Broken Steering cable nut

[Ken Bowers]

Yesterday, driving my orange H2, and suddenly I had no steering. It drifted off the road onto a sidewalk before I could stop. 2003 Hummer with 104,000 miles.

I was going about 25 mph when this happened. The tow truck driver says I have a broken steering cable nut that will have to be drilled out and replaced. The orange H2 is at the shop now.

So far, I have got out of this situation very lucky. All you guys should check your bolt.

[LoJac963]

any pics of this "cable"

[Ken Bowers]

No pics. Now they tell me it is a broken steering arm. $700.

[LoJac963]

I was just curious as to where they think this cable is. Steering arm, are they talking Pitman arm or what?

[Ken Bowers]

UPDATE: I got my Orange Hummer H2 back yesterday, with a new steering arm.

The old arm was returned to me. It has a sheared pin, which is about 1/2 inch steel. I do not see how such a pin can shear off, and I suspect it was cut, or was defective when installed (2003).

The mechanic told me it could not have been cut, because it is unreachable when installed. How can it be unreachable, when it has a grease fitting?

This arm failed while I was stopped at a red light; there was no impact.

Three quarters of the pin surface is completely smooth, while the rest looks like a fracture would, with jagged projections.

Hey guys: any opinions as to what happened here?

Also-should you inspect your steering arm? I have 103,500 on my orange H2.

[iwillnc]

Have a pic?
Is there a gap where you suspect it was cut? If no gap then I probably wouldn't give it a second thought.
It can be a pain to get the pitman out, therefore I highly doubt someone would remove it to cut it. Most likely manufacturing defect.

I'm surprised that you never changed the pitman since you've had the truck tbh, not that it should fail in such a way...

[HUMTECH]

If it was loose and rocking back and forth in the hole it will eventually wear and shear off. May want to double check for wear in the bore where the pitman arm goes through the steering linkage

[PaHumBug]

I've never met a tow truck driver who thought cars are steered with a cable. Boats yes, cars no, at least not that I'm aware of. Anyway, that is a scary situation, good thing you were only going 25mph. Humtech's logic makes sense, but you should have noticed a lot of wandering or play I would think. Do you have yearly inspections in your state? I hate when they tell me it needs something, but I think I would hate it more to lose steering while driving.

[glennf1]

Could it be the idler arm? There is a grease fitting on the top of the assembly that cannot be reached. This is the only grease fitting on the H2 that is inaccessable and he mentioned it.