i just put my MT ET streets on the back and took it out for a spin last night. car runs great and the tires are outstanding. i cant wait to lower the pressure and warm them up.

on the first drive with the MT's i hear a metal rattling sound up front. sounded like the front right. this was after hard exceleration to about 55. i got off the gas and the sound went away. i thought maybe i just hit something and it fell off. it was night so i couldnt see very well. another few hundred feet down the road i hear it again. it now seems very local to the front right side like i am dragging something. i pull over to side of the road and there is nothing. absolutely nothing looks out of place. not taking any chances i turn around and go home. on the way home i hear it again but this time it sounds like something falls off and bounces under and out the back of the car. i immediately pull over and walk the road. i can only find about an inch of a broken bolt with a nut still on it. the bounce under the car sounded way bigger than that. nothing else on the ground.

i take it out this morning and i have a noticeable shimmy in the front above 55 or 60. i took it up to 100 and it got real bad. i also have a very slight pull to the left. i got back home and put it up on stands with the tires off the front. i looked all over and cant find a thing wrong. the only problem i found was where the tie rod end attached to the knuckle was a completely flat bushing. that bushing lost all lube along time ago given the cracks on it. i checked the driver side to compare and it has been replaced with a bushing you can grease. the passenger is completely sealed with no place to lube it.

any ideas please send them. start with the most obvious stuff too. i am my own mechanic but dont know alot about the suspension parts. thanks.

david

 

If you are starting to notice a pull that means your caster has changed. Check to make sure that the bolt didn't fall out of any control arms or the craddle underneath the car. That is where I would start first.

 

control arm upper and lower on the body - all good and these bolts are 4 times the size of what i found on the ground.

control arms on the knuckel - all bolts are good but all bushings upper and lower are flat. are these difficult to change??

endlinks and sway bar mounts / links - all good also.

i am checking both the driver and passenger side so i can do comparisons until i find something different. thanks for the help.

david

 

not sure where to check on the cradle??

i also looked at the shocks upper and lower and everything is nice and tight.

david

 

On the craddle just check the bolts that hold it up to the body. there are about 8 or so. The bushings are not hard to change. They just pound in and out. However it is easier if you have an air hammer to pound them out. Just get underneath the lip and pound them ******d then you con either pound in the new ones with a hammer and socket around the outside edge or press them in. Also are you sure the shake is comeing from the front? Is it in the steering wheel or seat of your pants? If yours had rack and pinon check the bolts that hold that in and if it has the older style check the bolts for the idler arm

 

i cant say for sure where the shake is coming from. its definately in the steering wheel but i can also feel it in the seat. its almost like the whole car is doing it. the previous metal sound was definately front. the shake is more like the whole car. i still have the stock rims with tires on them. i was going to put them back on and see what happens. thanks for the ideas.

david

 

My front end also shakes like a hula dancer above 60 mph but i think it might be my tierod ends. I plan to change the tie rods soon. Something else that might cause your wheel to shake could be a bubble on your tire. The loud metal piece that you heard and found could have been a nut that you ran over and bounced around the bottom of your car. Just a thought. Alohaz

 

the cradle bolts are all good. someone at work suggested wheel bearings. i looked through my haynes manual but didnt see the procedure. i will start pulling things apart this weekend and see what i can find bolted to the knuckle. i wonder if this is all one sealed unit that i must replace as a whole??

david

 

What kind of tires are you running up front? Street tires. I've heard of people having problems with the car shimmying if you run a mix of street tire and slick or ET street. Try putting a street tire back on the back in place of the ET streets and see if the shimmy goes away.

 

Like smoknta said I would diffently try it with your old wheels and tires back on. Did you check to see if your new wheels were rubbing your calipers and maybe that was the noise you were hearing. Also to check the wheel bearing jack the car up off the ground, grip it with your hands from the top and bottom of the tire and try to move it in and out. If you feel any play in or out the bearing is bad. I think they might be sealed bearings. The can also make a metal to metal noise if they are going out. You can drive it and turn some corners. When you turn a corner and unload the bad bearing the noise will go away till you go straight or turn the other direction.

 

i have some cheap *** marshall 275/35 17's. i doubt its the tires/rims. they have been on the car up to 130 without any vibration a few times. its not impossible but the fronts had 1500 to 2000 miles on them with no issues at all until i went to the DR's on the rear.

that is not happening on the front. see above. i did pull the caliper and loosened the 4 hub bolts but i cant get it off the knuckle. any tips on how to do this part?? my bushings are all shot to hell so i will have to get it off anyway to replace the ball joints. the hub (? the part with the 5 lug bolts on it ?) doesnt seem to have any play in it at all but with no weight on the front end becuase its on stands that may affect this push pull test. any tips on getting the hub assembly out?? the haynes manual makes it sound like it almost falls out when you pull the 4 bolts out holding it to the knuckle. i also have some ls1 calipers and knuckles on the way so i will be doing some decent front end work while i am here. i should call sam strano while i am in there.

david

 

awe crap. i just did some reading and found out the hub assembly is just that. an assembly that is going to run me about 130 to replace. anyway can someone tell me how to get it off the knuckle?? thanks.

david

 

i was talking to another gear head and they suggested u-joints. this is the size of the cracked bolt i picked up on the steet. any thoughts on it being the u-joint?? thanks.

david