I bought a 91 dakot 4wd that was sitting for several years. Everything was fine when I checked it out but after driving it I noticed the front tires have cambered in more and more. the upper control arm bushings seem to have seen better days so I was wondering if besides the bushings or a bad ball joint is there anything else that could be wrong? my guess was that the upper control are bushings are bad and i need to put new ones in and get the truck a front end alignment.

 

i had that issue with my truck over a year ago. i had all the balljoints replaced and the tie rod ends... but after that was done when i would be driving i'd feel the tire shift and the truck would start to drift. i would get them changed.

some advice is that the old bushings have to be pressed out and the new ones pressed in. took me about 3 hours without soaking the bolts and in the cold weather trying to press them in with a 12ton press.

to check the balljoints jack the tire up till its off the ground, then grab the top and bottom of the tire and shake it. if there is play then the balljoints need to be replaced same with the tie rod ends but grab the tire front to back. i found it easier to take the tire off and wiggle the rotor. if you can try to watch the ball joints and tie rod ends while wiggling the rotor(or tire). also make sure all the bolts on the tie rods and balljoint nuts are tight and cotter pinned. my friend bought a car where the nut on the balljoint was backed out because it was stripped and his tie fell off(he put 800$ into it 2 days after he got it).

hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the info, I will check the balljoints and tierod ends first before the do the upper control arm bushings.