Sway bar link angle and popping noises..etc

[scott2093]

Hoping I could get some direction. I had some pretty good front end wobble happening while on the highway. Really bad above 60mph. Started noticing it more at in town speeds as well....
Lifted driver's side and got pretty good 12 and 6 oclock movement. Passenger side seemed good....
Assumed it was my 2 year old Detroit Axle wheel bearings. Pulled the bearing and it really seems good...Tight and smooth...Nothing like I was expecting....

For more history, my cv axles have been spewing their grease for some time...I tried rigging the boots up where they were torn when I did most of my front suspension stuff the same time as the bearings...
For the past 6 months I have been getting a single pop when turning either right or left. Like in a parking lot scenario. If I turn wider, it won't pop. Always assumed it was the cv axles. But I only get one pop.?
can sway bar end links pop like this??


So now I have the driver's wheel bearing off and was wanting to address any issues that I can while I replace the cv axle. And do the same with the passenger side.
For instance, My sway bar end links have always been at a goofy angle and I've never felt it was right. Bushings pinched etc....

edit//// and I noticed the hole on top of the control arm is wallered out irregular shaped....
Why is this?
I have a 3" can/puck body lift. Am I supposed to have modified links? I didn't think it was necessary iirc.....

How can I test to make sure my ball joints aren't suspect while I have the wheel off?

could a bad cv axle give me the wonky 12 and 6 movement/wobble? That's what I'm thinking now that I feel the bearing seems ok. I know it isn't loaded but it really feels new.....


Here's a video that shows some of what I'm talking about. If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it...

sorry about my mis-naming stuff... stabilizer means sway bar...

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[Schurkey]

WHAT VEHICLE??? Must be a TBI-era SUV since you're showing external ABS speed sensors.

CV axles, installed with the bigass nut properly torqued, cannot cause 6--12 movement at the wheel. If it's not the bearings, it's the ball joints, REALLY wiped control arm bushings, or it's loose lug-nuts. Lug nuts are not likely.

 

[GoToGuy]

Do you have suspension lift kit installed? There are plenty of utube vids showing how to check for ball joint wear on trucks. Show a photo of your end links , what they look like.

 

[scott2093]

WHAT VEHICLE??? Must be a TBI-era SUV

1993 GMC Yukon 350 tbi 4wd

If it's not the bearings

I know the bearing isn't loaded now but I can't make it feel weird at all. Feels like I would expect a new one too. Guess I could reinstall it and see what happens. I'm alone so it's difficult to catch what's going on.

it's the ball joints

I was thinking that too because when I could get a prybar under the tire when the truck was jacked up. I could get noise when lifting under the tire. I just didn't see any movement, but I was having a hard time with my angles and maybe wasn't looking right. They're less than 2 years old. I actually think they are TRW and not Proforged like I had mentioned in video. I'll see what I can find. At least the rivets are removed if lowers are suspect..

Do you have suspension lift kit installed?

A 3" body lift. I don't remember loosening the sway bar bushings when putting new end links in. I wonder if I should have and made the angle correct and tightened the end links from there. But I think I would need longer end links? Or at least the sleeve would need to be longer?I had just duplicated how they were installed before . The sway bar is at an angle to the end links and it beats them up.Here are a couple of screenshots from the video. Sorry they're not clear. But you can see how the top bushings are tweaked because of the sway bar angle.

There are plenty of utube vids showing how to check for ball joint wear on trucks

Thanks. I'll look over them again and see what I can come up with. Wheel and axle is off atm..

 

[scott2093]

Not sure what to think regarding finding the reason I was getting 12 and 6 play before.
When I tested with wheels and tires on initially, I just jacked the truck a bit on driver's side, and got the play. I then put a pry bar under the tire , moved up and down, and was getting movement and some noise/slop...but couldn't see where it was coming from.

Now that the bearing and axle is removed, I can't seem to get any action .
What I have is, I reinstalled the wheel bearing and rotor, reinstalled the wheel and tire, loaded up the lower arm with a jack a bit, and I can't get anything to happen movement wise..

In my initial test, was I supposed to load the lower ca before inspecting for movement?

The way I'm set up now, should I not have a jack pushing up on the lower ca when trying to test?
I'll lower the jack from ca and see what happens..


Edit...I got nothing with lower ca unloaded either....confused....

 

[scott2093]

It's obvious that the body lift shouldn't have anything to do with the sway bar or end links.

Pretty sure my lower control arms must be lower than they should be in order to get the sway bar and tops of end links to not be at such an angle.
Just noticed my lower control arm bushings look rough. That's one thing I didn't address on this truck yet.

I need to get everything back together by today so, I can't deal with this now.
I'm guessing new lower ca and/or bushings, redo the z height adjustment at that time, and see where things end up.

 

[GoToGuy]

You can get longer boots with sleeves to bring the sway bar back to correct alignment. From any of the poly bushing kit people. They offer longer for lifted vehicle. Probably just take tape measure how much longer from bottom to approximately make bar level.

 

[scott2093]

ou can get longer boots with sleeves to bring the sway bar back to correct alignment. From any of the poly bushing kit people. They offer longer for lifted vehicle. Probably just take tape measure how much longer from bottom to approximately make bar level.

Thanks. I'm sure that would help the angle.

I just can't see how a body lift would affect the angle or necessitate a longer sleeve. From what I can tell, either the aftermarket end links and sleeves that are on the truck now are not the same as stock (the old end links matched up--assume they were aftermarket too) , or there is something with the way the truck is sitting that is making the need for longer sleeves..Like lower control arms need to sit higher to make the proper angle. Is it because of the 285/75/16 tires? That doesn't make sense to me yet....The truck has had this issue since I bought it used. The Proforged end links on my truck now are obviously purchased for my truck specs.
It would actually be great if someone knew what the stock end link sleeves measured.

Pretty sure the z height was correct a couple of years ago when I did some front end work. I wish I could say it was verified by the alignment shop I went to but I doubt they even know what z height is tbh..
I'm going to check the z height today. All I know is the lower ca bushings are shot. And there are other bushings I need to indentify where the front diff mounts on both passenger and driver side that look pretty bad.

I am chasing a high speed wobble atm .
I need to finish up the passenger side axle in a bit and put the sway bar bushings and links back in and go from there.

Almost feels like a crazy miss/vibration from the motor itself when doing over 60mph but idk yet....
I haven't had the need for going over 60mph in a few weeks so I can't piece together what work I may have done on the truck to create this issue or if it's just something that has been growing into an issue that has resulted in this..(I've done a brake job and balancer job in this time)
Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon enough. I have to take truck oot in a week...

 

[scott2093]

I'm unclear on what the torque specs are for the hub to knuckle bolts... here it says 178lbs....

Torque Specs Thread

I think if we make a thread for gmt400 torque specs it could be very useful for reference. Just add any that you know. So far I have: Front end / steering: Upper ball joint mounts bolts (bolts inserted from the bottom) 20 ft.lbs Upper ball joint studs 50 ft.lbs (then tighten to line up cotter...

www.gmt400.com

I can't find where that comes from. I know my axle nut is around there.....
I can't find any number for the hub to knuckle bolts tbh. I did 133lbs but I can't tell if that's right . The diagram has bolts facing other direction and it's a 5 lug diagram....

I'm attaching the entire section of my 93 manual regarding front suspension. I'll make another post to include all pages. Can someone show me where the torque specs are for the hub to knuckle bolts?
Frustrating having to resize images all the time and deal with the upload limitations.

 

[scott2093]