front right wheel wobble on 87

[87fleetsidedude]

when i get up to around 35 mph and start hitting my brakes my truck starts shaking very violently. so i took my truck to the school shop and used the lift to change my shocks, and when i pushed on the inside of my right front tire it moved up and down...my teacher says it is an outter u joint but hes an idiot, so any ideas on what i need to replace?...

[OrrieG]

I have some ideas but don't want you to think I'm an idiot too if I am wrong.

[onlyifihadachevy]

What is an outer u joint?


It mot likely the balljoints. And possible the tie rods.

[kwmech]

My money would be on either a wheel bearing or ball joints. What exactly moved when you shook the wheel?

[dammitmitchell]

wher are you pushing on the tire?
top bottom front rear?
upper ball joint?

is it only wobbeling during breaking?
or during turns?
it can be alot of things or a multiple of things together.
the shocks would not be the thing i would have replaced.

id check your rotors if it's only during braking.
if it's wobbeling when you press on the top side and or lower side i'd check ball joints
if it'w wobbeling when you press the front or rear id check tie rod ends..

see where im going with this?
p.s. im not an idiot im a pollock hehehe

[LONGHAIR]

Since it is being brought-on by braking. I would say either ball-joints or wheel bearings. "Frozen" axle-joints normally cause steering problems after or during turns. Both are bad and need to be looked-into before they can cause other damage.

[87fleetsidedude]

it only wobbles during brakeing. i had my rotor turned a couple weeks ago because i thought maybe that was causing it but a short time after i had that done it started up again. and just so you dont think im an idiot =P i changed the shocks because they were rusted pretty much in half.. not in an attempt to fix the wobble haha....and i dont know what an outter u joint is either...like i said my shop teacher is an idiot haha...i went to napa and asked them about it and they gave me a heavy duty u joints

here is the u joints they gave me

[IMG][/IMG]


where i am pointing in this picture is what moved when i pushed on the bottom of the inside of the tire

[IMG][/IMG]


this is the u joint that napa told me to replace

[IMG][/IMG]


im trying not to go with what my teacher says to do...so any more help would be awesome...thanks a lot...justin

[onlyifihadachevy]

That is what I believe to be a lower balljoint. But, if you have your rotors turned it is recomended that you replace the pads, case they wore weird from the rotors. From my understandng.

[LONGHAIR]

The part that you are pointing to in the second picture is the lower ball-joint.
The last picture is the axle-joint, the part your teacher calls "outer u-joint".

Originally Posted by 87fleetsidedude

im trying not to go with what my teacher says to do...so any more help would be awesome...thanks a lot...justin

That is quite unfortunate, 'cause he may be right.....and you might as well change it anyway, since you are going to have to pull the axle out to replace that ball-joint.

The ball-joint is much more likely to be your wobble, but a 23 year old axle-joint is a "while you're in there" thing.

[87fleetsidedude]

i did replace the pads aswell...glad my dad told me the same thing otherwise i would have left the old ones on there =P


thanks a lot longhair you cleared up a lot of clouds in my head about what i have to do haha...and for the record my shop teacher is very intelligent when it comes to welding and auto body but when it comes to pretty much anything else he's not the guy to go to...me either but thats why im here =P

[special-K]

When an axle u-joint goes there`s a good chance you`re looking at egged-out axle yokes...i-2 shaft replacement,AND that u-joint.I also always replace the spindle bearings "everytime".The drive axle has no effect on anything when it 2wd and even then,nothing to do with wheel location/slop issues.
Normally I`d say it`s the ball joints but if it`s only when braking I lean towards wheel bearings.Although,both these problems causing wheel hop are usually halted when hitting the brakes,which stabilizes the whole deal...not the opposite.The wheel bearing would have been out for the rotor turn,which is the time for cleaning/inspecting/re-pack.Look for movement between the knuckle and the axle housing for ball-joint wear and look for movement of the hub on the knuckle for bearing wear.