what is it when the front end shifts

[fivespeedsteed]

so your in a parking lot or going slow and you turn to almost full lock or close, and something shifts in the front end. like it moves over almost. what can that be? i know someone knows what im talking about. my moms 05 explorer does it though... is it bad?

 

[93 LX]

ball joints?

 

[Georgie]

you at full lock..i feel that i think my power steering pump doesnt like it tho so the rack pushes back??

 

[Darkwriter77]

+1 for ball joints

My Notch did this before I replaced the badly worn lower ball joints. Doesn't pop or jump or wiggle around at all, anymore. (The car also would try to change lanes when I pressed on the brakes, even after replacing both front calipers, brake hoses, pads, rotors, and bearings. Stops perfectly straight, now.)

Put 'er up on some jackstands and give them wheels a wiggle up and down. Shouldn't be very much (if any) vertical play at all.

 

[fivespeedsteed]

see thats the thing. everything points to balljoints except for the test.

the front end does the shift thing
theres some squeaking in the front end that sounds allot like ballkoints.
the front end seems to shift around and its never braked straight.

but when i get it up and move it it stays put.

 

[Mustang78]

check where the strut bolts to the spindle..different years use different measurements, i used newer 4cyl struts on V8 spindles and the struts were too wide, time for some washers to fill the gap..

~Mark~

 

[fivespeedsteed]

nah this is a v8 car. the spindles are thick enough to hold them. thats interesting though i would have never thought of that.

 

[Roland69]

you have to jack the car up by the lower fromt control arm and pry up on the bottom of the tire to see any ball joint play. wiggling only checks tie rod play or wheel bearing movement

 

[93 LX]

nah this is a v8 car. the spindles are thick enough to hold them. thats interesting though i would have never thought of that.

5.0 cars have 11" disk brakes while 4 bangers have 10" disks. They use the 79-86 front spindles which was used on all Mustangs, v8, I6, V6 and I4.

Allen