Not sure where to begin or explain my problem so bear with me.

2 years ago I replaced my inner tie rod on the driver side. The same week I bought new tires and had the truck aligned.
This year I began noticing a slight vibration in the steering wheel especially at higher speeds. Finally a few weeks ago I noticed that the drivers side tire had flat spots on the outside edge of the tread. At the same time the vibration had increased significantly. I checked the rotors and they need replaced but as far as the suspension I'm clueless. I don't think the inner tie rod is bad, its only 2 years old. The outer tie rod could be worn I suppose, I do have a new one sitting soemwhere.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but since my truck is 4WD it does not have wheel bearings....correct? So in that case what would be the next thing that could be bad? Wheel hub assembly or balljoints?
For either item are they difficult to do? Any special tools required? I'm hoping its the ball joints and not the wheel hub as they would be cheaper. I'm figuring that if I replace my rotors, outer tie rod, get an alignment, new tire and replace whatever else is worn I should fix my problems.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

 

"This year I began noticing a slight vibration in the steering wheel especially at higher speeds."

This vibration at speed in the wheel is indicative of out of balance or a separated tire on the front. I would have the tires checked for balance and/or separation.

"Finally a few weeks ago I noticed that the drivers side tire had flat spots on the outside edge of the tread."

Have a competent person check the front end, specificly the idler arm and pitman arm. It wouldn't hurt to check out the other 3 tie rod ends too. Don't forget to check the front shocks too. These could also cause pattern wear.

Bearings...yes you have sealed hub bearings and they are designed to last 100k miles without being replaced. Could it go bad before that...sure. Any competent alignment tech should inspect all these things before doing an alignment including ball joints.

Most auto/alignment shops will check all this stuff for free, because they want to sell you new stuff if it's bad. Take it to an expert.

Good luck........

 

The passenger side inner tie rod was replaced 3 years ago by my brother-in-law, who's a mechanic. Unfortunately he lives 400 miles away.
I really don't have time to take it anywhere or the money to afford a pro to replace parts. I would like to self diagnose and replace if possible. I'm also under time constraints of 2-3 weeks before the wife starts teaching again and she needs her car ( I have a couple of other major work items needing done as well, but unrelated to this).

Are there ways to tell if any of the suspension parts mentioned are worn and need replaced?

BTW, the truck has over 150K miles so I suppose the bearings could be bad, but so could allot of things.

 

Anyone else have any advice? I'll be starting to tear into it tonight, first I'll do the brakes and see if that makes any difference. If it doesn't, and I expect it won't, I'll be going over suspension parts with a fine tooth comb.

 

IMO you need to go have the allignment checked again. The fact that the tire is wearing badly suggests that your truck is not alligned properly.

Generally speaking if those parts were BAD you would notice other (more major) problems. It sounds like they just need to be set up properly...

 

My guess is you have balljoints that are going bad. Especially if you feel it in the brakes, and your tires have flat spots, check for balljoints. Mine shook the whole truck. I saw the lowers were bad, and this fixed the brake issue. I resurfaced them any way.

Lowers can be checked by jacking up til the tire is off the ground, and grabbing the tire top and bottom and rocking in and out. Any movement indicates lower joint bad. To check the upper, you may have to use a pry bar on the control arm to see if it will move any in reference to the steering knuckle.

Also, the lower ball joint should be completely flat on the top where it sticks up through the lower control arm. If it is dimpled out at all, it is bad and should be replaced ASAP. It's getting ready to come apart.

Ball joints aren't too bad to replace. You will need a press to get the new ones in. The tops are not serviceable, so you have to get upper control arms. Again, fairly easy to replace. Do a search. Procedures are posted here.

 

Excellent analysis. I'm about to go out and do the brakes and check out everything that I can. I'll look at the ball joints for sure. I'll let you know what I find.

 

I hate replacing rotors. Even with anti-seize every time I replace them I have to hammer them off with a sledge. Anyways I must digress.

I can't really find anything wrong anywhere at all. Ball joints look ok(no movement that I could detect), don't really see any wear and tear on any of the assorted steering components. But I did remember something that could be the cause, only its been 3 years since it happened. Last time I changed the rotors I hit the steering knuckle where the caliper is connected at the bottom. My brother-in-law starightened it out and then noticed the first tie rod that was bad.
Question is could that be causing it. I'm hoping not but am afraid it is. Doesn't look terribly difficult to do but it looks like a dealer buy item. Autozone does not have them.

Another problem with the whole steering that I have noticed over the last couple of years is while driving it feels like it "wanders" just a bit. I'm guessing the steering gear may need replaced since the shaft has allot of play in it, but I don't think this is my root trouble.

 

UPDATE:

I believe I have fixed my shaking steering problem, but I'm not exactly sure what caused it. I replaced my rotors and pads, and while I had it all off I checked all the suspension parts. Nothing looked broke, loose or worn. But I decided I would try the upper ball-joints only because it looked easier than the lower. I was right it was fairly easy. just make sure you mark the orientation of the camber washers, or so my Haynes manual says.
Anyways since the tire is in pretty bad shape I rotated it to the back. Now I have absolutely no vibration in the steering, but there is some that I can feel in the rear end. So now all I need to do is buy a new tire and get an alignment and this problem is solved.
Only thing is I'm sure the vibration was caused by the tire. But I'm not sure what caused the tire to go bad. Hopefully when its in for alignment they can figure it out.
Thanks for the all the help to those who gave me advice!