I used to do this same adjustment for years, on my GMT400's and 800's, until an old GM mechanic showed me the proper adjustment procudre to follow. The slop isn't coming from the pitman shaft, it is from the input side. Remove your intermediate shaft, loosen the flat jam nut where the steer shaft connects, loosen the nut on top, the one that you are talking about, and turn the allen screw back a 1/2 turn or so, to take the preload off of it. Then use a spanner wrench or needle nose to snug the packer on the input face down snug (30 ft/lbs, but we all know that is hand snug). Mark the housing and the packer, then measure 1/2" counterclockwise and back the packer off that far. Tighten the flat jam nut. Then turn the allen screw in until you feel it snug up, then back it off a 1/4 turn and tighten that jam nut. It will steer like brand new because the input shaft worm gear is engaged properly with the pitman shaft. Or just loom up the procedure for fixing the slop in a Saginaw box and follow it. They recommend doing it to a dry box, but it works with fluid in the system as well. It just might get it to the true adjustment specs that a dry adjustment would.
For those working on 2015 and up... 19mm or 3/4 jam nut and 1/4 allen bolt head. Just did my 15 Duramax. Hardly any room to swing a wrench and what a knuckle buster!
Had a new (rebuilt?) box put in my 03 Tahoe along with other linkage parts about a year ago; but still, I had the slop as you described. So, today, I went curbside and did what you did and it completely took out the slop! I'm impressed!
Thanks. I have done this many years ago and completely forgot all about it until I saw your video. Yes, it is an amazing quick fix. I'm doing my rods and arms now and was considering a new box, but I'll do this first because I KNOW it will fix the slop tremendously. Thanks again for reminding me
I am a little confused on this adjustment. LSX Matt says loosten the jamb nut good, then slightly tighten the allen head screw, then tighten the jamb nut. This video says the opposite. Loosen the jamb nut good, then loosen the allen set screw slightly, then tighten the jamb nut.
Fantastic info. I’m doing this to my Duramax tomorrow as well as replacing the intermediate steering shaft and bearing. She should be tight as a banjo string.
I just did this and it definitely tightened up the steering. Previously, I had replaced my tierods, pit/idler arms and installed a Cognito steering support kit but my truck still had sloppy steering. The truck had a lot of slop, like 270k miles lifted on 35s with the factory gear box slop, and this definitely made it tight again. Although, my truck did have a slight power steering fluid leak before, doing this made the leak noticeably worse BUT it’ll get me by for awhile until I can swap in a Redhead steering box. Thanks for the tip. 2002 2500HD LB7 4x4.
Thanks for the fix it tip man , my 06 duramax has had that steering wheel slop for over 12 years freaking (dealership sucks with there finger in there butt) , you rock man
When you make that adjustment what is actually changing within the gearbox? Sounds awesome and going to try it but I know the steering knuckle bushings can wear out as well
Do you need an alignment after this. I just aligned my truck but my steering is still complete trash and I was told I need to tighten my tie rods by the alignment place. I was told tho that you shouldn’t touch the tie rods tho and that the alignment place is supposed to do that so will this help with my steering?
My new Chevy 2500 HD 4x4 I bought last January. The dealer was 60 miles from my home and traded in late evening. The drive home was interesting to say the least. I've never owned a truck in all my years driving with so much play in steering and hit a bad spot in the road would almost change lanes.A few days later drove back told dealer what it was doing, here's what the service manager tells me. The truck doesn't have enough miles on it and Chevrolet can't touch it! I say should I take it to Ford? Got pissed and drove home, made an appointment again same place, this time they washed it. Did nothing had it for 5 hours then I got into a service managers face and he's dam lucky I didn't break his nose! I told them I will never be back and would tell everyone I know not to buy from them. Two days later GM calls and wants to know what is going on. They here it all. I went to another dealer, they worked on it said it was ready. Started down the road and steering was so tight I could barely turn the wheel and still had play. Turned around went back showed it to another service guy, he rolls down drivers window while it's running and turns steering wheel and see's how much play there was. They looked at it again and said it needs new steering box and would call when parts came in. Took it back and it fixed the problem! The first dealer is well known it's Rick Hendrick owns a lot
Dang that is a rather intense story and I’m sorry that happened to you for sure! Yeah usually a bad box will cause the slop but if the adjustment is done right and the box isn’t too far gone I.e. 300k mile truck you should be okay my truck has 180k on it and the steering box has been great even after adjustment now it is a little stiffer then before and the slop is gone but I like it because of it being so tall and. Not having a sway bar it helps keep me on the straight and narrow! I noticed a huge difference with it!
