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Strange pull in steering...

T

tredse1

CEG'er
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
316
Location
Wagoner, OK
When i first bought my tour it pulled at little to the right...no biggie deal with it when i can...then about a week or so later i noticed that it was now pulling to the left! well long story short i have since notice that it does it often like it changes almost every time i drive it! well it got a lot more noticeable(stronger pull) one day so knowing that ball joints and wheel bearings can be tested by feeling for strange movements and sounds when making quik sharp turns i tryed that...whipped the wheel back and forth a few times and didn't really notice the typical symptoms, but i was kinda suprised when i stopped jerking the wheel to find that it now pulls the other way...whipped it a few more times and sure enough it pulled back the other way! could this be the ball joints/wheel bearings or am i totally off track?



:mad: I subsribe to my threads so they won't become an unresolved PITA....and so should you!!:mad:
 
You need to have a knowledgable person or mechanic take a look at your car. It could be anything from a bad steering rack to loose wheel nuts and anything in between.
 
i plan on redoing the front end my self when i can afford the parts...."professionals" just f-up my car and steal my money- no thanks...i know how to do the work, i just havn't ever experienced anything like this on any other cars before....

-sorry i've had bad experiences every time i have tried to take a vehicle to a shop...always lose money and still have to fix it myself plus whatever else they manage to screw up.
 
Rara said:
You need to have a knowledgable person or mechanic take a look at your car. It could be anything from a bad steering rack to loose wheel nuts and anything in between.
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i agree. this seems to be more serious than you think. the freeway might end up being the place you feel the full seriousness of the problem. by then, all you'll see will be the oncoming divider.
 
Well, if you know how everything is supposed to go together, you should be able to get in there and figure out what the problem is yourself then. It could be any of a large number of things causing it, ranging from just a nuisance to potentially very dangerous. I don't think you grasp the fact that if its one of the serious items, you may lose all steering control suddenly, and the car may go off on its own. Either get someone that knows what they are doing to look it over and figure out where in the steering or suspension the problem actually is, or go over it yourself if you do actually know what you are doing. The point being is you need to figure it out before someone gets hurt.

It could be in your steering shaft, it could be in the rack, could be the rack mounting, could be tie rod inner, or tie rod outer, could be bad suspension bushings, could be loose suspension bolts, could be a bad wheel bearing / hub, could be loose or broken wheel studs / nuts. And this is just the first few places I would look.
 
The only proper way to diagnose this is with the entire front end off the ground, so you can check for play in all the suspension joints. Something is probably worn, but it could be as simple as tie rod ends. Stop driving the car until you figure it out.
 
i wish it was as simple as you all say...however i drive 100+ miles a day to work...and it is my only transportation right now..truck is down temporarily...i don't get paid for another week, and if i stop driving it i'll stop getting paid, then i can't fix it for sure! had i not got ripped off by taking it to the shop recenly i could afford these parts! my prob is time and money i was hopeing someone had this same prob so i could narow down my search once i can work on it.

after the 2-300 mi since my last post i a pretty sure it is a wheel bearing tho..it now has an intermitted moderate shake on the wheel and a droaning sound from the right front that goes away when pressure is releaved from the wheel, which in my exprience is usually a bearing...but not always!

more input is welcomed and wanted...otherwise i will post as i discover and repair.

thanks for all the iput so far....even the not-so-nice..:P
 
All this talk of the "9 and 3 test" has me a little worried-- If there's actual play in the bearing, it's real bad, and it means you're in danger of the wheel falling off. When a bearing is just beginning to go bad, you can tell by spinning the wheel or the hub and listening or feeling for roughness.

If you're waiting for a bearing to fail the 9 and 3 test before replacing it, that's waiting way too long.
 
you dont ride with any fat chicks, do you? that'll do it :laugh:

story time:

we had a woman come in with her early 90's golf literally 4 times in one week claiming that we never aligned her car properly. keep in mind this is a BIG woman. we had the alignment done right on the money. made sure to test it on the thruway to ensure that it was driving in a straight line. sure enough, shes back the next day asking us to align her car for free because it wasnt done properly. one of the techs finally realized what was happening. the weight of this woman threw the camber so far out of whack that the car was pulling very hard to the left. he adjusted the camber to compensate for her weight and sent it out the door. we havent seen the car since. moral of this story- dont pick up fat chicks
 
mcgarvey said:
All this talk of the "9 and 3 test" has me a little worried-- If there's actual play in the bearing, it's real bad, and it means you're in danger of the wheel falling off. When a bearing is just beginning to go bad, you can tell by spinning the wheel or the hub and listening or feeling for roughness.

If you're waiting for a bearing to fail the 9 and 3 test before replacing it, that's waiting way too long.
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i was testing to feel for play, i was not trying to see how much abuse it would take...i just bought the car in jan so i hav'nt done that much to it...how the hell would i know it had a worn-out bearing if it didn't act funny? i tested it to try to narrow it down to a specific part. i don't know about you guys but i don't get an email or somthing when a parts goes out, i have to acctually figure out what it is myself...and if any of you knew anything about this subjest you would know that firdt off these are weird symptoms..not typical of other car (thus why i posted in the first place) and that steering and suspension probs offten are not that easy to identify the problem part.

i posted this hopeing to get some help because the problem i am having seems like a possible bearing or tie rod..yet it also has symptoms that counter-indicate this...confusing...i hoped that someone else had similar probs so they could point me in the right direction. I did not post this so a buch of people who apparently don't know **** about this subject could jump in and make fun of me..i don't appreciate this, just wanted a little help, not a load of bull****.

oh, yeah how in the f%*K is the wheel gonna fall off??? that is the most stupid thing i have ever heard!

EDIT: this isn't aimed at mcgarvey, i just included my rant in with my reply to his post
 
Check your inner tie-rod ends.

to check the inner tie rods, raise one side off the ground. if you cant reach around the wheel then remove it. reach in and grab ahold of the inner tie-rod and push and pull it back and forth. if there is any movement at all it needs to be replaced. set that side of the car down and repeat for the other side.
 
striker2 said:
Check your inner tie-rod ends.

to check the inner tie rods, raise one side off the ground. if you cant reach around the wheel then remove it. reach in and grab ahold of the inner tie-rod and push and pull it back and forth. if there is any movement at all it needs to be replaced. set that side of the car down and repeat for the other side.
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thank you for posting the first freindly suggestion..i have a couple days off so i'm gonna try to look at it today or tommorow and i will try that too
 
No need to get all pissy! We're trying to help. And yes, I may actually know a thing or two about the subject.

Why is what I said the stupidest thing you've ever heard? What exactly do you think connects the wheel to the car? Surprise!! The hub bearing!

Dude, you seriously need to relax. I don't know what gave you the idea anyone was giving you a hard time or anything. I didn't want to see you get into an accident or something. Don't assume we don't know anything useful. After all, YOU were the one who asked for help.
 
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