Axle Knuckle Pushing Wheel Right?

[Zjohnsonua]

Friend, you have a custom built front end. The tip off is those radius arms. That changes the game.

There are several things that could be going on, most of which aren't going to be reasonably explained here. Casey (potato launcher) lives in your neck of the woods and may be able to lend a hand. He's a good point of contact for TX panhandle cruiser shenanigans.

 

[thatcabledude]

Do you mean the the Control Arms ?

The Control Arms look custom made and would be suspect to me.

They look like the Gen1 arms Slee made.

 

[Jdub94]

Friend, you have a custom built front end. The tip off is those radius arms. That changes the game.

There are several things that could be going on, most of which aren't going to be reasonably explained here. Casey (potato launcher) lives in your neck of the woods and may be able to lend a hand. He's a good point of contact for TX panhandle cruiser shenanigans.

Should I have peace of mind that with the custom job he did, he safely made it on a 2 month west coast trip and completed the rubicon in it as well as several other trails? He said since then he has replaced a lot of the wear and tear stuff like the bearings and gears. But, as you can probably tell, the tie rods are worn. Ordering some now...

 

[Broski]

Friend, you have a custom built front end. The tip off is those radius arms. That changes the game.

There are several things that could be going on, most of which aren't going to be reasonably explained here. Casey (potato launcher) lives in your neck of the woods and may be able to lend a hand. He's a good point of contact for TX panhandle cruiser shenanigans.

^^^^^^^^^^^ And it's been wheeled hard
Not necessarily a bad thing

 

[thatcabledude]

 

[ZetheGSD]

Do you mean the the Control Arms ?

The Control Arms look custom made and would be suspect to me.

Yeah we have custom radius arms here. That’s a huge red flag for multiple driveability concerns. I would get this to an alignment shop pronto to see what you’re dealing with. Many shops provide free alignment checks. This can help you with a starting point to see how out-of-whack your angles are. If nothing feels like it’s dragging or loose when you shake the tire up in the air I would suspect your alignment angles are off. You also have different calipers from right to left which can indicate a possible brake drag. If a caliper is slightly dragging when driving this will also pull the wheel. Did the shop who put your 80 tires on give you an alignment printout?

 

[Jdub94]

Yeah we have custom radius arms here. That’s a huge red flag for multiple driveability concerns. I would get this to an alignment shop pronto to see what you’re dealing with. Many shops provide free alignment checks. This can help you with a starting point to see how out-of-whack your angles are. If nothing feels like it’s dragging or loose when you shake the tire up in the air I would suspect your alignment angles are off. You also have different calipers from right to left which can indicate a possible brake drag. If a caliper is slightly dragging when driving this will also pull the wheel. Did the shop who put your 80 tires on give you an alignment printout?

They did not. I have been told to look at calipers and I did, and when I drive I don't smell anything weird coming off the brakes? But maybe a drag wouldn't cause that much friction?

 

[Broski]

Post 36 last picture, passenger side control arm looks dented possibly bent.

 

[ZetheGSD]

They did not. I have been told to look at calipers and I did, and when I drive I don't smell anything weird coming off the brakes? But maybe a drag wouldn't cause that much friction?

I only request this because I’ve dealt with this on multiple 80’s. Sometimes when the calipers are in need of a rebuild the pistons with stick in their bores. A small brake drag or uneven clamping will pull on the steering wheel. A severe drag will be very noticeable and likely have a smell of brake pads burning when driving. The passenger caliper is rusted which tells me it’s a cheapo aftermarket. It’s hard to tell by pics but the radius arms could be bent as someone mentioned. Without going full crazy and replacing everything, I’d get an alignment printout and post that so we can assist further. As you can tell there are so many trying to help you and this forum is great with so many great 80 owners. You’ll get your cruiser fixed up and enjoy it for many many years.

It’s a nice rust free ride that was enjoyed! Nice buy!

 

[Jdub94]

Post 36 last picture, passenger side control arm looks dented possibly bent.

Yes it has some rock scrapes

 

[Jdub94]

I only request this because I’ve dealt with this on multiple 80’s. Sometimes when the calipers are in need of a rebuild the pistons with stick in their bores. A small brake drag or uneven clamping will pull on the steering wheel. A severe drag will be very noticeable and likely have a smell of brake pads burning when driving. The passenger caliper is rusted which tells me it’s a cheapo aftermarket. It’s hard to tell by pics but the radius arms could be bent as someone mentioned. Without going full crazy and replacing everything, I’d get an alignment printout and post that so we can assist further. As you can tell there are so many trying to help you and this forum is great with so many great 80 owners. You’ll get your cruiser fixed up and enjoy it for many many years.

