Inner, outer or CV?

[taxx]

Originally posted by GJarrett


I'm not quite sure what the "ball joint post thingy" is (upper or lower?) but heck no it shouldn't have any play. Another thing is that when I replaced my lower ball joint and had my wheel assembly apart, I noticed that one of my upper control arm bushings was shot and the other was completely loose. The nut holding the bolt had backed out a couple of threads. I tightened it back up and that removed the last little bit of vibration. If I were you I'd check for looseness in all of the bolts and nuts that hold your stuff together up there, hint.

The thingy was the post hanging down from the upper ball joint that goes into the top of the knuckle. So it should be firm right? I plan to check all my bolts and nuts too, you never know. But I am just curious if the ball joint wiggling that much is a bad thing? I imagine so....


To get names in qotes: use the quote button at the bottom of their post instead or the reply buttn.

 

[taxx]

Driving to work this morning I noticed the vibration is still pretty severe. Something also knocked my aligment out of wack that I just got Friday, but that could be from the beating it took on the trail Saturday. Are aligments warrenteed?

Anyway, back to the problem at hand. So are you all saying bad ball joints can cause a severe vibration? I still need to re-tighten everything and I am going to get my tires rotated and balanced this after noon just to eliminate that. I am just curious, though, since i am not able to wiggle the wheel at all???

 

[GJarrett]

Originally posted by taxxman2k
The thingy was the post hanging down from the upper ball joint that goes into the top of the knuckle.

Oops. Nope, that IS your upper ball joint and it SHOULD swivel, so if it is swiveling then that is okay. That's what a ball joint is supposed to do. I thought you may have had play/wear in the actual joint itself.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

okay i might be going the wrong direction but i have dissasembled my whole front end (i got pics to prove it too) from drive shaft forward pulled everything out and double checked everything. put it back together and the bad shakes were still there. Turned out to be the tranny the vibration got so bad that the extension housing broke in pieces. was a bearing inthe tranny output shaft that got wobbly. BUT when my ball joints were going bad it just sounded liek crap when suspension flexed at all. goign down the road it was not vibrating just kind of clunking every now and then. i could stnad on the front bumper and it would squawl and squeel when i bounced on it.

i dont think alignments are warranteed. i hope its your tires or something easy dude. ive been down this road too many time with my ex now.
2 cv axkles
1 hub assembly
4 ball joints
3rd tranny
alignments
tires

im pretty smooth right now but i wonder when the next thing will be.

 

[taxx]

Well, I am pretty sure it isn't the tranny. Driveline guys say that if the vibration stays when you go at the same speed and throw her in nuetral then then it isn't in the driveline. And since it is speed sensitive and stays in nuetral when at speed I don't think it is a motor or tranny mount either. It almost has to be in the suspension. I noticed a clunck yesterday at slow speeds over a large bump. And like I said the only thing stock that hasn't been replaced/rebuilt is the ball joints and tie rod ends. I will try again but I didn't get the wheel to move in and out when it was on a jack. Maybe I am not strong enough???

Something has to be up, since my alignment got nocked out of whack on the trail. i have never had that happen that quickly/easily. What is funny is that I had my alignment next week and picked it up and the steering wheel was ****ed to the right to go staight and it pulled to the left, so I took it back. They made an adjustment and it was fine. Now it is back to being ****ed to the right and pulling to the left! I would have thought they would have checked the front when they did the alignment so they could find more parts to make money off of, but maybe not?

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

sound like that is it then. i personally have had to mess with the tie rods yet at all. hopefully they wont be bad... if you havent messed with the ball joints at all yet then i hope that is it. good pointa bout the driveline im glad thats not it. now if you know someone with a press you can do the ball joiont replacement yourself. take off the control arms and have someone press the balls out and new ones in then reassemble your suspension. the uppers are integrated with the control arm so you have to replace the whole deal. the tops are gravy to swap. ford wants a bundle of money to do this and small mechanic will take too long IMO.
good luck!

 

[JoshC]

Ball joints are easy, tie rod ends are easier. If your wheel is ****ed to the side then that is your tie rods. I don't know if that would be from the inner or outer. You can adjust that by adjusting the outer tie rod end and that will make your wheel strait again, but throw off your alignment again. Did you talk to your alignment guys about that?

Happy trails!!

thanks for the quote hint.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

the first time i paid for an alignment it was like $50 or so thenthe next time the guy told me i needed an alignment kit that cost $125 tht before all they had done was change the toe. i took it to ford and all they charged was $40 and said nothing about an alignment kit. do you know what the deal is with that. to be honest my alignment is almost never right. since i got the 32s and driving a little harder my toe is back out and it pulls a little to the right.

its sounds liek the ball joints could be assisting in getting the front end misaligned.

 

[Jason_25]

Sounds like ball joints to me. Whenever it can't stay in alignment it's either ball joints or tie rod ends. But you said you heard noises from the suspension? That would be the ball joints. A good way to listen for noises is to find a really bumpy road and drive down it and turn your engine off and listen to the front end. Chances are, when your ball joints are bad, you will hear some pretty nasty squeaking.

 

[taxx]

Well now I am lost again. Had the tires rotated and balanced. When the fronts were off I pulled and pushed on the top and the bottom of the knuckle. Nothing budged! What does that tell me? I also drove it slow and noticed a humming sound from the front(I think) could that be the bearing on the other side? Then made worse by ball joints and vibrating through the driveline?

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

sound sliek it might be. ive been thinking that im going to go ahead and change the other side of mine soon as i dont want to to toast my cv axle and risk further injury to anything or anyone.

sound sliek you are on the right path again. there are only so many things it could be. what did the tire guy sugest?

 

[taxx]

The tire people only know tires where I go. Only so many things it could be.... too bad they are all expensive! I am going to change the passengers side outer hub (atleast pull it off and check) it today after my test.

 

[taxx]

Well it all looks fine. The only vibration left is still annoying. What I have noticed is that it has to be in the front drive somewhere. It gets worse when it is in 4x4. Maybe it is the added angle on the cv shafts, but that isn't that much? I am thinking of pulling the cv shafts and driving it to see how it feels and put it back together one part at a time to find out what part it is? Would that hurt anything to run without a cv shaft?

 

[JoshC]

I don't think it would hurt anything to run without them, but didn't you have a new front driveshaft made, if so wonder if it is out of balance?

Happy trails!!

 

[taxx]

It was doing it before the shaft too. But, it was a combination and I have made it better, but there is still something there. I am thinking of pulling the shaft and both cv shafts and seeing if it still does it. if it doesn't then I can put it back together on part at a time and see what is causing it!

 

[JoshC]

Yeah, that's probably the best idea, since we've ruled about everything else out. Good luck!

Happy trails!!