Bad idler arm? What do you think?

[00S104.3]

I have been noticing a popping sound when I turn into my driveway and I thought it was the ball joints but upon inspecting the front suspension and steering I noticed that the ball joint boots are torn some but seem to be fine. I also noticed that the idler arm has some play in it. My haynes manual says it shouldn't have more than 1/4 of play in it, which I don't think it does but I took a quick video of it. What do you think?

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/th_MVI_1105.jpg (http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg73/2000s10v6/?action=view&current=MVI_1105.flv)


I may just try to grease it along with the ball joints until I get some time to install my new power performance ball joints.

[rentedmule]

Hood hinge bolts! Seriously, try this first before you spend alot of effort/money on chassis parts.

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f178/info-about-front-end-clunking-noises-373726/

[s-10 2.2much]

hey dude it sounds a little dry if anything not excessivly worn .....have your ball joints ever been replaced ? if so ,i actually had the bolts that hold them to the a-arm wear the holes oval in the a-arm and the ball joint would slide in or out as i turned .....also to check your ball joints jack it up and put a jack stand close to the end of each bottm a-arm then let the jack down till the front suespension is compressed while wheels are still in the air, and check for up n down and side to side play hope this helps

[Jay-Sliver]

Hold that centre link, where it joins to the Idler arm. See if you can feel any movement in the idler or centre link when you move the idler.
I know I got one hell of a clunk when I pull into my parking lot, but thast cus the front end needs a lot of work in my truck. Idler, Pitman, 4 balljoints, and a right inner tierod.

[00S104.3]

Hood hinge bolts! Seriously, try this first before you spend alot of effort/money on chassis parts.

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f178/info-about-front-end-clunking-noises-373726/

Hmm, interesting, but I can definately tell the noise is in the front suspension. It's not a rattling noise. I can sort of feel it in the steering wheel when I turn into my driveway or even sometimes small bumps in the road or speedbumps. I'll definately check the hood hinge bolts though just in case. Thanks for the info.


hey dude it sounds a little dry if anything not excessivly worn .....have your ball joints ever been replaced ? if so ,i actually had the bolts that hold them to the a-arm wear the holes oval in the a-arm and the ball joint would slide in or out as i turned .....also to check your ball joints jack it up and put a jack stand close to the end of each bottm a-arm then let the jack down till the front suespension is compressed while wheels are still in the air, and check for up n down and side to side play hope this helps

I thought it seemed dry as well so I will get a grease gun and grease it all up. The ball joints have never been replaced. I checked the ball joints just like you described and they have very little if any play in them which is why I started checking out the other suspension and steering parts.


Hold that centre link, where it joins to the Idler arm. See if you can feel any movement in the idler or centre link when you move the idler.
I know I got one hell of a clunk when I pull into my parking lot, but thast cus the front end needs a lot of work in my truck. Idler, Pitman, 4 balljoints, and a right inner tierod.

I was checking for play in all of the steering components but the only one that seemed abnormal was the idler arm in the video. I'll just try greasing everything and see what happens.


Thank you all for the help and suggestions, it's much appreciated.

[Tink]

How long has it been since the idler arm was replaced? They aren't know for longentivity on these trucks...

If you do end up replacing it, I highly recommend NAPA Chassis parts... the idler arms I got from them held up the best.

[00S104.3]

The idler arm has never been replaced. I read about them going bad often on these trucks. Let's hope mine is the exception. I need to go buy a grease gun and grease everything and see if that helps before I think about a replacement. Thanks Tink.

[12sws27]

Mine popped when I turned hard in to parking spaces. Had a little play in the steerin too. I changed to idler and centerlink because they were bad. Stiffened things up alot. But then I got the hood pop Rented is talking about :D

[rentedmule]

The hinge bolts don't make a rattle - it's a solid clunk you can feel right through the steering wheel. It's always on slow speed turns, usually when backing out of a driveway. The whole hood shifts 1/4" as the chassis twists. Open your hood and pull/push it solidly front to back. If it moves at all that's your problem.

I replaced my entire steering linkage and all my sway bar bushings and the noise didn't go away. I put the $7 washers in and it fixed it instantly. Screw with the other stuff if you want but I'd be willing to bet it's the hinges. Check around for all the threads that I posted with the same questions and ideas you're having - this comes up all the time on s10forum too.

[Danzcameo]

That's interesting-I'll be checking that out soon,our two 2nd gens make noise too. and I've checked the front suspension,they are pretty tight.
Thank's for the tip-I will be a happy camper if you are correct! :D

[Jongo88]

My Jimmy hood makes noise. I just close the hood with a rag under the hinge....

[00S104.3]

Today I bought a grease gun and greased every zerk fitting I could find for the front suspension/steering. I also noticed that there was absolutely no play whatsoever in the idler arm with the truck sitting on the ground. When I took the video it was up in the air. I'm pretty sure the idler arm is fine now. I just greased it anyways.

