Front suspension wiggle

[JG1966]

I'm not sure about this, but how much wiggle is tolerable when you jack up front end, grab a tire at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and shake? I know newer front-wheel drive cars shouldn't budge. With these 50-year old cars is any movement bad or is a little movement OK?
Car is a 72 RR. Tires wear evenly and drives and steers with no issues EXCEPT when I hit a bump, small pothole, etc., I hear a slight rattle on the right front end. Sounds almost like a long-lost nut or bolt rolling around in the fender wheel. (It's not that). Nothing that sounds dangerous or awful, but it is something. It made sound when I got car 4 years ago. Sound has never gotten worse or better. I have replaced tie rods, wheel bearings, ball joints, upper control arms, bushings, idler arm and pitman arm (they were all 40-plus years old and needed to be replaced). Only things I haven't replaced are LCAs, strut rods and center link. Power steering box and torsion bars are also new and I installed weld-in subframe connectors (which did wonders, but didn't get rid of rattle).
When I wiggle front tires hard I'm getting about close to a 1/3 to half-inch of movement each way. No movement at all at 6 and 12.
Other than rattle sound on passenger side, car drives straight and true, no sounds when I turn steering wheel with wheels off the ground.
Any suggestions before I take her to the only old-timer mechanic around here that I trust? Thanks!

 

[440Coronet500]

No, movement isn't normal. Check your tie rods and idealer arm for movement. Easier to do with 2 people. 440'

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Agree movement isn't normal.... Most common rattle is brake pads... Does it rattle when your applying light brake pressure?

 

[JG1966]

Agree movement isn't normal.... Most common rattle is brake pads... Does it rattle when your applying light brake pressure?

Thanks RT. I meant to mention that in my original post. It's not brake rattle. I have all of the anti-rattle hardware and spacer clips on the brakes and it still rattles if I'm lightly applying brakes as I hit a bump. Experimented with that many times..

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I'm guessing you've replaced the shocks? Another common source of a rattle... Also check the torque on the lower shock bolt, it might be tight but still rattles, try just a little extra torque...

 

[JG1966]

I'm guessing you've replaced the shocks? Another common source of a rattle... Also check the torque on the lower shock bolt, it might be tight but still rattles, try just a little extra torque...

Thanks RT. Yes, I have replaced the front shocks but I guess the lower bolt might be an issue. Easy enough to check the shock bolts.
Also, while I'm at it, with the wheel bearings, the FSM says "Fill hub grease cavity with recommended bearing lubricant. Lubricant should be even with inner diameter of bearing cups." Does that mean I pack wheel hub about halfway with grease? I've seen some people say just a finger full coat around inside of hub. FSM seems to be recommending a lot more than that.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I try to spread grease about even from side to side with the bearing cups... Honestly it's not critical, I've taken apart vehicles that the previous person only greased the bearings & didn't put any grease in the cavity & the bearings were fine... I've also seen the cavity packed completely full with no real harm other than some grease leaked past the seal....

 

[Don Frelier]

Did you do the lower control arm bushings?
If not they need to be done.

 

[JG1966]

Did you do the lower control arm bushings?
If not they need to be done.

Yes. New bushings but not new arms.

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

What moves when you shake it? Just the wheel or more? Check the main pivot point where the LCA mounts through the k-frame. The welded tube has been know to crack out that supports the shaft.

 

[JG1966]

What moves when you shake it? Just the wheel or more? Check the main pivot point where the LCA mounts through the k-frame. The welded tube has been know to crack out that supports the shaft.

The wheel moves, and the tie rods and idler arm also move. I've suspected the shaft running through the LCA might somehow be the culprit because almost everything else is new. If the welded tube was cracked would that cause tie rods and idler arm to also move?

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

Steering box move when everything else moves? Loose mounting bolts on the steering box or broken mount possibly for the box.

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

The wheel moves, and the tie rods and idler arm also move. I've suspected the shaft running through the LCA might somehow be the culprit because almost everything else is new. If the welded tube was cracked would that cause tie rods and idler arm to also move?

I would say yes, but if everything else moves I think the problem is elsewhere.

 

[JG1966]

Steering box move when everything else moves? Loose mounting bolts on the steering box or broken mount possibly for the box.

No. Steering box doesn't budge

 

[hunt2elk]

Does the steering shaft wiggle in the coupler?

 

[JG1966]

Does the steering shaft wiggle in the coupler?

I don't believe so, but I'll have to check that out.

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

I would go back to what was mentioned in the second reply and look close at the idler arm. When you wiggle the wheel, look for up/down movement of the idler arm, may just need a shim to take up any slop between the arm and the bracket.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

You can just grab the idler arm & try to move it... It should sweep side to side on it's pivot without any up/down movement..

 

[JG1966]

You can just grab the idler arm & try to move it... It should sweep side to side on it's pivot without any up/down movement..

Ok, I'm working solo, but when I wiggle wheel I can see Idler arm moving, and it appears to be moving up and down a bit. I grabbed center link and it seemed to move from whatever minimal force I could put on it. I'm going to remove inner tie rods, pitman arm bolt and center link and give it a close look. Idler arm up and down movement makes a lot of sense because it was rattling before I changed a bunch of parts and I didn't use any extra shims or washers on the idler arm. So if that was problem before, it would still be the problem.

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

I would just disconnect the center link from the idler and see how much play it has. Shim as needed and reassemble. Unless you are taking all the other stuff apart to check for piece of mind?