Travelled appx 200 miles for work, woke up this morning and took off this morning to hear a very light rattle from the front end. Figured no big deal but shortly thereafter noticed that at 20-30 mps when I let off the throttle I get a low steering wheel vibration. Almost like there’s a dragging caliper or something but i put it on a flat surface and managed to move it by pushing it around with no trouble. No drag

Tried putting tension on the front and rear drive drive shafts to see if it could be the u joints and get nothing.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

How do the u-joints in the front axle look?

 

I don’t have a jack on me (because of course). I think I’m going to have to buy a jack and lift the front end and see if I can can check the bal joints and the u joints on the stub shafts. Question is, if I’m driving long distance at constant speed to I risk 180 miles back to the house with a bad joint…

 

Depends on how bad. They can get pretty sloppy before they blow up completely. You can check 'em on the ground, see how they look. (u-joints) if they are just a bit loose, it'll wait.

 

How do you check them on the ground?

 

Try moving the inner shaft, If you have movement they are bad.

 

The stub is already held stationary by the wheel bearing. Grab inner shaft and try to rotate. Carefully observe the placement between the yokes of inner & outer shafts. ANY movement is too much.

Still, I'm not convinced front u-joints would cause your symptoms, but maybe. For one thing they're not powered in 2wd so not sure why they'd be throttle dependent

 

U-joints on my 98 are bad, both sides.... you can't hear 'em with the windows up, but, with 'em open, drive by anything significant, (even a curb will do) and you can hear 'em. I have had folks comment on the noise when I pulled up in places as well.

 

Be careful, they can lock up your steering if they fail. If you were closer I'd do 'em for you!

 

Thanks. I appreciate the thought.

I need to make an appointment to get it into the shop. (I simply can't do that kind of work any more.....) Brakes, u-joints, steering... it's all getting rebuilt.