jz96z3

Hello,
i hoping some one can point me to a next step here. I am trying to help my lady friends son with his 89 Chevy C20 Van, 305 auto. He is experiencing vibrations at various speeds in the front end. They seem to be more prominent when coasting or driving at a constant speed, less during exceleration. No vibrations while turning and not much while braking. We jacked up the vehicle and push / pulled the top of the tire and it has some play with a bit of clicking sound. The drivers side has more play than the passenger. When we do this, I see no movement in the knuckle ball joint area, so i am thinking it might be the bearings. Only think is, on other vehicles i have had bearing problems with, they made whining noise when they went out. So i am not sure. I also am not sure how to tell if a ball joint is bad unless its just plane falling apart. If anyone has any advice as to test i can perform to narrow it down, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for reading and have a great holiday.

John

MDTAHOE

First off a bad ball joint will not cause your problem unless maybe it is about to fall off. Front end parts generally do not cause vibrations. When you start driving the force on the front end will push them out and hold them in place. You must have the ball joint loaded to check them properly (jacked up by the control arm as close to the tire as you can). If you have it jacked up correctly then what you are describing is most likely a wheel bearing. Even though it has a bad bearing it MOSTLIKELY not your cause. If the bearing was bad enough for it to cause a vibration you would have no doubt the the play you feel is the bearing. To cause a vibration it would have to be ready to fall off or roaring extremely bad. You need to get the tire balance checked. It would be best to have someone do it who has a machine capable of performing road force balancing. Google roadforce balancing.

jz96z3

Thanks for the response MDTAHOE. The tires are new and were just put on by a national shop that sells tires and does other types of repairs, so I assume they were balanced properly. But I will look for a local shop that can specifically perform the roadforce balancing. The shop said it needed new brake pads and lower ball joints. But when i checked the brakes, they were great shape, so did not believe them about the ball joints either. I had the vehicle jacked by the control arm as you stated, so I believe the bearings are worn. But since they are not whining, are there other thing i can check for vibrations while i find a place to do the road force balancing?

Thanks again

MDTAHOE

I see a few cars each month that just had their tires installed and or balanced by a big chain store or by someone who does not have a good balancer. They all come in with a vibration and leave without one. What size are the wheels? What brand are the tires? We see the most problems with Goodyear. You can rotate the tires and see if the vibration CHANGES any.

jz96z3

Cheap tires-college kid on a budget! Prime Well P235 75R15. He found a guy that is going to give him a 2nd opinion on the ball joints and do the roadforce balance for 15 bucks.
Thank you