Randomly pulling to the right after new control arms installed

[TorqueEffect]

Now that I got both brand new control arms installed, I now have a weird pulling to the right which happens randomly, nothing seems to trigger it. The car will be tracking perfectly straight, then it will randomly pull to the right all of a sudden, almost as if someone pulled the wheel slightly to the right. I am no longer comfortable driving highway speeds with this.

I used string to check the alignment, everything seems to be square, except the rear driver's side does have a hair of toe-in.

I have checked, and I see none of the bolts were loose. Only thing is the sway bar bushing on the control arm on the passenger's side didn't get centered quite right, but it is in there nonetheless and bolted down tight.

I am afraid that now that the suspension components are nice and tight now, that they may have causedplay in the steering rack to become more aparent.

What do you guys think?

[SiliconSoul]

Check your tie-rod ends. I just replaced one in my wifes vehicle that was causing random jerkiness. Not cool!

[zoom zoom]

Yea outter tie rod ends is what i was thinking. You'll have a brand new front end by the time its done lol, hope u arent shopping at autozone! :p

[Spike]

^Or hope you are. Then when the junk parts go on you, it's free replacement for life.. :p On any of your Festivas haha. I just go in, ask for blah blah part, they ask what car, and I say "Oh.. it's for the '90 of course!".

-Joe

[TorqueEffect]

Also forgot to mention, the steering rack boots have long since rotted off, they have been like that since I bought the car, that was why I was worried it is the steering rack. Just have neglected to buy new boots.

and with 316k miles, I am willing to bet the steering rack bushing are going bad.

[SiliconSoul]

First thing to do is jack up your front and give a couple good push/pulls on both wheels.Something should show up.

[TorqueEffect]

On the way home from work, I was noticing it was pulling to the left occasionally too, I guess it really depends on which way the road is slightly sloping towards.

While it was on the ground I had someone turn the wheels back and forth while I felt the inner and outer tie-rods on each end, and I didn't feel any play in any of them at their joints.

How do I find steering rack play?

[TorqueEffect]

No steering rack play either.

But I found what it is. There is play in the bolt where the control are attaches to the frame. This is the same bolt that wouldn't tighten down at all without popping loose again. I think the welded nut inside the frame is stripped.

That was the first control arm I changed, it didn't act like this until I finally put a new control arm on the other side. WTF?!?

[zoom zoom]

Its not really a 'welded' nut its a captive nut. It has a cage spot welded around it to hold it. The cage probably bent out and its letting the nut spin, would cause your problems! Gotta find a way to get it tight, i use a harbor freight punch set and slide the punch in to wedge it between the nut and the frame rail on my car, really sucks but once it gets a bite you should be able to tighten it down. Channel locks and a hammer to get the punch back out!!

[MrFishah]

No steering rack play either.

But I found what it is. There is play in the bolt where the control are attaches to the frame. This is the same bolt that wouldn't tighten down at all without popping loose again. I think the welded nut inside the frame is stripped.

That was the first control arm I changed, it didn't act like this until I finally put a new control arm on the other side. WTF?!?

I was reading through the thread and couldn't believe nobody had mentioned this yet. Instantly this was my gut feeling on what happened. We had the same issue when we were first building the race car. The captive nut indeed is broken.

I typically just jam a screwdriver in there to hold it while somebody else tightens it. On my list of to-do items is cut open the frame and weld the nut back in place, but that's time consuming.

[stupid fast]

Both of mine lower control arms bolts came loose and it was swerving to the right while driving straight so all I did was threw the impact gun to it and now it fixed the problem but my tie rod ends are junk so it's still a little squarely while at wot.

[Safety Guy]

If you can't get the captive nuts to tighten, you may have to buy a new bolt, nut and lockwasher set for each side that doesn't work. Then enlarge the last "frame rail hole" near the action and go to work. Take out what remains of the old nut and put in the new parts.

Make sure they are Grade 10 or higher for that job! I don't think 8.8 does it.

Karl

[TorqueEffect]

Well It had play while the car was in the air. But while planting on the ground and watching that spot, I forcefully rocked the car back and forth sideways, and saw no play at all. Hmmmm.

If I have to, I can do what a mechanic had done in the past on the driver's side, on the passenger's side and cut a small slit hole on the side of the frame, knock the captive nut out and just stick a plain old nut in there, and tighten it down.

Also now that I have 2 new control arms installed my car actually tracks straight when the steering wheel is straight instead of coasting to the left. lol

[MrFishah]

Well It had play while the car was in the air. But while planting on the ground and watching that spot, I forcefully rocked the car back and forth sideways, and saw no play at all. Hmmmm.

Have a buddy forcefully yank the steering wheel hard left and right while the car is parked. Stick your head under the car while he does this and look directly at the control arm mounts. This'll be the way you'll expose the play.