Hey guys, I have new tires on my truck (2000 miles). The outside edge of them is starting to scallop. The truck has been aligned so I can't figure out what would cause that. Could it be worn out tie rods? I tried jacking up one tire at a time and there is play side to side but I can't really tell if the tie rod joints are really moving or if this is normal. Any help would be appreciated! I was already thinking of upgrading to cognito HD tie rods, but if its something else I need to spend the cash on that first! Thanks a lot in advance!

Derek

one other question..... I can grab the cv halfshafts and spin them by hand. there is a little play in the joints in the shaft. should I replace them? and if so what/where to buy? thanks guys!

me too!!!! i am bout to upgrade

me too!!!! i am bout to upgrade

so you have the tire problem also? or you are just going to upgrade for other reasons?

My tires are wearing out on the insides to. I took it to a alinment shop my truck needs upper and lower balljionts pitman arm and idler, I`m not sure if my wheel bearings are shot to. I am going to fix it myself,I cant see paying someone else to do it. My truck has 198000 klms on it.

yeah I hear ya on the prices! I already replaced my upper and lower ball joints, so that leaves only the pitman/idler and tie rods. I have 100,000 mi on the truck so replacing them seems like it would help. perhaps the support braces also. not too sure, just don't want to spend 700 on parts and having them not be the issue....

my left tire sounds like its skidding when i turn to the left, and it does wear out quickly i just got it aligned on the 14th of this month. but they told me that i need new tie rods and a idler arm
that why i wanted to upgrade to the cognitos, they wanted to charge me 673.40 i laughed at them.. oh i got 171K on mine

The parts are not that bad, for price. I`ts the labor that pisses me off. If you guys have time and the tools to do the work your self do it! The do it your self section is sweet. I need to fix mine asap but I will do it myself.

When changing the upper and lower ball joints is there a way to keep the a arms compressed? I believe the rest can be done wihout letting the a arms expand. Whats the trick on ball joints?

I was told to losen the nuts on the ball joints but dont take them off. Then smack the lower contol arm with a hammer were the joint goes threw it, should pop out of there. You also need a balljoint installer or a press,to get the joint back in. Just dont get hurt I havent done mine yet.If I`m wrong someone please correct me.

How much is this tool for the ball joint installer? My lower on the driver side is going out,, only 25,000 miles on the truck, little upset with chevy right now.

I agree how much is the installer... or could u rent it from napa/autozone and can somebody else put some input on if just loosening balljoint nut is proper way. Like Max02 said "Dont get hurt"

I got one for just over 100 bucks at princess auto ,I`m sure you could rent one from parts store or a buddy. I got one because we have a lot of trucks and tractors our farm,and we try to work on what we can ourselves. I`ll be getting parts as soon as I can and start installing them. We are busy with getting our fields ready for planting right now. Plus we are dairy farmers and my brother in law is going away for a week, so this might take me a little time. I`ll let you guys know if I get hurt. Just joking. I`m not scared.

I have replaced the ball joint on the older chevy like the 89, was not to hard, never used a press tool, might look into getting a new lower arm and upper to have better HD joints also... any suggestions?

Just got my truck alined yesterday, much better now. I replaced the lower balljoint, pitman arm,and idler arm on saterday.The lower balljoint was a bit of a bitch,only because I took most of my front end apart to get at it.The idler arm was easy, the pitman arm wasn`t to bad. I took out the stearing box to get the arm off. The power stearing lines are a hasel I cut a 18 mm wrench in half to get at them better.I spent 6 hours replaceing all those parts. I wasted alot of time because I did the work in my garage instead of just useing our shop,I had to walk back and forth for some different tools and things.