Holy crap no way! That’s insane I would be furious too! I don’t blame you that’s messed up they didn’t help you at all but the new box fixed it and no issues yet?
Rick Hendricks will try and fuck you out of any and all warranty. I had to get my attorney on the phone before they would finally do something about my issues… will never buy from Rick Hendricks anything
Always keep in mind that you can take a new car to any place to get fixed as long as the place is willing to bill GM for the repairs. It's a common misunderstanding that people think they have to go to a dealership to fix a new vehicle under warranty lol
If you end up replacing the steering gear box then get a Red Head instead of a remanufactured at your local auto parts store. Red Head is the best, made in USA vs China for the reman's.
Great video. Just an FYI though, when rotating tires, ur suppose to go diagonal. Fromt right, to rear left, etc. That way the tires are spinning a different direction. Unless of course u have directional tires. If u do then u would keep the tires spinning in same direction
No sir, first rotation is front to back same side then second rotation is diagonal then third front to back same side. Doing it this way puts all tires in all 4 positions.
Mine doesn’t always lock out with the key is out unless I turn it far the play could be any of your steering components that are worn out and if you have larger tires on it that’ll make low speed turning tough along with a weak steering box
Will this work on any Silverado? Does is have to be duramax? I just put 285s on my 03 2500hd (4x2) and it’s swaying a lot over 45. New pitman /idler stabilizer and alignment. I was thinking tires but now I’m thinking it’s steering box or control arms etc... any advice? Thanks!
I hope it works out for you should tighten it up a bunch this is the first time I’ve done it and it worked great if you could write back once you do it that would be awesome!
yeah just helps from jamming the gears together and wearing them out really fast i learned this from someone who built similar pumps or something i believe has worked well for me though!
I have rebuilt hydraulic pumps and i have seen these gear boxes tore down. So always wondered why nobody did it that way. I did it last weekend and it works great just know if there is damage this won't help and could make it worse.
Dave Wright totally makes sense I don’t think this is a forever fix but definitely can snug up a loose gear box I’ve driven across the country and back since this video and it’s still good will probably get replaced or rebuilt for my new build!
Do you know if the 2015 6.6 duramax has that adjustment as well? Somebody told me that then 2015 half electric steering Assist instead of hydraulic . And it sucks!
So you loosened the nut then tightened the allen wrench up all the way and backed up a quarter of a turn? I just tightened the allen wrench a 1/4 turn tested then half tested then about a full turn. Feels better but how do you know if it's too tight?
i think it is called adjusting the worm screw... just taking the play out of it... if adjusting it will not help then it must come apart for inspection.. also your truck is a stick shift diesel wow... i thought they were all auto trannys. not to many stick shifts out there...
Loosen the jam nut, hold the jam nut while tightening the center Allen bolt until it gets snug, then backoff the Allen bolt a 1/4 of a turn and hold it in place while tightening the jam nut back down. Done. Simple. Got it?
