Hey Gents. Well the dealer finally broke down and they're replacing the 2 bad tires which wont force balance out. After 14K miles I'm thinking the play in the steering wheel was caused by the out of balance front wheel. (ball joints and bushings all OK) Naturally the tech that I did the ride...

www.tbssowners.com

And also found this Reddit thread with a picture:

https://www.reddit.com/r/E46M3/comments/1d8jnf3/finally_removed_steering_free_play_at_the_center

The next time I have mine up on ramps, I'll give this a try.

Thanks, I'll try the adjustment later this week when I have time and report back.
Edit to this post: I watched a YT video on doing a preload adjustment, some of the comments are saying to have the wheels turned all the way to one direction while you do this.

Here's the videos I mentioned, I'm not sure how well it'll come across in them but you can see the steering wheel sort of bounce a bit. And in the first two the vehicle is off the ground, in the third its back on the ground and you can see the amount of rotation I'm able to make.

 

[Chance27]

I have the exact same thing. About an inch of steering wheel play that feels like there's nothing. This is a fairly new rack and pinion too. I think it might be the pinion bearing play adjustment. Did find this over at the TBSS forum:

Adjustable Steering Rack?

Hey Gents. Well the dealer finally broke down and they're replacing the 2 bad tires which wont force balance out. After 14K miles I'm thinking the play in the steering wheel was caused by the out of balance front wheel. (ball joints and bushings all OK) Naturally the tech that I did the ride...

www.tbssowners.com

And also found this Reddit thread with a picture:

https://www.reddit.com/r/E46M3/comments/1d8jnf3/finally_removed_steering_free_play_at_the_center

The next time I have mine up on ramps, I'll give this a try.

So I finally got under the vehicle to look and I found where it is. Now my question is, is that the plug itself I have to turn? Or am I gonna have to remove that crossbar on the bottom of my vehicle so I can gain access underneath that plug? Because it's right up against that crossbar.

 

[Chance27]

If I'm gonna have to take the whole thing down to remove play in the steering, I mind as well just replace the whole damn rack.

Edit: Unless I drill a hole next to that small one to get an extension through...

 

[Mooseman]

Looks like it's the right one. It's not that bad to remove that crossbar, just a lot of bolts. The two rack mounting bolts are actually more of a PITA because the axles are in the way. I use a spark plug socket and a wrench on those.

 

[Chance27]

Looks like it's the right one. It's not that bad to remove that crossbar, just a lot of bolts. The two rack mounting bolts are actually more of a PITA because the axles are in the way. I use a spark plug socket and a wrench on those.

Have you removed that crossmember before? My Haynes manual (section 11-20) is saying I'll have to jack up the control arms with the tires removed because its giving instructions for the removal of both front and rear steering crossmembers. Is it possible to do just the rear one to gain access to that plug so I don't have to fiddle with the control arms?

 

[Mooseman]

I don't know why they're talking about the control arms except that only the rear control arm to frame bolts are removed and there's just one crossmember.

Crossmember Replacement - Front Steering Gear — 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S Service Manual | Operation CHARM

Detailed repair manual for the 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S.

charm.li

And even for removal of the rack itself they only mention the one crossmember.

Power Steering Gear Replacement — 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S Service Manual | Operation CHARM

Detailed repair manual for the 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S.

charm.li

That site has copies of the old GM-SI so I would trust that info more than Haynes.

 

[Chance27]

I don't know why they're talking about the control arms except that only the rear control arm to frame bolts are removed and there's just one crossmember.

Crossmember Replacement - Front Steering Gear — 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S Service Manual | Operation CHARM

Detailed repair manual for the 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S.

charm.li

And even for removal of the rack itself they only mention the one crossmember.

Power Steering Gear Replacement — 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S Service Manual | Operation CHARM

Detailed repair manual for the 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 2WD L6-4.2L VIN S.

charm.li

That site has copies of the old GM-SI so I would trust that info more than Haynes.

I think we've had a miscommunication on my end, when I said crossmember, I was referring to the i-beam shaped piece. From the links you posted it shows a flat piece being removed. Take a look at these 2 pics, the red dot is where the adjustment plug is pointing. I was wanting to do this without dropping the entire rack

 

[Chance27]

You think there'd be enough room for me to get that plug out and adjust by removing the crossmember you've been talking about?

 

[Chance27]

Throwing in the towel on this one. Upon closer inspection, there's 3 separate frame pieces blocking the way to that plug. It's just gonna be too much of a pain in the ass to do a pre-load adjustment, so I'm gonna take it into a shop on Monday or Tues. Who, knows, maybe they'll find out it's something else entirely. I'll update the main post when I find out more.

 

[Chance27]

Got the vehicle back from the shop. They said it all checked out, they couldn't find anything wrong with the steering system. They told me they had 3 techs test drive it and none of them said it felt 'off' in any way. I guess it was all in my head... but I will keep an eye on it.

I got my 4WD fixed while I was there though, broken shift fork and bad transfer case motor.