I have a new to me '89 Camaro RS. It has a squeak that is intermittent and coming from the drivers front wheel area; nothing visible is rubbing. Bearings? Also, moderate vibration from rear end. How can I tell if it's the drive shaft or the wheels being out of balance? Maybe u-joints? And I think that I need to rebuild the front end steering-wise. How can I get the ball joints out and in w/o air tools? Whew... Thanks in advance!
- R

 

one step at a time . check all the simple stuff first , tire condition , balance , etc. . old tires , tread seperation bubbles and so on would be my first suspect . front end ball joints just a BFH . if your not sure about front end , get a friend that knows them & check it out . ( EOD eh , you don't have the big brass ones , you have big carbide ones . ) stay safe , good luck .

 

Hydraulic tools

 

Gee thanks Greg...

 

the sqeak is an A-arm bushing maybe a swaybar bushing, i removed and installed my front bal;l joints with a BFH, i do not recommend it, autozone will loan you a balljoint press

 

Wait... is that sarcastic?!?
Seriously though, use a hydraulic press, or a ball-joint press.

The squeak is likely the swaybar bushings, the stock A-arm bushings aren't known to squeak. You can try replacing the swaybar bushings with poly ones, or just try and lube the current ones. If it's even that kind of squeak. Or is it more of a chirp? Does it sound like it's a rotational squeak, or is it just there when you hit bumps? Or when you're braking? Or turning?

The vibration is likely the driveshaft. Jack the rear wheels up off the ground with the car in neutral and crawl under it. Turn the driveshaft and make sure your balance weights are still in place. (They probably are, and the DS probably still it the problem) Also check to make sure the balance weights are still in place on the wheels. The only time a wheel should be out of balance is if the balance weights are missing, since almost any shop will balance them when they install the tires.

How many miles are on your car? If it has high mileage (maybe 120K+) on it the steering linkage and ball joints probably need to be replaced. You can lift the front wheels up and grab the tires and try and shake the wheels, they should feel very solid, but this method will usually only reveal very worn parts.

 

The car has 85k on it. The wheels don't wiggle; I just replaced the calipers and rotters. The squeak is constant and increases with speed. That's why I don't think that it's a bushing. I could be wrong though. The drive shaft could use new u-joints. The yoke has no play and all of the weights are there. Autozone has a ball joint deally that they said was pretty straight forward to use if I need it. I sure do hope not though.

 

Hello
Like mentioned above I would look into the bushings. And if you do need to replace any I would recommend a poly bushing due to the fact that they hold up better than a rubber bushing. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I will be more than glad to help.
Thanks
Brad