Steering wobble?

[oregonhomeboy541]

I have a 1978 620 and i am getting a wobble when I drive.

Friends think I need to repack my bearings(which I should do)

I just was wondering if there were any other things i should look at if that doesn't fix it.

 

[datzenmike]

Loose steering causes....

Damaged rim.

Loose lug nuts.

Tire unbalanced, missing wheel weights

Improper tire pressure, (low)

Damaged tire cords or tread, includes mixed makes, sizes and radials mixed with bias or nylon ply.

Loose worn LCA ball joints or bushings

Loose worn upper control arm and or bushings

Loose or worn tie rod end ball joints.

Loose work idler arm or ball joints.

Loose or worn Pittman arm or ball joints

Worn or miss-adjusted steering box.

Improper alignment including toe and camber

 

 

Could also be caused by mixed makes and sizes, radials mixed with nylon and bias ply tires on the rear of the vehicle.

[oregonhomeboy541]

Thx, i'm starting to go down the list.

Now i got something to do today

[Draker]

First move the front tires to the rear and see if the issue moves to the back. If it doesn't then you can cross all tire issues off your list and start on the other front end steering component inspections.

[metalmonkey47]

I get a wobble at high speed in my 620, I also have play in my idler and center link. Just something to consider. 

[zgar72620]

check your hubs yet? what days are you off any way? let me know when work for you and ill help you check it out.

with my 521 i could physically shake the wheel with it off the ground it was so bad,but all it needed was grease. spindles were okay.

i work saturday sunday and monday nights. spend tuesdays with kate. so... friday? i live close so i can come to you, instead of having you drive way out north.

if you wanna take a crack at it before, try raising the front end, support it on stands. * you can borrow mine from jake if you need. 

once its on the stands and secure, turn the steering wheel back and forth slowly noticing and noises or odd vibrations in the wheel. next check components by simple visual inspection (i.e. bent, broken, loose stuff) and trying to wiggle parts. if something seems loose it has backed itself out and needs to be readjusted or replaced due to wear. i'd be more than willing to help with your valve adjustment too. forgot to give you those feeler gauges at the event. had them in my truck from when i recovered it from work the day before. >_< doh.

[oregonhomeboy541]

Thx Zach i have fri off too so that sounds like a winner,

now we just got to wait for the weather to shape up

[oregonhomeboy541]

So I flipped my front wheels to the back to see if the wobble would move, and found this deformity in a tire on my passenger side.

 

 

So I'm gonna get new tires and repack bearing and see how she goes.

[datzenmike]

Ha ha ha ha... Number four on my hit list.

 

 

Loose steering causes....

Damaged rim.

Loose lug nuts.

Tire unbalanced, missing wheel weights

Improper tire pressure, (low)

Damaged tire cords or tread, includes mixed makes, sizes and radials mixed with bias or nylon ply.

Loose worn LCA ball joints or bushings

Loose worn upper control arm and or bushings

Loose or worn tie rod end ball joints.

Loose work idler arm or ball joints.

Loose or worn Pittman arm or ball joints

Worn or miss-adjusted steering box.

Improper alignment including toe and camber

 

 

Could also be caused by mixed makes and sizes, radials mixed with nylon and bias ply tires on the rear of the vehicle.

[oregonhomeboy541]

thank you all knowing Ratsun..

now I  just need some cash..

I wont drive like this.

[banzai510(hainz)]

tires EZ.com has nice made in USA Cooper tires  for cheap!

[datzenmike]

I have a 1978 620 and i am getting a wobble when I drive.

Friends think I need to repack my bearings(which I should do)

I just was wondering if there were any other things i should look at if that doesn't fix it.

 

Get in the habit of looking at your tires when you walk up to your car. I don't mean all 4,  just the ones on the side you walk up to. Sooner or later you see all 4 of them even is just in the WallMart lot. Just glance at them... are they low on air maybe? Do they look symetrical? (round) anything odd? I do this on our company van, we're supposed to do a walk around inspection daily but that's unrealistic. I manage to see all 4 tires during the day. Just looking for something out of the ordinary and catch it before it gets worse.  

 

Your tire has been fucked for a long time and should have been noticed before now. Maybe this is a new vehicle to you though and still finding things. Maybe someone put it on to get rid of it..

[oregonhomeboy541]

Yea my prev. owner was.....uneducated......great guy just did some weird stuff with the truck.

kinda picking up the pieces.

but thx for the advice

[Buzzbomb]

I know the problem is solved, but I saw DatzenMike post "loose or worn idler arm".. I had the bushing in my idler arm literally fall out when I was driving, and let me tell you, that was quite an experience. I thought my truck was going to break in half! You can get just the bushing for an idler arm, BTW. I had a tire with decent tread have a belt slip like the one above and I think that hastened the exit of my idler arm bushing..The tire went bad and the bushing fell out a month later.

 

Discount Tire has a nice Korean made tire for our trucks, assuming you run the stock 14'ers. It's called the Hankook H724, and it's a nice tire for less than $60 a piece. It's rated for 70,000 miles. Just bought one (had another bad tire across from a new(er) tire) and I like it alot. It's a nice tire for the money, IMHO. I know you're supposed to replace in pairs, but my other tire is pretty new, so I didn't want to waste the money. This Hankook is such a nice tire, I kind of wish both were ready to be replaced. Couldn't see wasting money on something I didn't really need though. The tread pattern is similar enough to the old one..That's the Ratsun way, right :D?

[datzenmike]

Use the other as a spare?

[oregonhomeboy541]

So I got new tire...had some 15s waiting for this time to come,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gonna do bushing probably next weekend along with bearing repacking

 

 

[zgar72620]

So I got new tire...had some 15s waiting for this time to come,

 

 

 

 

[img=http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd341/bottlerocketboy/Ratsuns/DSC01693Medium.jpg]

 

[img=http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd341/bottlerocketboy/Ratsuns/DSC01695Medium.jpg]

 

Gonna do bushing probably next weekend along with bearing repacking

 

Don't forget penetrating oil on your sway bar brackets. An hour of soaking and prep could save you tons of time on bolt extraction... Learn from my mistake! Always be patient. And if you're just doing the idler arm bush that took me 5 minutes in Claire's 210. Really easy.