I hate seeing people do this. It's not the proper way to adjust it. All you're doing is meshing the gears together more in the middle, yes this help with the slop at center, but causes more binding at full swing. It also causes the box the degrade at a faster rate. I get it, nobody wants to replace their box because everything on the market is crap. My truck is on it's 9th box due to shit quality. Don't bother adjusting it and just spend the 300$ on a redhead box and be done with it
If you do it correctly you won’t have any binding. The boxes are adjusted like this when build to be set I got rid of my slop and have been wrenching 15.5 wide tires on it with no issues you need to back it off some so it doesn’t bind. If I get another 50k miles out of it it’s worth it in my eyes at 200k almost I’ve put 100k miles on this steering box and it’s good as new. If you don’t agree you don’t have to do it but it does work
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL if you do it correctly you'll follow the procedure and adjust it on the bench top with out the Pittman arm connected. Per gm spec. You can't adjust it "by feel" it requires a beam style inch pound ta wrench. But good try
Plenty of forums by the people that build them and you can do it but hey man to each their own I guess glad you spend over a grand on steering boxes and I haven’t 🤷🏻♂️
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL all were under warantee because they were junk, minus the last one that actually worked. And just because "it works" dosent make it right. But keep advertising the half assed way to screw things up. Also, experience Trump's "the internet said it would work"... That's as bad as I saw it on TV so it must be right lol. Go show me where Saginaw recommends doing it your way. Seeing as they build them
One because I can haha and two my sas truck rides smoother then my stock height Duramax on the road it’s on coil overs not leafs so it does good and it was a fun build
I will when the time comes it’s gunna wear out again obviously but it’s not too tight they adjust them when they are built it just makes the tolerances tighter. Maybe everyone can’t afford a pump at the moment.🤷🏻♂️
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL This was a common complaint at the dealer. I would always try to adjust the gearbox (after making sure all front end components are ok) but rarely had success. Most of the time the steering gears were worn only in certain positions, making the steering tight in other positions. Lift front tires off the ground and verify no binding during lock to lock turns after adjusting. If all is smooth, adjustment is ok. Most of the time I found steering was tight approx 1/2 turn from lock. In those cases replacement is needed.
I used to do this same adjustment for years, on my GMT400's and 800's, until an old GM mechanic showed me the proper adjustment procudre to follow.
The slop isn't coming from the pitman shaft, it is from the input side. Remove your intermediate shaft, loosen the flat jam nut where the steer shaft connects, loosen the nut on top, the one that you are talking about, and turn the allen screw back a 1/2 turn or so, to take the preload off of it. Then use a spanner wrench or needle nose to snug the packer on the input face down snug (30 ft/lbs, but we all know that is hand snug). Mark the housing and the packer, then measure 1/2" counterclockwise and back the packer off that far. Tighten the flat jam nut. Then turn the allen screw in until you feel it snug up, then back it off a 1/4 turn and tighten that jam nut.
It will steer like brand new because the input shaft worm gear is engaged properly with the pitman shaft.
Or just loom up the procedure for fixing the slop in a Saginaw box and follow it. They recommend doing it to a dry box, but it works with fluid in the system as well. It just might get it to the true adjustment specs that a dry adjustment would.
For those working on 2015 and up... 19mm or 3/4 jam nut and 1/4 allen bolt head. Just did my 15 Duramax. Hardly any room to swing a wrench and what a knuckle buster!
Had a new (rebuilt?) box put in my 03 Tahoe along with other linkage parts about a year ago; but still, I had the slop as you described. So, today, I went curbside and did what you did and it completely took out the slop! I'm impressed!
Glad it took care of all the issues. Hope you don’t have any other issues down the road
Did this fix along with a new steering damper an hr ago. Thanks a ton man! Saved me from buying a 500$ steering box!
Glad it helped! I've done it and its lasted quite some time not permanent but helps for the time being!
Thanks. I have done this many years ago and completely forgot all about it until I saw your video. Yes, it is an amazing quick fix. I'm doing my rods and arms now and was considering a new box, but I'll do this first because I KNOW it will fix the slop tremendously. Thanks again for reminding me
Anytime always happy to help! Hope it works for you!!
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL what did you replace your tie rods with? And will it work on a stock 2000 Silverado 4wd?
At 1/3 turn backed out my steering box was a bit tight in the center, backing the Allen head out 1/2 turn is great.
Thanks for sharing.
I am a little confused on this adjustment. LSX Matt says loosten the jamb nut good, then slightly tighten the allen head screw, then tighten the jamb nut. This video says the opposite. Loosen the jamb nut good, then loosen the allen set screw slightly, then tighten the jamb nut.
Fantastic info. I’m doing this to my Duramax tomorrow as well as replacing the intermediate steering shaft and bearing. She should be tight as a banjo string.
Hell yeah brother hopefully all goes well seems like that’s a bit of a job!
