Well I have a few unsloved issues in the frontend. What are the proper ways to check BallJoints, UJoints, Wheelbearings, Controll arm bushings for play??
#1 I have a wining noise that I can hear around 20-35mph then I guess roadnoise/stacks ect dround it out. Im thinking it might be break related cause it quits when I get in the breaks real hard but dont want to rule out wheel bearings.
#2 I have a clunking sound sometimes when truning and coming to a stop. Sounds like It is right under the my drivers floorboard. But I noticed that I can get it to make the clunk noice while sitting at stoplights ect by sitting in the seat and rocking truck side to side. Could this be controll arm bushings???

Since Ive had the truck last 40k miles Ive replaced the track bar, swaybar busihings, swaybar links (I think thats wat there called} and passenger side axle ujoint. Ive crawled under the truck and kicked/prided on things looking for play put everything looks okay. Im going to jack it up and look furter but what is the proper way to test these things out.

 

They jacked up my front end and used a big pry bar supported by a block and levered the tire up and down. This was for the ball joints but since they were shot a lot more stuff moved...tie rod ends track bar etc. Then a guy turned the steering wheel back and forth and you could really see a lot of 'play' in the components. I needed everything but one tie rod end replaced and the steering box was good.

 

The proper way to check your front end parts for play is to have some one move your steering wheel back and forth while your watching the front to determine where the play is.IF there is anything loose they will either move up and down or side to side and expose themself when you do this.Any up or down movement or side to side popping is not a good thing and will allow the front to move while driving it.

You check the ball joints by jacking up one side at a time and using a large pry bar under the tire to lift it from the bottom.It will either move up and down and have a clunk in it or not.Any sign of loose is easily exposed by doing this.Also note if you have worn shock bushings they will add to the noise and clunking of the front,you will need to make sure that your noise is not that also.

Another contributor to the front end noises is wearing of the control arm bushings.With age these bushings elongate and egg themselves out which will cause a clunk in the front about where your feet are on the floor board.When I took mine off and did the Solid Steel lower control arms I could not believe how bad the bushings had egg shaped out.I thought if mine were that bad and I do zero towing and off orad stuff I could only imagine how bad one would look if they actually worked their trucks.

I will take a couple of pics of my old arms when I return from work tonite for you and post them for you to see how the lower arms wear if you want....Andy