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Help diagnosing play in front left wheel

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Old Jun 23, 2014, 01:45 PM
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Help diagnosing play in front left wheel

This weekend I had my car up on jack stands to check some movement that I heard in the front left wheel. I checked the passenger side front wheel and it had no play. I checked the front driver side wheel, and it had about one 4th inch of play left to right, but no play top to bottom. The brake caliper moved along with the play in the wheel, along with the steering rack having movement near the boot. Since there is no play top to bottom, I threw out the idea of it being a wheel bearing issue. Would this be an issue with the steering rack or what I be looking elsewhere for the issue?

Last edited by dcdirtrider; Jun 23, 2014 at 07:39 PM.
Old Jun 23, 2014, 02:18 PM
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Tie Rods? Check inner and outer tie rods. Otherwise recheck your wheel bearing.
Old Jun 23, 2014, 02:19 PM
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Check your outter tie rod. that might explain the side to side, but no up and down play in the wheel.
Old Jun 23, 2014, 07:41 PM
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Sorry for the bad english, that was all voice recognition texting. But once I get a chance, I will definitely take a look. I also hopefully remember to post a video of the issue.
Old Jun 25, 2014, 02:22 PM
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Slim chance, but check if the washer is installed behind the axle nut. IIRC it's about .25" thick and could account for your inboard/outboard play if it's missing.
Old Jun 29, 2014, 10:52 PM
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Well, got it up on jacks again this weekend to check all of the bushings and such. Still no play in any of the typical points. The only place that I can see movement is at the drivers-side rubber boot on the steering rack. I tried to get a video of the movement, but I could not get a video that really showed much. But here is a picture with the location of the movement identified.



Has anybody ever had wheel movement or play caused by the steering rack? Anybody have any idea of what the issue could be??
Old Jun 30, 2014, 06:58 PM
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Anybody??
Old Jul 6, 2014, 05:02 AM
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could be an inner tie rod. have someone pull down on it or put pressure against it and see if you still have movement. It helps diag inner and out sometimes.
Old Jul 6, 2014, 09:07 AM
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Inner tie rod, nothing else will have play there.
You can zip the nut off the spindle there and remove the tie rod assembly from the spindle and push it in and out, you'll know right away if it is bad.
These fail all the time on these cars, they are a weak point if the vehicle is driven even remotely hard. You can get aftermarket ones for $10-20 typically.
Old Jul 6, 2014, 09:37 AM
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+1 on the inner tie rod. mine has the same problem.
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