1G Swerving at WOT!!

[boostdawd]

Got a flat tire at 2am last night. My home was only about 7 miles away so I babysit the car home. Never exceeding 20mph to prevent damage, to my wheels. I know the tire was going to be no good anymore. Anyways, I got a new tire same size as others 235/45/17 and drives well.

I'm running into issues when I do wot pulls. This thing feels like a boat in the ocean. It swerves like crazy and jerks the wheel out of my hand to the right. Before I lift my car and check for loose/damaged parts what would u guys suspect as the culprit?

 

[jakk220]

Whatever it is its probably going to be obvious. Either a ball joint, tie rod, or combination of the two is most likely. Start with getting the car in the air an shaking it down.

 

[GST with PSI]

Are the lugs tight?

 

[biglady112]

Directional tire mounted incorrectly?

 

[boostdawd]

Yup. All lugs are tight and torqued. This is scary . I almost felt like those guys at the track who get close to hitting the side of the track due to all that torque. On a side note. While I replaced the tire I also replaced my driveshaft and carrier bearings as the older ones were shot and hitting my undercarriage. I also have a welded center diff which I've grown to hate on a daily.

 

[boostdawd]

That's what I thought also biglady112 so I swapped the one from the rear to the front and same thing.

 

[boostdawd]

Update. I was missing some bolts for the driver side cv axle. One of them broke in the block and the other one was loose. Tightened it back up and went for a ride. Car is still swerving.

While I was down there I did notice a lot of power steering fluid residue. Source of leak is the steering rack. I get a lot of play in my steering wheel.

Could the issue be my rack and pinion? Car is about to hit 195k and I believe the steering rack is original.

 

[Dstarperformance01]

Is there any play in steering wheel before it gets tight or starts to move the front wheels? If the wheels don't start turning when you move the steering wheel then it can be the inner tie rod,outter tie rods or the whole rack. With that mileage it is very possible the whole rack is bad. Where is the residue at on the rack? If it's at the inner tie rod boots then I would say rack is shot.

 

[gsxeclipse102]

Usually when an axle goes bad it can cause very bad shaking when under load. Almost like the car is going back and forth

 

[Dstarperformance01]

This is true but,doesn't explain why it does it only at WOT. When an axel is bad it feels like an unbalanced wheel or even bent. So, it's usually pretty obvious before WOT!

 

[gsxeclipse102]

Ive seen many axles while cruising be smooth as glass. Once you put a load on them they shake like crazy.

 

[boostdawd]

U think driving it with a flat tire may have damaged my cv axle? It was really lose due to missing the bolts that go to the block to support the axle. There's no rips or tears and this axle is about 3 months old. There is a slight vibration at cruise now but I believe it may be my driveshaft. I'm goin to take it in to an alignment shop and see what's goin on.

 

[Dstarperformance01]

Stupid question,did you have new tire balanced? Could be bent wheel or out of balance also.

 

[Gottiboy]

I do front end alignments for a living,and the only things that cause a car to pull on acceleration are lower control arm bushings and bad motor mount.

CV axle will cause a bad vibration
A bad tire or mounted backwards tire will cause "radial pull" but will pull all the time.

 

[Gottiboy]

You could have ruined Ur lower control arm bushings running on a flat tire.

 

[Dstarperformance01]

Pulling to the right Hard and jerking wheel out of your hand sounds like FWD torque steer but, I know it's AWD. Center diff is welded correct? I know if you have lsd if one tire turns more than the other for a period of time it will f up the diff. There is a warning sticker on my 93 on The inside of the drivers door jam that states do not turn a single wheel while the others are making contact due to damaging the limited slip differential

 

[boostdawd]

The suspension is due for a rebuild. Almost 195k I think it's time. I hate having down time on it though . @Gottiboy will a bad rack and pinion that has more play then normal on a steering wheel cause this as well?

 

[Gottiboy]

The suspension is due for a rebuild. Almost 195k I think it's time. I hate having down time on it though . @Gottiboy will a bad rack and pinion that has more play then normal on a steering wheel cause this as well?

No sir. That will cause lots of play in steering wheel. And so will bad inner and outer tie rod ends.
But does not cause it to pull under acceleration.

 

[ThunderChild]

So, I had this issue after I replaced my trans with my spare and welded diff. Trick was, it only did it when I didn't have the t-case or DS in, So in fwd mode it was all over the place on a hard pull. All this stopped when I put the awd parts back in.

Id start verifying if your t-case isn't roasted. What tire went flat?

 

[boostdawd]

The driver front. I've lifted my car and found a lot of play on both control arms. Ball joints are shot. The bushings on the control arms allow play if I pry on then with a bar. I'm not too experienced with suspension. Is there supposed to be some play on the bushings?

 

[ThunderChild]

There shouldn't be a noticeable amount of play in the control arms, but it depends on how hard you pry on them. This issue only presented after the tire went flat, or has always been there?

 

[donniekak]

Play in the control arms will allow the wheels to toe in or out under accel, or braking. This effectively steers the car.

 

[Gottiboy]

The driver front. I've lifted my car and found a lot of play on both control arms. Ball joints are shot. The bushings on the control arms allow play if I pry on then with a bar. I'm not too experienced with suspension. Is there supposed to be some play on the bushings?

i beleve you have found your problem sir.

 

[Gottiboy]

The driver front. I've lifted my car and found a lot of play on both control arms. Ball joints are shot. The bushings on the control arms allow play if I pry on then with a bar. I'm not too experienced with suspension. Is there supposed to be some play on the bushings?

cheap fix. just replace the lower control arms. they come with ball joints.

 

[boostdawd]

i beleve you have found your problem sir.

I believe I may have also. What would u guys recommend. Should I replace both control arms as a set with the bushings and ball joint already in for 100-150 pair? Or should I get energy suspension bushings and moog ball joints. I have acess to a press so I'll be doing this myself.