gb steel
New Member
Hi everyone, I am new here and this looks like a cool forum that I would be into. After browsing through the threads I noticed a lot of steering issue questions. I have an 04 Z71 (bought new) with a 6 inch Fabtech lift that had some issues. I developed the clunk and it was magnified with the 35's I was running. I first put on the Borgesons shaft, but this shaft lasted about a year before the clunk came back. Then I went to the Flaming River shaft and this shaft was far more superior than any I have seen. Here's a pic (note the spring).......
Clunk gone and steering felt much better. After a couple more years the steering was getting a little loose feeling. I installed the pitman/idler arm braces from Cognito. Helped for a bit but the real problem was the little OEM tie rods. So I got the Cognito Heim joint tie rods. Now my sway bar rubbed on the tierods so I got some longer end links to raise the swaybar up and out of the way from the tie rods. Here's pic......
Now you may have noticed that the axles may look a little different. They are. I was having problems with the OEM style axles falling apart. With the 6 inch lift they give you a spacer between the diff and axle. You do drop diff a bit with the lift kit but the angle just is to much at times at full droop. I have replaced OEM style axles at least 8 times. Good thing I was getting them for free cause of the limited lifetime warranty from Napa. Problem is these cheap axles are made overseas and just don't last very long with even the slightest of wheeling. So I contacted RCV Performance and installed these cool heavy duty axles which have a slip yoke and are longer to get rid of the spacer. In turn this lessens the degree of angle on the axles. Also axle diameter is increase quite a bit. Very nice indeed.
So the end results so far is a front end that has no steering play, no clunk and hopefully no more axle issues. Time will tell.
Clunk gone and steering felt much better. After a couple more years the steering was getting a little loose feeling. I installed the pitman/idler arm braces from Cognito. Helped for a bit but the real problem was the little OEM tie rods. So I got the Cognito Heim joint tie rods. Now my sway bar rubbed on the tierods so I got some longer end links to raise the swaybar up and out of the way from the tie rods. Here's pic......
Now you may have noticed that the axles may look a little different. They are. I was having problems with the OEM style axles falling apart. With the 6 inch lift they give you a spacer between the diff and axle. You do drop diff a bit with the lift kit but the angle just is to much at times at full droop. I have replaced OEM style axles at least 8 times. Good thing I was getting them for free cause of the limited lifetime warranty from Napa. Problem is these cheap axles are made overseas and just don't last very long with even the slightest of wheeling. So I contacted RCV Performance and installed these cool heavy duty axles which have a slip yoke and are longer to get rid of the spacer. In turn this lessens the degree of angle on the axles. Also axle diameter is increase quite a bit. Very nice indeed.
So the end results so far is a front end that has no steering play, no clunk and hopefully no more axle issues. Time will tell.
