I'm chasing down some feedback coming through the steering wheel & brake pedal and have thrown too many parts at it. Tonight I noticed that my sway bar has been moving inside the bushings as much as 1/8". Is this normal? I ordered new bushings and will give that a try and it doesn't fix it I'm going to set it on fire!! N

 

I just took mine off. That is probably not the answer you wanted, sorry. Mine keep blowing link bushing.

 

No, the swaybar needs to be gripped pretty tightly by the bushings or it will rattle over bumps. I would replace the bushings for sure.

Also, for a notchy, rattly sensation in the steering wheel and brake pedal, have a close look at the slip joint in the steering shaft that leads from the steering box to the column. Have seen a few bind up and cause that feeling. I was able to free mine up and put some grease in there, and it smoothed it right up. I think they had a revised shaft to fix that issue at one time.

 

The steering box and shaft are all that I haven't replaced...yet. I have a very small amt of slack in the shaft but I'll pull it out and check that joint. Bushings should be here tomorrow. Man, I wish I wasn't poor and could buy something that I didn't have to wrench on. If it's not the truck then it's something else. Oh well, that's life.

 

Ok, I took the shaft off and greased the mess out of it and it seemed to help so now I know where to focus. I did notice that the further I extended the shaft the less I could feel the slack. Is this normal or should it be the same throughout? I did mic it and was thicker at the base than the steering wheel end.

 

There is a nylon bushing kit for the steering column lower bushing. I can't remember the name of it, but it replaces the end plug on the column with nylon or teflon bushing that supposed to really help out on the steering clunk.

 

That was the first thing I did about 5 yrs ago and it helped but didn't fix the problem and I've lived with it until now. Last month I took my truck to the shop because I wanted to make sure something wasn't going to fall off and they said I needed a new column...which mine did have some slack in it on the outside bearing. $500 later it still wasn't fixed until I spread FREE grease on the shaft!!!!!!!!! Thats how I roll...