Front end shake

[gerico]

Got some shake in the steering wheel and the wheels/tires are balanced and the shocks are OK. I suspect it's time to replace tie rod ends, ball joints, and possibly the steering dampner on my daily driver Ghia. Not lowered, 195 x 15 tires on Predrini rims. Don't race but might do the occasional autocross for fun. Are stock parts the way to go or is there anything better out there? I found this: http://www.evwparts.com/Merchant2/merch ... gory_Code=
Looks to be OK for stock parts but I've never done this before. Are any special tools needed other than a pickle fork for the ball joints?

[Lew]

Remove the steering damper and see if it quits! If so get a new one.....

[turbobaja]

Have you wiggled on your front end to see if you've got loose/warn parts? With the weight off the front wheels try prying in/out on the wheel with your hands @ 12 and 6 o'clock. If you feel some clunking or looseness it could be either your bearings, ball joints or the trailing arm bushings. It might take a second person to figure out which is loose. You can grab the suspect ball joint with one hand and wiggle the tire with the other and feel if the play is in the joint itself or if the trailing arm is loose in the beam.

As far as removing rod ends and ball joints, I've always had better luck with a hammer rather than a pickle fork. Once the nut is off or just loose on the stud, give the knuckle a couple good raps with a good sized hammer right at the side of where the stud mounts. A small hammer is pretty much useless here. 2lb sledge is perfered. Resist temptation to hammer directly on the end of the stud to drive it out. Make sure you've got a clear swing path for a couple good hits to the knuckle and let 'er rip. I've found this especially helpfull if you plan on reusing the ball joint or rod end. Sometimes the pickle forks tear up the grease boots pretty bad.

Now, for the rod ends on the steering box arm, you should probably use a small ball joint press if you're doing it with the box in the car. Any kind of hammering on the pitman arm while it's atatched to the steering box is likely to cause slop or some kind of problem with the box.


What kind of shake are you feeling? Speed related? Could be a bad tire. Swap tires front/back and see if the steering wheel shake goes away.

[andrewmurphy]

i had a shimmy in the stering wheel on my 71 beetle. it was the steering damper, cheap and easy fix.

[gerico]

Question for FJ:

Is a new stock steering damper OK or is there some better version to use?
Street car w/ 195s on the front.

[FJCamper]

Hi Gerico,

Stock steering dampners work just fine.

Ocassionally expensive special dampners have been sold (Koni made a good one) but the reason they never caught on was the stocks do a good job. You just have to replace them when they wear out.

We run stock dampners on both our road race Ghias.

FJC

[gerico]

Thanks FJ! I'll get a new stock damper and call it good.