It’s a nice rust free ride that was enjoyed! Nice buy!

The shop said they did not even start the alignment because of the play in the front end.

 

[ZetheGSD]

The shop said they did not even start the alignment because of the play in the front end.

And that is your answer if you can drive it safety or not.

 

[Jdub94]

And that is your answer if you can drive it safety or not.

Well will a shop give me an alignment printout at all, then? Or will they all refuse to work on it?

 

[Jdub94]

UPDATE: I took the steering damper off and that did not seem to change the rightward pull. It did not feel any different steering, either, so not sure what the dampener was doing. I did confirm that the rightward pull happens at all speeds, not just after a certain mph. Went slow at 5mph and it did it, went 60mph and it obviously still did it, just a more noticeable effect going that fast. If I get wheels lined up and I'm going straight, and I let go of the wheel, regardless of speed, it pulls right.

 

[gummycarbs]

King pin, trunnion, knuckle bearings are all the same thing. Pick your favorite term. The FSM actually refers to steering knuckle, knuckle arm, bearing cap and bearings.

King pins aren't found on 4x4 vehicles. They go all the way through.

A Dana 60 has a sort of half king pin, it's #48 in this diagram:

The 80 series does not use a king pin design, it's trunnion bearings top and bottom:

 

[SNLC]

Looks like it ALL needs to be torn down and rebuilt with quality parts.

Cheers

 

[Rusty Marlin]

The shop said they did not even start the alignment because of the play in the front end.

Where is the play coming from?
You just checked wheel bearings and TRE's and declared them tight.
That leaves:
1) the bushings:
Panhard upper and lower
Radius arms 2 front and 1 rear.
And
2) the king pins (knuckle bearings). I find it helpful diagnosing these to jack one side up, not far 1/2" or so and stick a pinch bar under the tire and try to pick up the tire with the far end of the bar. If the wheel assembly moves or makes a clunk, you have king pin wear issues. If the only thing that moves is the sidewall of the tire compressing, the king pins are good.

Before replacing the TRE's get a helper and do the following: leave the rig on the ground, wrap your hand completely around a TRE, so both halves are held firmly. Have your helper wiggle the steering wheel. If the TRE's are good you will feel the assembly move as a solid chuck of material in your hand. If they are even every so slightly thinking about being worn you will feel a subtle shift between the halves. Shaking from 9 and 3 will find truly worn out TRE's, the above will find the ones that are still serviceable, but on the way out.


I have never had to check for a bent axel, but you should be able to get a relative angle reading off the top knuckle bearing caps if there is a flat spot, but I honestly don't know what to use as the initial datum surface to reference back too though.
The faces of the break disks might work too.

You're looking for something fixed in space to measure back to to confirm the camber is equal or within a degree or less.

 

[gummycarbs]

The shop said they did not even start the alignment because of the play in the front end.

This is the first time you've mentioned play specifically. What parts have play in them?

 

[Jdub94]

This is the first time you've mentioned play specifically. What parts have play in them?

Their exact words were, "The drag link could be replaced, and the knuckle might be loose on that driver front wheel. But we won't really know until we take it apart. Could just be needing to be tightened back together."

 

[Jdub94]

Where is the play coming from?
You just checked wheel bearings and TRE's and declared them tight.
That leaves:
1) the bushings:
Panhard upper and lower
Radius arms 2 front and 1 rear.
And
2) the king pins (knuckle bearings). I find it helpful diagnosing these to jack one side up, not far 1/2" or so and stick a pinch bar under the tire and try to pick up the tire with the far end of the bar. If the wheel assembly moves or makes a clunk, you have king pin wear issues. If the only thing that moves is the sidewall of the tire compressing, the king pins are good.

Before replacing the TRE's get a helper and do the following: leave the rig on the ground, wrap your hand completely around a TRE, so both halves are held firmly. Have your helper wiggle the steering wheel. If the TRE's are good you will feel the assembly move as a solid chuck of material in your hand. If they are even every so slightly thinking about being worn you will feel a subtle shift between the halves. Shaking from 9 and 3 will find truly worn out TRE's, the above will find the ones that are still serviceable, but on the way out.


I have never had to check for a bent axel, but you should be able to get a relative angle reading off the top knuckle bearing caps if there is a flat spot, but I honestly don't know what to use as the initial datum surface to reference back too though.
The faces of the break disks might work too.

You're looking for something fixed in space to measure back to to confirm the camber is equal or within a degree or less.

For my education: How do the radius arms affect steering/the way the axle and wheels drive? If one is bent does it cause a torque on the axle that could be pulling it to the right?