front end trouble

[john112deere]

There's something wrong in the front end of my truck (maybe many things) and I'm going to try to figure it out tomorrow, when I've got the use of a friend's garage.

I'm not clueless when it comes to suspension and steering, but I don't know too much, either.

Anyway, symptoms are- wanders pretty bad in the wind, occasionally pulls slightly to one side or the other, noisy over bumps, lousy on-center steering feel, assorted vibrations that come and go, and the front end just doesn't "feel" right.

Now, I'm real fussy, and it's an old truck. It passed state inspection without comment in October, and they were working on the brake lines at the time, so there's nothing that's dangerous yet, I don't think. But I don't like it.

I've tightened the steering box a little, and I think I'm going to tighten it a little more, but all that really did was make it twitchier- still had lousy feel and tracking.

Thougts on common problems on a twin i-beam Ford, or tips and tricks to locating regular wear?

EDIT: Noises, feeling "wrong," etc. seem to be more the right wheel than the left.

Thanks!

 

[mrfixit]

If I was to guess, I'd look at the shocks first. If they're old, replace em anyway. With no other noises, that'd be my first guess.

Do the rangers have the radius arm bushings on the front? Being an I-beam it's possible. check those out too. A good chain/cable and a stout tree make em easy to replace.

 

[john112deere]

I will look at the shocks, for sure. They're only 2 years/20k miles old, but they were cheap and never very satisfactory.

It does have radius arm bushings. I've never been able to figure out how you're supposed to check them, though. They look OK, but I can't see the part that matters.

Thanks!

 

[surewhynot]

Tightening the steering box may just mask problems. It is possible to tighten it too much and cause problems for it. Get the front of the truck up on jack stands and have somebody sit inside and slowly move the steering wheel back and forth. They don't have to turn it far, just enough to take up any play. While they are doing that, look at all of the steering linkage underneath to see if there is any slack. Steering and front end problems can be cumalitive. A couple of small bits of play can add up and make it feel real bad.

 

[mrfixit]

Make sure you put the jackstands under the A-arms, so you don't just tighten everything up by tensioning it.

The Radius arm bushings CAN look fine, and mine did on my old truck even.. but I was able to get some fore/aft play while it sat flat on the ground by using a crowbar to "push" the wheel both ways, both sides. Once I actually removed it, I found the centers had worn out.

 

[surewhynot]

Good point. Does the Ranger have twin I beams like the fullsize?

 

[john112deere]

It's twin I-beam. I've never compared it very closely to a full-size, but IIRC, it looks about the same as my aunt's '89 2wd F-150.

I'm not tightening the steering to mask other problems. But the box has 246k miles on it, and is a little sloppy. It's not the cause of, or solution to, my problem, but I think it will improve the steering once I get the rest of it sorted out.

Off to borrow a (heated) garage for the day...

 

[john112deere]

I can't find any play. VERY slight movement when I grab the wheel at 3 and 9, but it looks to me like it's all from the opposite tire flexing. Took the the right shock (that side seems worse) and fully compressed and extended it a few times- seems fine.

Where are you putting the bar to check the radius arm bushings? Parallel or perpendicular to the truck? I am trying to make the radius arm go up and down, not side to side, right?

Thanks!

 

[mrfixit]

Front to back... just have the rear wheels chocked and see if there is movement from front to back on the front wheels by using the bar as a pry lever to try to make the tire roll forward or backward.

ON EDIT: Have you also checked your sway bar bushings? they won't cause ALL your symptoms, but can amplify some of them.

 

[john112deere]

I think I'm gonna change the sway bar bushings soon, more because they're cheap, easy, and I'm reduced to throwing parts at the damn thing because I can't figure out what's wrong with it.

Unless I've got a bad tire (and the other pair of good tires I've got for this truck are 150 miles away and not mounted on rims), the only thing I can figure is wrong with it is that EVERYTHING is kinda a little worn, and the combination winds up miserable to drive. So maybe fixing a few easy and cheap things will make it enough better that I don't mind it so much. Or at least hurt my knuckles and wallet enough to remind me that for the miles it's got and the lack of cash I've dumped into it, it still goes down the road pretty damn good, and I'll leave it until it gets worse (by which point, hopefully, I can identify whatever the root of the problem is).

 

[surewhynot]

Can you try putting the rear tires on the front?

 

[john112deere]

I can, but they rears are studded snow tires (the all-seasons I run in the summer are the unmounted ones 150 miles away) and I've yet to drive a vehicle that DIDN'T handle poorly with cheap snow tires on the steer wheels*. If I can muster the energy tomorrow, I may make the swap anyway- won't take that long, and might tell me something, I guess.

*That being said, the fastest I've ever driven, and the fastest I've ever been in a car, were on Nokian snow tires. So smooth and solid, we all kinda forgot what the tires were until after. Sometimes, I think it's a miracle I survived last spring at all...

 

[john112deere]

Swapped the tires front to rear, drove around a little. It's still got terrible on-center feel and tracking, but did feel a bit more stable on the highway (which, given that they're snows on the front, means it probably would be lots better with good all-seasons).

Not really sure what my next step is gonna be... Might still do the sway bar bushings, as the years and miles must have put some wear on them, but I'm not sure.

If I wanted to upgrade to better shocks, but I'm not willing to spring for Bilstiens, anyone got a recommendation of a decent shock for a bit less money? Maybe $40/ or less?

EDIT: Two other things:
-The RF tire had a SLIGHT wrinkle on the inside sidewall. I'm pretty sure I've ignored it for a lot of miles, and I'm almost positive I've ignored worse on other tires at times, but now it's got me to wondering...
-The crappy on-center feel and lousy tracking sorta feel like too little toe-in to me, though a couple shops have checked the alignment and disagreed. I'm sorta tempted to crank it in a little, just to see what happens, but I'm getting a bit out of my depth there. If I keep track of how much I turn it, I can just turn it back the same amount and be back where I started, right?

 

[john112deere]

One interesting (but probably irrelevant) thing popped up over the weekend.

On the LF wheel, the locking ring for the bearing nut was apparently mangled and reinstalled by an idiot. By the looks of it, he bent one of the "teeth" when he was taking the cotter pin out, and then (this is the genius part) put it back with THAT tooth right next to the cotter pin. I moved it away from the cotter pin. It didn't change anything, and I didn't think it would. But I did find it interesting.

The red one should lie flat against the spindle, like the blue one does, instead of coming up at a 45* angle like it does. It was installed where the blue one is, right next to the head of the cotter pin. :banghead: