WTE

[spartyparty]

frickin' post went poof.

[spartyparty]

Rick! I had the steering rack replaced on my 04 Monte and everything seemed fine other than needing an alignment, so I took it to the tire shop and they said nope the outer tie rods need to be replaced. Took it back to my normal shop and they agreed there was a little play in them so they replaced them. That's when I noticed that the steering seemed a little stiff/sticking.

Ended up taking it to the dealership as I needed my tires rotated and balanced at that time (like the dealer for that ) and had them do the alignment. This dealer seems to go out of their way to find every little thing wrong with a vehicle so I was surprised when they did work and didn't come back with other repairs.

[spartyparty]

more to come don't want it to go poof again

[spartyparty]

So after the alignment the steering still seems stiff/sticking at times and wants to pull to the left. I noticed a few times when coming out of a left hand curve and straighten out that the car still wants to turn left so I end up turning to the right to get it straight.

I took it back to my normal shop and they determined that the outer tie rods were sticking and they replaced them at N/C to me. It did feel a little smoother for a day, but it's right back to where it was. At times it feels like the left front tire is toeing out, but I'm not exactly certain that's what it's doing.

[spartyparty]

It does seem to wander going straight down the road....is it possible to have a bad ball joint without a shimmy or clunking?'

TYIA!

[spartyparty]

Seems to be that whatever the problem is, it isn't jumping right out at them as it's been in 3 different shops (granted the tire shop probably didn't look that closely at it after finding the worn tie rods).

[spartyparty]

Thanks DI! Is it possible that the 2nd set of outer tie rods could be bad as well? Seems odd to me for them to be sticking at all. They would have got them from the same supplier, so I wonder if they might be from the same batch from the manufacturer.

[spartyparty]

I thought I've heard a creaking coming through the steering column/wheel a couple times, but I'm not really sure if it's related to the situation.

[spartyparty]

I did have all four struts replaced about 4-5000 miles ago....only struts not the springs.

The rack was replaced because it was leaking....hold on more to come.

[spartyparty]

Everything seemed fine even after the rack was replaced (other than needing an alignment)....it was after the outer tie rods were replaced when all this started.

I'll have to look at the paperwrk tomorrow on the rack and hopefully it'll have a part number I can look up. I have the SS Monte....not sure if it would be different from the base LS model.

[spartyparty]

The shop that installed the tie rods was my normal shop...I'm pretty sure they were Moog tie rods.

is that steering knuckle part of the steering intermediate shaft? I've had that replaced a few times now.

I think I did notice a very slight shimmy on my way home tonight.

[spartyparty]

I'm not sure the dealer gave me the printout...I'll have look tomorrow to see if I have it. The wife is asleep and i dont wanna take the chance of waking her up.

I'll have to get back to you tomorrow.

[spartyparty]

Well no print out from the alignment....but I drove it for almost ten days after having the rack replaced and noticed nothing unusual other than needing an alignment....it was after having the tie rods replaced that I started noticing all of this (even before having the alignment done).

[spartyparty]

The paper work for the rack listed part number 22-1003 which from what I see is correct. There was a footnote that said it is not for the model with the FE4 suspension, which I believe applies to the supercharged SS.

[spartyparty]

I don't have the supercharged SS (just the SS) so I think I'm okay...not to say that it got screwed up somewhere along the way (I think it's a refurbished part but I'm not sure).

[spartyparty]

I'll probably take it back to the shop in the next week or two. I did wonder if maybe the dealer botched the alignment....hopefully my normal shop can take a good look at it then.

Thanks guys for your help! I'll keep you posted.

[spartyparty]

Looked at the front of the car last night in the drive and I could see that both front tires were toe-d out.

Took it to the tire shop today...everything was within spec but the toe was off on all four corners.

[spartyparty]

LF was -.55, RF was -.52, LR was .18, RR was -.08

With rears off I have to believe the dealer botched the alignment....only drove it 5 miles back to work and it seems to still occasionaly want to pull to the left. Pretty windy today though so need to drive it a little more to be sure.