Unsteady at freeway speeds after birfield rebuild (1 Viewer)

[ppc]

Standard trunion bearings, all four are the same. There are offset trunion bearings to correct caster and camber but are rarely used here in the US as other methods like plates and offset bushes are used instead.



Notice how the race is thicker on the left vs right

 

[mudgudgeon]

Cracked bushes in your radius arms (not trailing arms) will potentially be a cause of wandering steering
Also check out the front panhard rod bushes

 

[shocktower]

Don't flame me, the OP ask for ideas of what could be the possible causes of his problems. If he decides to repair it himself even after he's already paid for the job, or take it back to the shop is up to him. All i can say, if i found that those nuts or wheel bearings were left lose. I'm not so sure I'd want that shop turning anymore wrench's on my truck, even if they do make things right. YMMV

Oh was not directed towards you, more towards the jackwagon who got full paid for a halfass job, there are a bunch of hacks out there . BTW the only person I flame on here is @NLXTACY

 

[shocktower]

Oh, boy, you just opened a can of worms.

My 94 FSM says that the lock nut should be torqued to 47 ft-lb, not the 58-72 you listed.

That is an Orygun spech the Hollwood ones are a little tighter

 

[shocktower]

Yes, the trunion bearings were changed. I was unaware that they were side and placement (top/bottom) specific. I will check with the mechanic tomorrow morning about that and if he changed out the race.

l re-visited my mechanic this evening and checked/did the following:

1) No gaps between the steering arm and knuckle.
2) Knuckle bolts were tight.
3) Tie rod ends are properly seated in the steering arms.
4) Loosened, and re-torqued the 52mm inner nut to 100 in/lbs (@8 ft/lbs). This did not have any positive/negative effect on the drive home.

During the inspection, we did notice that one of my lower front trailing arms (passenger side) is bowed inwards. I think this was caused by a un-tightened trailing arm to chassis bolt (the rear one) on the drivers side. This was discovered this weekend during the knuckle rebuild, but it had been loose for a few months, which caused it to have slight movement during acceleration and braking. My theory is that this transferred excessive force onto the "fixed" front passenger side trailing arm, causing it to bend over time. In addition to all this, most if not all six front trailing arm bushings are cracked pretty badly.

What I don't understand is, why all this came to light after the knuckle rebuild, and how in the world did the alignment place (firestone) say that there was nothing wrong!! I think I will start with getting a new control arm and installing new bushings on both arms (maybe even look for a used set with good bushings).

You have a bent radius arm up front ( the front arms are Radius not trailing ), when you do a knuckle rebuild and use different shims, it changes stuff I think the Firestone place dropped the ball or are missing something big time

 

[NLXTACY]

Oh was not directed towards you, more towards the jackwagon who got full paid for a halfass job, there are a bunch of hacks out there . BTW the only person I flame on here is @NLXTACY

 

[82much]

I have the same issue. Had my knuckles rebuilt by a shop and now cant get the alignment right. It wanders all over.

Just FYI...my truck never wandered before the knuckle rebuild.