Is it the ball joints?

[RustyWa]

Ok, what is the test to diagnose my shakey front end? At highway speeds, my car will all of a sudden start shaking. You can feel it in the steering wheel and possible hear it. My mind might be playing tricks on me but if I look over at the passenger fender, it looks to be shaking ever so slightly.

I've replaced the wheels and tires with new tires and different rims, so balance shouldn't be an issue.

I grabbed the wheels and rocked them back and forth from 12/6 and 9/3 positions. I had a little knocking at the 12/6 so I tightened the wheel bearings up a little. I've got new ones on the way, I think they were marginal when I looked at them last year.

At 9/3 things seemed pretty smooth so does that rule out tie-rods?

What about ball joints? How do you test those while everything is attached?

Thanks

[Jim Smolka]

Is the vibration at certain speeds?
Of course a bad shock can cause problems too.
Also, if you are using the same place to balance the wheels, their machine could be off.

[Kevin Powers]

any strange sounds or binding when you turn the steering wheel lock to lock while sitting still?mine developed a strange squeal and i had no clue what it was.the whole thing(balljoint) failed when i was on the freeway.the bottom side of the ball joint turned into a cutting tool and my mag the piece of aluminum on a lathe with aprox. one quater of the cars weight on it going 60 mph,i wonder what the rpm's were.needless to to say i was very fortuante to be in the outside lane and going straight at the time.if i had been in a right hand turn at the time i probably would'nt be typing this.

[Joe Ricard]

One other posiblity is too much camber and your wheels having excessive runout. just a thought. Keep us posted

[RustyWa]

Well I don't think it's the front wheel bearings. The old ones weren't actually that bad. After putting in the new ones and driving it around, got home and clunk, clunk, clunk.

So I took off the dust caps from the hubs and checked the thrust(?) washer play. Looked good. Maybe a tad tight. I can put the tip of a large screwdriver in there and twist with some light torque and the washer moves. It is certainly not "gently" as the Haynes manual states.

The ball joint boots were good, no cracks, but the boots did seem to be a bit mushy. I was expecting the boot to be firm from the grease in them. The mushiness turned out to be air. When I pinched the top of the boot, around the center pin, air came out and the boot collapsed a little.

[jhs914]

Eric,

Your symptoms sound similar to what I was experiencing. I replaced the ball joints and still had the shimmy and shake. I then replaced the tie rod ends. No more shimmy or shake at highway speeds. When I removed the old tie rod ends they looked and felt OK with no obvious looseness, but they were the problem. Hope you solve your problem

Jim

[Conrad W Peden]

Try shaking the wheel with the car jacked up.

Sounds like balance or shocks.

My 72, had new tie-rods, ball joints, wheel bearings and tires all at once. Vibrated on the way home. Turned out to be bad shock.


Good luck.


PS: "new" tires doesnt mean straight/balanced tires. I went through 7 tires before i got a set that were good. Most were out of round or had loose/shifted belts.

[RustyWa]

Shaking the wheel while it's jacked up will pin point something differently than if it was on the ground?

I've got new tires and different rims on now. The old wheels did the same thing. Balancing was done by a reputable shop. I'll probably try rotating the front wheels to the rear to see if anything happens.

So right now its looking like either ball joints, struts or tie rod ends.

I placed an automotive stethascope on the bottom of the ball joints and at the bottom of the strut just above the ball joint, this seemed to be where the clunking side to side was the loudest.

Thanks

[Bleyseng]

I think it is both ball joints and tie rods. Get the turbo tie rods as they get rid of the rubber crap at the steering rack. You will love the feel of the steering after you change them out.
Geoff

[Kevin Powers]

the tierod outer ends may be fine but the inner rubber bushing (inside the bellows)where the rod connects to the rack might be shot. the spherical(sp) ends on the turbo tie rods eliminate that crappy set up.

kevin