I just did this and it definitely tightened up the steering. Previously, I had replaced my tierods, pit/idler arms and installed a Cognito steering support kit but my truck still had sloppy steering. The truck had a lot of slop, like 270k miles lifted on 35s with the factory gear box slop, and this definitely made it tight again. Although, my truck did have a slight power steering fluid leak before, doing this made the leak noticeably worse BUT it’ll get me by for awhile until I can swap in a Redhead steering box. Thanks for the tip. 2002 2500HD LB7 4x4.
awesome glad I was able to help!! as I say its not a permanent fix but you can get more life out of your box!
3 yrs later did u
Yes I did drove the truck across the country twice in that box until I took the truck apart
Totally fixed my problem brotha. Hard to get to it but my issue of about three inches of play in either direction is solved. Thanks!
Thanks for the fix it tip man , my 06 duramax has had that steering wheel slop for over 12 years freaking (dealership sucks with there finger in there butt) , you rock man
Dude I’m so glad you shared this, my duramax really sloppy steering too, hopefully this fixes it
It’s not a permanent solution but you can get slop out of it and you’ll notice a big difference
Glad i found your video saved the day and saved me a lot of money
When you make that adjustment what is actually changing within the gearbox? Sounds awesome and going to try it but I know the steering knuckle bushings can wear out as well
Manuel Duramax, thats rare!
Sweet ive replaced all my steering except gearbox and still over 1/4 wheel of play. definitely doing this tomorrow.
Awesome hopefully this helps let me know how you make out!!
I tried this today as i have had slop in this truck for years. haha FIXED IT!! For now until it goes completely out.
Glad it helped you out i have driven my truck across the country twice since i have done this and it has been great still!
Do you need an alignment after this. I just aligned my truck but my steering is still complete trash and I was told I need to tighten my tie rods by the alignment place. I was told tho that you shouldn’t touch the tie rods tho and that the alignment place is supposed to do that so will this help with my steering?
My new Chevy 2500 HD 4x4 I bought last January. The dealer was 60 miles from my home and traded in late evening. The drive home was interesting to say the least. I've never owned a truck in all my years driving with so much play in steering and hit a bad spot in the road would almost change lanes.A few days later drove back told dealer what it was doing, here's what the service manager tells me. The truck doesn't have enough miles on it and Chevrolet can't touch it! I say should I take it to Ford? Got pissed and drove home, made an appointment again same place, this time they washed it. Did nothing had it for 5 hours then I got into a service managers face and he's dam lucky I didn't break his nose! I told them I will never be back and would tell everyone I know not to buy from them. Two days later GM calls and wants to know what is going on. They here it all. I went to another dealer, they worked on it said it was ready. Started down the road and steering was so tight I could barely turn the wheel and still had play. Turned around went back showed it to another service guy, he rolls down drivers window while it's running and turns steering wheel and see's how much play there was. They looked at it again and said it needs new steering box and would call when parts came in. Took it back and it fixed the problem! The first dealer is well known it's Rick Hendrick owns a lot
Dang that is a rather intense story and I’m sorry that happened to you for sure! Yeah usually a bad box will cause the slop but if the adjustment is done right and the box isn’t too far gone I.e. 300k mile truck you should be okay my truck has 180k on it and the steering box has been great even after adjustment now it is a little stiffer then before and the slop is gone but I like it because of it being so tall and. Not having a sway bar it helps keep me on the straight and narrow! I noticed a huge difference with it!
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL This truck was brand new
Holy crap no way! That’s insane I would be furious too! I don’t blame you that’s messed up they didn’t help you at all but the new box fixed it and no issues yet?
Rick Hendricks will try and fuck you out of any and all warranty. I had to get my attorney on the phone before they would finally do something about my issues… will never buy from Rick Hendricks anything
Always keep in mind that you can take a new car to any place to get fixed as long as the place is willing to bill GM for the repairs. It's a common misunderstanding that people think they have to go to a dealership to fix a new vehicle under warranty lol
If you end up replacing the steering gear box then get a Red Head instead of a remanufactured at your local auto parts store. Red Head is the best, made in USA vs China for the reman's.
