BillyBoy

I took my baby in for a front end alignment post placement of a Nate's front bumper in which I managed to break 2 of the 3 steering box bolts, causing me to have to completely disassemble the steering setup (to pull and replace the steering box bolts). Now, of course, it pulls hard to the right. I'll asssume this has alot to do with the fact that I dissassembled the steering from the tierod adjustment linkage, and when putting it all back together, I had to use the rust marks to line everything back up. It drives ok, as fast as 70 mph, with no shakes or anything. Just the hard pull to the right.

Sidenote:
I've had a bit of a shake from the passenger front tire for a while before this all started, usually starting at about 68, going until about 73 before going away. This was an issue even before I redid the front end.

My questions...

1.) Is this guy full of **** when he says he can't align my Jeep because of the ball joints being bad?

2.) Am I looking at a major bolt breaking issue with the balljoints?
It seems like every bolt that I've wrenched on has broken on this vechicle.
(And yeah, 2 cans of PB did NOTHING for me with my lift replacement.)

3.) Are ball joints a cause of vibration?

4.) Is there any way to really tell "bad" from "bad?"
It didn't seem like there was much play when I worked on it last.
Why, is it even possible for the front passenger tire to vibrate if my front driver joints are bad?

5.) Should I replace ALL of the if I replace even one?
Tops/Bottoms/both sides?

Thanks for the info for whoever responds, even if you can only answer one or 2 of the Qs I have-

93gc40

Also check the tire ballance, wheel bearings, TREs, track bar

Copperback243

You certainly need to have bad balljoints replaced. --While some may not beleive me, I am here to tell you, that bad balljoints can in fact cause your axleshaft universal joints (can't think of proper term at the moment) to bind and break. It puts a different angle of tourque on them they're not designed for.

You can have a vehicle aligned with bad ball joints. But as soon as you leave the shop it's going to be out of line ((if they're in bad shape)) --but once again... There's alot riding on balljoints. Wore out ones can fail. I recently had the balljoints on the passenger side of the 97 replaced. Driver side was fine. I did the work myself. The shop wanted $300 per side.... it's almost worth 300 being how you have to remove axles shafts and everything else just to get a press on them....... but anything to save a penny...

BillyBoy

Thanks for the info and advice yall-