Unit Bearings -75,000 miles?

USMC Wrangler

USMC Wrangler

New member
I have about 40,000 miles on 35’s and 4.5” backspaced wheels. I’ve been chasing a flighty steering sensation, not bump related or death wobble, for a couple months now. I’ve already installed ProSteers and an Exodus Jeeps tie rod in the past month and a new drag link is inbound from Ruffstuff. There’s definitely play at the pitman arm end of my OE DL. I also have two collapsed .75 coil spacers causing my springs to bow. That will be remedied Friday.

As I walked out to my Jeep today it looked as if my front tires had a great deal of camber. Sorry for the crappy picture. Are you seeing what I am? Am I overreacting?

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Later tonight I went over a series of speed bumps at about 10 mph. Each time my traction control light flashed once. I watched for it to flash again on the drive home, nothing, but no large bumps to speak of like the speed bumps.

Best explanation I can give...sometimes it drives straight and smooth. Sometimes I’m sawing on the wheel like a madman to try and keep it between the lines. 50-70 mph is the scariest and if there’s a crosswind, I’m getting one hell of a workout. Again, I’ve really paid attention when it happens if it’s related to a bump, but so far that’s a no. If I understand things correctly, I do feel almost a dead spot in the middle-ish of the steering cycle and that can be related to the DL slop. I recently checked all my torque settings on all suspension at both ends and steering components. Everything was good. My wife and daughter refuse to drive it because “it’s all over the place” as they describe it.

My latest guess are unit bearings from the “look” of the front tires and the weird TC light flash. I don’t hear any unusual noises. Front lower CA’s are RK adjustable, uppers are OE, track bar is OE. Anything else I’m missing?
 
Easy way to check the Unit bearings is to jack up front end and try to move the whole wheel. Hold on at the top and bottom and see if you get any movement.
 
Check your toe also, sometimes that can make the tires look like improper camber. I would definitely change that drag link you spoke of first, then re-diagnose.
 
Unit bearings and/or ball joints. Or maybe you’ll find that your knuckles are done. That happened to me. One of the symptoms was noticeable camber similar to yours. IMG_0330.jpg


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Thanks guys. My toe was just dialed in a couple weeks ago as well.

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The traction control light is what sent me searching on here. I couldn’t find that symptom explained exactly the same, but I saw where some had posted definite failures and lights coming on.
 
Gbint said:
My front tires sit exactly like that. Has been since new. Always looked a bit out, however tire wear is perfectly even.


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So far, tire wear looks good. At 40k on these Nittos and religious 3k rotations I’m pretty happy with them. I suspect I’ll be replacing these soon.

Again, I might be over thinking this and will reassess after the DL gets replaced.
 
USMC Wrangler said:
Thanks guys. My toe was just dialed in a couple weeks ago as well.

View attachment 323386

View attachment 323387

The traction control light is what sent me searching on here. I couldn’t find that symptom explained exactly the same, but I saw where some had posted definite failures and lights coming on.
Click to expand...

I had the light coming on, intermittently. I would not get any actual limp or other traction control problems. Just the light. Cindy suggested unit bearings, and that solved it.


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Definitely agree on drag link. Unit bearings worth a look too. Your on the right track. The abs/traction control is pretty sensitive in my experience. Steering wheel center vs drag link movement usually starts giving you fits on freeway on ramps. Over bumps I would suspect unit bearings more. I carry one with me on longer wheeling trips. I have gotten pretty good at changing them out. I have been doing the warranty exchange program for awhile. Parts store hasn’t denied me yet. Lol! Killed 3 last year.


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Glad I found this thread. I’ve been dealing with similar issues. My last trip from Tucson to back home here in NM was scary as hell due to an extremely strong crosswind. On the freeway, I was literally sawing the steering wheel back and forth like a fiddler barely able to keep Jeep in its lane. Traction light was on too. I tightened the nut on the dl on the knuckle side but the steering still feels loose. I’ll have to check the unit bearings this weekend. Keep us posted on how things go.