I’ve heard good things about red head but they come with a price tag!! If you end up getting one report back and lemme know how it is!!
Red head is trash. I'm on my second one and already looking at a psc gear box.
What did you have to remove in the front to gain access to the box?
Great video. Just an FYI though, when rotating tires, ur suppose to go diagonal. Fromt right, to rear left, etc. That way the tires are spinning a different direction. Unless of course u have directional tires. If u do then u would keep the tires spinning in same direction
No sir, first rotation is front to back same side then second rotation is diagonal then third front to back same side. Doing it this way puts all tires in all 4 positions.
Gonna see this on the fb Chevy forums
Looks like your standard Military DIY automotive center.
That's what I thought about😂
does this work on the 2017 duramax?
How's it doing 3 years later?? Is this fix a pretty long term one?
The trucks actually in pieces now but I drove like this for a year and a half no issues
Man do I miss the hobby shop
My steering wheel doesn’t lock when key is out n it has a lot of play when on n gets hard when coming in n out of parking... any ideas ???
Mine doesn’t always lock out with the key is out unless I turn it far the play could be any of your steering components that are worn out and if you have larger tires on it that’ll make low speed turning tough along with a weak steering box
Hell yea hahaha never even new the chevys had that lol that's awesome buddy.
Hope it helps man pretty cool little thing
Will this work on any Silverado? Does is have to be duramax? I just put 285s on my 03 2500hd (4x2) and it’s swaying a lot over 45. New pitman /idler stabilizer and alignment. I was thinking tires but now I’m thinking it’s steering box or control arms etc... any advice? Thanks!
If your tie rods and all your steering is tight you can do this I think you can do it to most 2500s as long as it has that set screw
Thank you, I will check into this!
Damn I'm doing this as soon as I wake up tomorrow lol. I have so much play and my front end is good cuz I did re did everything.
I hope it works out for you should tighten it up a bunch this is the first time I’ve done it and it worked great if you could write back once you do it that would be awesome!
Yea I will tomorrow when I'm done. I'm pretty sure its stock steering box. I got 415000 kms not sure what this is in miles. Like 250 or something
Hahah same with this one it’s got 180k miles and it helped!!
Iv known for years but guys always say just turn less then 1 turn clockwise. Setting back off 1/4 turn is logical but never seen it done.
yeah just helps from jamming the gears together and wearing them out really fast i learned this from someone who built similar pumps or something i believe has worked well for me though!
I have rebuilt hydraulic pumps and i have seen these gear boxes tore down. So always wondered why nobody did it that way. I did it last weekend and it works great just know if there is damage this won't help and could make it worse.
I have seen these gear boxes chip gears and the steering lock up. Once luckily in a parking lot.
Dave Wright totally makes sense I don’t think this is a forever fix but definitely can snug up a loose gear box I’ve driven across the country and back since this video and it’s still good will probably get replaced or rebuilt for my new build!
Thanks for the video
So tighten the Allen all the way until you can’t anymore ?
Lightly til it stops then back off an 1/8 to a 1/4 turn
That is cool. Thanks man.
anytime brother!
Why didn’t you get a dam light
What year is your truck?
This one is a 2005!
This one is a 2005!
Maybe a 2024 GMC Duramax Denali.
Thanks brother. That helped mine too.
Awesome glad to hear mines still ripping like this!
I have the same problem in my 2005 yukon xl
definitely not a bad thing to do to an already worn out pump you might get many more miles out of it i just drove across country on mine!!
Sick man thanks. Gonna try this tomorrow
Do you know if the 2015 6.6 duramax has that adjustment as well? Somebody told me that then 2015 half electric steering Assist instead of hydraulic . And it sucks!
I have a 2016 would like to know too.
So you loosened the nut then tightened the allen wrench up all the way and backed up a quarter of a turn?
I just tightened the allen wrench a 1/4 turn tested then half tested then about a full turn. Feels better but how do you know if it's too tight?
Wish I would have seen this a long time ago. Do you adjust the Allen nut in or out?
In, it is taking the slop out of the internal gears. Meshing the gear teeth closer together.
