Bowtie70SS Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I have a 03 SS and it has developed a problem. It drives straight and smooth but when I hit a bump or a rough patch in the road the steering wheel shakes violently. So much so that I have to hit the brakes to slow down and stop it from jerking back and forth. The truck has Belltech spindles and drop springs as well as drop shocks. It has been lowered for 5 years and I have replaced the front diff as well as both CV axles in the past. It has nothing to do with the steering shaft or wheel weights. I am leaning towards ball joints? It does seem to be coming more from the LH side than the right. Do the pitman arms go bad as well? Truck has 130K miles and both inner tie rods have been replaced as well. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hot rod truck Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I have a 03 SS and it has developed a problem. It drives straight and smooth but when I hit a bump or a rough patch in the road the steering wheel shakes violently. So much so that I have to hit the brakes to slow down and stop it from jerking back and forth. The truck has Belltech spindles and drop springs as well as drop shocks. It has been lowered for 5 years and I have replaced the front diff as well as both CV axles in the past. It has nothing to do with the steering shaft or wheel weights. I am leaning towards ball joints? It does seem to be coming more from the LH side than the right. Do the pitman arms go bad as well? Truck has 130K miles and both inner tie rods have been replaced as well. Dave Dave, Damn, long time since you've been around Check both the pitman arm and idler arms. I have seen where both needed replaced with as little as 60K miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawks Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I have a 03 SS and it has developed a problem. It drives straight and smooth but when I hit a bump or a rough patch in the road the steering wheel shakes violently. So much so that I have to hit the brakes to slow down and stop it from jerking back and forth. The truck has Belltech spindles and drop springs as well as drop shocks. It has been lowered for 5 years and I have replaced the front diff as well as both CV axles in the past. It has nothing to do with the steering shaft or wheel weights. I am leaning towards ball joints? It does seem to be coming more from the LH side than the right. Do the pitman arms go bad as well? Truck has 130K miles and both inner tie rods have been replaced as well. Dave I have the same thing going on with mine. Also seems like it coming from the drivers side. It feels like to a the point that the wheel wants to come off. Have to get on the brakes to stop the "wobble". I noticed that I didn't have enough air pressure in my tires so when I added the air to the tires it made it worse. Maybe when the tire had less pressure there was more contact to the ground making it hard to throw it into a shake. Also when going across a bridge bump. If the bump is straight it doesn't do it, but if the bump is at an angle where the tires don't hit at the same time she will let loose. I don't know just yet because I'm am going to be doing new tires and an alighnment but if I find out what was causing it I will let you know. Please do the same. It could be ball joints,pitman arm, maybe steering box. IDK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowtie70SS Posted April 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Yeah I haven't been on here in a while. I decided my SS truck addiction was taking away from my 70 SS Elcamino and 70 Pro Touring Chevelle addiction LOL. I have the same screen name here, LS1Tech, Team Chevelle. I do miss this forum and the great folks here. Sorry it's been so long and thanks for the info. I have just been too lazy (and cold) to jack up the truck and check. I will let you guys know what I find. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawks Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 Well found my problem and could be the same for yours. It was the front shocks. Had belltech performer shocks on it. You said you had a 2" drop spindle, did you also put a 2" drop shock on it. Theoretically a 2" drop spindle is nothing more than moving the bearing up the spindle 2 inches. There is no need in a 2" drop shock. If you did a 2" coil spring then sure you would need a 2" drop shock. That is what lead me to the shocks. Also the bell tech shocks felt wore out. You could stand with your arms out straight and collapse the shock. The new Monroes I purchased you have to put them on a hard surface and set on them to get them to collapse. So what was going on was the shocks had no control over the bumps in the road and let the suspension to do what it pleased. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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