atistang

I got under it and found that the idler arm and right inner tie rod are worn out, bad part is while I was under it I also found the the inner part of the frame is rusted through in a lot of places. I'm gonna cut the inner box out in those places and weld in 1/4 thick steel to buy time with this frame, if I don't come across another for a good price then maybe I can get at least 3-4 more years out of this one. I would like to find a pre 86 rolling chassis to swap all my stuff on, or just a good ifs frame and while it is striped I'll a conversion on it then sand blast the whole thing then paint it.
I also cranked the torsion bars down a bit, they had them cranked all the way, when I went to jack one side up the suspension didn't have anymore travel in it(it was fully extended with the weight of the truck on it) it takes bumps in the road much nicer now, but it barley rubs with he wheel cut to the lock.

Ironmike4x4

We didn't get to go over the old steering types in school, so forgive my ignorance... How do you tell if an idler arm is bad? If there is free play then it's bad?

fthertime666

Check the wheel bearings for play? Make sure both front wheel bearing preload are same side to side, if one is tighter it will pull to that side. My POS
does that currently, never,ever, ever buy a torque wrench from autozone.

atistang

it moves up and down before it will turn with the suspension, basically you can grab a wheel and wiggle it, then you look for the part that isn't moving with the rest of the suspension

atistang

I try not to buy anything from autozone, but it wanders(one min it will be pulling to the left, then to the right, it's completely random) I think this idler arm will combat the problem.

atistang

ok, I traded for some 31x10.50s mud terrains and that helped out in more ways then one, but still the same bouncing and unstableness around 45mph, I seen my idler arm had some play, I replaced that and the thing drives real good now. I just need to figure out what I did wrong rebuilding the carb and I'm set