Bad inner tie rod?

[69ford99]

I jacked up the driver's side of my 03 expedition to check ball joints and tie rods. When I grabbed the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock the wheel moved easily even with passenger tire on the ground and I could see the steering shaft move. I'm assuming that's not normal but not sure. There wasn't any movement as in bad joints. Everything felt pretty solid.

 

[GAINMOB]

Move it 12 and 6 and say what happens

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[69ford99]

There was no movement top to bottom. When the driver's side wheel turned the passenger side moved to. There wasn't any looseness. Just wasn't sure if it should be easy to turn wheels side to side by hand.

 

[Hamfisted]

Are you the original owner ? How many miles on the Expy? How are the dust boots on the lower ball joints ? Typically they would be cracked and torn by now. Check the inner tie rod ends by having a helper turn the steering wheel back and forth while you feel the tie rod ends through the dust boots. Any play you will be able to feel. They're good for about 100k miles. Worn rear lower ball joint bushings will show up as a creaking or groaning during early morning turns out of the driveway. They may visually look Ok, but they get soft and very pliable with age, and that causes the groaning.

 

[69ford99]

2nd owner it had 201k, lower ball joint dust boots look good. I bought it 3 years ago with 150k on it. The upper ball joint on passenger side is shot. I do have a creaking when pulling out of drive way. I'll have to check the rear out.

 

[Hamfisted]

Previous owner most likely replaced the front lowers then. Are they greaseable ? The stock ones were not, but hopefully he replaced them with some that are. If you're going to replace the rears yourself you'll need a bushing press kit. It's not a very hard job to do.



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