Out Of Alignment Easily

[DanW]

My 92 ls400 seems to work its way out of alignment fairly easily.... It is due for its second front end alignment in less than a year. This time, and last time, the wheel is cockeyed to the right, and the car feels great turning right at highway speeds, and wanders turning left at highway speeds. If you just point it down the road....it actually doesn't pull right or left.

I do know that my right upper ball joint is very worn (can turn it with my fingers) but I don't get any clunking up there.... does anyone know if this ball joint can cause alignment problems?

[Robert Young]

Short answer is yes, worth fixing it before you spend $$ for another alignment.

[pishta]

Short answer is yes, worth fixing it before you spend $$ for another alignment.

At 500 bucks a side to replace, I would get a second opinion on an upper ball joint causing an alignment issue, AS you know the upper is part of the UCA and that has 2 bushings that isolate it fron the chassis, they can go bad and are far less than a new UCA. Lower BJ's are cheap, easy to replace and the tire rod ends have a far more pronounced effect on an alignment than the Upper ball joints. CLunks are bad, a turnable BJ is not a worn out BJ.

[steve2006]

Hi,

Have a look on ebay as we in the UK have been buying 2 top wishbones with balljoints for $200.00 I haven't had any feedback yet as to how good they are but worth a look.

Here's the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...944245&rd=1

[pishta]

Hi,

Have a look on ebay as we in the UK have been buying 2 top wishbones with balljoints for $200.00 I haven't had any feedback yet as to how good they are but worth a look.

Here's the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...944245&rd=1

I have seen that and that is the deal of the century on those, but heard their air shocks were junk. There is still the labor charge but Ill deffinantly link to those in the future, You cant buy the bushings for less than 70 a side. Might have to sell one of my digital cameras for a pair of those...and free shipping to US address, nice. There is a review on this manufacturer, they say the arms look to be rebuilt/repainted but who cares for that price.

[DanW]

Just to update this thread....

I was suspicious that the right side suspension was causing the sloppiness when turning left, and I was correct. Today I replaced the right side UCA and outer tie rod. That really helped...left turns are tight as a drum. Now right turns actually feel a bit loose (though not as bad as the left turn was), but I suspect after I change the right side this week (I just didn't have time today for both sides) the steering will be like new.

A few notes on the process.

1) pishta is right, the tie rods likely have the most impact. The ball joint on the UCA on the right side was turnable with my fingers, but actually feels rather smooth, boot looks good, and the bushings look decent. I'm keeping the old UCA in my spare parts box. I already bought the new parts, so whatever. The ball joint on the tie rod was almost mush. It looks like the boot wore away (or someone used a pickle fork on it) and it was just completely trashed.

2) you do not need to removed the strut to change the UCA. This was mentioned on an earlier thread I can't seem to find right now. Remove the upper end of the sway bar link from the sway bar, and take off the three bolts on top of the strut (under the hood). Put a jack under the steering knuckle (or LCA or whereever underneath there, just to provide support) and lower everything until the top bolts clear the frame of the car. This will allow enough play to get a socket on the bolts that hold the UCA on. I would reccommend at least a 20" breaker with a 17mm 6pt. socket and liquid wrench. They will be on very tight! also, it will be a tight fit, so try not to have to use any 1/2-3/8 drive adapters or anything like that, not even the really short ones.

3) mark the tie rod end with the wife's nail polish before you take it off. There is a nut on the inner tie rod that snugs it (and since I'm not a real mechanic I don't know what its called) and if you put nail polish behind that (toward the steering rack) you can replace the outer tie rod to right where it was.

4) the 'pitman arm puller' from autozone is what I used to pull the UCA and the tie rod. Something a little smaller might be nicer for the tie rods...but the pitman arm puller will work fine.

5) by the way make sure you tie the steering knuckle to something (the strut works fine) when removing the uca as to not mangle the brake line!

Hope that helps.

[DanW]

And to beat this dead horse....

Today I replaced the left side UCA and tie rod end. Now it steers like new, but both UCAs and the left tie rod end went in the spare parts box. The right tie rod I replaced yesterday had the most dramatic impact.

[pishta]

And to beat this dead horse....

Today I replaced the left side UCA and tie rod end. Now it steers like new, but both UCAs and the left tie rod end went in the spare parts box. The right tie rod I replaced yesterday had the most dramatic impact.

Good to know. Mine seems to pull slightly to the r even after messing with the tie rod ends to get it to go straight. It only seems to pull R at speed so a worn part sounds correct as the r tire is being pulled back by the road. Ill check my outer tie rod ends. I am looking into those 200 buck UCA's on ebay. Question: Can you gut the worn ball joint in your old UCA and replace with a more cost friendly piece, like from a ford or something? I was looking into doing this but I would need a UCA to get specs on. this would involve removing the old BJ and machining the UCA to receive a new BJ , either bolt in or press fit with circlip retainer. A guy down in Australia did this with a SC400 and put in Holden V8 (new Pontiac GTO here) ball joints and now has a serviceable BJ in a "OEM" UCA.