Suspension questions

[yankee817299]

Finally got my SHO on the road (94 atx). Very nice ride, lots of fun too. I have a little noise coming from the front end when I'm driving. I looked over all of the bushings, and all look good. The sub frame bushings and the torsion bar bushings all look to be in good shape. There is a connector that looks and feels to be a hard plastic that connects the lower strut area to the end of the sway bar. The end of this connector looks to be worn, no boot, I can see the ball connector. What is this piece of linkage called. Also, what are the symptoms of this piece being worn out? Also, when I tug on the tires, the passenger side has a slight movement when grabbed at the 3 & 6 o'clock position. The tie rod on this side has no movement. Could this be a bad wheel bearing? The drivers side is good and tight. Ball joints seem to be snug also when I put a pry bar underneath the tire and life.

Also, I noticed when the front end is on jack stands and the tranny is in park, the front wheels still turn freelly? I don't think this is suppost to work this way??

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[NP SHO]

I believe the plastic piece that you are describing is the swaybar endlink. As for the rest of your questions I'll let some others chime in as I'm just learning what I can about suspension right now too.

 

[SHOYAY]

Movement at 3 and 6 o'clock sounds like a bad inner or outer tie rod, if the outer seems fine, most likely the inner is worn, which is typical. If it were a wheel bearing, you would hear a humming noise in the front which would change pitch, either louder or quieter, as you turn the wheel slightly one way or the other.
The part you are thinking about is the front sway bar link. If they are the hard white plastic type, change them. Even if they feel tight, their known for being noisy and having play under a load. As for your wheels turning while its in the air,even though it is in park, that is normal.One wheel turns one way, the other turns the opposite.They wont both rotate the same way because it is in park.

 

[NP SHO]

So you're saying that even if the front endlinks seem ok, if they are the plastic ones they should be replaced anyway?

 

[yankee817299]

This forum is awesome...

I am going to replace the end links this weekend and check that inner tie rod a little closer. If the wheel bearing is not making any noise, is it safe to assume it is ok. Is there anyway to check it while I am in there changing the end links?

 

[SHOYAY]

You have to drive the car to hear the hum or feel the high vibration to know if its a wheel bearing. While driving it and you hear a hum and you turn the wheel a little one way and its louder and the other way it gets quieter, its a bad wheel bearing.If you get a loud clicking when you are turning, its a bad cv joint.
NP, the plastic links can feel tight, but when its driven, it gives a little and makes noise.Every car ive ever owned that had those plastic sway bar links, I replace them with the steel kind. No noise and better handling.

 

[yankee817299]

Thanks for all the info Shoyay & NP, you two have been a great help.

 

[NP SHO]

SHOYAY - Thanks for the info. I'll definitely look into replacing those when the beast comes out of hibernation.

Yankee - Glad I could help a little. Keep us updated!

 

[rubydist]

if you can only rock the wheel w/ hands at 3/9 and not 6/12, that makes the wheel bearing less likely. in that case most likely is tie rod end or ball joint.

every bad wheel bearing I've ever had, I've first noticed because of grinding of the brake rotor on the caliper bracket.

 

[yankee817299]

I miss posted in the op, but when I grab the wheel at 3 & 9, (not 3 & 6), I have some slight play. I didn't get ahold of the wheel at 6 & 12, but I did put a pry bar under the tire when it was about 2 inches off the ground. Everything felt pretty solid there. No noise when applying the brakes or rolling down the highway. Going to give the tie rods a closer check over the weekend.

 

[SHOYAY]

Definitely check your inner tie rods, cause you said the outers felt ok

 

[yankee817299]

The car has sat for over a year before I picked it up, and it is in good running order. All of the bushings look to be in good shape, had to put in a new battery, o2 sensors, and clean the "nostrils" on the intake to eliminate the 332 code. No oil in the plug holes, looks like new plugs and wires, so I am thinking that the previous owner has done some maint to this vehicle? It has 106,000 miles on it. So, I just ordered new inner and outer tie rods to go along with the end links. When I did the tire wiggle in the beginning, I could see some slight push pull movement at the inner tie rod. I am going to have to remove the outer tie rod to change the inner, so why not put on new ones? I looked at the write up in the how-to section and everything looks pretty straight forward. Can't do it until the middle of next week though, but I will post and give everyone an update. Thanks again for all of the insight.

 

[93rev2sev]

Take the wheel off and bolt on a pair of large open end wrenches. Use the wrenches as handles, so you can get some effort into the knuckle and still be able to see where the movement is coming from.

 

[yankee817299]

Well I bolted on 2 large box end wrenches and tugged the wheel pretty good at the 3 & 9 positions and the inner and outer tie rods look pretty "tight". The drivers side is all good, but on the passenger side, I have a very slight play between the rotor and the spindle. This has me thinking that the bearing is going bad? When I first started on this car, I thought that the front brake pads were metal to metal from the grinding noise, but I checked the pads and they are good, and I haven't been hearing the grinding any further. May have been the bearing knocking off some rust from sitting so long???

I did replace the end links and what a difference in handling, its like night & day. Handles good, rides nice. Those plastic links were trashed.

 

[SHOYAY]

Good to hear. Even when the plastic links are not broken, they can be worn out and usually are. It was a cheap cheap thing ford put on there to save money and it was a mistake for sure.

 

[riden2low]

http://www.youtube.com/user/riden2low2#p/u/0/rQNUlbx2u5k

This was my inner tie rod problem

 

[yankee817299]

Wow, I bet it handles a little different after that is replaced.

 

[riden2low]

yeah, it tighten up the steering. I replaced the tie rod ends too and while I was under there, replaced the sway bar bushings and end links. My sway bar end links are metal. Napa tried to give me plastic which I under stand that they just as good but I will stay with the metal ones. So I got mine from Rock Auto and replaced everything with Moog. Knowing what I know now, I just should have replaced the whole rack and pinion but money was tight and this is my first SHO. And a lot of my help comes from right here on this site. If it wasn't for the great help of all of the great people on here I would have been total lost.

 

[S.H.O. UR SLF]

i would take another look at those ball joints they maybe worn also check rear subframe bushings or lower cntrol arm bushings