So I had a buddy come over this weekend to ride ATV's.

He's 6'4", about 250. I had him grab the wheel and shake it, and he was able to get a rattle out of the area.

It appears that one of the bolts holding the upper control arm together is loose. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but there are two bolts going through the fenderwell that hold the control arm to the fender, and then there are two bolts going through bushings that hold the A on. On of those bolts is where the rattle is coming from.

How tight should those bolts be? I didn't go super-tight on them because I thought they should be able to pivot a big with wheel movement. This is a new Moog upper control arm.

 

I don;t see a spec for those in the FSM.....might look into some aftermarket camber kits and see if those show a spec

If I had to guess, remember this is a guess, I'd say pretty tight - around the 40 FT LBS range at the min?

 

Isn't that upper control arm new? Seems like a new arm shouldn't rattle like that.

 

I was going to say 40 to 60 ft lbs if there isn't a spec in the FSM. Like you said, you want it pretty tight.

 

Yes, it's new, and I bought Moog as they seem to have the best rep in steering and suspension components (have used them on my Jeeps with good results).

The two bolts holding the arm to the mounting posts seem to be where the rattle is coming from. I didn't go tight on them with the idea that the arm should be able to pivot some with wheel movement.

I guess that idea was incorrect.

I'll try tightening those bolts up on the upper control arm and see if it helps.

 

The control arm bushings are supposed to move, not the bolts.

 

Well I made a simple job a hard one.

Problem was the bolts on the new upper control arm were loose. I tightened them up and no more rattle.

Of course, when I pulled the upper control arm off the inner fender, I let the knuckle droop, which pulled the inner CV apart, so I got to pull the whole knuckle off, remove the CV boot, get the CV back together, reinstall the boot, then reinstall the knuckle.

Good times, but seems to be fixed for now.

I'll watch my tire wear. I have a feeling most of the wear was there before I replaced the upper control arm. I'll keep an eye on it and if it continues to wear unevenly I'll take it in for an alignment.

Thanks for the help.

 

So the upper control arm is still good and tight, but I have a shimmy up there again.

If I grab the wheel at 12 and 6 oclock and push/pull I get zero play, but if I grab at 9 and 3 I get a noticeable amount of play.

The 12 and 6 should have play if it's a wheel bearing. Since it's 9 and 6 would it be rational to say that points to a tie rod end?

 

Tie rod end? But first rule out the simple thing of locking the steering wheel.

When locked, the steering wheel can turn a couple degrees. You need to have someone reach in the window & hold the steering wheel one way or the other against the lock. Then check again.

If you can get another helper, grab around the ball-joint itself (on the tierod) to verify that's what's loose. It might be the inboard ball joint (hidden inside the rubber boot of the rack.

Or much less likely it could be the rack & pinion itself. In that case the other front wheel will move together with the one you're pushing.

 

Other side is tight. I'm suspecting inboard ball joint. The outer tie rod end didn't look like it had play in it, and the boot on the rack is torn.

It's still up on jackstands for the A/C compressor work I was doing yesterday. I'll nose around again this weekend while I'm waiting on A/C parts.

Thanks1!