Well, I developed an all-of-a-sudden unexplainable sloppy steering wheel. Was only going down the road and only when the engine was running. Steering felt fine with engine off. Anyways, as I began to crawl up under and look for stuff, I found a bad pitman arm (the one on the gearbox/driver side). And bad after only 43,000 miles also...and it was a Moog greasable piece also!!! That sucks.

Anyways...while searching for the aforementioned sloppy steering culprit, I noticed the steering wheel shaft (between the steering wheel and gear box clunks around a bid. The slop is in an up and down direction; not sloppy in the direction of rotation like you're turning the steering wheel. It clunks around on both ends; the steering wheel end and the gearbox end. Is this normal? It clunks around when you grab it and try to move it as opposed to trying to turn the wheels. Any thoughts on that?

 

Are pitman arms more prone to wearing out faster than idler arms, tie rod ends, or other components? Disappointed as I just did the whole front end 43,000 miles ago! It's funny this went bad; my truck still has the original lower ball joints with 143,000 on them and the lift/ 33's!

 

I have hardly ever seen pitman arms go bad - but I've sure seen a bunch of bad idler arms, center links, and tie rod ends.

 

Yep...everything else listed is rock solid! When I first noticed the problem last week, I rotated the tires, greased all the fittings, and checked everything out. Didn't find it then cause I was suspecting that was the needed service. But when I reinvestigated today, everything else is solid as can be, including the idler arm. Pitman arm is super sloppy. I cranked the truck up so the pump would be powered and turned the steering wheel shaft by had under the hood where I could watch it...wiggles all over the place.

I replaced the original at 100,000. Not even complete sure it was bad then but the idler arm was. For $25 I went on and replaced it while I was doing everything else.

Gonna see if Rock Auto will warranty replace it.

 

I found that problem a couple of years ago. I did a fix by shimming the shaft with plastic pieces cut down of either Milk jug, or anti-freeze jug. I cut lengths/widths that would fit in and around the shaft, the key thing was the thickness of the material. it needed to be just thick enough to allow the steering shaft to colapse and expand when being removed. It remains fixed once tightened. It made for a much tighter connection-especially noticeable when driving down washboard roads, no clunk now, or the past 4+years ago when i fixed this.
Sorry to hear about the pitman arm though.

 

The part is going to be replaced under Moog's lifetime warranty on it and RockAuto is covering the shipping...AWESOME!

 

Ive worn out two pitman arms on my truck without wearing out any thing else never thought about warranty the last one i got was moog from rock auto i have an 01 with a lift and 35 inch tire i also noticed the sloppy steering shaft just like you say u can push it from the side and it moves a lot

 

I don't know where you got yours from, but Moog has a limited lifetime warranty on their parts; so Moog is warranting it, not RockAuto. But, RockAuto being the company they are is picking up the tab on shipping...even after 4 years!