my problem is back

[alwayswanted1]

this time I know what it is.My idler arm is hitting my sway bar when I turn the wheel the whole way.Any ideas how to fix this?would it be frame damage?,a bent swaybar?,bad bushings?.Where should i start now that i know whats going on?

[NastyZ]

end links could be shot

[91RS_92TA]

Being that I have bent a sway bar, I would take a look at that. Looking at it while it is still on the car doesn't always work the best. Drop it out of the car, and see what you see. When mine was in the car it was very hard to tell that one end had bent out and up. Lack of reference points to compare to while under the car! Once I did notice it, it was hard not to see. Originally I though i bent a lower control arm. I even went out and bought tubular ones to replace the stock ones. At least I caught the bar before I tore the front end apart! To bad I lost a bolt to put it back on with once I did rip the old stuff out...that was last fall....my car is still without a front sway bar. But that comes down to 100% laziness!!

[alwayswanted1]

I'll drop the sway bar this weekend and see what I got.I can't belive the guy who did the front end alignment didn't see this problem.The way i found out was they sold me 2nd rate tires & had to return them.after they were done with the job i got in & turned the wheel & the manager noticed it right away.I just paid for the front end alignment,will removing or changing the sway bar cause the car to go out of alignment?

[BBCAM]

No taking the sway bar off wont change the alignment , I would think the alignment tech would have said something ...

[alwayswanted1]

no the tech did not tell me,IMO I think they know less about cars than I do.The manager told me when I picked up the car that they would have noticed a problem.If they can't notice the whole front end moving up & down when you cut the wheels.....makes me wonder how good the alignment is.I also asked the manager if the idler arm hits the swaybar will it throw off the alignment,he said no.Is that true?

[91RS_92TA]

Here is a great reason to take a car to your GM dealer or, better yet, a body shop for an alignment. Sure it may cost you $10-15 extra, but you are getting people that know what they are doing! As for your front end moving up and down when turning, that is normal to a point. How much is it moving? Measure the change in body hight on BOTH sides of the vehicle. More than likely your are just getting the movement because of the sidewall of the tires flexing. Alignment will not change the up and down motion...the only way you would get excessive movement would be to have something bent. Which brings back the body shop...most body shops will check frame straightness and do an alignment all at the same time. They also have lots of experience looking for broken or bent suspension or even frames. As for your idler hitting the sway bar...no, it should not change your alignment. But if your sway bar is coming that close to your idler arm, one of the two is way out of wack!!

[alwayswanted1]

Originally Posted by 91RS_92TA

Here is a great reason to take a car to your GM dealer or, better yet, a body shop for an alignment. Sure it may cost you $10-15 extra, but you are getting people that know what they are doing! As for your front end moving up and down when turning, that is normal to a point. How much is it moving? Measure the change in body hight on BOTH sides of the vehicle. More than likely your are just getting the movement because of the sidewall of the tires flexing. Alignment will not change the up and down motion...the only way you would get excessive movement would be to have something bent. Which brings back the body shop...most body shops will check frame straightness and do an alignment all at the same time. They also have lots of experience looking for broken or bent suspension or even frames. As for your idler hitting the sway bar...no, it should not change your alignment. But if your sway bar is coming that close to your idler arm, one of the two is way out of wack!!

no doubt a lesson learned.I will more than likely take the car to a body shop & have it checked.I did take the swaybar off,no problem now.The swaybar didn't look bent,but I couldn't tell with it sitting on the floor.Even with the stock tires on the tires r coming very close to the frame on both sides.could something be wrong with the steering box?Also had the car inspected today & they didn't say anything about replacing ball joints or rod-ends.

[91RS_92TA]

Tires do come close to the frame when turned full to lock. Actually with my C5 rims, I can not turn to full lock or they rub. I highly doubt the issue is in the steering box itself. The most common issue with the box is that you get excessive play in the steering wheel. Can you take a couple of pictures of you sway bar and post them up? An overhead view from as close to straight up as you can get and still have the whole thing in one picture would be best. Along with another of the bar laying flat and the camera as close to level as you can get...again with the whole bar in one picture. A couple of pictures of the suspension wouldn't hurt either. One from the front of the car, looking slightly up (car on a lift or jack stands) from as close to the middle as you can get.

[alwayswanted1]

forget it,I've had enough with this car.I spent 700 dollars on this bucket of bolts in the last month and still have the same problem.Now the car is back exactly the way it was.The steering wheel shakes so bad when i turn a corner at speed it wants to rip my arms off.I have spent way to much money on this problem.Time to cut my loss & move on.I will either be selling it or parting it out.If your interested let me know.oh i would post picts. but I don't know how & everytime i ask someone I get more confused.Is there a thread on how to do this stuff?

[84camaroz28]

try your endlinks first. i had the same problem in my car. turns out i broke one of the endlinks. cost me 30bucks to put in polyurethane ones

[alwayswanted1]

i know that when I dropped the sway bar I had to cut the end links to remove the sway bar,but they were not broken.I don't understand,why would bad endlinks make my idler arm hit the swaybar?I have the swaybar off so nothing hits and the car still shakes.I notice the problem most when i put the brakes on a little while taking a not so sharp corner at like 45mph.If you didn't notice I am really frustrated with this problem and I really thank all of you guys for the info you are sharing.

[BBCAM]

Have you checked the rotors for runout and warping? that can easily cause a shake at low speeds , or possibly a tire with a bad cord or shifted belt ... does the shake allways come on just one side or seem like both ?

[NOBOTL]

Just a quick question. Do these have a rag joint on the column? If so it could be bad. I had a lifted k5 blazer with this prob. The rag joint was almost torn in half!

[alwayswanted1]

The problem seems like it always starts on the pass. side of the car.I don't belive it is bad rotors because i don't ride the brake.I could just give them a tap going into the corner or sometimes not at all and the shaking starts.I know its not bad tires,just had 2 new ones put on.So far I have ruled out...
1)bent swaybar-took it off.
2)tires-had 2 new ones put on
3)idler arm-put a new one on.
4)struts-they are new also.
5)alignment-had that done,car still shakes
6)end links-they were not broken when i took them off with the swaybar.
7)tie rods & ball joints-just had the car inspected,they passed.
8)warped brake rotors-sometimes car shakes when i don't put on the brakes.Also they probably would have noticed that when the car was inspected.

so what else is left?where is that joint at on the column so I can check it?