Seriously man how much for the SAS? I hate my weak ifs front end lol
I think without labor it was like 3500 or 4 grand
Camp Pendleton Auto Shop is place I fix my Duramax too haha
hahahah this was a little while back but it got the job done for sure!
Thanks bro!!! Saved me $1,100 @ Big O. This is real people ^^^ just have your small wrenches handy
Awesome man glad to hear that! I wouldn’t lie to you guys is it permanent who knows but it works!
i think it is called adjusting the worm screw... just taking the play out of it... if adjusting it will not help then it must come apart for inspection.. also your truck is a stick shift diesel wow... i thought they were all auto trannys. not to many stick shifts out there...
Yeah that sounds about right definetly a good little fix I think a lot of people don’t know
Ive got the 6 spd manual as well. Love it and good video
That’s awesome they are so much fun to drive and thank you very much!
Can’t for the life of me figure out what you doing with that jam nut you just basically said loosen it and tighten it
Loosen the jam nut, hold the jam nut while tightening the center Allen bolt until it gets snug, then backoff the Allen bolt a 1/4 of a turn and hold it in place while tightening the jam nut back down. Done. Simple. Got it?
he was making sure jamb nut was backed out and he wasn't tightening the adjustment Allen screw back into it.
I see dodnt know why you toghten all the way to bsck off but i see now thx
Ho do you get away with smoking so bad in CA? May be time to invest in a light if your gonna do videos in the dark?
I hate seeing people do this. It's not the proper way to adjust it. All you're doing is meshing the gears together more in the middle, yes this help with the slop at center, but causes more binding at full swing. It also causes the box the degrade at a faster rate. I get it, nobody wants to replace their box because everything on the market is crap. My truck is on it's 9th box due to shit quality. Don't bother adjusting it and just spend the 300$ on a redhead box and be done with it
If you do it correctly you won’t have any binding. The boxes are adjusted like this when build to be set I got rid of my slop and have been wrenching 15.5 wide tires on it with no issues you need to back it off some so it doesn’t bind. If I get another 50k miles out of it it’s worth it in my eyes at 200k almost I’ve put 100k miles on this steering box and it’s good as new. If you don’t agree you don’t have to do it but it does work
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL if you do it correctly you'll follow the procedure and adjust it on the bench top with out the Pittman arm connected. Per gm spec. You can't adjust it "by feel" it requires a beam style inch pound ta wrench. But good try
Plenty of forums by the people that build them and you can do it but hey man to each their own I guess glad you spend over a grand on steering boxes and I haven’t 🤷🏻♂️
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL all were under warantee because they were junk, minus the last one that actually worked. And just because "it works" dosent make it right. But keep advertising the half assed way to screw things up. Also, experience Trump's "the internet said it would work"... That's as bad as I saw it on TV so it must be right lol. Go show me where Saginaw recommends doing it your way. Seeing as they build them
Hey man you’re entitled to hate as much as you please! Hope you enjoyed your long weekend! I know I sure did 🍻✌🏼🏂 and my steering is still tight 😎
Why would you put a straight axle on a duramax????? That defeats the purpose and ride quality of these trucks
One because I can haha and two my sas truck rides smoother then my stock height Duramax on the road it’s on coil overs not leafs so it does good and it was a fun build
Lighting 👎🏽
get a tripod my dude. headache
Pretty sure your not supposed to do this with the steering box.... i know iv read that in many places....
Why would it be there if your not supposed to do it🤷🏻♂️ worked for me so far
This is gonna wear out your steering box even more. Just replace it.
I will when the time comes it’s gunna wear out again obviously but it’s not too tight they adjust them when they are built it just makes the tolerances tighter. Maybe everyone can’t afford a pump at the moment.🤷🏻♂️
If it works is it really that terrible?
@@RESURRECTEDDIESEL This was a common complaint at the dealer. I would always try to adjust the gearbox (after making sure all front end components are ok) but rarely had success. Most of the time the steering gears were worn only in certain positions, making the steering tight in other positions. Lift front tires off the ground and verify no binding during lock to lock turns after adjusting. If all is smooth, adjustment is ok. Most of the time I found steering was tight approx 1/2 turn from lock. In those cases replacement is needed.