I notice that whenever I am slowing down to stop, right as I get to about 1 or 2 mph, I hear a grinding noise from the front of the car, and the car stops abruptly. As I was turning in to a parking spot, the wheels locked and the front tires were dragged sideways a few inches. When I tried to move forward, it felt like I was trying to drive over a speedbump.. like it took some extra power to get going.. I dunno how to describe it. It felt like something was 'Binding'.

Im gonna pull the wheels off this weekend. I already know my balljoints are shot, so I may be replacing them as a friday afternoon project. But I didnt think bad ball joints would cause the symptoms I just described..

Any ideas?

FYI, It does it whether the wheels are straight or not, and only going forward.

 

sounds like tie rod ends. Maybe idler arm.

If you know your ball joints are bad, you do realize that if you manage to release tension from them, they can drop the lower arm? If not that that be a strong life lesson. I have seen it happen.

The car in front of me was going over speed bump too fast, the front springs compressed, then the car came to a screeching halt on the frame. The front tires were literally sideways out of the wheel wells. When you have a f'ed up suspension GET IT FIXED ASAP! and do not drive the car unless absolutely necessary.

 

uhm .....you sure its not the brakes causeing the grinding and abrupt stopping ??????

 

The brakes, if worn and grabby, would be "grabby" nearly all the time and be prone to locking up. I would hope he would be able to tell brake grind noise. Nothing else quite sounds like it.

Also, grinding brakes seldom act like the way he describes. Braking would be noisey at all times, and be lengthy, meaning excessive stopping distances. I have only seen "rivet braking" lock up a wheel on very loose surfaces. The metal is just so worn and untempered by that point it offers almost no resistance for giving way bending.

The wheels "locking" while slow driving, or slow turning, is almost always tie rod ends. They get into a worn grove and the RPMs of the tire cannot gather enough force to keep them semi stright and upright. Centifical force is what I am talking about. When that force is in effect, it can do amazing things. It can make a wheel that has the most shot bearings you have ever seen run fairly straight to make you think there is nothing wrong with them.

I say get the front wheels off the ground and free of weight. Shake 10 o'clock and 2. If you hear noise as you should with blown rod ends you will know instantly. Also as a side note, One worn suspension componet can ruin every thing else it is attached to directly or indirectly in a matter of months.

IE A cause effect chain---
his blown ball joints allow excess play that allows the spindle to move.
The moving spindle forces excess movement in the steering linkage (Tie rod ends, idler arm, drag links)
That in turn could effect the strut, causeing it to wear out the seals.
That in turn could prematurly wear out the spings.
And once the front end can move at will, that can allow excess movement at the steering box allowing pressure to create cracks at that frame joint.
Need I even mention the tire damage by now?

Yeah it gets expensive quick. All over not replacing some 30$ ball joints.

 

hey just asking ive seen some pretty silly questions turn out to be some easy answers on here before and some times peoples explenations arent always what they are ...
i understand how the front end and braking systems work i was just offering an idea

 

also he should look at his wheel bearings they have been known to lock up and grind but the grind is usually a howl noise before they go out

 

What do you mean drop the control arm? I've changed quite a few ball joints and I dont understand what you mean...

 

I mean that the worn ball joint can come apart. Effective falling out or dropping the lower a arm. this will make the front of the car hit the ground.

General, I did not mean to slam you, but I can see how that could be interpreted.
I have seen on many message boards that people can give suggestions, but have no idea what they are talking about. They just try to fub through it.
You can notice that when ever I reply to a problem like this is give the symptoms a once over and then the possible causes. That way anyone reading can see the natural progression thing from one theory to the next, and see the reasons why and how I pinpoint certain "mentioned problems".

Not to sound big headed, but in many years of roaming the boards depending on what vehicle I own at the time. You can count on 2 hands how many times I have been wrong.

 

Okay, I see what your saying. Im defenantly changing those ball joints soon. We'll take a look at the tie rid ends while we're there.

Also - Idler arm? You lost me there, I thought 92's had rack and pinion steering.

EDIT: Nevermind, I dont get many chances to work on my own car, so I didnt know, and I just assumed it was rack and pinion. A quick glace underneath proved otherwise, so it looks like i'll be checking the idler/pittman arms as well.

 

Is that the original idler arm? The idler arm on our cars (82-92) is a "wear" item, meaning, eventually it wears out- even if you've never hit a pothole or jumped a curb.

I'm on my second replacement... first replacement was in 1995, second replacement was last year w/the suspension rebuild (2003).

 

As far as I know.

This is gonna suck.. last time I worked on worm gear steering, I was taking off a pittman arm.. I had to superheat it with a flame wrench to get it off. Suckage.

Im going to put ball joints on this weekend because I know they are bad. They havent had any grease in them for months, because they wont hold it.

EDIT: Oh yea, and I broke 3 puller tools trying to get that pittman arm off.

 

Why are you taking the pitman arm off?

V6sucker: How can the ball joint come apart? I've never seen it come apart so I won't say it can't happen, but I know how they work and i can't see it coming apart... at least not on these cars.

 

I did not say that it was easy.
But the grease is there to keep metal to metal contact from happening at the joint and casing.
When that happens, the casing is the harder material and wears down the joint ball. At some point on hard driving or rough roads the material on the joint can become thin, break down and flake apart. When it starts to fall apart internally, it can literally break everything off but the mounting shaft.

Granted, I have only seen 5 joints in my lifetime that have had this happen. But all it takes is one to come apart for it to become a possibility. The Last one was in june of 2000 on a 70's Mustang.
Yes, the ensuing accident totalled the car.

That is also why if you look at the design of the ball joint over the decades it has had changes made to it. The thing they are rying to do now is have them completely sealed, but the retainer of the rubber keeps breaking off.
I have removed ball joints that had well over 1/4" almost 1/2" of play. They are just one of those things that are critical, but ignored for the most part.

 

Woah, wait, the Pittman arm isn't a wear item!!! Leave it on there!! From what RBob said a few months ago, you can't even BUY a Pittman arm! I'm still on my original +270,000 Pitman arm!

 

That's what I figured you were talking about. But that would take a lot of miles before that happened. I just replaced my original ball joints and they had very little play, although they were quite worn, and they had something like 160k miles on them.

TomP: I was thinking the same thing. Leave the pitman arm alone!

 

Again, look at how old the last one I did bear witness to failing.
70's, and probly never serviced.
I never said it was a quick thing, just possible. And depending on country of manufacture... the material used could be questionable.

 

I've seen pittman arms that needed replaced before. It wasnt on a Camaro, granted.

Back to my problem.. so replace ball joints and check the idler arm.. what else? Outer rod ends? I dont even see how any of this could cause a "binding" like I was describing.. who knows, headed out soon to begin work on it.

 

Inner and outter rod ends.
Wheel bearings.
You also may be coming up on a front bushing replacement.

 

The center link is also a wear item, wouldn't be cost-effective to bolt a new idler arm to a worn center link.

Remember the torque for the spindle nut is only 12 ft/lbs; don't overtighten it! I've been using synthetic grease on my wheel bearings for the past 5 or 6 years. I re-pack the bearings at EVERY front brake job I do.

I can't wait for the next brake job; I bought one of those grease gun attachments meant to pack wheel bearings. And, I've got a pneumatic grease gun- can't wait! (See http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/p...ProductID=2458 )