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A.J. said:
Definitely agree on drag link. Unit bearings worth a look too. Your on the right track. The abs/traction control is pretty sensitive in my experience. Steering wheel center vs drag link movement usually starts giving you fits on freeway on ramps. Over bumps I would suspect unit bearings more. I carry one with me on longer wheeling trips. I have gotten pretty good at changing them out. I have been doing the warranty exchange program for awhile. Parts store hasn’t denied me yet. Lol! Killed 3 last year.

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Click to expand...


Thanks! Good to know! Eddies video makes it look pretty painless.

nmwranglerx said:
Glad I found this thread. I’ve been dealing with similar issues. My last trip from Tucson to back home here in NM was scary as hell due to an extremely strong crosswind. On the freeway, I was literally sawing the steering wheel back and forth like a fiddler barely able to keep Jeep in its lane. Traction light was on too. I tightened the nut on the dl on the knuckle side but the steering still feels loose. I’ll have to check the unit bearings this weekend. Keep us posted on how things go.


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Click to expand...

Good luck with yours too!

I followed the link to go ahead and order on Amazon through Wayalife. There was only one available, but I ordered it. The next cheapest I could find was $10 more on eBay, so that’s ordered up too. I figure, worst case, I will need them eventually no matter what. If the DL squares everything away it’s just less work right now.
 
USMC Wrangler said:
Thanks guys. My toe was just dialed in a couple weeks ago as well.

View attachment 323386

View attachment 323387

The traction control light is what sent me searching on here. I couldn’t find that symptom explained exactly the same, but I saw where some had posted definite failures and lights coming on.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you call these alignment tools? If you don't mind me asking what are they called and where could I find these? Thanks
 
Seahawkfan said:
Not sure what you call these alignment tools? If you don't mind me asking what are they called and where could I find these? Thanks
Click to expand...

Bubba @Exodus Jeeps mentioned them to me when I was dialing in my tie rod. They are about $50 from Low Range Off Road. There are about 8 co-workers and other friends that wheel and wrench together, and we’ve all bought some specialty tools to share. This was my contribution and are currently with a TJ owner.

Pretty simple to use. These are
Narrower than what the 35+ tires width are. Bubba said to shoot for 3/16” toe in running my 35’s based on the tools width.
 
USMC Wrangler said:
Bubba @Exodus Jeeps mentioned them to me when I was dialing in my tie rod. They are about $50 from Low Range Off Road. There are about 8 co-workers and other friends that wheel and wrench together, and we’ve all bought some specialty tools to share. This was my contribution and are currently with a TJ owner.

Pretty simple to use. These are
Narrower than what the 35+ tires width are. Bubba said to shoot for 3/16” toe in running my 35’s based on the tools width.
Click to expand...

Those look like a good idea.

Sure makes measuring easier
 
I see you've already replaced them, but yea, if your TC light is going off like that it is most likely hubs. I ignored my TC light issue for a while then my hub exploded while I was off in the desert—that wasn't fun. I only had 60K miles but I drive it hard so it makes sense.
 
jdofmemi said:
Those look like a good idea.

Sure makes measuring easier
Click to expand...

They are. Took care of the toe on my buddies TJ today. It’s doable solo, but even faster with two of you.

aermotor said:
I see you've already replaced them, but yea, if your TC light is going off like that it is most likely hubs. I ignored my TC light issue for a while then my hub exploded while I was off in the desert—that wasn't fun. I only had 60K miles but I drive it hard so it makes sense.
Click to expand...

I haven’t received the new ones yet. I did jack up the front end with a friends help today and the passenger side is giving a light “clunk” sound. We really couldn’t see the movement but could hear it. Driver’s side was silent.

My new DL shipped today and will arrive next Tuesday sometime. I had bought the AC Delco pitman arm end for $20 and put that on today. (I got the shipment notification about the Ruffstuff DL just as we finished [emoji849][emoji23]) It is more solid feel driving but there is some movement at the knuckle too. So for now, it’s improved and will get me through until next week.

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