I also checked the hood as suggested by rentedmule and it did seem to have a little play in it when I pulled out and pushed in on it. I got a wrench and tightened the bolts.

I haven't driven anywhere yet so I don't know if the noise will go away but I'll let you guys know.

[00S104.3]

I forgot to come back to this thread.:D

Anyways, I have been trying to track down this noise for a while and I think I may have found it. Front control arm bushings. I put the front of the truck on jackstands and took the front wheels off and put a jack under the lower control arm on the driver's side and jacked it up until it was sitting with the full weight of the truck on it just as it would be if it was sitting on the wheels. When I pull on the upper control arm I can feel some play in it and I get the metal to metal sound I was hearing while driving, although not as loud. I started inspecting the bushings and it looked like some of the bushing was gone and there were some cracks in it. I've got a little over 88,000 miles on this truck so maybe it's time for new bushings, and since I always look for an opportunity to upgrade I may go with something better than just stock replacement bushings.


By the way, I did the same thing on the passenger side and there was no play at all in the control arm and the bushings seemed to be in better shape. If I get new bushings I will replace both sides.


Any suggestions on better than stock bushings please enlighten me.

[s-10 2.2much]

poly urathane ! much nicer then the factory rubber ones i have heard energy suespension make good bushings for sway bars so id imagine they would make them for the control arms

[00S104.3]

This is just getting so frustrating.:headache_

I just can't seem to figure out what's up with my truck. I thought I had it narrowed down to the control arm bushings but now I think it may be a combination of things. My truck was pulling hard to the right and after checking out everything and finding nothing really unusual (other than the control arm bushing on the driver's side) I decided to switch the front wheels from side to side. Now it seems to pull slightly to the left. Sometimes at slow speeds (15 mph) I can feel a wobble. I am going to get the wheels balanced again and see if it helps. Maybe I lost a wheel weight or something. I may need an alignment but if I'm going to replace parts I'd rather wait before paying for an alignment.

Any idea's I'm open to hear what you think.

[polecat]

best bet if you want the whole front end to be checked is to take it in for an alignment if anything is bad they won't be able to align and will tell you exactly what it is. Just did it with mine and it didn't cost me a dime just gotta replace my lower ball joints now.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I've had a clunk for a while now, but haven't been able to tackle it. Besides the hood, I've considered all the things in this thread, but haven't checked them b/c of time and money. I'll check the hood out soon!

[00S104.3]

I went to get the front wheels balanced and as soon as the guy pulled off the passenger side front wheel we saw it had a pretty big bubble on the tire. I know for a fact that the bubble was not there a week ago when I took the tires off and inspected them. My only thought is we have had unusually hot weather the past few days so the bubble just got bigger. I ended up having all four tires pulled off and inspected. The other three tires were good so I bought one new tire. Now the wobble seems to be gone but it still slowly drifts to the right if I take my hands off of the wheel. It's not very bad at all compaired to how bad it pulled before. I'm pretty sure an alignment is going to be needed in order to get everything straight again. I have a brand new set of power performance ball joints that I bought a while back so I'm going to try to get the control arm bushings as soon as I can afford them and maybe new wheel bearings and replace everything at the same time before getting an alignment. I'll try to keep this thread updated.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

not to hijack this thread, but I just wanted to say that my clunking has been resolved by tightening the hood hinge bolts. Thanks, Tyson!!! If it reappears maybe I'll buy the washers, but for the time being, it is 100% better. What a relief!! :D

[12sws27]

My Jimmy did that too. I just close the hood with a rag under the hinge on the pass side. The tighten the bolt thing don't last..

Look what Jongo posted in the wrong thread. It was meant for here. LOL!

John....are you drinking? :D

[87wildside]

hahaha

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

Look what Jongo posted in the wrong thread. It was meant for here. LOL!

John....are you drinking? :D

He probably just didn't think it was possible that I could have fixed 2 problems in the same week. Yeah, that's probably what confused him. ;)

[Jongo88]

I'm off tomorrow. So I'm drunk....

[00S104.3]

Thanks for keeping the thread going.:D


The wobble is completely gone but I still hear the popping sounds from time to time. I'm still looking into it when I have time.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

do your tires have a lot of miles on them? that sucks. but glad to hear it helped. let us know what you find about the popping

[00S104.3]

One tire is brand new now, lol The other three are about 2 years old.

I called a few shops to get an idea of how much it would cost to have the old control arm bushings pressed out and new ones pressed in. $100 is the cheapest I found if I remove the control arms myself (which I planned on doing anyways) I still can't decide if it's better to get the new bushings w/the metal sleeves or without and use my stock ones. I'm planning a week off from work so I hope to get this done sometime then.