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Thread: Steering abnormality

  1. #1

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    Steering abnormality

    You all may remember when I rebuilt the suspension and steering on my front end last winter. I had it aligned this spring and everything was fine. Drove nice and tight.
    Today I noticed there is play in my steering wheel, a lot of play 3 inches left or right. Then I noticed that it is turning funny. It was like something caught while I was going around a corner suddenly it was 33 years old again.
    Anyway I haven't lifted it to look yet, I had to unload it and do other things. I was posting here to ask for ideas on what I should look for.
    Thanks

  2. #2

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    Jack up the front end and wobble the front wheels. If there is play in the wheel and spindle it's likely a blown wheel bearing. Otherwise then get under the truck and have a friend turn the steering each way and listen for clunking or excessive movement. Grab each joint and swing on it. Basically any movement means the joint is no good. Otherwise it's possible the steering box needs adjusting to take up slack. There's a set nut ontop which can be screwed in and out to increase or decrease play.

  3. #3

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    The catching something sounds similar toine when I collapsed a wheel bearing. It would occasionally catch and lurch the steering wheel. It will be very noticeable when you wiggle the wheels.

  4. #4

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    Thank You Tortron. Everything was tight. I had pressed new inner and outer wheel bearings when I did the job. Then I took the wheel off the driver side and I see the lower ball joint is toast and the passenger side is almost toast. I do not recall compressing them that much when I torqued them. I wonder if the alignment guy "did me a favor"?
    Since this was just 6 months ago should I be asking Rock Auto for a refund or replacement of my moog parts? I better look to wee where I bought them before I complain I do sometimes buy parts from other online retailers. Some photos for your enjoyment

    Drvr side from back.jpg Drvr side from front.jpg Pass side from front.jpg Pass side from back.jpg

  5. #5

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    All those joints look bone dry - not a lick of grease anywhere...
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  6. #6

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    First turns out after looking through my RA receipts I did this in Winter 2016 not 2017. So it's a year and 6 months which is still way too short a life. Creeping CRS I guess.
    I noticed how dry it was too. I greased em all good. I think I recall a bit of the red grease showing around the bottom. I made sure it came out on all of the fittings. I remember greasing everything because the driver side tie rod came w/o a grease Zerc.

  7. #7

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    Hard to say what the actual cause of the ball joint failures are. The boots shouldn't have come apart like that (I've only recently removed all the factory joints on my Gen 1 and the boots were in better shape than your new ones). I hate to say this but I think you don't have much of a leg to stand on in making a warranty claim. The fact they have a lot of surface rust in them indicates either extreme conditions or they weren't serviced.
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  8. #8

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    How often does one "service" a ball joint? That is surface rust due to the quality of the materiel and that would not get removed in any service I know of.

  9. #9

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    Blast of grease every 6 month will be ideal, but whenever you do an oil change would be good enough.
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  10. #10

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    I put in the claim. Ordered new parts. They will decide on the refund when I sen back the ball joints.

  11. #11

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    Got new ball joints today. One had no grease fitting. I put the other fitting in and greased it. I compressed the boot so I knew the grease had filled it when the boot was back to shape. Turns out the boot leaks, you can see the red dot facing in the picture. I wonder if my failed units had a leak?

    leak & no zerc fitting.jpg

    Edit- Emailed RA. Got label sent back awaiting new parts.

    Edit2- Parts arrived 6-14-18 Too beat should get to them tomorrow. They opened the boxes and b=]packed them with expanded foam rubber taped them up and really packed them tight in the shipping box. Both are made in Japan and have a screw in the hole for the zerc . I'm still gonna grease em before I install em to be sure.
    Last edited by 85Ram50; 06-14-2018 at 05:52 PM.

  12. #12

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    OK new ball joints in. It drives nice again. I'm not sure what happened but there is definitely grease in these ball joints. It was squeezing out as I torqued them. I also greased every other fitting until I saw grease coming out, except the control arm shaft. The driver side upper ball joint squirted the grease right back out the zerc!
    Seems like the bug that follows Windows around has finally caught up to Windows 10. Anyone else have the cursor jump while you are typing and inserting text in the middle of a word somewhere else on the page?

    Edit- When I did the original job I put in new shocks. The rubber deal at the top of the front shocks, both sides is all cracked. Is this normal?! Looks like Rock Auto no longer carries them Gabriel 61556.
    Last edited by 85Ram50; 06-15-2018 at 05:29 PM.

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