Suspension Help

Been having an issue with my right wheel feeling as though it is aobbling around while driving. Mainly notice it at highaay speeds but you can feel it occasionally on regular roads. I've been so busy lately I never had the time to jack it up and see whats what until now. I can shake the tire but I cant really see whats moving or allowing the wheel to move. I took some pics of the front end to see if maybe some knowledgeable people on here can tell me whats wrong. Also included a pic of my flat leaf springs

 

Looks like you have a bad Shock/Strut in this pic. See the Black wettness up on the shock. Could be that. It will cause your tire to move more up and down because it has lost its dampening/Rebound properties.

 

Check the upper and lower ball joints.

 

Would it cause the tire to shake side to side as well? Because that's the only motion that it moves

 

That would be a bad wheel bearing

Edit: if you grab the top and bottom of the wheel, the wheel moves in and out? Thats indicative of a bad wheel bearing

 

Doesn't move. It moves when I grab the sides of the wheel

 

usually if there is a lot of side to side movements it would indicate inner tie rod. better yet if you have a lot of miles I would suggest replacing all your outer/inner tie rods, lower/upper ball joints and both front shocks.

 

Currently at 178k and everything is original

 

With that amount of milage it be a good idea to replace what i mention. Plus an alignment and if that doesnt solve the wheel shake i dont know what else to say other than wheel bearing, rack bushing or something is bent.

 

I had a shake I could never figure out. Replaced the struts, alignment, rotated the tires, replaced rack bushings, had the ball joints checked, replaced the stabilizer bar bushings. Not until I got new tires did I find out the belts had slipped on the tires. Of course, they were 10 years old.

 

LBJ, Outer Tie Rod, or Inner Tie Rod. Check them all. They Are fairly easy to replace with basic hand tools. if you do replace try to go OEM but if you cant then maybe raybestos or Moog.

I went in for an alignment after replacing the driver side LBJ and Inner Tie Rod. The tech had my truck up on the lift and he brought me out to show me how much play there was inside the steering rack bellow when he would shake the tire side to side. I'm also getting a side to side wobble, mainly at higher speeds.

 

Correct me if Im wrong but isnt there supposed to be a bolt there? 4 of them holding on the lower ball joint?

 

I don't know about a bolt, but there seems to be a gap there that doesn't look quite right...

 

Right now mine are dry rotted. Idk how old they are, but when I got the truck in March of last year the tread was maybe 65-70% so I just ran the truck like that. I was trying to hold off for a little while on getting tires when I can afford them and also after I get my suspension settled. Seems like I'll need to replace most of it. It's pretty much unpredictable when it comes to hitting bumps.

 

Certainly is missing a bolt on the lbj. That can't be helping the situation. I've had both bad rack bushings and inner tie rod ends go, and I noticed it as excessive play in the steering wheel.

 

OP, you definitely wanna look into that LBJ bolt. Not a very fun outcome if you lose all four. This was my damage...

Luckily I wasn't on the freeway goin 40+mph. On the plus side though. Was a perfect reason to get front glass put on
Good luck with your problem

 

Get that 4th bolt on there and then check/ tighten all the others on both sides. Apparently the bolts stripping out of the LBJ is a common occurrence and can be damaging/ harmful.

 

nah its there.. just a little bit hidden.. i circled it with red for u.

 

Nice detailing brother but I'm having a hell of a time laying on my side looking at pics...

But yeah you def want to check & probably R&R the lower ball joint, when they go, they just....go , then its about pulling your shorts out of your ass if your rolling down the road at any speed at all, mine dropped out in my driveway & still scared the shit out of me...

 

thanks i completely understand that lol. Sideways pics aren't the easiest to decipher.
x2 on checking the LBJ still.