Loose Front End
 

I think WAYYY back in the day i posted about my front end always being loose.....some bumps i would hit it felt like the shock was blown or something.....but i just let it go.....well


Thursday i was at a bar and when we left i did a little showing off and drove over a snow pile, nothing big, about 3 ft or so high.....so i get to the street and my ABS light comes on so im like WTF....so at a red light i shut my truck off and restart it and it goes away.....

yesterday when i would hit bumps it felt like the front end was going to fall off....and today its even worse....so i finally jacked it up and took the wheel off and checked it out......couldnt find anything wrong with it.....i figured either A- ball joints....or B- shocks.......it feels like something metal slapping or banging around when you would hit the littlest bump....

I guess im going to try new front shocks tomorrow.....and if that doesnt fix it i will take it to a shop and have them check it out.....

Nothing visable though.....i know with my TB's cranked my ball joints should go out but i cant see anything wrong...

ANY THOUGHTS??


Rocky

Most of that noise and play on mine was simply the tie rod ends. Take 'em off and check them and I'm sure you'll find them loose as a goose.

did you check for play when it was jacked up and the wheel still on?.. easyest way to see if somthin is toast



btw you posted in the engine section

Also, we've been told many times to check the ball joints for play with a pry bar -- though one would think with as much "symptom" as you've got, it would be easy to see.

I thought for sure i would get under there and see my sway bar broke in half , or my shock blown apart and just smacking the control arm, but nothing out of the ordinary....

I checked my tie rods and they were fine....its not anything with the steering, its something right under my feet, thats why i think its the drivers side...and it just feels like the shock broke off and its banging on something....every bump, feels like the wheel is going to fall off.....

I think im going to buy 2 new front shocks tomorrow, and if that doesnt fix it its probably my ball joints or something....

But nothing looks broke or greasy

Rocky

Ball joints/Tie rods/wheel bearing all could be doing it..

ball joints - i can see

tie rods - no play, nothing in the steering wheel

wheel bearings - doesnt do it all the time, wheel doesnt move up / down when jacked up....

shocks - could have gotton blown out when i hit that snow pile...it was bumpy

Rocky

could just be a sound sometimes when i had my 4inch super lift on when i had the ifs whenever i turned right and put the brakes on to get on like a driveway or something it would make this "thud" not too loud but at 1st itw as like wtf?!!? but then got use to it haha

yes also shocks not as commom but can happen one of my shocks last summer the main shaft snaped in half took me a day to figure out what the heck the nasty noise was..

I had a noise like that, on mine it was the sway bar frame bushing mount. Bolt came out, and the bar would slap against the frame on "some" bumps, usually where articulation was involved. Doesn't explain the ABS light though.

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Nothing explains the ABS light....i thought when i went through the snow pile i ripped the wire off or something.....

I just spent 100$ for front shocks, im going out to put them on now, hopefully it will fix it..... when i jacked it up last night i hit my upper control arm with a rubber hammer and the shock was making a loose type of noise...thats my only guess...the bottom mount where it bolts to the bottom control arm looks to be messed up
Rocky

You done yet??? It doesnt take that long to install shocks!!!!!

haha, sorry i had to go buy them 1st, and i got my hair cut!

100$ down the drain......shocks are a no go....didnt help...but it does ride a hell of alot better!!!

I have no clue what it is.....

You can't always feel the ball joint play in the steering. Take off the nuts and bang 'em up out of the spindle and check them. The way you're describing your "checks" it sounds like you're assuming a lot based on checks that may not show the problem in a "loaded" suspension or steering system.

I went from boxers to boxer briefs. Keeps my ball joints and tie rod nice and snug. No more flopping around.

HAHAHA!!! ^^^ i think that will be my next mod deff!!!

i had to put in sig lol!!! hope u dont mind

Hahaha glad I could brighten someone's day :biglaugh:

Your best bet to check those ball joints and tie rods (on the truck this time) would be to pull them from the knuckle/spindle and check them for play. If you can move the threaded part in and out easily, it's time for replacements.

Yah. I agree.

Hey did you get the sealed or greaseable boxer briefs?...

lmfao hahahahah

Greaseable. Makes for an easier removal in times of um... urgency. :wink: :27:

Both of my rangers have had a noise that drove me nuts. I could feel it in the floor whenever I hit a little bump. With the window down I go crazy. Playing with the truck in a parking lot, slowly hitting bumps with my head hanging out the window, I noticed a noise very similar to the bump noise (only a little quieter) sometimes when I hit the brakes. I do know the calipers are held together the same way on my 93 as the 92. I am not sure if it has been changed since your truck was made.

I am really starting to think it is something with how the calipers are held together, with that cheap ass pin thing. Your ABS light and bump noise seem to confirm that.

I had a noise very similar when my caliper bolt was loose. Be careful man, that dug a huge gouge in my rim, and I had to miss work that day to fix it...now it's in w/ red loctite all snugged up

Checked the caliper bolts.....because that happend to my buddy going 80mph down the freeway, throwing sparks everywhere....

I found that my side step was missing a bolt, so i put that in there and i dont hear it anymore....so that must have been in.....but my shocks were done for....you can push it together EASILY and you can feel all the gritty sand and mud.....then they dont want to come back out...

IM doing the rears this weekend

rocky

stupidest bolt usualy does it!

Man those caliper bolts are real buggers! I lost one once and the caliper would wiggle around when I tapped the brake and slam against the knuckle... that was a scary ride home!