Frontend inspection

[chevychic]

I'm getting some thunks and popping noises coming from the front end.
My first thought was to take it in and have it inspected, but is there anything I can inspect for myself?

What do I look for when inspecting the bushings, tie rods, and anything else that commonly wears out?

Thanks All!!

Have a very Merry Christmas!!

[old Rusty C10]

to check tie rods and the rest of the front end jack it up on one side so the tire clears the ground on one side and wiggle the tire left to right so you can see if theres play in your tie rods etc you will have to lower it and do the both sides to see the entire front end youll see play in the units
for ball joints ya take a pipe and stick it under the wheel and jiggle it up and down and youll see the play
the control arms youll just see the bushings all dried out etc

[82 Silverado 4X]

My Pennsylvania roads (potholes with a bit of pavement around them) brings out the worst in our solid axle 4x4 suspension. For the first four months I had my truck I searched for one annoying clunk that sounded like it was coming from the front end. It was only after replacing my worn passenger door hinge bushings that I realized the clunk was actually my door lifting and then dropping onto the jam when I hit a pothole.
Tracking down annoying noises can be quite tough at times. Follow Old Rusty's instructions and also check your frame by the steering box.

[mike reeh]

I always had a very noticeable wobble in something that I could not track down for years.. even with different tires, wheels, etc.. When I had my truck "down" for a year or so, I rebuilt the front axle including ball joints and one of the ball joints was toast. I tried the wobble test and everything and could not get it to rear its head except while driving..

How many miles on your truck, heather?

When do you get the pops, clunks, and can you describe them any better? Its probably best to have it checked out by a shop, but it cant hurt to do a little diagnosis yourself..

mike

[swervin ervin]

Good suggestions.

Whatever you do, take it to someone you can trust. If not careful, when they see you pull in, they will find something wrong even if there isn't. Just a women thing, you know. It seems to me, frontend shops are the worst at this tatic. I've had them try to pull this crap on me before too.

While they check it, if you take it somewhere, stay there and watch and ask them to show you. Balljoints are not supposed to have any up and down or side to side movement, only swivel. Control arm bushings will show up fairly easy. Most of the time you will see the shaft out of center or the rubber is totally gone. Tierod ends are about the same as balljoints, no movement at the ball socket.

[old Rusty C10]

Originally posted by swervin ervin
Good suggestions.

Whatever you do, take it to someone you can trust. If not careful, when they see you pull in, they will find something wrong even if there isn't. Just a women thing, you know. It seems to me, frontend shops are the worst at this tatic. I've had them try to pull this crap on me before too.

While they check it, if you take it somewhere, stay there and watch and ask them to show you. Balljoints are not supposed to have any up and down or side to side movement, only swivel. Control arm bushings will show up fairly easy. Most of the time you will see the shaft out of center or the rubber is totally gone. Tierod ends are about the same as balljoints, no movement at the ball socket.

Places like SEARS or MIDAS are notorious for making up bad items and even better telling you you need parts that youve already installed theyre born thieves there!

[swervin ervin]

Yeah I know. There used to be a chain of stores around here called Carolina tire. I think there's still some of them around. Anyway, they were the worlds worst at this junk. My sister took her car to them always. She had them change her oil and do tuneups etc. Well she bought some new tires from them and told them to align the front and do the brakes while they were at it.

I later found out they really burned her up. She had some crazy bill of close to a grand for rebuilding her frontend and brakes.

I once bought a 64 Chevy II which was a total piece of crap. I bought it just to drive back and forth to work in. That was back in the stone ages. Anyway, they had a special on frontend alignment going on. I took it in after buying some tires for it. They come in told me it was going to cost $275.00 to fix the frontend so it could be aligned. I told the guy he was crazy as hell, I didn't give but $75.00 for the whole car.

Be real careful with frontend shops. If you find a good one with someone you can trust, consider yourself very lucky. I have a good one. They are a little on the high side, but the guy who works there on the frontends is a top notch frontend guy. He really knows what he's doing.

[chevychic]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Mike: The truck has around 120-125k miles on it. The odometer isn't totally accurate but that's a general guess.

What I was thinking of doing, and you guys can tell me if this is a good idea or not.....after finding a shop that I trust (and I think I have one). I was going to take it in for an alignment. I know full well that they won't be able to perform the alignment, but I will get a write up of everything that is wrong and a quote for them to fix it. I'll then get y'alls opinion and check with my dad to make sure they're not trying to pull one over on me. And whatever I might be able to do myself and save a little money, I will.

This is when I could really use to live close to my dad. His personal specialty is front-ends. He became known as one of the best front-end guys around and got some real loyal customers that wouldn't take their vehicles anywhere else. Before he owned his shop and was working for other people, he'd move to a different shop and his customers would follow him.

I think between this board and a call to my dad, I'm sure I'll be in good hands so that I don't get ripped off. That's something I definitely can't afford right now anyways.

[Prerunner1982]

heather i know you are very inclinded to do a whole front end rebuild... you dont have A-arm bushings and such. ball joints would be the only hard part of a 4x4... i think you could do it. my truck is in desperate need of a rebuild... Heather... one thing you might look at... check your shocks.... i had a horrible clunking noise.. thought a tie rod or control arm bushing was shot... ended up to be my upper shock mount (the bolt).. it was loose and wobbling in the frame...

[Tom]

Heather, you keep insisting on taking your truck to other people to get fixed, and I can't for the life of me figure out why? If you can change a 700R4 tranny, you can dam well do a simple front end inspect and rebuild. Try it, you might suprise yourself

[Jonboy]

BTW, you might find a good front end shopif they tell you all they can do is set the toe on your truck. There is not really a way to change the caster or camber, as you have a solid front axle. Toe is the only adjustment they can make to it. Of course, that may be their alignment, too.