Shaking over 45 after new outer tie rod ends

[apac]

Hey guys, could use some help here. I typically only work on my jeep, but my girlfriend needed new outer tie rods on her 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer, and I decided to save the shop cost and replace them. Ordered new OEM outer tie rod ends last week and did the swap over the weekend - was a piece of cake. Took it for a test drive and noticed a little wheel shimmy so I told her to get it aligned.

Today, my gf told me it shakes like crazy over 45 mph, even after she took it in for an alignment. This wasn't happening before replacing the outer tie rod ends, which is odd because the old outers were totally dead. She had her inners done a couple years ago.

Any ideas?

 

[herm0016]

sounds like a bad alignment... or something is loose? what else did you have to touch to replace the outers?

 

[phucheneh]

...tighten the lug nuts. Seriously, it's probably something that simple to fix (but also a severe problem, obviously).

Toe being out of spec does not cause vibration. Maybe if it was massively out, but I've only ever experienced that with cars that were hit and in obvious need of front end parts. Basically, one or both tires are scrubbing so severely that they're squealing and making the car hard to control at parking lot speeds.

edit: make sure the inners are on all the way, also. Perhaps when they were replaced, they did not get tightened enough and/or locked into place properly, and they got partially unthreaded from the rack.

 

[apac]

I double checked the car last night. The lug nuts were tight, the tie rods looked tight. She's going to get the wheel balance checked this week.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Balance the wheels or rotate tires (check uneven wear)

 

[Jimzz]

Could have knocked a weight off a tire.
Rotate the tires front to back and see if the shake moves/changes a lot or goes away.

 

[Fritzo]

Could have knocked a weight off a tire.
Rotate the tires front to back and see if the shake moves/changes a lot or goes away.

My guess too.

 

[phucheneh]

Random thought...perhaps the tires have a lot of lateral runout. Which means if you watched them spin on a balancer, you'd see the tire walk back and forth from side to side. It's much harder to compensate for with weights, as opposed to radial runout...not to say it can't be made better, but with a 'perfect' balance it may not go away.

Anyhow, that usually translates to 'shimmy,' or the steering wheel shaking from side to side at speed. Seems reasonable that a lot of slop in the steering would mask this. So it's possible that there is nothing wrong with the work done, and no new issues were introduced...you're just now able to feel a problem that was already there.

Kudos for going back and rechecking stuff. People get too proud to think that they may have made an obvious mistake, and I think that's silly. 'Better safe than sorry' should always be the mantra when doing critical work in the steering/suspension/brake area.

 

[apac]

Could have knocked a weight off a tire.
Rotate the tires front to back and see if the shake moves/changes a lot or goes away.

She's due for a tire rotation as well, so in the next couple days she's going to swing by discount and get them rotated. She got new tires about 6 months ago.

Random thought...perhaps the tires have a lot of lateral runout. Which means if you watched them spin on a balancer, you'd see the tire walk back and forth from side to side. It's much harder to compensate for with weights, as opposed to radial runout...not to say it can't be made better, but with a 'perfect' balance it may not go away.

Anyhow, that usually translates to 'shimmy,' or the steering wheel shaking from side to side at speed. Seems reasonable that a lot of slop in the steering would mask this. So it's possible that there is nothing wrong with the work done, and no new issues were introduced...you're just now able to feel a problem that was already there.

Kudos for going back and rechecking stuff. People get too proud to think that they may have made an obvious mistake, and I think that's silly. 'Better safe than sorry' should always be the mantra when doing critical work in the steering/suspension/brake area.

That's what I thought, too. The old tie rod ends were so loose I could move them around with my index finger. The new ones were so stiff I had to really muscle them to make them move.

My jeep has pitman/drag link steering, which I'm used to working with. Never messed with R&P steering until now so I'm not sure where to look if the balance doesn't fix things. I'll find out in a couple days.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[apac]

MYSTERY SOLVED, and boy do I feel stupid. I put her lug nuts on backward. My Jeep has capped lugs so I've never even thought about the direction before.

I was pretty embarrassed when the guy at discount tire told me.

 

[Fritzo]

MYSTERY SOLVED, and boy do I feel stupid. I put her lug nuts on backward. My Jeep has capped lugs so I've never even thought about the direction before.

I was pretty embarrassed when the guy at discount tire told me.

LOL! I didn't know you COULD put those on backwards. If there's a way, someone will find it

 

[apac]

Right?? None of my vehicles have lugs that are open ended, probably for this reason. Facepalm..

 

[phucheneh]

Ha! My initial guess was...kinda sorta right.

Lug nuts will always have some kind of taper on the wheel side. 'Cone seat' and 'ball seat' would be the most typical. It keeps the wheel centered over the lug stud. Only exception would be 'shanked' lug nuts, which go through a larger-than-normal opening in the wheel and exert their pressure with a flat shoulder. Usually only on higher-end cars because the tolerances need to be tight.

Are you sure everything is okay? The lug nuts should be fine, since the seat wasn't touching anything, heh. But you may have ground down the corresponding area on the wheel. Or the wheel may have made a groove on the stud.

 

[apac]

Yeah they have a cone on one side. Just didn't see it, was racing to finish before a thunderstorm and wasn't thinking.

I'm at discount right now so we'll find out if everything is alright, haven't heard any bad news yet. They are fixing a leak right now.

Edit: got the car back, no issues due to lugs. Live and learn .