Some of my steering woes were mentioned in a thread about my stabilizer bar issues (http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-How-Bad-Is-It). Instead of continuing things there, I'll focus on the steering issues here.
Since I don't drive much, and since money has always been an issue due to longstanding eye alignment issues, I ended up getting a cheap parts kit on fleaBay. Even if they only lasted 60,000 miles, that might have lasted me up to 10 years. Little did I know that some parts can be so badly made that they can crap out in a fraction of that mileage.
A problem with the Pitman arm became obvious when I turned the steering shaft with my hand. I could see the Pitman arm moving back and forth. While replacing it with a cheap TRW from RockAuto (I can't help myself), I noticed some up-down movement in the idler arm. Here's what I noted in the stabilizer bar thread:
I happened to see somewhere (I think on a truck site) that for idler arms, back and forth is good while up and down is bad. I finally got around to replacing it after getting a cheap Qualis idler arm on RockAuto. (I'm figuring at least these name brand cheapies have to be better than the no-name Chinesium crap that I got on fleaBay.) I ended up measuring about 4-5 degrees of up-down movement in the bad idler arm, resulting in just over 1/4" of deflection at the center link end. Maybe one of these days I'll cut into it to see what the heck is in there.
Unfortunately, my test drive revealed the continuation of some slop, and I mucked around some more. While rocking the passenger side wheel from side to side, I found a small bit of play and figured it was one of the tie rod ends. Oddly enough, they didn't seem to be moving, but I could hear some kind of faint "schlock" sound when moving the wheel. It turned out that the clamp on the sleeve for the inner tie rod end was loose. Apparently all the oil that I spray was making the "schlock" sound in the threads. I tried tightening the nut, and it kept turning. I guess the alignment guy stripped the bolt, though I can't rule out that the cheap quality was a cause or contributing factor. Luckily, I still had the old tie rods and was able to scavage a bolt and nut. The passenger side seemed fine with the clamp tightened, but I can't say for how long.
On the driver's side, the outer tie rod end clearly has some slop. FML. I've driven only somewhere around 16,000 miles since replacing all that stuff three years ago, and three things have crapped out already. It definitely pays to do things right the first time.
Since I don't drive much, and since money has always been an issue due to longstanding eye alignment issues, I ended up getting a cheap parts kit on fleaBay. Even if they only lasted 60,000 miles, that might have lasted me up to 10 years. Little did I know that some parts can be so badly made that they can crap out in a fraction of that mileage.
A problem with the Pitman arm became obvious when I turned the steering shaft with my hand. I could see the Pitman arm moving back and forth. While replacing it with a cheap TRW from RockAuto (I can't help myself), I noticed some up-down movement in the idler arm. Here's what I noted in the stabilizer bar thread:
Originally posted by IPreferDIY
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Unfortunately, my test drive revealed the continuation of some slop, and I mucked around some more. While rocking the passenger side wheel from side to side, I found a small bit of play and figured it was one of the tie rod ends. Oddly enough, they didn't seem to be moving, but I could hear some kind of faint "schlock" sound when moving the wheel. It turned out that the clamp on the sleeve for the inner tie rod end was loose. Apparently all the oil that I spray was making the "schlock" sound in the threads. I tried tightening the nut, and it kept turning. I guess the alignment guy stripped the bolt, though I can't rule out that the cheap quality was a cause or contributing factor. Luckily, I still had the old tie rods and was able to scavage a bolt and nut. The passenger side seemed fine with the clamp tightened, but I can't say for how long.
On the driver's side, the outer tie rod end clearly has some slop. FML. I've driven only somewhere around 16,000 miles since replacing all that stuff three years ago, and three things have crapped out already. It definitely pays to do things right the first time.
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