I vote ball joints. How is it with crowns or ruts in the road?
El camino wobbles
- Thread starter Mercganso
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Is this for real?
Why would the UCA shims be the prime suspect, in your opinion?
Did you recently, randomly, add some UCA shims?
Can you wiggle the tires by hand? top of tire In - out, or right - left? You shouldn't be able to.
If you can, there is your problem.
Also, Your Steering shaft looks trashed and you can't lower a car without at least resetting the toe. Doesn't look like you did that.
I do not know if it is just the way the picture was taken but the bolt on the UCA near the front end looks loose? Plus three of the shims looked newer? I wondered the same thing if they were adjusted?
Looking at the front end pics I see plenty of rusty suspension and steering pieces and it might have been awile since some kind of service was done like an alignment or grease job?
Anytime you make some kind of change to the suspension as far as lowering, etc, adjustments are necessary to make sure you do not have something fail or prematurely ruin your tires.
To me, having survived a front tire blowout at highway speeds and not hitting a barrier, it is important to make sure the car is safe. Loose wheels, vibrations, faulty tires, anything out of the norm might be a disaster waiting to happen that could get you hurt or someone else. I do not mean to sound preachy, but others I knew had suspension pieces fail, cause body and underbody damage that cost much more then if they had just done the suspension and front end repairs instead of ignoring the warning signs.
Please look back at what others have posted earlier. It is good sound advise to protect you and get your car back to a safe situation. I hope you get it solved and can enjoy driving without the worries. Jeff
that nut is backed off and the "shims" on the back side don't look like shims, they look like washers. If they are washers the cross shaft has to be removed to remove them
It does look like there is a gap at the front control arm nut. Leave the shims alone. Tighten that loose nut. Get it to an actual alignment shop -- not just a quick lube place that does $29 alignments.
Who replaced the springs and how did they do it without popping/examining the ball joints? And who replaces springs/shocks (Bilstiens. too - nice) and doesn't spend an extra $50 replacing the original ball joints with new?
In a straight up ghetto scenario, I can see an @ssclown unbolting the upper control arm at the cross shaft and letting the whole UCA/Spindle/LCA hang down to remove/replace the spring without touching the balljoints, but nobody teaches this method and it can only come from some who uses the absolute worse way to do everything..
In a straight up ghetto scenario, I can see an @ssclown unbolting the upper control arm at the cross shaft and letting the whole UCA/Spindle/LCA hang down to remove/replace the spring without touching the balljoints, but nobody teaches this method and it can only come from some who uses the absolute worse way to do everything..
No I didn’t add the shims. Just bought the car. I’m still finding surprises at every turn. Pun intended
There’s no play in the wheels when I checked for bad wheel bearings. I hope it isn’t that.
As for the steering shaft I have no clue how to fix that. She drives straight so I’m happy with that lol. Still learning as I go, and when I get the money I’ll fix it.
However I did the suspension. I just removed the sway bar connection, tie rod and lowered the Lca with the floor jack with a spring compressor in it. (Attached below was the old spring) To be honest I don’t know how the ball joints are supposed to look. To me they looked ok none of them were cracked.
I’ll make sure I’ll go to the alignment shop.
All of these comments helped out. I appreciate the feedback
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I would tighten up the upper control arms and take if for a slow spin to see if the problem is still there. I don't like leaving it for a shop to figure out a problem. I brought my GP into a shop on a Sunday after I changed the tie rods. My hands were still dirty from working on the car and I told him I just needed the toe set. He puts up on the lift, took a look and then came in and said I needed a shim kit. He even called and said it was $220 and he could have it delivered in 1/2. hour. I not so politely told him the get it off the lift and out of his shop. He tried to charge me for putting it up on the lift but when I asked him if he had a dental plan he did as he was told.
Opie Knievel
Rum Fueled Midnight Mechanic and Moderator
Merc,
The 4 ball joints should be "tight" and not flop around loosely. If they feel like a broken Atari Joystick and offer no resistance to movement, replace them. Autozone rents (No net charge loan) pullers for the lowers and the new upper just bolt in after you knock off the rivet heads with a $10 Harbor Freight 4" cutoff wheel.
The Shims don't look too bad as far as the Qty and location go. The arm should be tight to the frame and the pictures don't make it appear tight to the frame.
The Steering shaft is super easy to fix. Its held in by 2 bolts (one up by the brake booster and 1 under the plastic cover at the box). Loosen the 2 bolts and tap the shaft "in" to collapse it (it telescopes)... pickle fork gently between the steering box and shaft end can help in removal but don't be too rough on the steering box.
Take off the plastic cover over the shaft and look at the rag joint (its right by the steering box). These can tear wreck the steering input vs wheel angle output equation.
'93-95 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Steering shafts can be purchased at the junkyard for about $15 or for a little more from vendors on here. These shafts eliminate the rag joint and bolt right in place of the factory shaft.
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